Stella Artois - adverse effects?

That's exactly what I was going to post Lew. It's a 5% beer, so if you drink 10 pints of it you're going to get drunk, and if you're the sort of person that gets violent when they're drunk...

BTW, I've never heard Stella called 'wifebeater' here - crap, expensive etc. are more common terms. It's marketed as a premium beer, unlike in Belgium where it is an everyday session pilsner.

Best regards, Paul

-- Paul Sherwin Consulting

Well, the name does translate to English as Lone Star.

Cheers,

Steve

wrote in news:40f5bf29$0$6448$ snipped-for-privacy@news-text.dial.pipex.com:

I suppose forcing your taste buds to interact with Stella counts as an "adverse manner" in my book.

?? "Stella" translates into "star", in Latin (Stella started life as a Christmas pilsner). "Artois" is a family name, related to a region in North France-Flanders.

Whence the "lone"? Joris

So, you beat your wife no matter what you drink?

Brian

It's a joke. "Lone Star" refers to beer from Texas, legendary home of "Bubba the wife-beater." Bubba gets a little mean and nasty when he's drunk enough Lone Star beer. He's sort of a notorious Texas stereotype.

Here in Australia at least, compared to most other standard beers (local or imported), it has a slightly higher alcohol content. So if you go 1:1 with a mate or whatever, the bloke drinking Stella would be more pissed.

I get really monstrous hangovers after a night on Stella. That, coupled with the fact that is it horrendously expensive here, makes me drink it less than I'd like to.

-- "It's too late to be late again

Yes, this is another claim often made - "I get a worse hangover on Stella than anything else". I can't think of any scientific reason for this so I suspect it's another figment of their imagination. I asked a friend to clarify why Stella effects them more today, the answer was along the lines of "there's some chemical that it's got more of"! I have to agree with all the posts saying it's a load of rubbish, was hoping someone might suprise me with a strange fact or stat though...

Also, I didn't realise how unpopular Stella was - have to admit it's usually my choice of lager in a UK pub (typical draught lager choice is Kronenbourg, Carling, Grolsch, Stella). This is probably why I hear the evils of the drink from other people so much!

Cheers, Dan

I think "wifebeater" is a northern expression, I say this despite being from Southampton so am probably wrong! Certainly the majority of people in my age group (20's) seem to know the 'affectionate' nickname.

Cheers, Dan

Singha often gets accused of having formaldehyde in it. I did a piece on this (and a few other beer myths) for Beverage Business last year

and after talking to a brewing chemist I know, and the Boon Rawd folks, pretty much figure that 1)Singha is stronger than most beers in the area at 6%, and 2)Singha is distinctly hoppier than most "international lagers" like Stella, for instance. Strange taste from the hops, walloped by the higher alcohol, well, it can't be the drinker...must be the fooking formaldehyde in the Singha!

Sheesh...

Well, there's nothing I know of in Stella that would cause a worse hangover, but it's not entirely baseless to say "Beer X gives me a worse hangover."

There are some fermentation by-products that affect some people in such a fashion to make their hangovers worse. American Budweiser's yeast is well-known as a prodigious producer of acetaldehyde, which some people react to in such a way that it worsens their hangover (in fact, it's a chemical that naturally occurs in hangovers, so more of it certainly isn't going to help). Certain beers, such as some higher-alcohol Belgian beers (and I'm talking like 8-12 percent), can have higher levels of fusel alcohols that some people may also react poorly too.

But, yes, 9 times out of 10, the "I get a worse hangover" claim holds as much water as the "I get drunker from" claim. And, as I mentioned, to my knowledge Stella does not have unusual levels of either of those chemicals.

-Steve

A lot of it gets drunk, and I'd agree that it's probably the best draught lager available in a typical UK pub. I used to quite like UK brewed Kronenbourg (nothing to do with the French beers of the same name) but it's become very nondescript over the last few years.

Most people using this NG tend to be interested in specialist beers and won't be too sympathetic towards Interbrew industrial beers whatever they taste like.

Best regards, Paul

-- Paul Sherwin Consulting