This graphic was made by my mate Timbo as a tribute to the balanced diet I enjoyed while living in the UK. I highly recommend adherance to the inverted food pyramid for all sports fans trying to maintain peak couch fitness through the Rugby World Cup.
Sticking this one out is actually less work than you might imagine – I find pre-marinated Ribs from the supermarket are minimal fuss and T-Bones on the BBQ also go pretty well especially now that we’re coming into Spring.
With this blog being about Beer and Sport, there’s no way I could let this story pass through to the keeper.
It seems that Matthew Hoggard has been working with the boffins at Marston’s Brewery and they’ve come up with a new ale named after the big fella – Hoggy’s Night Wathcman Ale.
“I can recommend a pint of Nightwatchman. It’s the perfect way to unwind after a day’s play. It doesn’t get better than having a beer named after you.” – claims Hoggard, clearly having forgotten the open topped busses and knighthoods of 2005.
Potentially forseeing the danger of Boony bringing up a 52 beer challenge, Hoggy’s ‘Blonde Full-Bodied Ale’ has been brewed to the weak as piss alcohol content of 3.8%. Interestingly this is still more than the acclaimed Nightwatchman’s List A average of 3.58!
Marston’s became the official beer of the England cricket team last year and toured with the national side during the Ashes in Australia. In September last year, the brewer placed tongue-in-cheek notices in major Australian newspapers lamenting the ‘death’ of Australian cricket – before England went on to lose the series in a whitewash.
Marston’s has also signed a three-year deal to become the official supplier of beer to English test match grounds.
Fosters Australia have recently decided to drop the alcohol percentage of VB from 4.9% to 4.8%, and are expecting to save $20m a year in excise tax. Additionally they are increasing the cost of their beers by 2%, no doubt forecasting massive rewards for their shareholders.
One thing the marketing bigwigs at Fosters may not have counted on however is the ill-will this will cause in VB drinkers who will no doubt see this as a blatant money grab.
Just last week I was getting some work done on my outboard motor by a mechanic in exchange for a case of beer. I asked him what he wanted, to which he replied “VB”, only for one of his workmates to say “Hey you don’t want that shit VB, the c*nts are dropping the alcohol in it”. He settled for Carlton Draught, and with just that one small business switching over VB have lost around 6 cases of beer a week.
I find it that a company who’ve spent so much on market research in the past can honestly believe that people drink VB for the taste! Seriously, this is the funniest thing I’ve heard since the Bulls smashed the Eddie Jones’ Reds 92-3 in Pretoria.
“It certainly doesn’t affect the taste, which is very important to our VB drinkers,” VB spokesman Ben Wicks said. “The taste will stay exactly the same. Our master brewers have done a lot of work to make sure of that.” Source
NEWSFLASH: VB is drunk by tradesmen and labourers for the express purpose of getting shitfaced.
By my calculations the new formula VB is 2% weaker than the iconic 4.9% edition, which in terms of alcohol intake equates to one beer in every two cases. When you also take into account the 2% price hike, it’s fair to say that Fosters are now selling a 23 beer box.
How long before they reverse this decision?