<< THEY MAKE IT SO DIFFICULT ~ MAIN ~ JOISEY SHUNNED >>
SMARTEST GUYS AT ONE PARTICULAR TABLE IN A BAR
A slight change of pace last night for Smartest Guys in the Room author Bethany McLean; she instead hung out with me and a bunch of pals in a Sydney bar. Things learned:
• Bethany is from the same Minnesota town as Bob Dylan;
• Her pet bulldog is named Beast;
• She knows someone who owns a zebra;
• The zebra is ill-tempered, and;
• Bethany thinks Bundaberg rum “tastes like gasoline”.
Hmmmm.
Bundaberg
Sorry but I frown on drinking anything that even remotely sounds like butt-hole in German.
Now if it sounds like butt-hole in Romanian, then that’s drink-worthy!
Posted by memomachine on 2007 07 02 at 01:33 PM • permalinkMy wife is also from the same town as Bob Dylan. Her mother remembers young Bob from the day. She was not impressed.
Posted by joe bagadonuts on 2007 07 02 at 01:54 PM • permalinkHaving tasted said spirit courtesy of the exchange RAAF Flight Lieutenant assigned to our Marine Corps squadron, I will agree with her assessment. Ever the diplomat, I said nothing at the time so as not to impede said ‘leftenant’s’ deliveries of $12 cases of VB and Foster’s to my home refrigerator. That would have been both rude and foolish. I am neither when it comes to deliciously cheap quaffables.
Posted by tree hugging sister on 2007 07 02 at 03:47 PM • permalinkDid Bethany interview that cretinous economist, Paul Krugman, about Enron before guzzling that Bundaberg rum? Being in close proximity to such a source of foulness and idiocy would be enough to overwhelm one’s senses for hours.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 07 02 at 04:11 PM • permalinkZebras are nearly always bad-tempered which is why they were never domesticated. Unlike horses. That’s sort of beside my main point which is that Bundaberg always tastes crap. Beer is better. Even the local Algierian beer (that’s where I am) tastes better than Bundy. When a beer from an Islamic country pisses all over a high profile product from a nation of drinkers, that says something. Moreover, Algierian beer also tastes better than Heineken and it’s about half the cost.
‘Bundy’ is definitely an acquired taste and this from their website might help to explain its ‘unusual’ taste:
1888 The Birth of Bundaberg Rum
A group of sugar millers with vision and foresight see an opportunity to produce rum from the molasses that was a by-product of sugar refining. They join forces to form the Bundaberg distilling company.
Bundaberg certainly gives a ‘lift’ to Kae’s fruit cake. As a drink however, no thanks.
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 07 02 at 05:25 PM • permalinkSounds like Beth is now working on a different kinda book - I have some titles if she’s interested.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 07 02 at 06:06 PM • permalinkSix months O’Butter!
I’d really rather have some cheese curds…
Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2007 07 02 at 06:43 PM • permalinkDon’t miss the distillery tour when visiting Bundaberg.
At one stage of its production, the rum is actually a massive pool filled with fermenting molasses, looks and smells like a swimming pool filled with cowshit.
But the end result is great!Posted by Honkie Hammer on 2007 07 02 at 06:45 PM • permalinkThanks to Bethany for providing an illustration from her upcoming project.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 07 02 at 06:53 PM • permalinkA friend brought back slivovitz from Romania. (Actually, she doesn’t call it slivovitz, but I can’t pronounce what she calls it.) She brought it back in 24oz plastic Fanta bottles. Sheesh. After a couple of drinks (must have been 140 proof) I *desperately* wanted some gasoline to wash out my mouth. She says her grandmother made. Sure.
I come from moonshine country, and I never had any ‘shine as bad as the slivovitz.
Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 07 02 at 07:32 PM • permalinkAnybody who won’t fight when they have a skinful of Bundy is a dead set coward.
Makes small men strong and big men invincible.
Ask the Queensland wallopers.
Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2007 07 02 at 09:36 PM • permalinkIf you aren’t drinking Bundy OP, you must piss sitting down.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 07 02 at 09:42 PM • permalinkBethany thinks Bundaberg rum “tastes like gasoline”. She’s obviously never tried Frigate then. At least Bundy tastes like avgas, rather than the low-octane ping-inducing swill made in southern climes.
Nothing like a “square bear” either to give bacteria bill a biff during these chilly months; my Uncle Colin from Tannumn Sands had a surefire cure for colds and ‘flu- lock yourself in the dunny with a 26oz 33OP bottle, polish it off then smack yourself over the head with the empty. Either this toxic onslaught would be too much for a puny retrovirus and they’d decamp to a more hospitable host, or your cruet’d be so sore that influenza symptoms wouldn’t even register. Col used to trundle around in a former Brambles armoured car with a complete workshop in the back in case he had a bit of trouble on the road, ditto a sawn-off 410 shotgun.
Bastards only make 33OP for export through duty free stores now.
Ah, Bundaberg Rum, which is to rum as Vat 69 is to Glenmorangie!
Product of the world’s largest liquor company, and without doubt the most hated liquor company in Queensland.
I never shirk from the opportunity to remind people who buy the stuff that they are “shopping with the poms” (oh hoho, a VERY nasty barb at, say, a time when England has just beaten us in a sporting match).
All who drink it be sure to toast with “Rule Britannia!” before quaffing.
Or you could drink an Australian rum.
Posted by Steve at the pub on 2007 07 02 at 09:59 PM • permalinkBIWOZ, that site is interesting, however more reliable information is at the distillery site http://www.canefire.net
Posted by Steve at the pub on 2007 07 02 at 11:04 PM • permalinkFinest rum in the world - in the WORLD - is the Australian-made ‘Inner Circle’.
