Isn't soda pop already kids beer, kinda? Plus soda provides a sugar/caffeine buzz where this provides nothing.

I'll bet it's better than Bud, Miller, Coors, or what-have-you megabrew. At least, it can't have less flavor, even if it has no alcohol.

It has sugar and guarana.

"If you get this drink ready on such occasions as events and celebrations attended by kids, it would make the occasions even more entertaining."

So does just letting 'em have beer! Do not do this.

When I was about 8 or so, my dad was helping my brother and I twist up the swings so we could spin in them until we got dizzy. Then we crossed that subtle line between fun and "oh my god stop I'm going to be sick!"

He got all serious and said "That's what it's like if you get (too) drunk." "Why in the hell would anyone want to get drunk?!" we said. He just kind of shrugged.

It wasn't until years and years later I understood what he was talking about, and it only made that moment so much worse. "Oh, God, please make the ground stop moving. Please oh please!! I promise I'll never drink again. Maybe...

Like me, "even kids cannot stand life unless they have a drink."

I'll bet it's better than Bud, Miller, Coors, or what-have-you megabrew.

Y'know, I went through my whole microbrew phase, but I've come to the conclusion that a lot of it is just companies justifying overpriced suds and consumers using pretension to justify getting bombed. Onece you realize that, the cheap available beers don't seem so terrible anymore.

NTM, it wasn't so long ago that Heineken was considered a fancy, upscale beer. But as it got popular, it got cheaper and it's cachet with the hipoisie diminished and more pretentious and expensive beverages had to be created. Keeping up with all that crap is a) tiresome, b) expensive, and c) ultimately part of an ongoing quest to convince oneself that one is "different," or "special." I have no time or desire for that anymore.

That's why I favor Schlitz in a can, jonmc.

"Ray, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you missed a whole week's work-"

"-But I can Explain-"

"No Ray. No explanation's necessary. It's your drinking. It's gotten out of control. Let's face it Ray - you're a girl drink drunk. We've gotta let you go."

Girl drink drunk
*clap*clap* *clap*
Girl drink drunk
*clap*clap* *clap*

I've come to the conclusion that a lot of it is just companies justifying overpriced suds and consumers using pretension to justify getting bombed.

I agree if the objective is to get bombed. But I tend to only drink a couple of beers with food, so I'm more interested in the flavor. There is a huge variety of flavor profiles outside of BudMillerCoors, but not so much inside (however, even they make some decent beers on smaller labels). Drink whatever makes you happy, financially or otherwise, for whatever reason. But, if you're really going to argue that it all tastes the same, I call foul.

I have to quibble with this, too:

more pretentious and expensive beverages had to be created.

This is backwards. Historically speaking, the "international lager" style perpetrated by the larger brewers is much newer than many other traditional styles that were rediscovered (and in some cases, yes, reinvented) by smaller brewers. I think the idea that other styles of brew are new and fancy is largely an artifact of the circumstance that Americans have little historical knowledge of beer history predating the end of prohibition.

Tell you what, next time I see you, you buy a round, and I buy a round, then we'll all be happy.

But, if you're really going to argue that it all tastes the same, I call foul.

I'm not arguing that, and there's even a few microbrews that I'll indulge in when I'm flush. I just get annoyed at all the BS what's-the-cool-beer-this-week, I-can't-be-seen-sipping-Budweiser posturing surrounding it. It's like a buncha chicks getting catty over eachother's shoes or hipsters trying to outdo eachother with how "cutting edge" their favorite bands are. I hate trendiness, one-upmanship and exclusivity. And that's what the whole microbrew phenomenon eventually became.

I'm really not trying to be argumentative, jonmc, but I have never been party to that phenomenon. And I drink a lot of microbrews, with people who love beer plain and simple. Hell, I homebrewed for years in New Zealand. And I'll drink whatever's around, a lot of the time. Last night mr. gaspode and I went out and drank Natty lights all night. Different occasions call for different beers.

Maybe I just don't hang out with wankers, I dunno.

I hate trendiness, one-upmanship and exclusivity.
Yeah, me too, and I've hated it ever since it first came out. Some 10 years before you'd even heard of it. :-)

You know though, seriously, Americans, your mega-brew beer is pretty crap. I mean the mass-market stuff up here is pretty bad, but the last time I was down there, I got a bud, and I thought it was a practical joke! It tasted like soapy water! Foamy over-carbonated soapy water.

