Things We Learned on Google Today-Scottish Futbol

We were actually considering an entry for an Italian team, such as Juventus or
AC Milan, until the BBC, which we were listening to, ran this excellent retrospective story on the 1983 Abderdeen team from the Scottish Premiere League that beat Real Madrid 2-1 to win the European Cup that year.

We noticed that it has actually been a while since Aberdeen, our team of the week, had even won the Scottish league. Despite being a dynasty in the early 1980s, the team has not won the league since 1985.

So, we asked Google, who scored the most goals for Aberdeen on that 1985 team. The answer is Frank MacDougall (pictured here, not the guy playing the bagpipes), now age 53. MacDougall became the fourth Aberdeen player to score a hat trick against their rival Celtic. He joined George Hamilton (yes, in America, we think of the actor of the same name who played Dracula in "Love Bites," which came out in 1979), Billy Williamson and Eric Black.

MacDougall now owns the Criterion Bar, a pub in Aberdeen, where one may well find the Scottish beer BrewDog (pictured here).

Alas, times have been hard for Aberdeen as they lost to Celtic 9-0 last year. It was their worst loss ever to their arch rival.

SIDEBAR: She's back! No, I am not refering to ring-wing nut job Michele Bachmann who has horrified all of us politically sane people in America by winning the coveted Ames Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa, today. But, rather, we are talking about Susan Burns from Alexandria, Va., who according to "City Paper" (Washington, DC) has once again struck the National Gallery.

In April, Burns attacked a Paul Gaugin painting at the art museum, claiming it was obscene. And, amazingly enough, she got back to the National Gallery and grabbed both sides of French master Henri Matisse's "The Plume Hat," valued at $2.5 million. "City Paper" stated that Burns slammed the painting against the wall three times.

All of this reminds us that the vintage horror film "The Exorcist" (1973) about a possesed 12-year-old girl played by Linda Blair was indeed filmed in our nation's capital.

Beers from Around the World (#49) Kingfisher from India

We are concluding our Beers Around the World segments on our two respective blogs today, and we start with Kingfisher Beer, an Indian beer known by its motto: "The King of Good Times."

Kingfisher is indeed India's most popular beer, and according to its web site, it boasts that it is available from Norway to New Zealand.

Kingfisher can also be found widely in America, though I'm not 100 percent certain they serve in The Chefs of India restaurant in Cary, NC, (a Raleigh suburb) even though I've heard it's a great place to dine.

The beer has a 4.8 percent alcoholic content, but for Gen Y Bollywood movie-goer types Kingfisher does have the Kingfisher Blue which has an eight percent alcoholic content. And, the brand also offers the seasonal Kingfisher Red.

This reminds me that it's been a while since I've seen a Bollywood film, though we gather (and we could be wrong about this) that many are being shown at the Glasgow Film Festival currently underway in Glasgow, Scotland. Some Bollywood films have been known to last close to four hours in running time!

Beers from Around the World (#47)- KEO from Cyprus

Yes, I am a Turkish-American which of course makes it a bit ironic that the feature beer today is from the Republic of Cyprus (a country Turkish people refer to as Greek Cyprus), but we love irony. Cyprus was incidentally the only EU member nation I couldn't name in a quiz from mentalfloss.com, and of course I realized why that was.

The island-nation has a long, unique history and it is virtually impossible to talk about Cyprus without discussing the shish kebab political spats between Turkey and Greece that have gone on since the days when David threw a rock at Goliath.

But, we will somehow try to avoid that here. However, in full disclosure, I did visit the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1991 when I was 21. The TRNC is only recognized by Turkey. Greece and Turkey went to war over Cyprus in 1974. The TRNC formed in 1983. Rauf Dentas became the country's first president, and he did not finally step down until 1983, which is pretty typical of Turkish and Greek politicians (forgive the ethnic humor).

As for KEO Beer, it has its own unique story. It is the only domestic brand served in Greek Cyprus. The brew, which is made in the port city of Limassol, has a colored lager appearance with a pilsner taste according to Wikipedia (yes, we're not sure what means either).

