I drink a lot of beer. I know that surprises nobody.
When it comes to beer, I am not a connoisseur; I’m an over indulger. For the most part, I don’t care what beer I’m drinking as long as it’s cold and not revolting. Is that really my standard? Well, yeah…
While the craft beer revolution has been embraced by many people, I have rejected it. When you drink as much beer as I do, the last thing you want is a tasty, interesting beer. I need my beer to taste like nothing in particular, so that I can continue to drink ten a day. Amazing hoppy finish? No thanks. Rich flavours of fruit and berries? Fuck, no. Complex palate of malt and smoked wood? I’d rather not.
Having said that, I still have my faves. In Australia, in Sydney, I will tend to drink Coopers green. When I’m up north, I’ll drink XXXX Gold. I’m genuinely not a snob about beer. In the UK, I will ask for “your cheapest lager, please.”
I just ask that a beer be drinkable, not astonishing.
In the Philippines, I’ve become a fast convert to San Miguel Light. Despite the name, it is not a light beer; it is 5%. The Light, I think, relates to the colour itself. It’s a refreshing if uninteresting lager – exactly my favourite kind of beer. An acquaintance on Facebook told me it was a crap beer, for which I thanked him for his unsolicited opinion, and then he unfriended me. Fucking right wing snowflake.
Anyway, the past week, I’ve been back in Croatia, which means I’m drinking my old friend Ozujsko! In my life, I have drunk a lot of Ozujsko. My good friend G will tell me it’s a terrible beer and loves to give me all sorts of grief, but let me tell you something super cool about Ozujsko.
When the beer is cold, the label turns blue.
In my books, that’s almost reason enough to drink it.
