A beverage called “London fog” is a combination of Earl Grey tea, steamed milk and vanilla syrup.
A beverage called “Irish car bomb” is a shot glass of Bailey’s Irish Cream dropped in a pint of Guinness Stout and is an excellent way to ruin both drinks.
A ‘black and tan’ is a beverage made of two beers; one being a pale ale and the other a dark stout. Generally, Guiness is the preferred stout of choice, while Bass or Harper is usually the pale ale. The drink is made by filling half a pint glass with the ale, and then filling the glass by slowly pouring the stout on top of the ale until the glass is full.
Interestingly, this drink in Ireland is known as a ‘half and half’. (Although, every bartender that I encountered in Ireland certainly knew how to make a black and tan when requested.)
(Not in play: my understanding is that the term “Black and Tan” for the drink isn’t used in Ireland, because it’s seen by many as derogatory and/or inflammatory, as it is a reference to English recruits who joined the Royal Irish Constabulary in the 1920s, during the Irish War of Independence. Many of them were unemployed British soldiers, and they became infamous for their brutality.)
In play:
Irish brewer and businessman Arthur Guinness began brewing ales in the town of Leixlip, in County Kildare, in 1755. Four years later, he moved his business to Dublin, where he rented an unoccupied brewery property in the city’s St. James’s Gate area.
On December 31st of 1759, Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on the property, for an initial lump payment of £100, with a £45 annual lease payment. The lease is no longer in effect, as the Guinness company eventually bought the property outright.
Not in play: Yes, I found this as well when I was researching the term for my earlier post.
Also not in play: I found the tour of the Guiness brewery to be quite interesting!
There’s an old joke about a Guinness brewery worker who fell into one of the vats, and bravely fought off rescuers for almost three hours.
Guinness beer is certified 100% vegan. As of 2018, the brewery has stopped using isinglass, or processed and dried fish swim bladders, with a proprietary method for fining (clarifying) their beer that doesn’t include animal products. (And no, it never used rats as a means of enhancing the taste of its ale.)
Comments only…
Cool trivia, @Railer13
When mine have been poured, the Guinness stout was poured onto a teaspoon held above the glass so that the stout splashes lightly on top of the pale ale and settles as a layer at the top.
I did read that when I was looking up black and tan, but I don’t remember that being done in the pubs in Ireland. Probably happened, but I didn’t see it. Pro tip: the drink in Ireland is FAR better than any I’ve had in the States!
Carry on.
Alec Guinness had so little faith in the success of Star Wars that he negotiated his contract not to require him to appear in promotions. Originally George Lucas wanted Obi-Wan Kenobi to continue, but Guinness insisted on being killed off, ostensibly for the betterment of the character but mostly because he found the character’s dialogue to be banal mumbo-jumbo.
The first scene of the 1984 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom takes place in 1935, at “Club Obi Wan,” a nightclub in Shanghai, China. The club’s name is an obvious reference to the Star Wars character, as George Lucas was also the co-creator of the Indiana Jones films.
Despite the appearance, the obi does not hold the kimono shut. It is the koshihimo that does that.
The kimono, a traditional garment, is the national dress of Japan. It is a wrapped-front garment, and is always worn with the left side wrapped over the right. However, if the wearer is deceased, and their body is being prepared for burial, the right side of the kimono is wrapped over the left.
The Garment District, also known as the Fashion District, or the Fashion Center, is an area in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was originally home to a large concentration of clothing manufacturers, but is now mainly known for showrooms and designers of apparel.
The Meatpacking District of Manhattan was an area comprised mostly of slaughterhouses and meat packing businesses. Initially a thriving residential neighborhood, it rose to prominence following the end of the Civil War, with around 250 businesses located within a few square miles. After improvements in storage, refrigeration and distribution, the area saw a marked decline in the 1950s and 60s, with packing houses being converted into tenements. By the 1980s a majority of these buildings were converted into sex clubs, mostly illegal and run by the mob, only to be shuttered ten years later because of the AIDS pandemic. Today the Meatpacking District is a high end boutique shopping area, attracting both young professionals and tourists.
Mason County Hospital in Shelton, WA was built on the site of an old slaughterhouse, thus long-term residents nicknamed it “Slaughterhouse Hospital”.
The Slaughter-House Cases was a decision of the Supreme Court which upheld the power of the state of Louisiana to regulate working conditions in slaughter-house cases.
The Court gave a very narrow interpretation to the « Privileges and Immunities » clause of the 14th Amendment. The dissent said that the effect of the decision made the 14th Amendment a « vain and idle enactment ».
[OOG]
Before I moved to Seattle I lived briefly in Shelton. My friend and I were at a bar in town and I mentioned visiting a relative in the hospital. A woman in the adjacent table overheard me, and leaned over to tell me (in an ominous tone), “Don’t go there. People die there.”
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Auburn WA is a city of nearly 90,000 in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area. About 10 miles ENE of Tacoma, and about 20 miles SSE of Seattle as the crow flies, Auburn, at DD coordinates ▲ 47.3074, -122.2286, was populated in the early 19th century by people of the Muckleshoot Tribe. European and American settlers moved into the area, and in the 1860s they named it Slaughter after Lt. William Alloway Slaughter who was slain in 1855 (some sources say 1856) during the Indian wars. Slaughter WA was incorporated in 1891, but in 1893 the people changed its name to Auburn because they disliked the name, and especially because the town’s hotel was named the Slaughter House.
Lt. William Alloway Slaughter was, uhh, slaughtered in what is today Auburn WA, at approximate DD coordinates ▲ 47.333575,-122.221691. Today, there is a Washington State Historical Marker there.
Auburn and chestnut are very similar hair colors but auburn is considered red hair and chestnut is considered brunette.