Briareos H on 16/8/2022 at 10:09
In a past life I worked as a bartender for a couple of months in one of Kyoto's pubs, it was interesting. As dema said, lots of salarymen willing to splurge on expensive and frankly not very interesting whiskies just for the brand, but also quite a few connaisseurs drinking the nice stuff. The latter were often coming as couples or as small groups of friends, the former as colleagues.
It was a long time ago but I would definitely say that there is a drinking problem. Having regular, work-sanctioned binge-drinking parties enables the habit to easily turn into an addiction, and you see a lot of older men (I would suspect women too but they are not as visible) just incapable of not having their daily drink. Single sake doses ("one cup") are readily available in convenience stores for the middle-aged reasonable alcoholic, light or strong alcopops (chuhai and highballs) for younger people and a wide selection of nice 16% ABV sakes or liquor for the hardcore drinkers.
A difference with my experience back home in France: it seemed that Japanese people were very good at hiding that they had a problem. I guess the habit itself plus the safety net of doing it mainly within formalized events build a natural skill for managing hangovers and not breaking out into violence although I never knew what was going on inside people's homes.
And during my time there, I never saw a single piece of alcohol education, harm reduction campaigns or alcoholism awareness. But then again I wasn't speaking Japanese fluently. dema, how is it these days?
The other side of the coin is that alcohol consumption has been systematized into a very cathartic, almost healthy way to deal with stress for Japanese people, moreso than anywhere else I've seen, at least that's how it felt. And because it is done so openly, drinking is very fun, you always find the greatest places and people. I drank a lot in Japan...
As for what I'm drinking now, since I moved to Sweden I reduced my consumption of beer and wine a lot simply because I can't be arsed to go to the state monopoly store to regularly check on beers or get a bottle of wine. I guess the monopoly is working on me as intended then, although I could say quite a bit about the drinking culture in Sweden.
On the other hand, I have been a moderate whisky amateur most of my life so I will regularly order a few bottles. Right now I'm finishing a bottle of Ailsa Bay as well as last year's Distillers' Edition of Lagavulin, and enjoying a Glenallachie 15 quite a bit. Really looking forward to the next bottle: a cask strength 17yo Tobermory matured in Oloroso casks. I usually love the output of the Tobermory distillery, their Ledaig (peated) are especially great, comparable in some ways to Islay peated whiskies yet absolutely distinct.
mxleader on 17/8/2022 at 05:27
Interesting perspectives on drinking. I was thinking that a lot of people in here that have been around a long time probably don't drink like they may have twenty years ago. I know I don't.
The drinking culture in Asia is pretty wild. I don't think that it has changed much since I first visited various East Asian countries in the early 1990s. I recall that there was hardly any place to drink in Dubai in 1991, which created a unique problem when we Navy sailors pulled into port just after Desert Storm ended. There was a few hotels where you could buy and drink alcohol and a place out in the middle of nowhere that was established originally for the British navy and civilian sailors to hang out and drink without getting tossed into jail. That small place was overrun by the US Navy with multiple battle groups in port at the same time. Those were wild times and our battle group got kicked out of Dubai at one point and asked not to return by the U.A.E. government, but they eventually let us come back. I discovered in Dubai that there was something other than Budweiser in the world and my life was changed forever. In fact it was in Dubai at that British establishment that I became a beer snob.
mxleader on 5/9/2022 at 02:24
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I almost bought this one but I have found that labels like this only lead to bad tasting beer.
mxleader on 5/9/2022 at 09:10
Yeah, gimmicky bottles tend to be misleading most of the time, although some companies spend a lot of money on a bottle to put their best stuff in. Also, that's a long time to be together so I'm happy your cool looking bottle of wine was actually good.
Renault on 28/9/2022 at 22:50
I know beer is mostly water, but I still don't think you're getting it.
SubvertizingOrg on 28/9/2022 at 22:51
:confused:
Briareos H on 29/9/2022 at 06:33
Quote Posted by Briareos H
Right now I'm finishing a bottle of Ailsa Bay as well as last year's Distillers' Edition of Lagavulin, and enjoying a Glenallachie 15 quite a bit. Really looking forward to the next bottle: a cask strength 17yo Tobermory matured in Oloroso casks. I usually love the output of the Tobermory distillery, their Ledaig (peated) are especially great, comparable in some ways to Islay peated whiskies yet absolutely distinct.
I forwent the Tobermory and went for a Glen Scotia Victoriana. I'm not very experienced with Campbeltown malts, which have been praised highly in recent years. Can't say I'm too impressed right now, but perhaps I'm not just in the mood. I'll let it sit and come back to it later, it sometimes does wonders to a malt.