Australia Day

It's Australia day today and instead of surfing or drinking beer at a BBQ, I am at work.

Although most Australians will be drinking a cold lager today to celebrate the birthday of Modern* Australia, the settlers of the first fleet made toasts with London porter when they first set foot on Australian shores. From the Fuller's website;

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"When the First Fleet had arrived in Sydney Cove, on the east coast of Australia, in 1788 to set up a pioneering penal colony, the new arrivals drank toasts to the success of the settlement in glasses of porter brought 11,000 miles from England."

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Shortly after arriving in Australia, brewing in the colony started in earnest with former first fleet convict James Squire becoming Australia's first successful commercial brewer. He was the first to brew 'true' beer bittered with hops. His name lives on in a popular microbrewed beer line.

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I think it is important to not forget Australia's colonial roots as it was the early years of Australia's history which forged a great nation. I am a proud Australian and also of distant Aboriginal descent. I think it is sad to think that the 2009 Australian of the year, Professor Mick Dodson AM thinks that having Australia day on the 26th of January is disrespectful to Aboriginals. How Un-Australian........ Australia is a tolerant and multicultural nation and hopefully not one that will yield to the will of a spoken minority. Kevin Rudd's direct 'No' response is the most sensible thing he has said since coming to power.

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On a brighter note, Rolf Harris is still an Australian to be proud of, while Germaine Greer is still one to be ashamed of!
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*Modern Australia refers to post 1788 Australia. It's a PC term even though Australia did not exist as an independent country until 1st January 1901.

Fosters Lager 2

OK, I have blogged about Fosters before. It was way back in January which was one of my first posts on this blog. Since then nothing has changed, Fosters is still a bland cold wet beer sold and marketed as being Australian. So why did I decide to have a pint? The answer is because the pub looked dodgy. It was a hot day after work and I decided to grab a pint with a few colleagues. As our offices had recently relocated we have slowly been working our way around the local bars to get a feel for what is 'out there'. Deux Beers in Clerkenwell (just off Hatton Garden) was the venue. Upon walking into the bar I could tell the beer would be bad. Firstly the place was not exactly clean, secondly the two ales on pump were Black Sheep bitter and Greene King IPA. Now Green King IPA is a beer that doesnt move that fast. Black Sheep bitter is from Yorkshire and basically is not going to be fresh at the best of times, let alone on a week where the temp has averaged 20 degrees plus. So I went for teh cheap lager to cool me down and offer me refreshment. Meanwhile my fool hearty colleagues went for the ales and promplty returned them as they were off. Point made I enjoyed my Pint! Oh and Fosters have a new website! here