A Mystery Whisky (That Wasn't)

A woman came into the shop where I work looking for a particular bottle of whisky the other day. She didn't know the name although she had the empty* bottle in her handbag. Since it wasn't something I was familiar with and I don't read Japanese either I couldn't really help her very much. She said she really wanted to get hold of some more but didn't even know what to put into a Google search to start trying to find it since everything on the label was in Japanese.

So I offered to attempt to use the magic of the internet to help, and there was a race. Twitter and its randomness versus email, which kind of seems a little bit old fashioned now!

After half a dozen re-tweets Twitter, in the shape of Bob French, came back with an answer:

@gareths121 Think it's a shochu not a whisky: goo.gl/03DLK 5th bottle from the bottom - called 'sea of clouds'...
— Bob French (@BobNotBob) March 22, 2013

Further information came from Adam Matheson in the form of a blog post on the Shōchū in question.

Maybe it's a case of 'it's not what you know, but who you can tweet'? Many thanks to all the people that re-tweeted and to those that took the time to have a look and solve the mystery. In terms of old vs. new, Twitter was quicker but Tatsuya, the Suntory whisky ambassador, also came up with the same answer - one shot, one goal - it might be old fashioned but it still works.

* If there had been some left in the bottle this whole thing might well not have happened, given it looks like a clear liquid!

Twitter Drinks You Need

Just a bit of fun... There was a piece on the Guardian website today entitled 'Twitter Feeds You Need' and, as it turns out, a load of celebrities follow a load of celebrities. So far, so not very interesting.

It did make me wonder, however, if there was a beer equivalent, who people would suggest to follow, and (which makes it slightly more personal than the usual #FF stuff)  why? I noticed a brewery on Twitter the other day (name escapes me) with something like 3000 followers having tweeted once - so I'm guessing the reason to follow them is probably their beer rather than the insightful comment they're providing. Strange thing is it probably popped up because of the 'X' 'Y' and 'Z' follow kind of thing, which isn't as good as a first hand recommendation. Anyway, feel free to share any, it's nice to be positive about things sometimes so give me some tips!

So here we go (3 isn't entirely arbitrary, I'm unashamedly nicking it from the 'paper):

Boak and Bailey @BoakandBailey
I think Twitter and beer is about the conversation, and B&B's blog/tweets reflects that. Get involved!
Jamie Carmichael @JLCarmichael
Jamie's from Williams Bros. and might not have popped up on the Twitter radar yet. Healthy irreverence.
Will Glass @ItalyBrews
I'm sure we all follow loads of perspectives on UK & US beer, have a read about Italy.

And of course all the beery folk I follow, because why wouldn't you? They're all great! (That's going to have to work as an apology for all of you not mentioned above, especially those who do all the re-tweeting and support of my random thoughts!)

Pabst 'Blue Ribbon' Beer

I've had a couple of days of dealing with internet things I don't really understand so it was nice to get back to beer yesterday evening. I'm not really claiming to understand beer either, but since it makes me feel better then I don't really mind. Having said that I am grateful to all the beery people I follow and chat to on Twitter for dispelling some of my ignorance, and I'm also very much looking forward to the forthcoming Oxford Companion to Beer. This gratitude also makes articles like the hopelessly uninformed one from Peter Preston in this morning's Observer all the more irritating.

Pabst Blue Ribbon is a pale yellow lager with a gentle lead-in sweetness, and a soft floral/blossomy finish. A decent enough apéritif beer, I suppose it ticks the boxes but it is not exactly an inspirational beer.

On the subject of uninspiring beers, according to the Pabst website they used to brew, or at least one of their subsidiaries (G. Heileman Brewing Co.) used to brew 'Carling's Black Label'. I was under the impression that Carling was a Canadian brand rather than American, so somewhat confused by that. The ignorance turns a full circle, but I suppose without ignorance we'd not have the fun of learning. Worth drinking to.



4.7% abv, £1.69 from Beers of Europe