Scotch Irish Tsarina Katerina

[Belgian]

(SA Triple Bock) was one of those beers that you'd pass by time and again and think "should I buy more?" And every time I'd think "nah, I still have one bottle." Eleven years later and I still haven't opened that bottle...

It's probably gonna reward you at this point, if it ever will, only guessing.

Kasteel Donker is to me much as you describe the SA - being just a little too over the top, so I buy only a few and hope the remaining bottles age well (it is a very odd LCBO selection.) In one year the Kasteel got about 10 per cent more drinkable for me.

How did we get onto discussing Bocks on a Stout thread? Oh well.

[Steve Spong]

From what I remember, it didn't exactly fly off the shelves of the LCBO, so it was one of those beers that you'd pass by time and again and think "should I buy more?" And every time I'd think "nah, I still have one bottle." Eleven years later and I still haven't opened that bottle...

Even considering my ill-spent youth tracking down Hair of the Dog Fred while underage and taking transit, I'm still a bit young to remember Sam Adams Triple Bock at the LCBO. Having said that, despite the fact that I thoroughly disliked the beer, I feel like the glory days of LCBO selection were before my time, and instead I'm witnessing the de-evolution of the LCBO to its primitive, brown-bag servery days.

[biegaman]

Eleven years later and I still haven't opened that bottle...

I'd gladly take that off your hands...

[Belgian]

I feel like the glory days of LCBO selection were before my time, and instead I'm witnessing the de-evolution of the LCBO to its primitive, brown-bag servery days.

Mister Spong,

The hacylon days of Vintages Beer at the LC were wasted on me as well, since most of my twenties were spent being a complete Beer fool like the average person.

So age is not the only factor.

[biegaman]

...I feel like the glory days of LCBO selection were before my time, and instead I'm witnessing the de-evolution of the LCBO...

How can you say that when the LCBO has just reached the Golden Age of Euro Pale Lagers? Who needs Triple Bocks when we have Svyturus? I say let the good times roll...

[Belgian]

If the East-Euro Lagers are any indication of the places they come from, ehh.... I'd... hesitate to go there on vacation.

No offense to anyone from Krakozia and Kraplakistan.

[biegaman]

If the East-Euro Lagers are any indication of the places they come from, ehh.... I'd... hesitate to go there on vacation.

There is a great scene in the funny (albeit childish) movie EuroTrip where, by mistake, they find themselves in Bratislava (capital of Slovakia). They begin walking under the grey skies and see nothing but crumbling apartment buildings. There is an old grubby man washing himself in the street, babies crying and a dog with a human hand in his mouth. One of the characters mutters "Sweet mother of God, we're in Eastern Europe"

I'll be going to Poland in the summer so Ill let you all know how it is...

[Belgian]

They begin walking under the grey skies and see nothing but crumbling apartment buildings. There is an old grubby man washing himself in the street, babies crying and a dog with a human hand in his mouth. One of the characters mutters "Sweet mother of God, we're in Eastern Europe"

Hee hee hee, Bratislava the Pork Entrée Capital of the Universe! Good imagery.

Depending where you go some places are supposed to be breathtakingly bueautiful (Sofia, Bulgaria) and others soulfully frendly (parts of Poland.) I can at least speak for Prague, in the Czech Republic, which is like visiting a place in another time. Theme park year 1775! Enchanting place, and the women are sometimes unbelievable.

You do get the 'backwater' kind of snarly, surly attitude that Easterners can sometimes bafflingly exhibit to polite, cash-bearing tourists, not a big deal. There are hustlers and sleazers, of a different sort. But for every way these places may at times seem a bit screwed in the head, there may be one or two compensations of being there making the experience utterly incomparable (France is really no different in that respect n'est pas?) Budapest is also supposed to be remarkable.

Just wanted to balance the previous cynical comment. Perhaps Peter can advise what parts of the Ukraine are noteworthy to the open-minded traveler? (And where to get a human hand? Only kidding!)

[Steve Spong]

There is a great scene in the funny (albeit childish) movie EuroTrip where, by mistake, they find themselves in Bratislava (capital of Slovakia). They begin walking under the grey skies and see nothing but crumbling apartment buildings. There is an old grubby man washing himself in the street, babies crying and a dog with a human hand in his mouth. One of the characters mutters "Sweet mother of God, we're in Eastern Europe"

You forget the other great line - "It's a good thing that you're not here in the winter, because then it's really depressing."

I shouldn't bash it though, because my girlfriend is Ukrainian and I study Russian/Soviet history. I'm actually quite keen on doing the Russia/Ukraine swing, but time and money are always a concern. I just can't stand all the samey beers, but as Peter said about Kyiv in an earlier post some time ago, things are changing in a big way over there, with Stella and other beers encroaching on the usual suspects. Not that Stella is the be-all and end-all, god knows, but perhaps the introduction of some international variety might encourage some stylistic expansion.