Beer, Thy Name Is Legion

The number and variety of different types of beer here is nearly overwhelming; in addition to the zillions of national brands, each region has its own oddball local varieties. Here is a shot from the "Beer Wall" at Waitrose, the local supermarket. Just imagine this same sequence of bottles covering an entire wall for another 10 yards.



At this point I have really only tried a few, so it is hard to draw any firm conclusions about British beer. The ale served in pubs is good, but also rather flat and somewhat warmer than I like it (I realize that it is heresy here in the UK to want your glass of ale served at the same temperature as lager, but so be it).

Here is photo I took while running some errands on Lensfield road the other day (another advantage of biking: if you see something interesting, you can just pull over wherever you want and take a photo). I'm not quite sure why, but there is something about entertaining about this sign...



The UK does indeed seem like a generally more boozy society than the US; there is certainly plenty to suggest this when you read in newspapers and various books about national alcohol consumption habits. If I remember the statistics, the UK has around 60 million people, with something like 60 thousand pubs-- one for every thousand people (sometimes it seems that you can't go anywhere without bumping into a pub). On the other hand, I think the pubs mainly function as a social gathering place, as opposed to strictly a drinking spot. When people bemoan the closing of their local (something that happens a lot) it's not because they go there to drink-- they want to be able to bump into their friends and/or neighbors.