Nectar Of The Gods

[StoutAndAle]

Have been enjoying a few different Helles as I find them in various offies lately - those Einseidler's are scoff but I picked up a few Stiegl's in Tesco for €2.50 a pop that are lovely too.  As usual though I meet you and the Wino half way, I always stick 4 or 8 Prazsky on lately, best of the cheap cuts.  No reason to buy the G'had anymore with the minimum unit craic, but I like the few soft cheaps after my nice brews are gone.

See... the thing is... the Einseidler are my few soft cheaps after my nice brews are gone.

Yeh fuckin' disgrace, yeh. 


Stiegl is nice for sure. The local Dunnes does it in 500ml cans for €1.80.

Bitburger is another very fine drop at a reasonable* price point.

Lomza is a decent beer for this kind of weather and it's not too hard on the pocket.



*Reasonable at about €2.30 - but considering that Bitburger and its ilk in a German supermarket are €0.89....

[ochoill]

See... the thing is... the Einseidler are my few soft cheaps after my nice brews are gone.

Yeh fuckin' disgrace, yeh. 

Lol I am perpetually broke lately so I can't argue it, where I used to do a handy 20 quid on about 10 nice bottles, now it's 4 cheaps and 4 decent for the same damage in most places.  And yeah even worse when you compare it to the continental prices...

Off to Bulgaria soon where there is a disgraceful amount of cheap filth.  Can't even remember the name of what I had last time but you'd get 4 cans for a euro and it was a crisp lager.  Staropramen was also insanely cheap there last time I was over.

[Caomhaoin]

Can't beat Germany and Eastern Europe for cheap scoops. Pint of Jelena lager in Belgrade won't even set you back a euro.

[StoutAndAle]

Got charged $19 CAD for a 16oz beer in Vancouver.

That's 473ml to you and me.

That's not even a pint to you and me.

I nearly killed a man.

[ochoill]

Got charged $19 CAD for a 16oz beer in Vancouver.

That's 473ml to you and me.

That's not even a pint to you and me.

I nearly killed a man.

Jesus it was always rough but never that bad when I was there.  Used to get decent local IPA 16oz in most bars for about $5 unless you went somewhere in the middle of downtown usually.  Somewhere did charge me $9 for a Guinness in 2010 mind so I never bought it again until I moved home.

[StoutAndAle]

Jesus it was always rough but never that bad when I was there.  Used to get decent local IPA 16oz in most bars for about $5 unless you went somewhere in the middle of downtown usually.  Somewhere did charge me $9 for a Guinness in 2010 mind so I never bought it again until I moved home.

Going rate was somewhere between $9 and $11 in craft beer taprooms. Few places had happy hour 16 ouncers for $5/6.

It was what it was - but in this place (on 8th Ave just off Main St in Mount Pleasant) it was $19 for a pale ale (a decent one to be fair) and another $8 for my wife's (non-alcoholic) ginger ale. Plus tip. Brought it to just shy of $32CAD - which is about €22...

I am by no means tight and holiday money is not real money but that one certainly gave me pause.

Didn't stop the StoutAndAle express though.

[ochoill]

Jesus it was always rough but never that bad when I was there.  Used to get decent local IPA 16oz in most bars for about $5 unless you went somewhere in the middle of downtown usually.  Somewhere did charge me $9 for a Guinness in 2010 mind so I never bought it again until I moved home.

Going rate was somewhere between $9 and $11 in craft beer taprooms. Few places had happy hour 16 ouncers for $5/6.

It was what it was - but in this place (on 8th Ave just off Main St in Mount Pleasant) it was $19 for a pale ale (a decent one to be fair) and another $8 for my wife's (non-alcoholic) ginger ale. Plus tip. Brought it to just shy of $32CAD - which is about €22...

I am by no means tight and holiday money is not real money but that one certainly gave me pause.

Didn't stop the StoutAndAle express though.

Yeah that's gone steep, but probably in line with how everything has gone up over there.  Our go to was Fat Tug IPA, it was reasonably new at the time and from a local crew, and was a 5er a pint in most spots.  Main Street Brewing (which would have bewn right near you) did growler fills for $10-$12 too IIRC.

What has almost definitely changed now is Storm Brewery, near commercial & hastings, which did off sales and growler fills but got around whatever bar sales licence was needed by having a "recommended donation" in a tip jar of $5 for whatever you wanted a pint of.  It was a literal brewery too, no chairs or tables, just loads of people standing there and the alley horsing back whatever IPA they were finishing that week.  Lethal

[ldj]

Picked up a couple of bottles of Lithuanian stout from Polinez today, 6% litre bottles for 4 odd quid each.

Going down pretty nice.

[open face surgery]

Hmmm. Might give that a lash

[Airneanach]

I hate how the MUP's changed the size and percentage of the cheaper cans. I don't mind paying the few squid more for it because it's still supermarket booze and I only indulge on weekends, but I used to love the little ritual of knowing exactly the amount I was getting for 8 Prazcky or Karpackie. Can't be doing with the tins that drop a few percentages or shave a bit of volume off the top.

Spaten and Stiegl are the go-to fancyboys now.

[mickO)))]

Got charged $19 CAD for a 16oz beer in Vancouver.

That's 473ml to you and me.

That's not even a pint to you and me.

I nearly killed a man.

Vancouver is the most expensive place in Canada but a lot of other cities aren't too far behind.

