Tuesday 15 June 2010

Group F - Paraguay make early running...

Group F on paper looked simple - the Italians and Slovakians will knock it out of the park, leaving beer novices New Zealand and Paraguay to scrabble the BFH (bus fare home) together. However, as with many things after a day's solid drinking - all was not it seemed... Be prepared to enter the COGH Twilight Zone...

n.b. this is a library still, as we were not sufficiently on
the ball at this stage to get a group photo


Italy
Forza Azzurri, 5%
'Brewed in Udinese - which is Deaks' favourite Italian team, there is very little else known about this brand, which we found in a convenience store on Lewes Rd, Brighton.'

COGH research bureau


New Zealand
Macs Gold, 4%
'The Bottle was funky, looked like Mac had made it in his shed and the label suggested it was naturally brewed. So its not your average beer, and to be fair it tastes quite good with a good maltyness (is this a word?) to it. Unfortunately I couldn't warm to it and I would have to advise giving this one a miss…' alcoholexperiment.com

Paraguay
Palo Santo Marron, 12%
'Brewed in three massive 10,000 gallon tanks made from Paraguayan lignum vitae wood, which is hard enough to be used in cutting gems and dense enough to sink in water. This fact is even more silly, but it's still not the howler. No, much more absurd than all of this is the fact that Palo Santo Marron is a brown ale of all things.'
Spondologos


Slovakia
Ostravar, 5%
'Brewed since 1897 by this Prague microbrewery which was swallowed up into the larger group Prazské Pivovary (Prague Breweries) which is now controlled by Interbrew, this is a very tasty Pilsner with a marmite and fried egg aroma. A decent body with soft honey and barley sugar notes, gently cut by citrus hops which gradually melt into a fragrant memory. '
bottledbeer.co.uk
COGH excuse - we tried and failed to get hold of Golden Pheasant - and as previous noted their US distributors were most unhelpful.

That's quite enough of that. Let's see what Barbie and Sindy are up to:-

Still chatting by the trophy. Both are a little tipsy but still in control of their faculties. Let's get on with the important bit now - the match reports. Bet you can't wait...

Match 11:
Italy 1
Machetti 21

Paraguay 3
Alcatraz 26, Cruzcampo (pen) 46, Noreiga 79

The Italian brew was generally considered 'ok', and quite literally nothing more, with 'slightly better than Mythos' being the most complimentary anybody got. Whereas opinion was wildly split over the Paraguayan wood-aged brown ale. Everyone but Peter ('tastes like cough mixture and fish') loved it. 'Smells wonderful, licorice. Genuinely interesting. Special occasions only, crazy juice,' mused James - with Stu, Dan and Deaks in dogged agreement. The wisdom of the crowd easily winning through. One of the biggest shocks of the tournament thus far.

These lads were pleased with the result, and had had a few Palo Santos to celebrate

Match 12:
New Zealand 0

Slovakia 1
Amsik 30
'It's got a novelty cap and novelty bottle - but I wouldn't go to New Zealand to get one,' thus spake Deaks. James agreed, saying it was style over substance and Stu merely shook his head, and the fate of Macs Gold was sealed. Peter pretentiously detected 'smoky notes' in the Czech, pretender, and though found it a little less than welcoming, thought it would definitely get you there. Job done. New Zealand is fielding the only amateur player in WC2010, and judging by the state of their beer, you can well believe it.

Forgot to post a picture of our exclusive 'Very Nice World Cup
of Good Hop' wallchart. More on this later


So, we've nearly met all the contestants - what do you think so far? Don't forget to vote on the poll options on COGH. Better still, go out and buy some of them yourself - then vote, or not...

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