Yeah, me too, and I've hated it ever since it first came out. Some 10 years before you'd even heard of it. :-)

Pfft, I was hating it back in '76, at CBGB's.

I'm really not trying to be argumentative, jonmc, but I have never been party to that phenomenon.

Well, whenever you hear some self-appointed beer expert talk, he always starts off with some wisecrack about "mass marketed American swill like Budweiser.." It's not the best beer in the world,s ure, but it's what I grew up drinking, and it's cheap and drinkable.

Maybe I just don't hang out with wankers, I dunno.

I don't either, but I'll chew the fat with just about anybody, which introduces the danger of higher wanker ratio.

You know though, seriously, Americans, your mega-brew beer is pretty crap.

It's designed for different purposes than the fancy stuff; quantity drinking for intoxication rather than sniffing and sipping it as if it were a bottle of wine.

I hate trendiness, one-upmanship and exclusivity. And that's what the whole microbrew phenomenon eventually became.

Isn't that what happens to everything in New York? I am terminally untrendy and I live in an untrendy city; I do most of my drinking at home or at low-key events at friends' places. I tend to prefer strongly-flavored beer, is all. My waistline being what it is, I prefer not to waste the calories on less interesting stuff. Also, I don't think I cast any aspersions on anyone based on their choice of beer; please afford me the same courtesy.

ok, I'll buy the first round.

The only people whose beer drinking I mock are those that deliberately drink beer that *they themselves don't like* purely to save a few calories.

You are all (except Hugh) missing the point, the slogan is "even kids cannot stand life unless they have a drink." That is the most awesome thing ever forever ever ever.


You all know where I stand on the other thing, do you know what I drank last night?


EVERYTHING! Holy shit. Also I capped it off with a shot of Patron, which was totally uncalled for. Then I called the dude at the deli "Ya Habbi" which means "Oh beloved one", 'cause he had ordered Newcastle and I bought a six pack of Newcastle and I didn't drink it because I was already drunk.

All beer is good, some beer is just gooder than other beer.

But if anyone wants to argue they can try to convince me that the overhopped American Microbrew along the lines of Sam Adams isn't gross. Of course I'll take one if you're buying.

Metachat: All beer is good, some beer is just gooder than other beer.

What I drink at home...
What I drink on the night out...

If it's wet and weak and it doesn't taste too strong, then I like it. 'nuff said.

Considering that people can't even agree on the temparature or amount of head on a beer, this conversations going to go nowhere fast. If you like drinking it (for whatever reasons), that has to be fine.

On the pretentiousness thing; You don't get many people saying, "Hey, look at that person over there - They're wearing those clothes because they make him look good. He's not even bothered about how warm and dry and comfortable they keep him. What an idiot."

Metachat:
o You are all missing the point
o even kids cannot stand life unless they have a drink
o please afford me the same courtesy
o it's cheap and drinkable
o this provides nothing
o I'll bet it's better than Bud, Miller, Coors
o it would make the occasions even more entertaining
o It's like a buncha chicks getting catty over eachother's shoes

You missed one, capn:

o introduces the danger of higher wanker ratio

"If you get this drink ready on such occasions as events and celebrations attended by kids, it would make the occasions even more entertaining."

Yeah man, drunk kids at a wedding - how funny would that be? "See the bride? I could have had her if I wasn't six years old"

I went through the whole I-only-drink-microbrews thing, which is easy to do here, since I live in a city of 70,000 that is lucky/trendy/hippie weird enough to have four microbreweries. I still prefer the taste but I don't like being non-functional hungover in the morning, and that's what was happening. So now I have one "good" beer to start for the taste and then I switch to PBR or Rolling Rock. Because I can drink those all night long and still feel okay in the morning. I don't know if it's the higher alcohol content or the sugar or the hops or the darker color or what, but I can't just sit around drinking microbrews without paying for it the next day.

Oh and gaspode will laugh at me, snif. I am on the diet rollercoaster and go through phases where I drink Michelob Light only, even though, yes, it's swill. But not as swilly as most light beers, like, god forbid, Amstel light, which is gruesome.

Also, back on topic, I don't think caffeine/guarana is good for kids.

mgl: why not just not drink beer when you are dieting?

/sacrilage

I don't think caffeine/guarana is good for kids.

This explains a lot. My childhood diet consisted entirely of caffeine.

What, no food and no beer? Aaaauuuugggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

*suddenly remembers why dieting never sounded like fun*