A controversy with KEO, which is ironically 20 percent owned by the Greek Orthodox Church (?!), occured when the beer was featured in a 2010 American adult film set in a Greek taverna in New York.

According to "Cyprus Mail," a KEO rep said: "We are always searching for ways to promote our products and Cyprus throughout the world, but this is certainly not a path we would have chosen."

"The Cyprus News-Mail" said that the scene in question happens when a woman pours a KEO into the mouth of her boyfriend as they are.....

We imagine that for political reasons it would be very difficult to find KEA at the Fez, a pub in the Northern Cypriot city of Kyrenia (Girne) or anywhere else above the green line which divides the island-nation.

The president for the Republic of Cyprus is the progressive politician Dimitris Christofias; his counterpart is Dervis Eroglu, who was elected president of the TRNC last year.

We imagine if the two ever have a 'beer summit' they may have to settle for a Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Beers of the World (#45)- Chang Beer from Thailand

Today, we are featuring world beers that we learned about through a Beer Geography Quiz that we took on mentalfloss.com on both of our blogs; I got a 100 on the quiz---when I took for a second time!

Chang Beer (chang is the Thai word for elephnat) is a relatively new beer from Thailand which has quickly displaced rival beer Singha, the oldest beer in the country, as the popular brand domestically. Chang Beer not only maintains 60 percent of the Thai market, it has also been available in the USA since 2007.

SIDEBAR: We want to congratulate WKNC (88.1 FM-Raleigh), the student-run college radio station for North Carolina State University for qualifying for the top 10 in the MTVu College Radio Woodie Awards contest, which are given to the best college radio stations in the country. The station has a real cool speed metal show on Friday nights between 10 p.m.-midnight, which has helped introduce me to bands like Slipknot, which are admitedly not going to be on any NPR station I regularly listen to anytime soon!

Beers from Around the World- Stella from Egypt (#43 of 50)

With the air of revolution in the air, today we are going to revive our Beers Around the World Series (the last entry was on Dec. 24, 2010, featuring Gold Star, which is ironically an Isreali beer), with Stella, the most popular home-made brew in Egypt.

Along with Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Tunisia, among others, Egypt is a Muslim country where men, especially those who might not regularly go to the mosque, drink beer.

In our Beers of the Muslim World series last year, we featured Sakara Gold, but as it turns out that Egyptian beer is not quite as popular as Stella, which can be found throughout the bars of Cairo and Alexandria. Stella Beer comes in three varieties, and the brand is known as 'the taste of Egypt.' It can also be purchased in cans or bottles, and the beer has a 4.5% alcoholic content.

As far as the political situation in Egypt, which at least one family friend was surprisingly unaware of (yes, we asked if they were in a cave for three weeks), it appears to be at least somewhat stabilized. Now the health of the recently deposed leader/dictator Hosni Mubarak has become a question.

And, riots and protests are continuing throughout the Arab World from Algeria to Yemen with Libya and Bahrain (a tiny country) seeing people take to the streets within the last 48 hours. The turmoil has also spilled into Iran (not an Arab country), where crackdowns by the government are fully expected.

SIDEBAR_ Just a few minutes ago, we had a chance to take an online quiz on mentalfloss.com where we correctly guessed that Arbitrager is the name of a London pub as opposed to a Charles Dickens story. I hope my good friend Tom Angleberger, a children's book author who happens to love Dickens, is proud of me!

Beer Week Promo

No, we are not encouraging drinking alcohol, but rather our focus on the world's most unique and fascinating brews. It is actually the continuation of a series that we've been putting together for a while, but we haven't featured any new entries since December.

To be timely, we may choose Sakara Gold, an Egyptian beer we featured on one of these blogs in our Beers of the Muslim World series, or if there is another revolution in let's say Amman, we may go with the Jordanian beer Petra to be more timely and hip.

Of course, we could also go with Bohemia Beer from Mexico, but since there are reportedly beers with that same name in Brazil and the Czech Republic, it could be confusing!

