September 2, 2008
Now there is a beer that does not live up to its name. After all, my skull has not split. Perhaps it became politically correct by the time it reached the North American east coast. This beer is far away from its Scottish home. It was brewed by the Orkley Brewery. If you were like me and thought that Orkley is just a name of some brewery then you are wrong. Orkley is actually a set of islands off the coast of Scotland (Orkley Islands). Here’s what the bottle has to say about them:
A small group of Islands off the northern tip of Scotland, shrouded in magic and mystery, was the home of Thorfinn Hausakluif (Skullsplitter) 7th Viking Earl of Orkley around 1000AD.
I call it beer, but it actually is a very strong ale with 8.5% alcohol content. Thanks to Hollywood I picture Vikings as these crazed warriors on ships and land (although I’m sure they were normal people), so it came with no surprise to me when I discovered that the beer is slightly more bitter then Guiness and has red looks to it. As a side note, I think everyone should know that while Columbus opened Americas to Europe, the Vikings were the first Europeans to map the North American land (Wikipedia).
Skull Splitter must have beer produced before refrigeration was invented because it tastes great even warm. This is true for most beers coming from the United Kingdom, although chilling generally significantly improves the taste of those beers. This is not the kind of beer you’d want to drink at or bring to parties. The alcohol content is pretty high, not good for light weights. When drinking it feels light and refreshing, but don’t be fooled it’s a dark and filling beer. The after taste will persist for sometime. From what I understand most people prefer water like qualities for parties. No, this one is not for some mindless party. This one is for settling in front of a TV after a long day and enjoying its very rich taste.
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April 20, 2008
This is the beer that has a consistency of water but the taste of over carbonated ginger ale. OK, it’s not that bad. I still consider this beer to be better than Bud Light. Though not really better then Heineken. Amstel light promises you a lot on the first try but falls short as you continue drinking it. It’s just too light. This is a lager from Holland (Amsterdam), so it is no wonder the taste resembles Heineken. It is another see through beer with very little foam. The foam actually goes away pretty quickly. This is probably because there isn’t enough beer in the mix to sustain a nice thick foam.
If you are drinking Amstel light, French fries — chips or freedom fries (depending on which part of the world you are from) — go great with the beer. Surprisingly, even though there isn’t much taste to the beer, it will still dominate the flavor.
The bar is not really bar. It is more of a dinner disguised as a coffee shop. It is actually a mom-pop shop on the corner of Lexington and 70th street in Manhattan, New York called Niel’s Coffee shop. From the looks of it it’s been around for a while. There’s a 1950’s cash register and walls covered with autographed portraits. Not exactly a tourist destination, but if you are in the area (near Hunter College) it’s an awesome place to sit, wait and people watch.
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April 7, 2008
We are mostly a beer drinking and drunk reviewing crew around here. But, I am sure no one would object if we were to point out that beer returned to the US, legally, 75 years ago today. Suffice to say that’s something worth celebrating. If not for that landmark event we would still be drinking moonshine. Drink on!
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March 22, 2008
السلام عليك. From my previous posts you may have noticed that, recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Morocco. My stay was short, but nonetheless I was lucky enough to have visited many places, meet many people and try a few local beers. There really is not much to say about the beers, so I’ll spend most of the time talking about the bars.
The beers I tried are Special flag and Casablanca. To be honest there isn’t much difference between the two except for their origins. Casablanca comes from the city of Casablanca, also known as Casa by the local non-Arabic speaking population. The name still remains from the time when the Spaniards settled it. However, its Arabic name is different: Dar El-Baida (الدار البيضاء). Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco and the home of Hassan II mosque, the second largest mosque in the world. Second to Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, although it’s interesting that according my guide book - Lonely Planet - Hassan II mosque is the third largest.
The Casablanca beer is very light and you can actually see through it. The beer is very similar to Labatt (as recently reviewed by my bierbelly friend). Both come from a place with heavy French influence… coincidence? The taste is interesting, unfortunately it is very faint. One really has to focus to find the interesting side. So, if you drink it just as a party drink then you won’t get much out of it. The taste of regular fermentation will dominate to the sense of drinking just another local, not so popular, beer. The good thing is the lightness makes it an easy drink for social occasions and to pay attention to your friends instead of the beer. The bitterness in Casablanca is less that of Heineken.
The other beer is Special Flag, in some other places I’ve seen it referred to as Flag Special. While in comes in an interesting glass, there really is nothing interesting about this beer. Although it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy it. The beer is very light, much like water, looks yellow and has no foam. Well maybe a little foam. It is even lighter than Casablanca, but you really have to drink them side by side to taste the difference. This is what the bar tender gave me in Rabat when I asked for a popular local beer. Since it was similar in taste and looks to Casablanca, compared to Casablanca it is missing that interesting side that you have to focus on to find. So in the end it is again just another beer that you drink when just want join “the company” bit don’t really care what you drink.
So, overall I was relatively disappointed about the taste of the beers. Then again, what can one expect from North Africa with heavy French influence, it’s not exactly famous for its beers. At least they were still an improvement over some of the beers from France.
Now lets talk about some of the Moroccan bars. This is a very interesting experience and I would recommend everyone to visit Morocco for this. To give you a little background, I am used to bars in New York City. Those are supposed to be be some of the coolest on the planet with the latest trends and such other stuff like that. Moroccan bars, on the other hand, are like a blast from the past for me. Being a human I tend to compare things, in this case Moroccan bar to those in NYC. The music was literally from the 1980’s and 70’s. At some point I distinctly remember hearing A’ha and Sweet Dreams by Eurothmics.
