I suppose we shouldn’t be too uncharitable to a race of people who’ ve lived most of their lives, like fruit bats, upside-down. So …. pay attention. The Jameson 80% is actually Gaelic. Loosely translated it mean, “Will blow y’ feckin 'ead off!!” … OK? … got that? Good
Sine Mutu
H.A.W.
Yeah but it’s still only 40% AB… <nom sees the crazed look in vic-k’s eye>
uh…
…40% humidity in the Lakes District. I’m sure they’d enjoy Jameson Irish Whiskey there almost as much as we all do here. 
Oh sweet jeysue!! Avoid arguing with fanatics, with the same vehemence as you would avoid contact with the bubonic plague. They are congenitally incapable of seeing the other persons point of view, and are obsessed with their own self-righteousness!
Sine Metu young Womble
H.A.W. x x x
See, this is why I avoid all you whiskey types. Get a bottle of Captain Morgan’s, any proof, and make some progress on it. Who the heck cares how the proof is calculated?
And to further prove the superiority of Captain Morgans (any rum really) I challenge you to a “will it rum or whiskey” contest. “Will it rum or whiskey” has one objective; discover which foods taste better with which beverage. I feel there are three options for any tested food: whiskey, rum, both. Examples
• Apple. Apple is both. An apple that tastes bad with whiskey or rum is just a bad apple. Try the test again with a new apple.
• Steak. Steak is whiskey. I love me some rum, but … no. Just no. Whiskey wins this all day.
• Pineapple. Umm… and question how this lands since the Caribbean standard is to drink rum from the cored shell of God’s favorite rum companion?
And just for completeness
• Boxed mac and cheese is both. Both will help you forget you were silly enough to each this travesty in the first place.
What food products shall we submit to the test? Shall we put rules on the beverages we can use for the test (I have some pretty nice rum and some pretty crappy whiskey to help me skew the results (I have some decent whiskey too, but the maker calls is single malt scotch))?
While I have nothing against Jameson or any other whisky/whiskey, when you’re finally back from a day’s tramping the fells — or sunning yourself — in the Lake District, what you really need is a pint of Jennings “Sneck-lifter”! 
Mr X
You have food with your whiskey???
That’s what beer and wine are for.
Well, it seems that the sozzled lot of us down here in the bilges need to get together to sort all this out. We’ll need beer (ales and lagers); wine (red and white, but a rosé needs a jolly good reason to be allowed through the door); rum; whiskey (Irish, Scottish, Australian, Japanese, American – if we’re going to do this, we’d better do it properly); water (flat and sparkling).
It seems the Lake District will be heading into winter soon (oh, boo hoo!) so I suggest you all come to Australia and we’ll head to the beach and settle this like the civilised men of letters that we are… 8)
Try telling that to the 15-strong 2012 Olympic management team — presumably Chinese — who spent £45,000 on a meal in a Chinese restaurant in London … £25,500 on the food, washed down with the contents of a £19,500 bottle of brandy! (and no, I haven’t got confused with the number of zeros!)
Mr X
mmmmm braaaaaaaaannnnndy… the dangerous fluid.
Nom, beer is not fit for consumption. It is the soda of adult beverages. I refuse to drink it unless there is no raw sewage available. And yes, fosters may have been involved with this position.
As to food with adult beverages… yes. Not always but the beverage is like salt and pepper. A flavor enhancer that can be used to enhance the experience of a meal. In some cases the meal really needs the elixir of choice to be palatable. In other cases, the really good ones, the meal was designed around a specific expectations of pairings*.
So there.
*[size=75] We have a swank Italian place here. Not a spaghetti and meatball Italian, but a cuttle fish and goat shepherds pie upscale place. A place where you need a translator to speak to the staff because they are all fresh from the boot. The first trip there we place our order and were asked “what wine or liquor will you have with your meal?” to which we replied “water”. the maitre d/owner/waiter was stunned. “You can not eat without wine. You must have something. You, you need a light blush or …” Here he was addressing the Mrs who was taking me out for special night. “And you! You clearly enjoy food!” He was talking to me, not the thinnest person in a crowed of obesity, “How can you suggest this meal without a red wine?!? Strong and bold! Wine for men eating meat! Do you not see the wine next to the meal? It is there for a reason!” A pause where he looked at me suspiciously and quietly asked “Do you really want to enjoy your meal? I know exactly what you need, you should just tell me to make you happy.” As Mr Piggy can attest this is all I need to hear. I’m a lazy restaurant patron and assume that the person paid to make my experience enjoyable is really good at their job. My reply required no thought, “I like happy, but make the Mrs happy instead.” “Ah… A man with experience. I like you. I tell you this will be a night to remember!” He was true to his word. It is one of the top culinary experiences of my life. Right up there with my night in London trying to figure out what part of a rabbit is called the saddle (doesn’t matter, tastes good). And while it may not be true that the wine made the night, I still let Michael select the beverages for me each time I go there. He has YET to bring me water or beer.[/size]
To channel the HAW… “yeah, well that’s brandy innit?” 
Well, if you drink p*ss, you get sewage.
Good beer is to Fosters* as a fine wine is to cask wine. You can drink the latter, but don’t think it represents the former. I’d rather (and do) drink water than bad beer.
