Happy Hour

Happy hour takes place every Friday in the department starting at 5:30 after the Geophysical Sciences Friday seminar. It provides an informal setting to allow graduates, senior undergraduates and faculty members to mix and chat with those members of the department who they don't necessarily see in the normal working day.

Happy Hour was previously run by Ali Gemmell and Ben Kilner but their tenure came to an end at the end of Michaelmas 2003, after which I took over with Ben Fox. From the beginning of Hilary 2004, we introduced imported beers from all over the world as we take our regulars on a whistle-stop tour of the planet's more far-flung breweries. Each week we now provide one beer from our guest cellar and I'll bring you details of each one in due time.

This week's beer of the World:

Sapporo, Japan, 330ml, 4.7% abv.

Buoyed by the success of last week's offering from Mongolia, this week we're going a little bit further afield as Happy Hour towers gleefully takes you to Japan for this week's "beer of the World".

Sapporo is a city in Hokkaido, Japan, the island regarded as the birthplace of Japanese beer. One of the oldest and best selling beers in Japan is the flagship Sapporo premium beer, brewed since 1877. Apparently this beer pours easily, having a rich, creamy head and smells slightly of corn, which is a bit surprising seeing as it's brewed from rice.

So what else is there to say about this week's tasty little number? Not a lot really - I don't really know that much more about Sapporo the place or Sapporo the beer except to say it was where England beat Argentina in the World Cup of 2002. Oh yes, I also saw Sapporo as a guest beer for sale at the Duke of Cambridge the other week - £4.50 for a 500ml bottle. Need I say any more about the opportunity Happy Hour is giving you this week?

Served from 5:30 on Friday of 2nd week (Friday 22nd October).

Other weeks "Beers of the World"

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