We will leave with this post that I put up on Facebook yesterday:

"Things we learned from Twitter today- Mubarak will step down; Mubarak will NOT step down; the College Inn in Boulder, Colo., reportedly has the best Happy Hour in the Denver-metro area."

DC Diary- Some Very Expensive Tamales

Much of Day Three of our Christmas Family Trip to Washington, DC, which was on Wednesday, was spent at the fairly new Smithsonian Native American Museum.

Among the things we found out at this rather large museum was that rock pioneer Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) of Seattle was of Native American heritage, in addition to being black and he wore fancy costumes (one of which was on display) to pay homage to his heritage.

But, before we went through the museum which also featured art exhibits and historical/cultural displays, we ate lunch....and, a very expensive lunch at that in the museum's cafeteria.

My sister and I both got tamales with two sides, and the dishes cost a staggering twenty dollars each! My mom got a vegetarian soup and a sweet potato tart while my brother-in-law had either a pizza or a burger with a Bohemia beer and a cheesecake. The meal cost a shocking $95!

I asked my brother-in-law (who is not actually named Sven, nor is he Swedish- see earlier entry) is Bohemia was a Czech beer, but it turned out to be Mexican. While researching this piece, I found out that Bohemia, like another Mexican beer Pacifico, is made in the Pilsner style which originated in a part of what is now the Czech Republic.

My brother-in-law had a slight dispute as we were dinning as I had recalled an article in "Esquire" that stated the best tamales in America were found in Mississippi. He countered that they were actually found in New Mexico.

As it turns out, both of us could very be right.

Tamales are a traditional Latin dish, that is even found in India, made of masa, a corn-based starch dough. Along with Mexico, the Latin form of tamales can be found in Cuba, Argentina, El Salvador, Belize and Guatemala among other countries.

Tamales came to the United States in 1893, and quickly became popular among African-Americans, hence the reason why they are popular in the Deep South, particularly Mississippi, as well as in western states like Arizona and New Mexico with large Hispanic populations.

One place where one can find tamales in the South is at Fat Mama Tamales in Natchez, Miss., while there is a restaurant called Leona's Taurante in the hamlet of Chimayo, N.Mex, which also specializes in the dish.

One can even order frozen tamales from santafetamales.com (phone: 505-471-4766), including red chile tamales, green chile tamales and vegan tamales.

SIDEBAR: We want to congratulate the town of Strasburg, Va., about one hour and 15 minutes south of Washington, DC, on their 250th anniversary which is being celebrated tonight. The town is home to The Strasburg High School Rams, The Hotel Strasburg and The Strasburg Emporium, which is among the most popular antiques malls in the northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

50 Beers Around the World (#41- Goldstar from Israel)

Though it might be hard to find an open bar tomorrow in Salt Lake City, Utah, one can be rest assured that finding a beer in Jerusalem should be a bit easier. And, a patron at that bar would probably find a Goldstar Beer, one of the most popular brands in Israel.

Goldstar Beer is a five percent pale lager which has been produced since the 1950s. It is also marked as a 'dark lager beer' though it is pale in appearance, according to Wikipedia.

Of course, it is also certified kosher!

And, the beer was mentioned in the 1981 Duran Duran song "Tel Aviv."

We could not find out if the beer is available in America, and if so how widely available it would be.

As for those of you looking for open bars tomorrow, we learned that The Blue Banana on Georgia Avenue in Washington, DC, will be serving up brew starting at 8:00 p.m.

Right now, I'm listening to a blues song that's about Santa Claus drinking beer from the legendary Lightin'Hopkins!

Drink responsibly....!

50 Beers Around the World #39- Stella Artois (Belgium)

Today, we are featuring Stella Artois, a Belgian beer primarily brewed in England, which was considered a high end beer since they advertised in high-brown magazines, but now one can even find the brew at a Sheetz gas station in Lynchburg, Va.!

Of course, Belgium is known for other things besides beer, but we can only think of Tintin (just kidding!).

