Beer, wine and spirits

I wasn't familiar with beer in the UK and so I was keen to experiment. When you ask for a beer in a pub, they ask you if you want bitter or lager. Luckily I asked for lager. Someone explained later that "bitter" was the warm beer that the English are (in)famous for whereas a lager is cold draught beer that we are used to.

I found a few beers that I liked and some that I didn't. One was so bad that I only took a couple of sips and didn't bother finishing it. I thought Carling was OK but my favourites were Kronenbourg and Black Isle.

Several times, I asked for a light beer and they didn't seem to understand what I was talking about. They thought I meant a beer that was light in colour. When I explained that I was interested in low alcohol because I had to drive back to the hotel, they quoted the alcohol levels in each beer without any trouble but they were all over 3%.

Their wines come from all over to world including Australia, Europe, South America and South Africa. I cannot remember seeing any wine from the UK.

Suzy had no problems getting a brandy and dry (unlike the US). Generally, they gave her the brandy in a glass accompanied by a separate can of ginger ale. She thought this was a much better method than mixing it behind the bar.