Budweiser has blanket TV advertising in the UK. You'd think it was the only beer available in America and I'm always wary of criticising it in front of Americans in case my comments are taken as a slur on their country and everything they hold dear.
Privately, I think it tastes like the residue of a stronger beer. It's like you've been given a diluted version of a beer. I imagine Budweiser has cornered the market by virtue of its inoffensiveness. It doesn't really taste of anything.
I always find it really hard to get drunk on Bud and when I do it's not a very satisfying drunkenness. I've never thrown up on a Bud drinking session or woken up in a strange place with no memory of the previous evening. That's the most damning thing I can say about that beer.
There seems to be more of a beer drinking culture in England, and in parts of Europe, than there is in The States. We have plenty of independent breweries over here, which means you get a lot of regional beers that you find in one part of the country and nowhere else.
I'm no beer expert. I generally stick to bitters and stouts. Cider, which my earliest drinking experiences revolve around, makes me gag.
I think I could recognise Guiness because it's got quite a distinct flavour. Murphy's is quite similar but I think I could taste the difference.
There's a stout called Samuel Smith's that I drink at a pub called 'Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese' in London. I'd recognise that, possibly more because of the effect it has on me than its flavour. It can't be much stronger than any of the other beers I drink, but one pint of it and I'm gone. It's great stuff. I've really put it away and it's never given me a hangover.
I would also be able to identify Gold Label, which is sold in cans as a beer, but is really a rough barley wine much loved by alcoholics and tramps. When I used to go to college in London, I used to drink two cans on the train going up. I'd sit through psychology or sociology with a big smile on face.
My psychology professor once commented that it wasn't advisable to take speed or coffee while studying for our examinations (he needn't have worried - half the class were hooked on heroin) because you would be learning in a certain frame of mind and come the exam, when you were straight, you might not be able to recall the information that you learned when you were amped up.
What he said seemed logical and so I followed his advice and sat all my A level exams, that year, mildly pissed on Gold Label.