According to Wikipedia, Belgians apparently drink a lot of beer_ some 93 liters per person annually! Of course, Wikileaks could tell us if the Emir of Kuwait secretly drinks it at his hotel room in Paris. (just kidding, again!).

Belgium also produces some 800 different brands of beer, which is remarkable given it is a relatively small country which is the size of Maryland or Connecticut.

Tintinland also has many beer festivals, in cities like Antwerp, Bruges and Brussells.

Additionally, there is a Christmas beer festival in Essen, a northern Flemish town that borders Holland. Essen is also where a lot of international cyclists like Bart Aernouts and Tom Meeusen reside.

I was in Tintinland way back in 1993, and much to my surprise the first beer I had in Brussells was from Norway?!

50 Beers Around the World_ Baltika from Russia (#37 of 50)

Greetings from the Davie Street Parking Garage in downtown Greensboro, NC, where we have found a way to post an entry today on our laptop (eyes rolling!).

Our latest entry in our 50 Beers Around the World series takes up to Russia where a Canadian performing of mine is currently touring the country (must be nice, I would settle for Moscow, Idaho!); and, hopefully during her downtime she can send postcards to friends who are back home in Halifax, Nova Scotia (not actually where she is from, but we love to make fun of Nova Scotia).

Russia is also where one can take in a Baltika beer (you should drink responsibily of course even if Russians never do!). Even though beer will always be second to vodka in the good ole USSR (forgive the dated Cold War humor), Baltika somehow has the second largest brewery in Europe after the Dutch beer Heineken.

Baltika also competes for customers in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the Turkish beer Efes Pilsen, as the brand does have a brewery in the Caspian Sea nation that was also a part of the CCCP.

Founded in 1990, Baltika is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The beer is brewed in ten cities across Russia and it is available in some 60 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan.

Of course, everyone knows Russia has been in the headlines for a positive reason (for a change) as the country is now set to host the 2018 World Cup.

As Americans (well, your's truly is half-Turkish and our intern Javier who does most of our research is from Ecuador.....sorry, Honduras!*), we are bemoaning the fact that we lost our World Cup 2022 bid to the tiny Arab emirate of Qatar. (I would insert a politically incorrect right wing nationalist put down of Muslims and/or Arabs here, but with all due respect to Glenn Beck and our friends at Fox News, we lean to the center-left!).

There are apparently two places in Doha, the Qatari capital where alcohol can be purchased. But, for the masses in not only Qatar, but other Arab emirates, there is always the non-alcoholic Baltika No. 0 (the beer in the green bottle). Of course, we have no idea if this brand is found in Qatar at all. Where is Javier, when we need him?

*-Javier is a fictional person; the joke is that is there is anything factually inaccurate in my posts, I will put the blame on him!

50 Beers Around the World- Natty Greene's (Greensboro, NC's Local Brew)

Today, we take a short break from focusing on beers from all parts of the globe to examine the most popular local brew for Greensboro, NC, that is Natty Greene's.

The brewery also serves as a happening restaurant in downtown Greensboro and a few months ago, they opened up a second joint in Raleigh.

Currently, one can have the seasonal Red Nose White Ale, and other brands of Natty Greene's include The Guilford Golden Ale, Southern Pale Ale and Buckshot Amber Ale.

The Triad's brew can be found at many places in the Tarheel State, including the Backstreet Buzz Coffee House in nearby Reidsville, where the popular Greensboro band A Cup of Blues will be performing on Saturday night.

SIDEBAR: With today being Cyber Monday, I was looking around my mom's house over the weekend and wondering what we could hawk on E-Bay, which has turned out to quite profitable for my cousin Michael is South Carolina. I came across a box that had some old paperbacks, including the book version of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the Elmore Leonard novel "Bandits" and "Dave Barry's Greatest Hits," which since it was published 20 years ago seems a bit out of date.