We’re in agreement (again, we might need to do something about this) and I really like your Italian maître d’. A well-matched wine (or, when the food calls for it, beer) will enhance the meal (and vice-versa). As for him not recommending a beer, if you take position of regional pairing of food and drink then wine is the natural choice for most Italian cuisine (a nice peppery Australian shiraz would go well with a meaty Italian main course). But for some foods, a wine will be overpowered by the flavours of the food (think Thai food, or good Mexican). I wouldn’t “match” either with Fosters though (or Miller, or Coors, or Budweiser, or…). And sometimes, the flavour profile of a wine (or beer) is such that it is best enjoyed without distraction.
Note also that there are as many flavours and nuances to beer as there are to wine: the type(s) of grain (and how prepared), the source(s) and type(s) of hops (how they are prepared), top fermentation (ales), bottom fermentation (lagers), fruitiness, bitterness, yeastiness, colour, translucency, head, sediment. Sensory overload of a single sip!
Life’s too short to drink boring beer**.
[size=85]Actually, just to check, is Fosters even still on the market? I haven’t seen it in Australia for years.
If you make a beer “matrix” with fermentation and colour representing the horizontal axis (ales on the left, lagers on the right; dark at the extremes, light in the centre) and flavour the vertical axis (bitter at the bottom, neutral in the middle, sweet at the top), then most commercial beers sit in group just to the right of the horizontal centre (light golden lager) and close to the vertical centre (neutral or slightly sweet). All of the following beers are in this zone: Miller GD, Coors, Budweiser, Corona, Vic Bitter, Fosters, Kirin, Tooheys. In other words, most people drink neutral (bland, boring) or sweet (lolly-water) beer.
***I’ll limit my gross over-generalisation to “most people in Australia and the USA”.
[/size]
I think “age” has something to do with it too. How many older people do you see drinking beer vs wine/distilled?
I do recognize the variance in beer types. Much as wine, unless you are getting a Aussie wine, you get what you pay for*. Problem is, until recently getting real beer in the states has been a bastion of urban yuppies. During my formative years (10-20) all that was available was crappy US manufactures piss-water. While I can appreciate a decent beer, I just don’t enjoy it.
For Mexican (which I avoid) tequila or white rum.
Thai (which I consume as if my last meal is before me) get plum wine, a white, or mild sake.
I don’t eat much american Italian, but that is almost always a traditional red with brown meat, white with white meat wine pairing.
Seafood is almost always sweet tea. It’s a southern thing.
AH!!! Pizza… that gets a beer. But only if I eat out. I don’t eat pizza out much.
I still think we need to “will it whiskey or rum?”
Well I’m older than you…
I learnt to drink beer in Wisconsin — Leinenkugels, Sprecher, etc (definitely not Miller et al) — so that might have played a part in my appreciation of decent brews. And I returned to Australia just as the micro-brewery movement was becoming established, so I was never even tempted to go for the bland beers.
I prefer my whiskeys to be single malt and strong on peat – they don’t go well food. 
For me, I enjoy a whiskey at the end of the evening, paying mindful attention to the flavours and sensations. Almost a form of whiskey meditation. 
Sweet jeysue!! Wine snobs are bad enough, but …. 
seen it all now. tch! tch! Sorry I started this thread.
Le D, where are y’ when I need y?
Mon brave, I am … how you say? Weeth you always However, leetle one, you have made your bed … non … so, lie in eet!! … oui?
Tell your Antipodean Scottish, or eef you like 'Scotch’ terrier friend 
hmmmm … sorry 
Where … how you say … was I? Ah oui! As far as Budweiser goes, there ees only one, and thees ees eet
Thees ees a pisstake … literally et metaphorically … oui?
Bonn Chance mes amis
Le D.
Says the Jameson fanatic.
We all need our little myths to get us through the day…
Myth: we are not all a dream KB is having.
Although if I was just a figment of KB’s grey matter that would mean scrivener is just as much mine as his… Now I’m depressed.
Isn’t that the opposite of what head shrinks are supposed to do?
You’re not a client.
But, since I like you…
If you’re just a figment of KB’s imagination, then (a) he’s got a really good imagination because (b) your Italian maitre d’ is also part of his imagination as are (c) any college fees you might have been dreading (or worse, the kids never leaving home). It would also mean that your kids are KB’s IP and therefore his problem.
On the other hand, if you’re not a KB dream, then the love you have for your family is real and wonderful.
Arggghh! I’m such a feckin dim-witted eejit! I’m so sorry … I prostrate my undeserving worthless self at you feet, in supplication, beseeching your understanding and dare I say it … forgiveness I see now, the error of my ways, the eagerness with which I sought to denounce you apparent pretensions toward pseudo sophistication and and its accompanying baggage, 'twas a mindless knee-jerk reaction, and for what? A simple typo on your part. You typed: whiskey meditation, when in fact, you obviously meant to type whiskey medi’c’ation well-let-me-tell-you-me old buddy … I can run with that, no prob so
Good Health
Sine Metu.
And, after al, you did say whiskey, which denotes the Irish Holy Amber Distillation, and not whisky, which refers to Scotch-ish Holy Amber Distillation.
See! I knew we’d find common ground eventually.
Well y’ know wot they say about self abasement. Constant battle twixt id and super-ego, ends up with me (ego) in t’ middle carrying t’can. Life’s a bitch … init?