All dayers like you get here when lads go out for the half 12 game on a Saturday then stay out until the nightclub closes don't happen over there as you would literally end up spending hundreds of dollars. The price you mentioned above probably didn't even include the 20% tip that is demanded as well for the server bringing the pint from the bar to the table for you. It use be 15% but now they are trying to guilt people into paying 20% of the bill.

[ochoill]

The price you mentioned above probably didn't even include the 20% tip that is demanded as well for the server bringing the pint from the bar to the table for you. It use be 15% but now they are trying to guilt people into paying 20% of the bill.

I got an FB memory notification today, it is 13 years since I moved there (and 8 since I moved home) so a fair bit of what I experienced there was different to you, though it was always expensive it never seemed as bad as I have been hearing lately.  E.g. we paid a grand a month for our flat in Kitsilano, just me and the wife in it, it seems the same place is over 2k now, fucked up when wages haven't went up with it.

Anyway - that 20% tip craic has been threatening since back then, but 10%-ish was the standard for food and drink.  Used to drink in the Railway Bar a fair whack and they didn't do tabs so we would just stick whatever few coins looked alright from the change of a round onto the bar, nobody complained.  Only time the 20% was forced on us was a large table out for dinner.

A gastropub effort opened at one point that refused tips, charged a tiny bit more on the bill, and paid their staff a living wage instead and it got fucking SLATED.  It made it on the news and all one evening with even customers complaining that it wasn't what they were used to, other bars saying it's a dangerous precedent to set, basically only the staff saying they loved it of course.  Whole idea was portrayed as ridiculous and impossible.  I laughed for days it, clearly it stuck with me - what is just standard practice for a pub here (pay your staff and no tips) was absolutely alien to them.

[mickO)))]

The price you mentioned above probably didn't even include the 20% tip that is demanded as well for the server bringing the pint from the bar to the table for you. It use be 15% but now they are trying to guilt people into paying 20% of the bill.

I got an FB memory notification today, it is 13 years since I moved there (and 8 since I moved home) so a fair bit of what I experienced there was different to you, though it was always expensive it never seemed as bad as I have been hearing lately.  E.g. we paid a grand a month for our flat in Kitsilano, just me and the wife in it, it seems the same place is over 2k now, fucked up when wages haven't went up with it.

Anyway - that 20% tip craic has been threatening since back then, but 10%-ish was the standard for food and drink.  Used to drink in the Railway Bar a fair whack and they didn't do tabs so we would just stick whatever few coins looked alright from the change of a round onto the bar, nobody complained.  Only time the 20% was forced on us was a large table out for dinner.

A gastropub effort opened at one point that refused tips, charged a tiny bit more on the bill, and paid their staff a living wage instead and it got fucking SLATED.  It made it on the news and all one evening with even customers complaining that it wasn't what they were used to, other bars saying it's a dangerous precedent to set, basically only the staff saying they loved it of course.  Whole idea was portrayed as ridiculous and impossible.  I laughed for days it, clearly it stuck with me - what is just standard practice for a pub here (pay your staff and no tips) was absolutely alien to them.

When I was there 15% was what was expected and if you gave 10% it mean't something was wrong. Anytime someone gave 10% they were interrogated by the staff. I hate tipping mainly because I went over as a qualified Civil Engineer and one of the girls that came with us had a degree but decided to work in the bar instead. She did 24 hours a week all early weekdays and after tips she was earning more money than I was so the whole sob story you get about tips for the most part is bollox. I know a few other Irish girls that worked in bars as well over there and they all cleaned up.

I remember we booked a table in a place for about 25 of us for the first Mc Gregor v Diaz fight and I had to tell everyone after not to tip as nobody else had copped that an 18% gratuity charge had been added to everyone's bill. 

What stopped me ordering Guinness over there apart from it tasting like piss was a few times I ordered a pint of it next of all the barman whips out a 473ml can of draught, pours it into a glass and asks me for $9.

[astfgyl]

The price you mentioned above probably didn't even include the 20% tip that is demanded as well for the server bringing the pint from the bar to the table for you. It use be 15% but now they are trying to guilt people into paying 20% of the bill.

I got an FB memory notification today, it is 13 years since I moved there (and 8 since I moved home) so a fair bit of what I experienced there was different to you, though it was always expensive it never seemed as bad as I have been hearing lately.  E.g. we paid a grand a month for our flat in Kitsilano, just me and the wife in it, it seems the same place is over 2k now, fucked up when wages haven't went up with it.

Anyway - that 20% tip craic has been threatening since back then, but 10%-ish was the standard for food and drink.  Used to drink in the Railway Bar a fair whack and they didn't do tabs so we would just stick whatever few coins looked alright from the change of a round onto the bar, nobody complained.  Only time the 20% was forced on us was a large table out for dinner.

A gastropub effort opened at one point that refused tips, charged a tiny bit more on the bill, and paid their staff a living wage instead and it got fucking SLATED.  It made it on the news and all one evening with even customers complaining that it wasn't what they were used to, other bars saying it's a dangerous precedent to set, basically only the staff saying they loved it of course.  Whole idea was portrayed as ridiculous and impossible.  I laughed for days it, clearly it stuck with me - what is just standard practice for a pub here (pay your staff and no tips) was absolutely alien to them.

So 13 years since I had one of the worst hangovers of my life then!

[ochoill]

So 13 years since I had one of the worst hangovers of my life then!

I remember very little of the week around when I left.  There was a lot of drink taken.  Some fuckin craic