But, Cyber Monday is a bit of a concern for local retailers. "The Charleston City Paper" in Charleston, SC, has a cover story this week focusing on the 'buy local' trend which aims to keep dollars in the community with the support of local businesses. Among the local businesses in the historic city that were featured in the article by Stephanie Barna were Wonder Works, a Charleston toy store, Remedy Market, a grocer focusing on local goods and Croghan's Jewel Box.

SIDEBAR TWO: We were saddened to hear of the death of comic actor Leslie Nielsen, who started as a dramatic actor in his long film career. But, his death, reminded me of a surreal incident which actually caused diplomatic tensions between Turkey and Iran in 1990. Iranian government officials were actually outraged that Nielsen's hit comedy film "The Naked Gun," which makes fun of the Ayatollah Khomeini, was being screened in Turkey, which neighbors Iran. This lead to an actual government investigation by authorities in Ankara, but the film continued to play in Turkey, and we gather it did fairly well there.

50 Beers Around the World- Sagres (Portugal)

New reports are surfacing that actually drinking two beers a day may help prevent a person from getting a heart attack, but I would check with my fellow Turkish-American Dr. Oz (Mehmet Oz) before heading over to Corn Beef and Company, a famous downtown bar in my hometown of Roanoke, Va.

As for our latest entry in the 50 Beers Around the World, Sagres Beer is the most popular brew in Portugal. It has a clever ad campaign, which Gloria Steinem and Pat Robertson may not care for, that features a black bikini-clad girl in her twenties coming out of the ocean to hover over an illuminating golden glass of Sarges. Surely, this must give the local chapter of AA in Lisbon something else they don't need to deal with!

Sagres started in 1940, and it is named after the town of Sagres, Portugal. It was first exported to mostly Portuguese colonies, including Mozambique which is now independent.

Popular types of Sagres include Sagres Preta, a Munich-type beer, Sagres Limalight which has a natural lemon flavor and Sagres Bohemia which is an auburn brew with a fruity aroma.

SIDEBAR: Just across the Straits of Gibraltar from Spain and Portugal is Morocco, where according to Sara Tucker of "Conde Nest Traveler," it is polite to knock on the door with the tips of your fingers, and you may only knock three times!

50 Beers Around the World- Taedonggang from North Korea

Today's entry in the long-running 50 Beers Around the World Series (today we are posting entries number 31 and 32 on our two blogs) is perhaps the longest beer name in the world, Taedonggang Beer from North Korea.

The isolationist nation's brew has only been operational since 2000 when Kim Jong-il decided it was time for a Pyongyang version of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

A commercial for the beer, which has become fairly popular on YouTube, aired on North Korean tv in June of 2009.

The brew is named for the Taedong River that runs through Pyongyang.

And, in case you are wondering what the trendy topics are on Twitter today, they include Playing God (a video game), Green Lantern, and (of course) Prince William and Kate Middletown.

Other trending topics include Oden, which we learned does NOT refer to a Japanese winter dish named Oden but rather Portland Trailblazers star Greg Oden who has apparently suffered a major injury, and Joly, which is an apparent reference to British tv comedian Dom Joly, who is very popular on Twitter.

50 Beers from Around the World- Castle Lager (South Africa)

Former president Bill Clinton (see last entry) was among those who attended the World Cup in South Africa over the summer. Clinton was there to watch the game between the United States and Ghana, in which the west African nation prevailed in an exciting overtime victory.

Today, we feature the South African brew Castle Lager in our 50 Beers Around the World series (we are about halfway through now). In South Africa, beer in its traditional sense was first introduced by British immigrants in the late 1800s.

According to Wikipedia though, the native Zulu and Xhosa tribes were both brewing forms of sorghum and maice beers prior to the British immigrants' arrival.

Soccer season is in full-swing around the world. Those of us who root for the Turkish team GalataSaray, out of Istanbul, (I am a Turkish-American) were irked to hear that the gold and red lost to TrabzonSpor 2-0 over the weekend.

We profiled the Turkish beer Efes Pilsen as well as the American brew Pabst Blue Ribbon earlier in the series. Perhaps, there is a bar in Paterson, NJ, which has the largest conticencies of Turkish-Americans, which serves them both!