The first bar we’ll visit is El Palatino. This is where I heard A’ha, Eurothmics and had a taste of the Special Flag beer. This bar is in the middle of Rabat’s new center, just a few blocks away from the Moroccan parliament and what seems to be the business district. Also very close to my hotel, which was right across the street from the parliament. There were plenty of other hotels around that area. Very convenient. I was told that this is where all the diplomats and expats hang out. I didn’t find many businessmen or diplomats, but there were definitely plenty of expats. I had the pleasure of meeting many of them. The bar definitely has an American slant to it and there really is nothing specifically Moroccan about it. The only exception are the Moroccan French and Arabic speaking bar tenders.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any good photographs of the place, so I’ll try hard to describe it. Walking up to the bar you hear the distinct sound of any American bar: loud music with an overpowering bass and very loud talking. Despite the loud music the place is very well hidden on a relatively wide street and among a few high rises. Also there is not much florescent decoration (think Las Vegas) to give it away. At the door there was a bouncer, a very big and unusually nice African man. He wasn’t checking for ID’s… surprised? I wasn’t. There are a few very obvious reasons. One, it’s Morocco and just like in any other developing country very few laws actually get enforced. That is aside from the basics such as murder, theft and violent assaults. I found that Morocco is surprisingly safe. I didn’t check, but it would not shock me if the country didn’t have any laws requiring check for ID’s.
To side track a little, Morocco has no legal drinking age but the legal alcohol purchasing age is 16. I guess you can drink all you want, but can’t purchase anything until you reach 16. Possibly has something to do with the fact that Morocco is a Muslim country and Muslims are not allowed to drink alcohol.
The other reason for the bouncer to not check our ID’s and be so nice to us is that my friends and I were all white foreigners (most Americans). Of course, by definition, this means we roll around and sleep with money just like Magic Johnson (Think Southpark). My friend also pointed out that the entire place (including the entrance) was protected by heavy steel bars. Similar to those found in prison cells. I just keep wondering if they are for keeping people out or in.
So, I enter the bar. On the right there is a good sized bar with two bartenders and enough room to sit fifteen people comfortably. Unlike British bars, there are stools to sit on. On the left there is a staircase leading to upper floors. This was a three story bar, but most people were on the first floor. Someone told me that upstairs is where the strip show is. It was disappointing to find out there was no such thing. In front of me there were a few tables and a make shift dance floor with a live DJ. Not bad, a bar combined with a club. Pretty common. I know what you are thinking: “A live DJ and yet he’s playing 70’s and 80’s music?” Well, people were very much enjoying it, so I guess that’s what they wanted. Later visits to the bar also had the same music. I visited El Palatino twice and every time it was exactly the same atmosphere.
Next we’ll visit the city of Fez (فاس). Fez used to be the capital of Morocco until in 1912 the French decided that Rabat should be the capital. It’s a small city with population of about one million people. However, if you visit it you’ll never believe that it’s so small. The density of the city is an attack on one’s sense. Also, I firmly believe that one can get lost in the medina never to be seen again. I’m sure that as you read this, there are tourists wandering around looking for the nearest Bab (door into the medina). Fez also has a Ville Nouvelle, the new town built by the French. It resembles Washington DC, maybe because both were designed by French architects.
After getting tired of eating Moroccan food my friend and I decided to use our guide book (i.e. lonely planet) and go to an Italian restaurant to eat something familiar covered in source and cheese. So, we went to Chez Vittirio (21 Rue Brahim Roudani). As it turns out this is where all the other tourists, that crave Italian food in Morocco, go for dinner. We saw two other American and one Japanese companies with Lonely Planet guide book by their side. So, if you are seeking something Moroccan this is not the place to be. It’s a very nice restaurant, quiet, well decorated and has a strange non-functioning fountain on the back wall. It’s very spacious, but not busy on a Saturday night. I guess Italian food is not very popular. Coming from NYC, I felt that the streets of Moroccan cities are very loud from the sound of old diesel engines in cars and buses. It was very pleasant to find that this restaurant did not have any music and I could sit back, relax and enjoy some Casablanca beer. Even though I have visited Casablanca city on this trip, I did not try Casablanca beer there.
Now let’s come back to Rabat (الرباط), the current capital of the Morocco, and visit some more bars. The other place where I tried some Casablanca beer is the Goethe-Institut (The first photo in this article). This place has definitely topped all expectations for Moroccan bars. I’d say it’s less a bar and more a lounge with an excellent food menu. Walking in is similar to going into a federal court house. There is a metal detector and a security guard… fancy. Just like any other bar/lounge they serve an array of standard mixed drinks and beers, there is loud music. Goethe-Institut has more modern music, R&B or something like that. It looked like the place where all the cool people went to hang out. Relatively crowded place. Everyone was dressed nicely, in modern western dresses, nothing Moroccan.
The next bar was a little more interesting. It was called El Pietri (4 rue Tobrouk). There was a live band playing, I can only guess, Moroccan pop music. I must say, it was more enjoyable that the other bars. Maybe I’m just tired of the same old bar music. It is similar to the Goethe-Institut because it is also an upscale lounge place with an extensive bar menu. Although this place was much more crowded than Goethe-Institut. Unfortunately, I can’t add anything useful to the beer reviews because I had some wine.
The next day I caught the 7 am flight to Paris and left Morocco wishing that I had tried more beer from local breweries. If you ever get a chance definitely try to visit this wonderful country, however make sure you have a friend who speaks either French or Arabic. There are only a few people that speak English. وداعا حسن
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Now there is a beer that does not live up to its name. After all, my skull has not split. Perhaps it became politically correct by the time it reached the North American east coast. This beer is far away from its Scottish home. It was brewed by the Orkley Brewery. If you were like me and thought that Orkley is just a name of some brewery then you are wrong. Orkley is actually a set of islands off the coast of Scotland (Orkley Islands). Here’s what the bottle has to say about them: