Saturday Night Blue Collar Brew Review: Part Deux

Seeing as the Old Man is working tonight, I've taken it upon myself to do tonight's brew review. I'm not as cultured in the art of beer connoisseurship, but I've sampled my fair share and I believe I'm up to the task. Besides, if he can see the light and enjoy distinguished beers after a lifelong relationship with such champions as Old Milwaukee and Stroh's Light, I think I can find my palate as well.

Tonight's sampling is Red Stripe, a lager from Jamaica. A six pack set me back $8.29 at the local grocery superstore. A bit pricier than its domestic doppelgangers, but maybe its stubby bottles cost more to produce. Or maybe it goes into its snappy advertising campaign: Hooray Beer!

I popped open the little bugger and took a whiff: Nothing grabbed me, which could be good or bad. The first swig had a hint of... could it be... skunkiness? Slightly. I poured it out and watched the very pale color descend into my mug, producing a light head that dissipated quickly. I didn't feel encouraged. A second sip reminded me of Foster's, with it's skunky flavor and light color. Didn't that make it onto some kind of list we saw a few weeks back? About the only good thing I have to say about this beer is that it didn't thankfully have the aftertaste of Jamaica's other famous, greener export mon.

All in all, I do not endorse this beer. It drinks like a cheap beer for 3 bucks more. For the same price, you can get a 12er or even a case of something home-grown, which doesn't appear on the skunky beer list. Save your pennies, grab a domestic macro brew, or even one of the other beers endorsed by our esteemed administrator. Hooray beer? Boo.

Milk does a body good

Everybody's going green these days. With the Global Warming debate, people are trying to reduce emissions, and some people take their health as seriously, consuming only organic foods. I have even seen some companies, especially with dairy, boycotting additives to benefit us, even if we don't want their help.

Take for instance, Ben and Jerry's ice cream, Oberweis dairy and Starbuck's. They refuse to use milk that contains rbST. In a neo-hippie movement which is supposed to benefit their customers, they take away my freedom of choice in the interest of saving what, the cows? They want the public to believe that rbST (Recombinant bovine Somatotropin) is an unnatural element which is not only harmful to cows, but is potentially harmful to humans who consume milk containing rbST. I have also heard uninformed people say that rbST keeps cows lactating year-round, as if they are pregnant.

These assertions are false. Not only is rbST a completely natural hormone which cows produce naturally (and then is cloned by scientists and reintroduced into the cow), but it is not harmful to people. If you ever wondered about what rbST was, educate yourself and read the truth about rbST here. Then boycott Starbuck's, Oberweis and Ben and Jerry's. Monsanto Inc. will thank you later.