Madam, – Happy Arthur’s Day, our annual celebration of Guinness’s stranglehold on the Irish brewing industry for the past 50 years or more, a stranglehold that means Ireland is the only beer-drinking country in the world where nearly every one of its thousands of pubs have the same handful of flavourless, mass-produced beers.
Devotees of Guinness’s stout refer to it regularly as the “real” thing: how something that’s churned out by the lorryload with preservatives and pasteurisation can be called the real thing is beyond the understanding of this particular beer drinker.
Real beer must be microbrewed – chemical-free in small batches, as is standard practice in other countries. This process allows the flavours to develop and emerge. These days there are several small, independent breweries, both in and outside Dublin, brewing stout and other beers in this fashion – in other words, brewing the “real” thing, and that’s what this particular beer-drinker will be celebrating this Arthur’s Day.
– Yours, etc,
Madam, – Michele Savage (September 22nd) suggests that Diageo place health warnings on its products regarding drinking alcohol when pregnant. I was not aware that the health service was in such disarray that expectant mothers must now take medical advice from drinks companies.
Is it because we are now consumers rather than individuals that responsibility for our wellbeing has shifted to corporations?
– Yours, etc,