budvar

This from a guy who has dedicated his life to watching yeast grow. **Heh.

Not that anyone cares, but Belgium may well be the first European country I visit. For the beer culture, the food, and the rest of that hoo-ha.

"Jon Binkley" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

It's The Culture, not The Beer?

The Culture can apparently be found at a college campus near you.

What I got from the article you referenced is that the CR appears to be a fratboy paradise. "One of the best beers I ever had was..." I don't see it. I await it, but I don't see it.

So you've actually been to the CR?

Scott

"Jon Binkley" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Belgium heads my list of places that I have not been to visit just for the beer.

Scott

If ever I was going visit a place just for the beer, Belgium would be #1 for me too. But unless I stumble upon a lot more time and money then I ever expect to have, I'll never visit a place just for beer. (Well, at least not a place

You sure you read the article? 'Cause he specifically singles out that kind of "culture" as coming solely from the tourists seeking cheap beer, not the locals.

Guess I'm a sucky writer then. That's not what I found in the Republic at all...except when I ran into Brits sucking down cheap beer as fast as they could, a phenomenon I blame on British beer taxes, not Czech beer culture.

Guess I blew it.

"Jon Binkley" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

Pretty sure.

Well f*ck me in the ass. That changes everything.

Scott

I avoid it because it's a bit simple and sweet.

There are, what, 200-some countries in the world. I can think of three immediately that I would say are better beer destinations than the CR: Belgium, Germany and England (yes, I know it's not a country, but the rest of the UK doesn't measure up). After that? CR looks pretty good, along with probably the US, maybe Austria and Ireland.

Let's see, in the top five or 10 out of 200-some countries.

Looks like, at least numerically speaking, it *is* one of the greatest beer destinations in the world.

So, England is the better beer country because you like their type of ubiquitous samebeer more than the Czechs' type of ubiquitious samebeer? Got it.

That wasn't even sporting.

Or for anything else, really. Well, some Cuban food.

To be honest, there are precious few places on the planet I consider it worth going just for the beer. In fact, I can think of exactly one: Düsseldorf. Some interesting bits to the city, but overall missable. Except for the beer. Other great beer cities, like Cologne or Brussels or Munich or Manchester or San Francisco have plenty of other things going on (art, arhcitecture, history, food, nightlife, geography, etc.) things going on that would make them worth visiting without the beer. While I certainly make beer-oriented trips, I'm not interested in going anywhere strictly for the beer anymore. Just like I'm not going to go to an uninteresting pub just because it has a good beer on. I want an enjoyable place to enjoy my beer. Which is why I only come up with Düsseldorf on my list of places where beer is the reason for going.

No more or less than your precious England. No more or less than pretty much every country on the planet, except Belgium, the U.S. and Canada.

-Steve, rising to the bait

That makes sense. I could come up with a similar sort of rationale for why I haven't made it to Spain, and am not likely to anytime soon. I'd like to visit Spain. I like pretty much every last bit of Spanish food I've had, Barcelona sounds like a great place, I'd love to see the Guggenheim in Bilbao, etc., but it's just not as urgent as other places on that continent to me. It's not that it doesn't have other great stuff to offer; I'm just more anxious to see other places' stuff.

So, yeah, disregard my earlier post. Except the part where I call you a pussy. That applies just on principle.

-Steve

Because the beer sucks, of course. C'mon, give me a difficult one next time. (Alternative smart-ass answer: 'cause I don't have to dodge the goddamn pickpockets when I'm in Germany.) Mind you, I'd like to check out Südtirol (aka Alto Adige) to see some of that former-Austrian culture. Florence and Venice, them too. Rome? Naples? Sicily? Maybe. Maybe not. I'm gonna go to Krakow first anyway - this summer.

Yes. And will continue to have, probably. I might get around to Italy one of these days, along with Greece and the Croatian coast, 'specially Dubrovnik. Mediterranean-wise, I've been to Portugal, Spain, and southwestern France so far. Neat places, yep. But when it comes to affinity for culture and all that, well... let's just say that my favorite part of France will probably always be the Alsace.

Sucks to be you, then. (insert emoticon as needed.)