Like Gin? Need a Job?

Perhaps you could qualify as a trained gin butler. Click here for the whole story. 

Darn It! - No More Godzilla Beer

BRITISH BEER FORCED TO DROP NAME AFTER GODZILLA LEGAL WARNING

   Well, I guess if you name your pale ale sort of like the name Godzilla - actually, it was Cogzilla - and  then put a lizard on the label, you are just asking for a letter from some pesky lawyers. 
   Read the story here. By Steven Green, over at The Drinks Business.

Pubs are Great - Well, Yes...

  I was just cruising around the Interweb the other day and came across this site Pubs are Great. Very interesting, indeed. It's a website/app that helps folks find a great pub in the UK. Even if you are not crossing the pond anytime soon, this is a fun site to take a look at. Great photography is a good enough reason to stop by. Here's the link.
  Here is what they say about themselves:

VisitBritain, in partnership with the British Beer & Pub Association and Inapub, has developed a new pub-based app and website to help visitors find GREAT pubs.
  Visiting a pub is the third most popular activity for overseas visitors, with four out of ten heading to a pub at some point during their stay. With this in mind, we have designed our app and website to ensure that visitors can always find a pub close to the area or attraction that they are visiting. This new service covers a whole range of visitor attractions under the headlines: Heritage, Culture, Countryside, Sport and Music and will help visitors pin point a GREAT pub which is closest to them at any one time. 
  Whether you’re at Blenheim Palace, Tate St Ives; in the New Forest, or looking for the pub where you favourite band once played, the PubsareGREAT app and website will be able to help you find a great place to relax.

  So for you nest trip over to the UK - this looks like a good app to have handy. Cheers!

Callaghan's Irish Social Club

   If, for whatever reason, you happen to find yourself with a day off in Mobile, Alabama, here are a couple of suggestions for things to do. First, spend a good part of the day exploring the grounds of Bellingrath Garden, in nearby Theodore, Alabama. Thanks to the mild sub-tropical climate on the Gulf Coast, there will always be something blooming at Bellingrath. Click here for all the details.
  Then, all worn out from walking a few miles, head downtown and dive into a great Irish pub called the Callaghan's Irish Social Club. This is what we did today, and I can tell you there is almost nothing better than a few cool Harps - doctor's orders - after a long hot hike.

Bellingrath  Gardens

A Pub Checklist...

  As much as I hate a set criteria for what does and does not make a great pub, this list makes for a funny read. And many points do tend to make a great pub.
  From Buzzfeed - Click here.

A Little Something From South America

  Just picked these photos from a dude down in Uruguay - a nice little MG TF sporting Montevideo tags. Nothing on the back of the photos, so I have no idea as to the year. Still, nice images, all the same.

Something Interesting and Something British....

  I stopped into one a my favorite establishments - Crown Wine and Spirits - just off 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale - and asked them it they had something interesting and something British. This is what I got. A more complete story of this beer will be posted soon.

Trooper has been around for a few years, but this was the first time I found it for sale - cheers!

The Prisoner Turns 50

  If you are like me and like vintage British TV, then you are well acquainted with the show The Prisoner. I have the entire boxed set of dvds, and even used the title "Number 6" on the tag of my MG. I choose "Number 6" because the letter/number combination of his Lotus - KAR120C - was already taken in Florida. Of course, I also have the Danger Man set, although Patrick McGoohan never said the two story lines were related. I like to think they were.
  Filming for The Prisoner started on 5 September 1967 - 50 years ago today.
  Click here for an article by the folks over at the BBC.
  Be seeing you.

Just Picked Up This Photo - a Former MG Liquid Suspension Special...

  This is one of the former Huffaker-designed MG Liquid Suspension Specials, built in the mid 1960s, for Kjell Qvale. Now part of Vatis Racing and under the sponsorship of Valvoline, this photo shows Wally Dallenbach during the 1967 Indy 500. This car was powered by a turbocharged Offy engine - note the turbocharger on the tail. Dallenbach crashed out of the race.
  For more on the MG Liquid Suspension Specials please see the Indy 500 entry in The MG Encyclopedia.

Is Beer Your Hobby? Take a Quick Quiz.

Here a quiz from the folks at Quizfreak.co.uk - can you recognize these beers based on small clips of their labels? Give it a try here.
I got 12 of 12. Maybe I think about beer too much - naw!

Beer and Science - Very Educational

There is actually an Institute of Physics - apparently in the UK - that is running a campaign to drum up interest in physics by applying their science to the past time of drinking beer. Read here the 21 facts of physics that directly relate to the beer in your hand. From Kelly Oakes at Buzzfeed.

After all that science you may need a little comedy relief  - check out these nutty folks in Leeds. Click here. From Sophie Gadd, also at Buzzfeed.

Is this, perhaps, the origin of session beer?

An interesting little article brought to by Emily Bell, and the folks at VinePair.
Click here.

In Other Public House News...

It seems that one London council, in a time when local pubs are disappearing at a distressing rate, has taken some action to protect its public house heritage from unfettered development. Good article here - from the BBC.

S**t Public Houses - what to look for...

As much as I would like to believe that every pub in the UK is absolutely perfect in every way - decor, cask conditioned ales, great food, years of history - well, that's just not always the case. Here are a couple of tongue-in-cheek articles about the world of S**t pubs.
  Hey, these are from a Brit writer over at Buzzfeed, so don't blame me. Still funny, all the same.

18 Things You will Find In Every Shit British by Sophie Gadd .  Click Here 

and also by Sophie...

22 Beautifully S**te British Pub Beer Gardens. Click here.

In the Category of "The World's Smallest Pub" the Winner is - The Little Prince

  Yesterday, in Margate, was opening day for what claims to be the World's Smallest Pub. Called The Little Prince, it can serve up to six customers - that is if they are all standing up. 
  There is another pub - called The Signal Box Inn - that claims to be smaller, but it has an outdoor beer garden, so perhaps it doesn't quite qualify.
  Anyway, to read the whole story - click here. 

If you stop by a pub called the Gin Tub, you will be sitting inside a Faraday Cage - Say What?

  It seems a public house landlord had enough of unsocial mobile phone use, so he built a Faraday Cage. Hmmmm? Sounds interesting. Check out Tom Cheshire's report on Sky News by clicking here.

  Personally, I would love to go to a place called the Gin Tub, with or without a Faraday Cage, but the article failed to note where it is - pity.

Who Said It: Bond or Bourne

So, do you think you know your Bond trivia better than your Bourne trivia - or vice versa.
Take the quiz here - courtesy of the folks at Anglophenia.
(I aced it!)

Nine Things Hemingway Wrote About Drinking

Good little article on the BBC, along with some great photos.
On the BBC site - click here.

The Beer Mile - Now That's My Kinda Sport

Here's something you don't hear about everyday - The Beer Mile. It seems that certain number of track enthusiasts - you know, runners - compete in an event that calls for running one mile - four laps - on a track, and at the end of each lap you have to chug a beer. Wow - what fun. 
  Some people do rather well at it - the current record (can it be considered an "official" record?) is 4 minutes, 47 seconds, by some dude in California. Want to know more - click here for an article by Katie Williams, of The Guardian.