Apparently in 2000..But they may have left things alone for a while...Greene King can be guaranteed to bugger anything up...although I drank 'Abbot' a few weeks ago and it didn't give me the headache that it always did in the seventies.
For a while, back in the '70s, I drank Tolly Cobold. This gave me headaches, and a friend said it was because they used 'potato starch'. It was a cost saving measure introduced by the end of ww2, but I don't think any breweries still do this. Abbot Ale was a great beer in the 70s but Greene King is now an enormous business, so who knows. These days my 'drinking-at-home' beer is bottled Greene King IPA because it tastes good, its not too hoppy and not too strong. Also when in a pub, I scan the hand pumps for the lowest %alcohol figure! Does anyone actually like Proper Job? To me, its so hoppy that I'd probably be happier drinking gnat repellent!
I discovered this seasonal ale from Louisiana recently. I am on my third six pack at the moment. Fits in nice with my desired ABV.
In the 80's I drank Holden's Golden by the barrel collected from the brewery behind the pub in Tipton for parties.. Local beer was Marston's Pedigree. We became more sophisticated when the children started to arrive so drank quality French red Wines Chateaux Margaux & Burgundies and Barolo at Christmas. After four children and a suspected heart attack its the odd French/Italian red. Right now and until next Wednesday it soft drinks only, I'm on antibiotics. On Wednesday we will sample the Port and drink coffee laced with Navy Rum on cold nights. It was a new day yesterday but an old day now.
In my younger days I found that a couple of glasses of New York Iced Tea (aka Long Island Iced Tea) was a perfect way to get into a partying mood. Despite its name, this is a truly intercontinental beverage: equal doses of five white spirits (rum, gin, vodka, tequila and triple sec aka Curaçao), lime juice and cane syrup, topped up with Coke (the liquid, brownish variety...) on the rocks in a large glass. When done properly it actually tastes like regular iced tea, which might be a problem because it goes down just as easily since the somewhat substantial alcoholic content is not felt (not initially, that is). Beats the modern energy drinks in my opinion. Michel
A truly devastating sneak attack of a drink. 'I've not had much, only a few Long Islands.' Oh... See also White Russians. Re-aquired a taste for cider of late (Capt. S and Somerset's fault). Now also recalling partly why I stopped. Goes down too easy.
If I could get Somerset ciders in Canada I'd be in real trouble Most recently I've been drinking Deinhard Green Label white wine - that's a sweeter German wine from the Mosel area which is very easy to drink - and sometimes after-dinner drams of Laphroaig.
Devastating is also how I'd describe Long Island Iced Teas. I've never had one but I've seen the effects many times. Many years ago a buddy passed out at a bar after a few of them. They propped him up on a stool against the wall and decorated him with flashing lights from the Christmas tree. Another one from the same era is the Kamikaze. I saw a guy down several of them, go out to his 370 HP Z28, start it up and pass out with the engine running and the doors locked. Very fortunate on many levels.
Seconded. I went through a mercifully brief period in college (uni to you) when I drank too much. This was generally because a) I wanted liquid courage to get somewhere with chicks or b) I wanted liquid solace because I wasn't getting anywhere with chicks. This was the 80s and the Iced Tea was a very fashionable drink at the time. I have not had one in several decades now and am not anxious to start having them again. Pure potable oblivion, non compos mentis in a glass.
To absent friends. Ron, Tom, Gerry, Joe et. al, wherever they may be. (In the spirit of the thread, and in defence against accusations of maudlin tendencies: It's Vodka, Tequila & Coke. It is sort of Christmas after all.)