[6 April 2012] It will no doubt be tomorrow's meme.

[unavoidablytiger]

Holy leaping maggot cheese... oh my god why...

To toss my opinion in on the beer thing, I love Guiness, and that's about it. It's heavy and tasty, rather than, as one of you put it, faintly bread flavored soda water.

[Louisa]

I'm not a beer drinker and judging from today's strip and this, I'm guessing neither is T. Just guessing.

Although in that case, it was expired beer, which might give another explanation for the bad taste.

(And naughty Lisa! Underage drinking is bad!)

If this is the reaction the strip's meant to elicit, I'm afraid it's lost on me. Here in the UK it would be perfectly legal for Lisa and Sara to drink alcohol of any kind. When I started university, the first-week activities designed to help the new freshers fit in included a pub crawl in pirate costumes; and a lot of social activities wound up in the college bar.

[Lia S]

The Freudian symbolism of this one just hit me in the side of the head like an angry yeti. Please tell me that wasn't intentional, T. >.< (Sara + her sexual orientation + bottle, for reference.)

If Fiona Ziegmund walks in on the next page, I'll know it was intentional .

[AmberBeth84]

Can I just chime in here as a long time beer drinker? Have you ever noticed that the split between beer lovers and haters is largely gender specific? This thread is a pretty good indicator of that. More than half of the people who have responded that they don't like beer are women, while the beer lovers are more than half men. While I've observed this for several decades, I've never seen a good explanation of it. A female acquaintance of mine back when I was still a sailor put it down to the fact that men are inherently idiots, so OF COURSE we'd prefer to drink swill.

It's funny that you mention this. A lot of my friends expected that I would stop drinking beer and switch to cosmos or something after I came out and transitioned. It surprised them that my love of beer and my love of video games were part of my actual personality and not part of the masculine facade I tried to put up. But no, my love of beer is genuine. In fact I only started making my own beer after I was living as a woman full time.

[FlyingFish]

Xander: What did we learn about beer?
Buffy: Foamy!
Xander: Good. Just as long as that's clear.

[Freemage]

Can I just chime in here as a long time beer drinker? Have you ever noticed that the split between beer lovers and haters is largely gender specific? This thread is a pretty good indicator of that. More than half of the people who have responded that they don't like beer are women, while the beer lovers are more than half men. While I've observed this for several decades, I've never seen a good explanation of it. A female acquaintance of mine back when I was still a sailor put it down to the fact that men are inherently idiots, so OF COURSE we'd prefer to drink swill.

Also, those who think that American beer is all terrible simply hasn't visited a liquor store here in a very long time. I think the variety and quality stacks up against the best beer anywhere else in the world.

While there's been a good selection available since the Germans and Belgians first emigrated here in the mid 1800s, Prohibition put a damper on things until about the 1970s. After that, though, there's always been a pretty decent selection here for those who were willing to look. Heck, even Walmart carries a decent selection these days.

A very, very small sampler of American brews that I really like:

I will concur that American craft brews stack up against the international scene quite nicely. However, that's not really what people are talking about when they reference "American beer" (as in, "How is American beer like making love in a canoe? They're both fucking close to water!").

Rather, they're talking about the mass-market beers--Budweiser, Miller and so forth. It's the convenience-store comparison, not the 'specialty liquor store' comparison. Walk into a convenience-type store in both countries. Pick a brand largely at random, buy and drink. I can guarantee that 9 times out of 10, you'll have a happier look on your face after the test in Germany or Ireland than you will in America.

[TidalWave]

Ive tasted beer before. It's nasty.

[Alice Macher]

"How is American beer like making love in a canoe? They're both fucking close to water!"

Canadian popular historian Pierre Berton once wrote a Canada Day piece in which he said, "A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe." Maybe in light of the joke you quoted, we can see "making love in a canoe" as a metaphor for our quintessentially Canadian pastime of taking verbal pot-shots at Americans?

(FTR, it's not my pastime. Every country has decent people and not-so-decent ones, and I'm happy our nation provides yours with nickel and comedians. I assume we don't get to export our beer to you, though; I've never seen Canadian brands in the U.S., presumably because of the higher alcohol content.)

