sleemans
Canada Day in Trafalgar Square
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 | Events | 2 Comments
Turns out there is a giant Canada Day celebration in Trafalgar Square every year. It’s an all day event featuring a road hockey tournament during the day and a raucous concert in the evening. They even had Canadian beer! What beer did they choose to represent all of Canada to London? Sleeman‘s honey brown and genuine draft. Not what I would have chosen, but probably the most popular beer available nation wide in Canada. It was all gone by the time I showed up anyway and I had to drink Carlsberg, gross. Also on hand was Tim Horton‘s coffee and doughnuts, Mission Hill wine, and Bison burgers. This was no slouch of a party either, the concert featured Jully Black and the Hawksley Workman, among others. It was one of the better Canada Day celebrations I’ve ever been to, which is a bit sad. As a nation, we’re more interested in the day off than truly celebrating our nation. We’re just too polite to make a scene…
Canada Day in Trafalgar Square
The most amazing part of the evening for me involved one of the Canadians we were meeting turning up in a circa 1994 Gino Odjick Canuck jersey. There were thousands of drunk Canadians in Trafalgar Square that night and a good portion of them, most of the ones from BC at least, all stopped by to hug, pose with, or otherwise worship the Gino jersey. The first incident I saw involved an extremely attractive woman practically throwing herself at the Gino jersey. If you are a young single Canadian, I recommend showing up next year in a Gino (or suitable 1994 Canuck hero, Linden, Ronning, Mclean, Momesso, Adams, Babych and others not including Bure might do the trick) because you’ll be the toast of the town. I always knew the 1994 Canuck run was a big deal, but it pretty much defines my generation. If nothing else, we have that in common. It’s a bit embarassing though, what with us not even winning. Ginooo!
The Power of Gino is immense
After the celebration we decided to go to the Maple Leaf, the one Canadian bar in London. Guess what? So did everyone else and we didn’t get in. I’ve yet to check out the Maple Leaf, but I’ll get there and let you know how it goes.
Cheers,
Chris
Protect your beer from the sun
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 | Beer | 1 Comment
Have you ever been outside on a hot day and craved a cold beer ever so badly? I have and I can remember finding that first sip of ice cold Corona (with a lime) gloriously refreshing. Have you ever noticed how that same Corona doesn’t taste nearly so good a few minutes later? Note: noticing this might depend on how many Coronas you’ve already had. I’ve noticed, but I thought it had to do with the beer warming in the sun. Turns out I was wrong, the sun hates beer. It is an indisputable fact of science. Okay, I made that up, but the sun can turn a beer “skunky” in a matter of minutes. Scientists have noted that UV light interacts with certain hop byproducts found in beer. When UV light hits these chemicals they breakdown into the very same chemical that humans revile in the scent of actual skunks. Who knew? Turns out these scientists did.
Apparently humans are super sensitive to this chemical and can detect less than a milligram in a swimming pool. This is why you might find yourself enjoying your beer a little less if you’ve been out in the sun. I’m writing about this because I found myself turning my nose up at a glass of delicious beer this past weekend. I was really concerned there was something wrong with me until I recalled reading about the sun’s malicious intent in a recent issue of Beer Advocate. I figured I’d best blog about this and spread the word. This Summer, if you plan on drinking your favorite beer out of a clear glass or drinking Corona, Sleemans, Dead Frog, Heineken, or Stella Artois out of the bottle, shield your drinking vessel from the sun to preserve the taste.
Have you seen those Corona commercials where two people are sitting on a fabulous beach with their bottles of Corona? They are advertising skunky beer and I find that funny. If only you could taste ads, more people might be drinking quality BC microbrew, no lime required.
Cheers,
Chris
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