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 last term, 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:

Singha, Thailand, 330ml, 6.0% abv.

Happy Hour is pleased to return our regulars to the far East this week with Singha Beer hailing from Bangkok in Thailand. The Boon Rawd Brewery is Thailand's first and oldest brewery and was founded by none other than Phraya Bhirom Bhakdi in 1933. Since then it has brewed a variety of magnificent beers and has recently branched out into bottled water and tea. Currently the company owns three breweries across Thailand with an annual production capacity of 800 million litres.

Our regulars will, no doubt, be very pleased that Happy Hour has chosen to purchase Singha beer out of the brewery's product list rather than the water. The beer has, for many years, been Thailand's most popular beer brewed from hops and barley, not rice as many people believe. Recently 'Singha Gold' has started to be brewed in Germany under licence from the Boon Rawd Brewery but the supply that Happy Hour has obtained for your delictation is guarenteed to have some direct from Thailand.

Singha pours with a light yellow colour with a light, delicate aroma of sweet grain and a hint of lime. Despite its impressive 6% abv content, the beer is very smooth and remarkably drinkable, in short a good solid beer typical of the beers of this part of the world. Don't miss out on this opportunity to sample the best South-East Asia has to offer.

Served from 5:30 on Friday of 1st week (Friday 30th April).

Other weeks "Beers of the World"

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