Aaaanyway, back on topic here...
Am I the only one that gets reaaaallyyy bloated from beer? Like, really bloated. I only drink hard liquor and wine now.
Yeah, it's just far too fizzy for my taste. The only beer I really drink is stout, e.g. Guinness. It's not as fizzy, and feels heavier, so you actually don't drink it quickly like you would lagers, which are really just flavoured water.
Yeah, but the farts from "Bass Ass" are nowhere near as smelly as the ones from "Guinness Gas"! And as far as drinking it faster, you've never seen the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York, have you?
The Irish around here can and do chug Guinness like they were tossing back water with a squeeze of lime. I'm surprised they don't piss black-brown with a thick tan-colored foam...
Here in the States, the overwhelming majority of the market is lagers and light beers, and generally of a lower alcohol content by volume. I could see where an Aussie or a Brit would look at it and ask if it was already drunk by someone else before they got it... We have some great craft breweries and such, but the lion's share of the market is absolute pisswater.
Even our Foster's oilcans come from a brewery in Canada. If I wanted genuine Aussie-made Foster's, I'd have to look for the green oilcans of Foster's Ale; they don't import the lager to here anymore. At least the Guinness is the real deal.
If you have access to a GOOD beverage distributor, you may want to get to know him or her now and see if they'll order some Samiclaus for you now so you can get the new batch in December. Now that's a beer that will knock you off your ass! I mentioned it a few posts back in this topic. You should also look for Chimay Grand Reserve - to me, that's the best beer out there. It's really for savoring slowly - no one ever chugs a Chimay G.R. A proper beer bar will serve it in a specially-shaped glass that works much like a cognac glass does, concentrating the aroma of the beer to your nose as you begin to take some into your mouth...