Way back when I visited England, I remember seeing a tanker truck with Watney’s on the side parked outside a pub, with a hose going from the truck to the inside. Now THAT’s mass consumption.
Are you sure? That’s how we empty our septic tanks here. There was probably very little difference in quality, flavour or alcohol content between Grotney’s beer and the contents of a septic tank anyway! 
I’ve never even heard of watneys.
Emmline’s post just made me wish it was easter so I could buy Lindt bunnies again. Yum.
A chip shop here deep fried easter eggs one year. Sometimes I despair about this country and it’s deep fat friers.
Although it is funny when we play Italy at football (mind you it’ll be a while before I look back to Saturday’s game and laugh) and the Scottish fans chant “We’re gonna deep fry your pizzas!”
Actually, they do deep-fry pizzas. It’s called panzerotti.
djm
Watneys breweries had their heyday in the 60s and 70s during which time they mass-produced horrible, sterilized fizzy keg beers such as Red Barrel and Watney’s Special Bitter. The Special had an alcohol content of 2.2% 
and Red Barrel was only slightly stronger. The Special could be had in four-pint “party cans” which many an underage boozer (yours truly included) would have to find something like a screwdriver to punch a hole in to get at the insipid brew within (you couldn’t take it home to get the can-opener as you didn’t want your mum and dad to find out what you were up to!) You could go out and drink ten pints yet still feel strangely un-pissed. Watneys did the nation a favour in the final analysis by forcing the foundation of CAMRA (Campaign For Real Ale), of which the star was the late, lamented Richard Boston.
Yeah, there was another label on the truck too, obviously a distributor. What’s that one, with “Brown” in the name??? The name escapes me at the moment..
I mean, for me, a Monty Python fan, seeing Watney’s Red Barrel was a kick. But it didn’t mean I was gonna drink the stuff…
Watney’s Brown. I forgot about that one! Brown Ale usually came in bottles and the draught equivalent is Mild. You’ve gotta like your beer decidedly on the less hoppy, sweet side to enjoy mild, though good pints of mild have not been impossible to find.
Uh oh.
Hmm.. mighta been Newcastle Brown Ale.. that name popped up in the cranium. 1985. Long time ago.
Y’all need to find yourselves a bottle of Traquair House Ale.
Ok, it’s Scottish, not British - but at least it’s a good Ale from the UK.
I dug up my ancient tasting notes…
Tasting Notes:
Light carbonation, low head retention and no lace. Deeply warm copper brown color.
Luscious sweet aroma with caramel and butter toffee notes, and a tannic undertone like roasted pecans.
The body is medium heavy and lastingly smooth.
The flavor holds layer on layer of lush malts, sweetness, followed by caramel, followed by pecan praline, followed by yum. This is killer stuff. Imagine the beer equivalent to an excellent New York cheesecake on graham cracker crust topped with caramel. And so well balanced with a malt bitterness to keep it from being cloying. Finishes with a beautiful bittersweet smoothness.
Overall impression: This is a Scottish Ale that kicks ass. The flavor delivers on what the aroma promises. Rich, lush, and robust.
Serve it with: Long roasted and richly herbed leg of lamb or veal shank. Garlic mashed potatoes, and broccoli and grilled carrots. I already described desert.
This is age old fun: http://www.beancurdturtle.com/oldsite/mybeertaste.htm
Er, for the moment at least, we’re still part of Britain.
There’s also no shortage of good ales in the UK.
I think I’ve seen cans of Watneys on Life On Mars. The opening with a screwdriver rings a bell.
Ah, Newky Brown, the Famous Blue Star! I never went for the stuff meself, preferring a pint of Newcastle Exhibition, which was a passable pint indeed. The fad in the late 60s and early 70s was to swig Newky Brown straight from the bottle whilst other beer-drinkers drank from jugs (those dimply glasses with handles). Funny how drinking straight from the bottle has become very trendy these days, though the stuff usually so-consumed is nearly always some ghastly pale continental fizz or the abominations known as alcopops. More of an affectation if you ask me, rather like young girls unable to go anywhere unless they’re clutching a bottle of mineral water, but I suppose it saves the pub some washing up!
True that, I meant “not English.” Clumsy of me.
America’s best kept brewing secret:
http://www.yuengling.com
(We dont let tourists get a hold of this stuff… 
)
factoid:
100 years ago, there were more breweries per capita in Philly than anywhere else in the western world. We even have a section called ‘Brewerytown’.
Yes, and no. If you have a natural foods store nearby (which I do, thank God), you can get some good old Green & Blacks (of which I’m sure you would be appreciative 
). There are some other brands as well that aren’t too bad…we have Lindt (the dark kind is best) and even Dagoba isn’t too bad. Free Trade makes some with bits of coffee in it too, and it’s tolerable. But for the most part, we are totally devoid of anything even remotely edible in terms of chocolate here in the US. Which is why I make you lot send me over some from time to time
Honestly, I didn’t know there was much of a difference in chocolate from country to country until I received a bunch of it from London. We have Cadbury here, but it’s nothing compared to what you all have over there. Those Dairy Milks, and the Galaxy Ripples and that one that’s dark chocolate that’s wicked awesome…even the caramel Cadbury bars aren’t nearly as sweet as they are over here. Good grief…now I’m dying for a good piece of chocolate. But basically unless you want to find a natural foods store for something actually good, you’re stuck with a piece of really sweet wax that remotely resembles chocolate.
From a chocolate to a beer thread. Wow.
I am of the anti-corn syrup crowd. Very anti-corn syrup.
Love dark chocolate.
Ok…nevermind. I’m not wanting chocolate so much now. That stuff has got to be the worst stuff ever created. What’s even worse than the taste, however, is the fact that people actually BUY it! That is a scary fact in of itself.
You can get Nukies over here now too. As for something domestic in terms of beer that’s tolerable, Saranac makes a good Imperial IPA that’s fairly good…a bit hoppy, but still good. Longtrail out of Vermont is also good…although they do tend to have some odd flavors like blackberry wheat.
But the best stuff, at least in my not so humble opinion is the brew we just made a couple of weeks ago. I just opened a bottle of it last night…the best stuff I’ve had in a while! Since what we tend to have over here is no better than cold urine, if you want something good without having to pay way too much, make it yourself. Brewing is easy, cost efficient, and well worth the efforts when you have that first bottle (and each subsequent bottle afterwards).
Actually not that suprising, I’ve tasted many an ale with a hint of chocolate about it.
goes to investigate home brew kits on Amazon to stick on his christmas wish list
Things better be cat proof…