[ale] Way-the-hell-and-gone off topic

[Putnam, James M.]

    In 1986 I was in the Vancouver for the World's Fair (hey, I just noticed
    that Outlook Web App Lite(tm) recognizes Emacs key bindings... I wonder 
    how the hell that happened?) when I noticed what seemed to be a
    relatively sober young Canadian gent take a long guzzle out of a paper bag
    and become visibly intoxicated in what would have been record time for me.
    
    He tossed the bag at a trash can, predictably missed, and unsteadily wandered
    off, presumably in search of more of whatever it was.

    Being curious and a little thirsty, I retrieved the bag and had a look. Inside
    was an empty generic beer can labeled "Carling-O'Keefe Extra Old Stock" 
    marked at 6% ABV, which while high wasn't a record breaker of any kind.

    An older man standing nearby said "A word of advice, young man. That stuff is
    called High Test and I wouldn't touch it if I were you."

    I thanked him for the warning and seduced by the romance of being at least
    momentarily unchaperoned in a foreign country headed straight for the nearest
    package store where I asked for and was given a can of High Test.

    The woman behind the counter blanched, which was kind of a good trick for a
    Canadian, but she handed it over in a paper bag without comment.

    I stepped outside, popped it open and tried a swallow. It was cold and went down
    OK at first, but when it warmed up the nose hit me and I almost gagged. It smelled
    and tasted like somebody had carbonated a can of creamed corn and added a
    shot of pure grain alcohol. The aftertaste was cloyingly sweet, and for the
    the first and only time in my life I threw away a can of beer without finishing it.

    This frankly kind of killed the appeal of the famed Canadian beers for me, and 
    when I tried a Molson later that day I had a similar reaction, but managed to
    choke it down.

    I gather High Test is no longer made, and I learned a valuable lesson that
    day in which street advice about foreign libations probably ought to be paid attention
    to.

--
James  M. Putnam
Visiting Professor of Computer Science

The air was soft, the stars so fine,
the promise of every cobbled alley so great,
that I thought I was in a dream.
________________________________________
From: Ale [ale-bounces at ale.org] on behalf of Steve Litt via Ale [ale at ale.org]
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2018 2:09 PM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: Re: [ale] Way-the-hell-and-gone off topic

On Fri, 23 Mar 2018 20:42:03 +0000
"Putnam, James M. via Ale" <ale at ale.org> wrote:

>     May be a little West Coast, but Ranier Ale, aka Green Death. Equal
>     parts cheap, strong, vile, and slightly caustic.
>
>     Came in a cute green barrel-shaped bottle with a wide mouth. A
> couple would reduce you to a sort of stomach-churning nauseous haze.
> Too many more than that induced a hangover epic for duration and
> depth.

Yeah, in Venice CA Green Death was the main competitor of my favorite,
King Cobra. I had a buddy who drank too much green death over too many
years and it killed him.


SteveT

Steve Litt
April 2018 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques
     of the Successful Technologist
http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques
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