TOBACCO CHAT

Apologies to those of you have been revisiting all week to find an update on my planned chat with a tobacco company representative and found nothing but silence.

The representative was going to write a post for this blog about several things that are being done by the industry to help the consumer but was then told to hold back because of certain things that are happening. Letting the cat out of the bag could well prove to be counter productive and I wouldn't want to be responsible for that.

I am assured, however, that as soon as something can be said, it will be said. The chat in general perked me up a bit and I felt a bit more positive that the latest assault on smokers - the tobacco display ban and plain packaging - can be fought and won.

The other reason for the lack of blogging has been my painful arm and needing it for use during a very busy working time which has meant resting it in my own time. I did ring my GP and was offered an appointment I couldn't take because of work. I asked for today when I'm free but was then told the computer didn't go that far ahead in the diary but if I rang today then the doctor would asses if I needed an appointment or not.

I hadn't even told the receptionist was what was wrong with me. I was flabbergasted and an involuntary mock snigger was given in response. I just said I'd get in touch another day. My cynical level then shot up about 100 notches of disbelief.

Dontcha just love the NHS that, here at least, has got to the point that they don't think we're even bright enough to know when we are ill or that we do actually need to see our doctor.

I hear our local A&E pretty much throws you out unless you're on the brink of immediate death these days but there is a walk in centre in town. I'll have to check if I can go because I live out of town and then just grin and bear the four hours or so waiting time to be seen.

That will have to wait until I'm free again which won't be anytime soon. I am covering full time at a local paper for, hopefully, not much more than another month. I can't take time off because if the cover is off then where does that leave the paper that needs the cover, and where would it leave a freelance like me that has no employee rights to be off sick?

In addition, our local election campaign for UKIP has been launched and as official press secretary, it has taken up a lot of my time which would normally be spent here and there is so much more to do yet.

Please do keep visiting the blog because at some point there will be a post from the tobacco company representative - don't expect the earth because this fight now is little bit by little bit but every move we make is going the right way - and there will be times when painful arm or not, a good old rant cannot be suppressed.

If anyone wants to post articles, links, news, or any other item of interest on this blog during my intermittent absences, then let me know.

Blowing hot and cold

A problem with drinking bottled ales at home is getting them at the right temperature. Ideally, ales are meant to be served at around 10-12°C (50-55°F), which equates to a natural cellar temperature, but certainly isn’t fridge-cold. But that can be very difficult to recreate in the home, especially in the summer, something that the recent warm spell has underlined. Room temperature is much too warm, but if you put the bottles in the fridge for too long, they get lager-cold and lose much of their appeal. Ideally, you need to put them in the fridge for 60-90 minutes, but that demands a lot of forward planning.

The other day I drank a bottle of Samuel Smith’s Old Brewery Pale Ale which had been in the fridge too long, and the flavour didn’t really come out until I got near the bottom of the glass. Maybe this is the kind of rich, malty beer that most loses character from being too warm, but even so it wouldn’t be right at room temperature. Is this a deterrent to ale drinking at home? Should fridges maybe be equipped with a “cellar cool” section maintaining 50°F?

How important is size for you?

Well, the bottle size poll has now closed. The question was “At what strength do you prefer beers in 330ml bottles rather than 500ml?” There were 79 responses, broken down as follows:

5.0% or lower: 10 (13%)
5.5%: 11 (14%)
6.0% : 12 (15%)
6.5% : 4 (5%)
7.0% : 14 (18%)
7.5% : 8 (10%)
8.0% : 2 (2%)
8.5% or higher: 18 (23%)

So a long way from a “normal” distribution there – as Phil said in the comments, “the spread of answers to this one *really* surprised me - you could get pretty much the same thing by rolling a dice.” Basically, there seem to be three groups:

1. People who think 330ml is an acceptable bottle size for beers of quite moderate strength that you might well drink a pint of in the pub
   
2. Those who think there should be a clear cut-off point around the 7.0% or 7.5% mark, above which increasing strength does make the smaller bottle size sensible. I went for 7.5%, by the way
   
3. Those who think that everything should be available in pints, or near pints, and possibly dismiss all those who disagree as wimps. These formed the biggest single group - and I know included both The Hearty Goodfellow and Tyson

Discuss...

Bear in mind this was intended to refer to British or German beers that you might reasonably expect to find in both sizes, not those that by tradition are always sold in the smaller size.