It started off as a special blend made for the Directors of the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, but was killed off for the sake of ‘economies’ in the late 1980’s.
Fortunately, some rum afficionados have revived the brand. Can’t wait to get my hands on the stuff.
I’m not normally a rum drinker, but I’ll drink Inner Circle any day of the week. Especially here in globally freezing Canberra.
Posted by Apparatchik on 2007 07 02 at 11:49 PM • permalink#36
Have a bottle of red inner circle sitting here on the shelf. Apparently the original pot things got sold to Fiji in the 80’s and now they are making the stuff over there and importing it, with a view to relocating the distillery back here again.Kiddies who fancy themselves as rum drinkers having been trained on bundy & cola cans will expire once this stuff becomes freely available agin.
Yuck, Pickles, sounds dangerous.
I’ve known people who liked coca cola with raspberry cordial (erk) and another who didn’t like the taste of coke and had her rum and coke with a dash of lemon juice.OK, i’ll keep an eye out for inner circle, how’s the price comparison with Bundy? (Which I NEVER buy at full price, especailly since they reduced the size of the bottles by 50ml and the price didn’t change, just kept going up!)
Inner Circle has always won prizes internationally, and can hold its own with some of the good rums, (none of which are easy to find in Australia).
The brand “Inner Circle” has been distilled in Fiji for some years. The owner of the brand was to purchase the Beenleigh distillery, with a view to moving the Inner Circle operation to Beenleigh.
However XXXX have now bought the brand “Inner Circle”. (Rather, Lion Nathan breweries have).
Hopefully this will lead to a well distributed competitor to the unpatriotic Bundaberg (ugh) Rum.
Posted by Steve at the pub on 2007 07 03 at 12:52 AM • permalinkKae, it is 12 years since spirit bottle size was standardised internationally at 700ml.
It was not only the poms who changed their bottle size, but almost every other spirit distributor in the world.
Quite a pest at the time, as it ruined my in-the-head spirit excise calculations, being no longer 9 litres to a carton.
Posted by Steve at the pub on 2007 07 03 at 12:57 AM • permalinkKae, never mind the switch from 750ml to 700ml, try THIS for size:
In the lead up to the Rugby Union World Cup, Bundaberg Rum reduced the alcohol content of a Bundaberg Rum & Cola 375ml can.
Consequently there was a reduction in excise payable of roughly $300 per pallet.
The wholesale price did not alter.
Posted by Steve at the pub on 2007 07 03 at 01:04 AM • permalinkSteve
I’m aware that it was years ago that all spirit bottled in Australia were standardised to 700ml bottles, it’s the law in Aus apparently that they have to be 700ml or less.
I was saying that the Poms took over the Distillery, and the prices started to rise, even when the size of the bottles shrank, they didn’t reduce the price of the bottles.
I became acquanted with Bundy in 1988, my ex used to drink it. One night I became violently ill on OP Bundy. He’d gone to bed and I stayed up with the housemate drinking Bundy and Coke, not realising it was OP, and mixing the drinks like they are UP.
I was SOOOOOO sick. I’m amazed that I ever started drinking anything again.Steve at the pub #35
BIWOZ, that site is interesting, however more reliable information is at the distillery site http://www.canefire.net
Yeah, I agree—but mine was more interesting to look at! :-)
I was at the distillery just three weekends ago. “Tasting” is $2 a shot (~20 mL) and by law you are limited to three tastings in one hit. There are (from memory) two other distilleries operating in the Valley (“Knight’s” appears to have shut down for good.)
It’s worth a look if you’re in Perth and go out to the Swan Valley and get sick of wineries.
I bought a bottle of OP Backburn—and then decided to give away the demon drink for good :-( As usual, my timing is immaculate—NOT!
Kae #48: The sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup was “expense neutral” for the poms (via reducing the excise payable, whilst not altering the selling price.)
The drinkers got less alcohol for their buck, directly footed the bill for the Rugby World Cup sponsorship, and the poms collected kudos for putting their “hand in their pocket” to make the Rugby World Cup a success.
Posted by Steve at the pub on 2007 07 03 at 01:31 AM • permalink#50
The 16th Player promotion for the Wallabies and Bundy Rum in 2005 was a polar fleece polo shirt/jacket.It was very inexpensive.
Maybe they get enough money from hapless Bundy drinkers… (a bit like those 55c/call to vote for things or enter competitions on TV - they are a huge rort!), anyway, as I said, I only ever buy the Bundy when it’s on special, 2 for $50.
I’ll look for Canefire rum, too. What’s its price like?
Two bottles last me quite a while. I only need 150ml per cake. But I do tend to cook a lot of the cakes to give away.
I don’t drink it much, especially on the diet I’m on at the moment. I do like to make chocolate coated rum dates, which are delish, but a nuisance to make. Chocolate is a pain to deal with.
Kae—from their website:
375ml Canefire $18.00
700ml Canefire $30.00
1160ml Canefire $50.00
375ml Canefire Backburn $28.00
700ml Canefire Backburn $50.00
1160ml Canefire Backburn $80.00
375ml Canefire White $18.00
700ml Canefire White $30.00
1160ml Canefire White $50.00
700ml White Eagle Vodka $30.00
700ml Faithful Henry Melon Liqueur $26.00Appears it’s really only available in WA, a couple of places in Qld, or mail order.
Disclaimer: I am in NO way associated with the company!!
Page 1 of 1 pages
Members:
Login | Register
| Member List
I’ve been in Hibbing, Mn.
Does that count for anything?