X-rated Bob wrote:
deefstes wrote:
1) We don't have decent beer in South Africa so there's no surprise that I've never enjoyed it much.
Here I disagree. The picture is changing and quite quickly now. The first true alternative was Mitchell's.
+1
Oh yeah, I recall that first Raven stout I had about 21 years ago - Hmmmmm, still as good as I remember. Sheesh, they even used to stock it at the local Makro in 2L bottles. I reckon before the 'net you needed to invest some time in finding decent beer (e.g. not SAB) - now it's easy, leagueofbeers, iratebeer/ratebeer, et al - Popping into the PnP Liquor store last week turned up a 2L of Forrestors draught!
Although, I do miss the treasure hunt of 'discovering' a craft beer by accident, like when I first walked into the Firkin in Cpt for lunch the one day - a few weeks later we rented out the upstairs bar for the night and drained a few kegs - bliss.
deefstes wrote:
But to illustrate my ignorance, I've never understood champagne either and I still don't.
I don't much understand champagne either - aside from the fact I enjoy it - perhaps the carbonation works for me, where wine generally doesn't. Sampled a few good bottles during my time in euro land & since done a few tours around the Western Cape wine routes, imho there are some good Cap Classique's produced locally. JC Le Roux in Stellenbosch is a excellent place to start - I was surprised by the setup there, quite professional, much more than some over-sweetened, sparkling grape juice that I expected. Villeria, Solms-Delta and a good few other farms are producing fine stuff as well.
Not much into spirit's. Brandy has it moments, particularly the smoother KWV's (20y/o), occasionally a Irish whiskey (Bushmills10 y/o or Connemara) or American style bourbon (Makers Mark) will go down nicely - but I just can't get into the Scottish single malts. I must be heathen :?
Have a grand loooong w/e all!
