As a bit of a wine ignoramus, we always used to just go into the local supermarket and buy whatever was local and running low on stock. It was generally a pretty successful strategy, although we quickly learned not to bother to bring any home. What tastes wonderful on a balmy July evening on a campsite in Perigord doesn't tend to do so well on a cold November evening in Gloucestershire
But that's fine. Every region has its own speciality. We can do beer like nobody else. One of the icebreaker stories (complete with broad Gloucestershire accent) I used to use at the start of my presentations/lectures in front of international audiences always went down well.
"You all might have heard of British beer, served warm and flat, we love it, but international visitors often find it an acquired taste. For example we were sat in our local country pub one day when an American tourist came in and asked for pint of the local ale.
After one sip he decided it was disgusting. "Nobody can drink this muck!" he declared. "If anyone can drink 10 pints of this, I'll pay for all the drinks for all the customers for the whole week I'm visiting!"
So of course Old Joe stands up and say "Oi'll give it a go Sorr, but do you mind if I just pop out for 10 minutes first?"
"No worries" came the reply, so off the old chap went. Meanwhile the pints were poured and lined up on the bar. !0 minutes later in comes Old Joe, walks up to the bar, and downed the beers one after another in just a couple of minutes.
"Wow!" said the visitor. "Well, I'm a man of my word, so I'll happily pay up. But tell me, where did you go for those 10 minutes?"
"I popped round to the other pub in the village to check if I could do it."
