DISQUS

Fosters is most definitely NOT the best beer Australia has to offer and I think you'd be hard pressed to find Australians who actually drink it. It's also mostly made under licence abroad. As the most important thing with beer is the water once the beer is made under licence then you're basically not drinking the beer (if that makes sense). There are plenty of well made Australian beers, such as Coopers, Little Creatures, James Boags and James Squires. However, judging from World Market's incredibly limited selection of Australian wine shown on the website, you might have to shop somewhere else to track down these beers.

Pretty much the same thing goes for English beers. Newky Brown is not exactly representative of the diverse range of beers available in the UK. Most Stella in the UK (especially on draught) is actually brewed in the UK - so yet again not representative of the 'real' thing (imported Stella tends to be about 5.2%abv, the locally brewed stuff about 5%abv).

I'm also not sure where you get the idea that the Czechs aren't known for their beers. At one stage (10th century) a law was passed sentencing anyone caught exporting hops (smuggling them out) from Bohemia to the death penalty. Czech hops remain some of the most highly prized and the country is home to some very exciting beers - try Budvar (which might be labelled Budweiser).

Keep on experimenting as you're bound to find something you like - but I'd really try to stick to imports and not anything mass produced.

Good luck!

With that nice loud shirt I'm sure you'll stand out too! Now I'm wondering what I should wear to the Leeds event!!!!!!

My tip: if you want to make your own bread but can't find the time when you get home from work (well, I certainly can't!) you can leave the dough in the fridge overnight for its first rising. That way, you can make your bread over two nights - I find this really works for me!

Why didn't you ring the shop & complain when you got home and discovered the goods you'd purchased?

Large corporations rarely take real note of what happens on the web (I've heard it described as 'noise') - whereas complaints in person (phone calls, letters) do often get results ... though I'm guessing you probably don't really want more pizza!

Thanks for tagging me but I'm not sure how I'll be able to come up with 6 interesting things the blogging world doesn't know (hmm, serves me right for being an open book!). I've always wondered about your surname too!!!

Pretty tough call here Russ!
http://eatingleeds.co.uk/2008/10/wbw-50-wine-hi...

can you get it as a pet? where is it from? what does it do?

Ryan - if it's any consolation ... Gary does my head in too!

The alcohol part just shows how arbitrary all these figures are ...

Good luck upping your meat, wine and fat intake. I guess you'd better stop visits to spas - they might be making you too relaxed!!!

He does get talking doesn't he?! I was lucky enough to meet Oz Clarke at a book launch earlier this year and he was absolutely lovely (I think that might have had something to do with me being a woman!) ... though I'm not sure I'd ever describe him as coy!

Interesting that this item has popped up at the same time ... some journalists showing humility and sense!
http://www.decanter.com/news/253458.html

I'm sure I won't be wishing I'd commented the code better as I expire - I'm saving that for next week!!! But I'll be making sure the cellar is damn near empty when the time comes!

Thanks for hosting and best of luck with all your new babies!