Why Drinking is for pleasure and not competition!

As we are all very aware, drinking alcohol has been a popular trend for many years.

For some people this has also driven a competitive desire, which is most definitely not to be recommended!

People compete in drinking games at colleges, pubs, parties and other events.

The competition has been growing worldwide such that it has led to making world records.

For instance, Guinness World Records has been featuring records made from drinking beer.

There are different sets of rules for different drinking games with some competing for largest amounts others for speed and other methods of disqualification

Since 1960’s Guinness Book of Records has featured the fastest beer drinkers. Since then, yard drinking was used most to compete in speeds. For instance, back in 1964, a guy by the name Lawrence Hill (no relation) earned himself a record in the Guinness Book for consuming two and a half pints of ale in yard drinking. At that time, he was only 22 years old and finished the amount in six and a half seconds. His record was published in Guinness Records in 1969.

Back then, the records were only based on yard drinking.

However, this rule was later discarded to allow drinking from any form of drinking container.

This allowed more drinking games to feature in records. Winners who would break already set records would thus have chances to be listed.

In 1971, Jack Boyle set a record of consuming 3 pint yards in 10.15seconds. Jack was 52 years old back then. However, the records of Jack and Lawrence were later broken in 1977 according to the publisher of the records.

Lawrence’s record was broken in Oxfordshire from six to just five seconds of the same amount.

Jack’s record was also broken in Corby Town.

Many more records were featured while others were being broken.

However, many law suits were filed against the Guinness Records and this led to a decision to stop featuring such records.

All Beers are either Ales or Lagers

This headline might seem an unlikely claim … particularly when you’re trying to choose from the bewildering array of beers available today, but it’s true!

All beer falls into one of two categories: Ale or lager

There are a few so called hybrid styles that employ traditional brewing methods of both but even these can be clearly distinguished as ale or lager based on the yeast used to ferment them. 

It Starts with the Yeast

It is the yeast that makes the difference between the ale and the lager.

• Ale yeasts flocculate at the top of the fermentation tank. They generally thrive at temperatures between 60 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Lager yeasts are more successful at lower temperatures, typically 46 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit and flocculate closer to the bottom of the fermentation tank. Lager yeasts also tend to ferment more aggressively, leaving behind less residual sweetness and flavor than ales.

The difference doesn't end with the yeast.

The brewing techniques of each are as important as the yeast used.

 After fermentation ales are usually aged no more than a few weeks. The aging process is generally done at 40 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lagers are similarly aged but at much lower temperatures, 32 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and for a much longer time typically months. This is called lagering and creates a cleaner, clearer beer. 

So What Does This All Mean?

The brewing processes of the two different kinds of beer - lager, cold and efficient; and ale, warm and complex - result in very different final products.

Although both are beer, the two are as different as red and white wines.

Lagers are clean, refreshing beers with typically light aroma and flavor. They are invariably served cold and can pair easily with a wide variety of food.

Ales are complex, flavorful beers. Many are served closer to room temperature and contain rich aroma and flavor. Their complexity makes pairing a more selective, but highly rewarding, task.

Is your glass Half Full or Half Empty?

It’s that age old question isn’t it?

Is the glass half full or half empty?

If you’re an optimist (perhaps believing that summer will eventually arrive in 2012!) … then the glass is half full, meaning that you are naturally inclined to be more upbeat, more optimistic. You focus on what’s there … and not what’s absent

However, if you’re a pessimist (perish the thought, but believing that we’ve already had summer in 2012!) … then you see what’s missing. You have lost that half glass, it’s simply not there … so you focus n the loss – with a glass half empty!

And maybe that is true for both eventualities        

But here’s the answer to that age-old question - and yes there is an answer!

Is the glass half full or half empty?

(Pause – or drum roll for effect)

… It depends on whether you’re drinking or pouring!

And with that … I’ll just let that deepness sink in.

In the meantime, Cheers!

Do you make time for Nuncheon?

Now, as well all know … lunch is that most welcome break in the middle of the working week or that weekend treat, closely followed by that well-earned snooze!

But did you know that Luncheon is a relative newcomer in the daily round of meals, only emerging in the late 17^th century.

The word itself is a bit of a mystery and is probably a collision between two different things:

• Lunch – a northern dialect word for a hunk of bread or cheese and …
• Nuncheon – a midday snack, from Old English none, “noon” plus schench, “drink”

In the Middle Ages there were only two significant meals: dinner, eaten at noon, and supper, eaten in the late afternoon. This made practical sense: the middle of the day was when people needed an energy boost, and eating in the dark required expensive artificial lighting.

But over the centuries, patterns of work and social fashion pushed dinner time further and further back into the day. By the mid-18th century, most households ate dinner at 5pm; by the mid-19th century, it was 8 or 9pm. This created the space for new meals earlier in the day: tea (first recorded in 1739) and luncheon (1652), first shortened to “lunch” in 1829.

Making the most of a Productive lunch

Lunchtime is renowned as a brilliant way of putting together business deals or even schmoozing clients!

A great advert for the importance of the institution of lunch took place in 1914, when the celebrated Belarus-born chemist Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952) was entertained by CP Scott, the editor of the Manchester Guardian.

When Scott asked what he was working on, Weizmann replied that he had just perfected a new technique for safely synthesising acetone, a highly explosive substance used in cleaning products and explosives.

 A week later, Scott was lunching with the Prime Minister, Lloyd George, who complained that the war effort was foundering for a want of acetone. The rest is, literally, history. The British munitions industry out produced the Germans and the war was won. When asked what he wanted as a reward, Weizmann – a lifelong Zionist — asked for a Jewish state. He got one, largely as a result of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and became the first president of Israel in 1949 …. And all because of lunch…!!

The Bizarre World of Bizarre Beers …!

Breweries and manufacturers are constantly adapting and changing to the huge number of consumers who drink beer today, and will often try to invent innovative ideas for expanding their revenues and fan-base.

• Sometimes, however, breweries take this a little too far, such as in Cambodia, a popular beer is a Tarantula Brandy, containing rice liquor and “flavored” with dead tarantulas.
• Another example would be the Korean Baby Mouse Liquor, which is made with distilled rice spirits, blended with dead mice, and fermented for one year.
• Yet another example of bizarre beers is the Kwispelbier brand, produced from a small brewery in the Netherlands, and advertised as “a beer for your best friend.” Yes, it is a non-alcoholic beverage designed for dogs after Gerrie Berendsen, the inventor, wanted to refresh his dog after a day out hunting.

They’re not exactly beers which our customers request – thankfully!

However, we do stock an enviable range of beers, including Farnham’s best selection of 7 real ales. As a result the Shepherd & Flock regularly appears in the Camra Good Beer Guide.

And if you’re looking for that thirst quencher, we also have a choice of 5 top lagers.