[Mr. Brightside]

Molson is definitely popular... and that's pretty much it as far as I know. But I'm more of a whiskey drinker. (And sorry, but Canadian whisky is terrible.)

[Alice Macher]

I wouldn't know from personal experience, because I don't like drinking whiskey or other spirits straight. But I'm led to understand that Scotland rules the world of whiskey.

[Muttley]

Whisky comes from Scotland and nowhere else. That stuff with an e in it can be found all over the place, but is a pale imitation of the real thing. (All right, the Irish can make some quite nice whiskey's but I'm not at all convinced by this bourbon stuff).

Laphroig, Talisker, Highland Park. Do not trifle with a man with a Scottish Father-in-law.

[sgtrock]

I'm not a beer drinker and judging from today's strip and this, I'm guessing neither is T. Just guessing.

Although in that case, it was expired beer, which might give another explanation for the bad taste.

(And naughty Lisa! Underage drinking is bad!)

If this is the reaction the strip's meant to elicit, I'm afraid it's lost on me. Here in the UK it would be perfectly legal for Lisa and Sara to drink alcohol of any kind. When I started university, the first-week activities designed to help the new freshers fit in included a pub crawl in pirate costumes; and a lot of social activities wound up in the college bar.

Agreed. I grew up in northern Minnesota surrounded by people who were no more than three generations separated from the Old Country; Italians, Swedes, Norwegians, Finns, Croatians, Serbs, English, Poles, Germans, Irish, and I don't know what all. Most of my friends had their first sip of wine or beer at the dinner table when they were 4 or 5. The drinking age was 18, too. Learning to drink responsibly just isn't that tough if kids are taught early.

[brasca]

"How is American beer like making love in a canoe? They're both fucking close to water!"

Canadian popular historian Pierre Berton once wrote a Canada Day piece in which he said, "A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe." Maybe in light of the joke you quoted, we can see "making love in a canoe" as a metaphor for our quintessentially Canadian pastime of taking verbal pot-shots at Americans?

(FTR, it's not my pastime. Every country has decent people and not-so-decent ones, and I'm happy our nation provides yours with nickel and comedians. I assume we don't get to export our beer to you, though; I've never seen Canadian brands in the U.S., presumably because of the higher alcohol content.)

In Erie, PA where I used to live LaBatts is quite popular and my usual beer of choice so I was surprised when I went to a conference in Ottawa that the bar didn't have it. They had Molson's, but not not LaBatts. Perhaps it's preference among Canadians is as exaggerated as Foster's in amongst Australians.

[Bardlp]

You know, I used to have a room-mate who was an avid <strike>alcoholic</strike> wine drinker and I was convinced that wine was one of the least food-like things I'd ever put in my mouth. Then, one night, we were both out somewhere and all they had was red wine. We both got a glass. I was in love. She nearly heaved. It turns out she had terrible taste in wines. The bad sugary stuff. I donno what that says about the "women like wine/men like beer" thing, though.

[sgtrock]

"How is American beer like making love in a canoe? They're both fucking close to water!"

Canadian popular historian Pierre Berton once wrote a Canada Day piece in which he said, "A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe." Maybe in light of the joke you quoted, we can see "making love in a canoe" as a metaphor for our quintessentially Canadian pastime of taking verbal pot-shots at Americans?

(FTR, it's not my pastime. Every country has decent people and not-so-decent ones, and I'm happy our nation provides yours with nickel and comedians. I assume we don't get to export our beer to you, though; I've never seen Canadian brands in the U.S., presumably because of the higher alcohol content.)

In Erie, PA where I used to live LaBatts is quite popular and my usual beer of choice so I was surprised when I went to a conference in Ottawa that the bar didn't have it. They had Molson's, but not not LaBatts. Perhaps it's preference among Canadians is as exaggerated as Foster's in amongst Australians.

In Minnesota we see a lot of Moosehead, Molson's,and LaBatts in more or less that order of availability. Maybe it's a northern states thing?