50 Beers Around the World- Tui Beer (New Zealand)

Long day. Long commute. Aching feet. Nagging headache. It's time for a Tui Beer from New Zealand, but ahhhh wait- I'm blogging from a public library in Graham, NC*, and there is not a single bar in Alamance County that carries this brand!

(*Not really where I am at; btw, we fixed the glitch with the photo of Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri)

But, if one is in Wellington or Auckland, they can indeed have a Tui. The beer is produced by DB Breweries and it is promoted through clever ads which according to Wikipedia use sterotypes, heavy irony and the phrase "Yeah, right."

The Tui brand also has kitschy models actually called The Brewery Girls, and an online New Zealand web site called The Changing Room offers (we kid you not!) Tui-brand Cheekie knickers.

SIDEBAR: While I was lying about being at a public library in Graham, NC, where I may have been debating about which version of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" that I want to check out, I am in fact actually drinking an Amstel Light (they didn't have Tui) at the Double Down Saloon in Las Vegas (home of the bacon martini!) with arch conservative, Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle who is trying to rob Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev) of his seat. She actually seems to have a good sense of humor, especially when it comes to making fun of Mexicans, but of course, I'd have to be awfully drunk to vote for her.

Quote of the Week- Alfred Hitchcock

Yes, I am aware that something royally effed up with the image of Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), but for right now let's move on with our Quote of the Week from the late, great Alfred Hitchcock.

Of course, we're doing this because Halloween is just around the corner:

"I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach."

SIDEBAR: What am I doing at the moment you ask? Well, we don't have time to post this on Facebook or Twitter, but I am in fact: "Having a halal beer with Juan Williams at the Paradise Hookah Bar in Paterson, NJ."*

*-Yes, there is such a place. Paterson, NJ, has one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States. The Fox News commentator was literally fired from his day job at NPR for saying Muslims in garb scare him on airplanes. I have a similar fear of Mormons, actually (that is just a joke, Marie Osmond fans!).Halal beer is actually a product that is served in Malaysia!

50 Beers Around the World- Foster's

Greetings from the lobby of the Lollipop Motel in Wildwood, NJ, (which is not remotely close to where we really are!), where today we post about the familiar Australian brew Foster's, which everyone between here and Tashkent, Uzbekistan, knows is: "Australian for Beer."

According to Wikipedia, the Foster's Group, which owns the brand, announced in 2008 of the release of Cascade Brewery's 'green' beer that will not actually be green in color, but rather it is fully carbon offset in terms of agriculture, manufacturing, and packaging.

50 Beers From Around the World- Kronenbourg 1664 (France)

Kronenbourg 1664 Beer, France's best-selling brew, was started in the year 1664 in Strasbourg, France (not to be confused with Strasburg, Va., which is an hour south of Washington, DC).

KUDOS: Congrats to the Virginia Tech Hokies for beating the N.C. State Wolfpack 41-30on the road Saturday.

SIDEBAR: We would have more to say today, but it is a Monday and we have a lot of bogabok (which is Turkish for something associated with a type of cow) to take care of! Efes Pilsen, by the way, is the most popular beer in Turkey.

50 Beers Around the World- Mahou Clasica (Spain)

There isn't much available about this Spanish beer, which is reportedly found mostly in Madrid, except that a travel site about Spain highly recommends it while the blog pissonthewall.com says it's rather bland?!

50 Beers Around the World- Efes Pilsen (Turkey)

We have gotten slightly behind in our 50 Beers Around the World series, but we resume it today by featuring Efes Pilsen which was previously posted here under an entry about Beers of the Islamic World.

Efes Pilsen, founded in 1969, is actually now the eighth most popular-selling beer in Europe. And, perhaps even more surprising is that it has breweries in Serbia, Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan!

The beer company is headquartered in Istanbul and is frequently advertised throughout Turkey. We have heard that it can at times actually be hard to find the beer or any alcohol products in Konya, Turkey, which is the country's most conservative city, but we have not been there is 23 years so that would hard to verify!