On drinking rubbish beer versus *really* rubbish beer
Having a conversation recently in Another Place about drinking Foster's from choice, so as to be able to drink for longer at parties, reminded me of when I used to go to Oslo every month for a couple of years to see my then-girlfriend.
I quickly learned a few things about Norgie drinking habits...
* They all drink like fish.
* Nobody ever buys a round.
* But they will instantly accept inclusion into a round, they just never buy you one back.
* 1 Norgie only buys another alcohol if they want to sleep with them.
* Beer was (around 2001-2002) about £6-£7 a pint
* And it was crap generic Eurolager from Ringnes
* You always get served a short measure; nobody ever asks for a top-up
* People normally leave the last 2cm or so of beer in their glass
* And you usually leave any coins in your change for the barperson
It's as if it were some ritual of extravagant spending to demonstrate great wealth or something. Look at me, I can afford Kr65 beer, not full, and leave some and leave the change!
So I rapidly decided "sod that". I stopped offering drinks, which was absolutely fine - nobody minded at all. But then I stopped drinking the real beer.
Everywhere also offers "lettøl" - light beer. Still lager but 2% or under. Since alcohol is state-controlled, it can't be advertised or promoted, so breweries make lettøl which it is legal to advertise, and which you can buy in unlicensed outlets like kiosks, burger places and the cinema. (Supermarkets are only allowed to sell weak alcohol, under 4% -- you get some weak lagers, British stouts and things, but they are very rare in bars. Anything stronger you have to buy from the government, via Vinmonopolet, the Wine Monopoly -- sold from a pictureless catalogue, like a downmarket high-security Argos, so as not to tempt you to overconsumption.)
And lettøl is cheap -- well, cheap by Norgie standards. Couple of quid, say -- around a quarter of the price of actual beer.
All bars will have banners and promotional material for lettøl -- but nobody drinks it in bars.
So I switched to drinking lettøl. It tastes much the same, saved me a fortune, and after all, the primary purpose of the visits was to see my G/F, not to get drunk on rubbish beer at great expensive.
And this appalled my friends and ex's colleagues. "You can't drink that! It's not real beer! You don't want it, you want proper beer!"
I had to be very assertive indeed, and they didn't believe I actually wanted it. I was deranged or must have had a bang on the head or something. Nobody drinks lettøl from choice.
I quickly learned a few things about Norgie drinking habits...
* They all drink like fish.
* Nobody ever buys a round.
* But they will instantly accept inclusion into a round, they just never buy you one back.
* 1 Norgie only buys another alcohol if they want to sleep with them.
* Beer was (around 2001-2002) about £6-£7 a pint
* And it was crap generic Eurolager from Ringnes
* You always get served a short measure; nobody ever asks for a top-up
* People normally leave the last 2cm or so of beer in their glass
* And you usually leave any coins in your change for the barperson
It's as if it were some ritual of extravagant spending to demonstrate great wealth or something. Look at me, I can afford Kr65 beer, not full, and leave some and leave the change!
So I rapidly decided "sod that". I stopped offering drinks, which was absolutely fine - nobody minded at all. But then I stopped drinking the real beer.
Everywhere also offers "lettøl" - light beer. Still lager but 2% or under. Since alcohol is state-controlled, it can't be advertised or promoted, so breweries make lettøl which it is legal to advertise, and which you can buy in unlicensed outlets like kiosks, burger places and the cinema. (Supermarkets are only allowed to sell weak alcohol, under 4% -- you get some weak lagers, British stouts and things, but they are very rare in bars. Anything stronger you have to buy from the government, via Vinmonopolet, the Wine Monopoly -- sold from a pictureless catalogue, like a downmarket high-security Argos, so as not to tempt you to overconsumption.)
And lettøl is cheap -- well, cheap by Norgie standards. Couple of quid, say -- around a quarter of the price of actual beer.
All bars will have banners and promotional material for lettøl -- but nobody drinks it in bars.
So I switched to drinking lettøl. It tastes much the same, saved me a fortune, and after all, the primary purpose of the visits was to see my G/F, not to get drunk on rubbish beer at great expensive.
And this appalled my friends and ex's colleagues. "You can't drink that! It's not real beer! You don't want it, you want proper beer!"
I had to be very assertive indeed, and they didn't believe I actually wanted it. I was deranged or must have had a bang on the head or something. Nobody drinks lettøl from choice.