h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Right, I have managed to obtain the following...

* Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer
* Brains SA Gold
* Adnams East Green Carbon Neutral
* Badger Poacher's Choice
* Guinness Foreign Extra
* Brakspear's Oxford Gold
* Brakspear's Triple

No Brakspear's box set or Sierra Nevada in my Sainsburys, which was a bit of a disappointment. And I had to go to Morrisons for the SA Gold.

Can I recommend, well in advance, that you keep the Oxford Gold well chilled - almost icy if possible. It is best at its coldest.

Plus, as bonus tipples I have two trendy beers and one slightly disturbing one: Natural Brewing Company's 'Irresistable' Premium Ale, Ubu, and Ringwood's 'Old Thumper'.

B

I've texted Lainey to see if she can find any of those 'bonus' ales - if not, the seven will probably floor me anyway.

We should see if there's anywhere in the UK that does American beers mail-order. With enough planning, we could probably arrange a beerfest with ales that Gosho and Happy Nerd could actually obtain.

Are we going to attempt any form of pub entertainment? The Youtube jukebox has rather run its course.

I was possibly thinking about a Wikipedia papertrail or similar.

B

Aha!

http://www.beerritz.co.uk/search.asp?ManufacturerName=&CategoryID=214&ABV=&ProductName=&Submit=Go!

Yes, we do need some entertainment. What's a papertrail?

Sort of like a quiz where you go and look up stuff on consecutive pages.

Might be a bit too dry. Is there some sort of simple online game we could all partake in?

B

We could try to plan a route from San Francisco International Airport to Del Norte county, hitting every decent brew pub. We could call it, "What Would 2legs Drink?" Extra points for efficient routes and not getting snarled up in rush-hour traffic.

I have the Irresistable and Old Thumper. I'll adjust the list later on - now she's back I have to make dinner.

Got a few days to think about entertainment, anyway.

Are you as disturbed by the label on the Old Thumper as I am?

B

That's a bloody good price for the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, considering. And it's a fine beer, although at 10% it might not be something you'd want to consider for a multi-bottle tasting. I can't recommend it highly enough.

That face stares back at me every morning from the mirror, B.



How do you feel about drinking in the afternoon, Gosho? We could arrange a day a few weeks in advance, grab a selection of beers from that website and meet you about 9-10pm our time.

I have nothing against drinking in the afternoon... or at lunchtime... or with breakfast (in fact I've been doing a brewery tour this very afternoon which involved much sampling ), but I doubt that I'll get home much before 1am your time on Friday.

I also doubt we'll be able to 'arrange a day a few weeks in advance' in time for Friday

I'm suggesting we have another one on a totally different day, but plan it far enough in advance so that us Brits can mail order some American beers.

Tuesday and Wednesday are generally the only days I can usually figure on being at home at that time, and possibly Thursday.

In that case, let's let B pick a Tuesday or Wednesday after the schools have broken up - a festive beerfest. I can get just about any day off, but I doubt B will want to go into school after a night at the H&G. You're six hours behind us, so if we were to start at 9.00 (3pm your time) would that be ok?

How about you, Happy Nerd?

I'd love to participate, but I'm not really on the same diurnal schedule. Also Mr. Nerd very much enjoys participating (aka sipping and commenting) but he works until 11 pm.

We could do as we usually do: buy the same or similar beers and sample them during our end of day (midnight here). We can't drink too many beers midweek, but we can spread the beer festival joy over a couple of days, posting our notes as we go.


HN

Right, beers are in the fridge and I'm ready to go.

I confess I'm suffering a bit with my asthma, but I'll try and keep going as long as possible. Alcohol has never had a negative effect on it before. Hopefully, my lovely wife might help out with a few comments.

B

I've just got home, give me five minutes to slam the pizza in the oven and I'll be with you.

I take us you'll decide which order we sup in as usual?

That company you linked to earlier, who does the good selection of American beers, here in the UK (they also do a huge range of UK ones and belgium too...): there the company I have used a couple of times, including when I got the SN beers and the anchor ones I found them very reliable, and the beers were all very well packed in the box; the only downside is I think you have to order in muleiples of two bottles, and get to 12 bottles; this is I think to ensure that the box is well packed out so there isn't too much stuff moving about and risk of damamge... think it was soemthign like tthat... I struggled to get down* to just* twelve beers though, as they've quite a range

Superb! I think I'll struggle to get it down to less than the whole list. If you've used them before and can recommend them, I reckon the idea of a US beerfest is on