Beer

 Beer.

Well, where do we begin. I have had a love affair with beer since ~ 1987, which was about when I went for a sleepover with Cam Craig, we went out to Newton (in Singapore), I got drunk, and spewed all over his bedroom. Great start. I didn't drink much again until the end of Y12 in Cobram - at our EOY party I teamed up with Mick Carey and nailed a bottle of Jim Beam. Boy oh boy was that an error. I got so drunk I probably should have gone to hospital. I was such a mess.

Lessons learned? Hmm, not really. At university I was a bit more reserved usually, but that was mainly due to financial constraints. I remember fondly the old "Wacky Wednesday" sessions with Jim Moore and a few others from time to time. Then there was mining in the west as a young, single man, with money in his pocket for the first time ever. Yep, plenty of years of boozing around then too! Then the expat lifestyle in SE Asia, and it goes on and on.

Ok, I make myself sound like a chronic alcoholic. Medically-speaking I possibly am, but it has been a long time since I have ever been drunk. I do not like getting drunk, and am especially adverse to hangovers these days. I just drink because I enjoy it. Over the years I have tried most things, but while I am ok with wine and spirits, those are very much once-in-a-blue-moon drinks. The only daily tipple I am happy with is beer, pure and simple.

Now that I am 50, and frankly for a few years now, I avoid full strength beer. Otherwise I'm in bed far too early! And as I said, I no longer like to get drunk. Unfortunately though, most light or mid-strength beer tastes like water, so it has been a bit of a journey trying to find the beer I want. So I thought I'd do a bit of research, and put a few options together to see what works. See table below:

The main criteria I have are as follows;

1. Needs to be 3.5% or less alcohol - I get too tipsy drinking even that on a big session, so preferably less. But still needs to have some "bite".
2. Needs to be 80-100 calories or less for 375ml equivalent - any more and I may as well stick with my old faithful Carlton Light.
3. Needs to be available in Australia, preferably in most bottleshops, but will consider online if the calorie saving is good enough.
4. Needs to be full-flavoured, preferably bitter, but we'll give anything a go. No cordials.
5. Needs to be available in a can, I am just not a stubbie guy.

There are probably other beers out there, but they are simply not that easy to find. For comparison purposes, I have put the last three full strength beers I used to drink at the bottom of the table. In the case of Tiger and Bintang it was more being a captive audience than making a choice, as in Asia, they really don't do light beer. Even San Mig Lite is only light because of calories - it's still 5% alcohol. when I was drinking T&B though, 40% and 50% more calories. Yikes! Good thing it was so damn hot so I was always sweating so much. But my body shape reflected my consumption back then, as one would expect.

So putting the FS ones aside, that leaves the six light and mid-strength options, with the top one being my current drink. Carlton Light is a damn fine tasting beer, but it's not always that easy to get, with the main shops not stocking it. Not popular enough I suppose? When covid was on and supply chain issues were a thing, CUB even stopped making it for a while as they had to ration aluminium for cans, dropping off the less popular products. 

Of the rest, the PB, the Cooper's, the SML and the Beck's all come only in stubbies. Whilst I will drink a stubbie if handed one, I really prefer cans. Yes, PB mid is tempting because it is seriously less carbs than the CL or GN. But I just don't enjoy drinking it. It is interesting to note that the Great Northern has the same calories as the Carlton Light, so in future I don't need to feel guilty about buying it when I can't get the Carlton Light. 

This is probably a very boring post for anyone except me. It has been something on my mind for a while though, so I'm glad I worked through it. I'm happy to stick to Carlton Light, and supplement with Great Northern as needs be. Which is just as well, as other choices are limited! Might try a hard seltzer or two going forward though...