tony kanaan

[indycool]

Crash Test, I learned something then -- not to believe the commercials in real life.

That'll make it easier, Jenna...we're pretty adept at finding a few cold Buds instead!

[Crash Test]

I suppose Fosters is a typical Aussie beer, but we all tend to stick to our favourites, say XXXX in QLD, Tooheys in NSW, VB in most placed. We'll drink anything though, and I know in these parts, the big push is towards Irish bars etc.

Oh yeah, I'm sure Tony Kanaan loves the party leading up to the Gold Coast race

[indycool]

I've had Toohey's before...fine beverage...a unique push up here in the U.S. is on microbreweries, where they brew their own in all kinds of flavors and alcohol content. You can eat a fine dinner, drink your choice of what they have, etc. I kind of like the wheat ales some of 'em have, and the pilsners. But in "real normal life" it's Bud Light.

[jenna]

i dont drink it, cant stand the stuff. but from wat i understand fosters is not very nice and is generally only popular overseas, u dont come across it all that often here. i suppose a lot of guys do drink beer, stereotypes always stem from the truth you know. the guys im friends with are a lot classier than that, but if they want a beer they have a corona which is like a boutique bottled beer i think, its more expensive then regular stuff. the images you see on tv give a true picture of a smaller culture within australia. i dont know anyone who talks like that croc hunter guy (which is only mildly popular here i might add) u normally find them all out in the country. in the cities were exactly like americans except funnier and with different accents. youre all just victims of our department of tourism!
but anyway for my birthday ill be breaking out the cristal...

[indycool]

Aw, Jenna, I'll buy the different accents part -- I enjoy the way you folks talk down there -- but we can be pretty funny up here, too.

Corona's a Mexican beer that's a popular premium up here, too, that you drink with a lime slice although it doesn't seem to play as well in Mexico. Down there, they drink Superior (soo-PEER-ee-ORR), which is kinda like Bud.

I'd like to come down there sometime...just never had the chance...well, did once when the stock cars came to the Calder Park Thunderdome years ago, but I had to scratch at the last minute. Your department of tourism DOES paint a pretty picture.

When you say, "breaking out the cristal," do you mean the Chilean beer by that name that's sponsored Eliseo Salazar for years or the wine glasses? Just want to get it right for the nice lady for her birthday if she shows up in Indy....

[jenna]

i mean the insanely expensive champagne. yes, i have expensive tastes!

[jenna]

i think aussies just have a different humour, cos americans never seem to get my jokes. always have to explain myself. however you ARE the country which gave the world the funniest show ever to grace television, the simpsons. 14 years and still going strong!
ps how many more posts until i get to be a racer???

[GTRMagic]

Well water is always good here in Oz, except around Warwick in Qld, and anything in Adelaide... both are sad, the first because of a strange harshness in the water, and the Adelaide variant you could cut with a knife & fork.

Aussies tend to be regional drinkers, at least thats what the beer companies tell us, there is a different brand in each market (i.e. state) and some national brands all round the place.

The biggest is likely to be Victoria Bitter.. indeed that is the one with the most domestic advertising & promotion thrust upon it...

There are a number of people here that choose Steinlager, Stella Artois and the other mega exxy beers.. but if all you are chasing is cold liquid, a domestic is still as unpalatable as ever

[indycool]

Well, Jenna, got the read that I'll hafta save my nickels and dimes for your proposed visit in order to reach the top shelf at the party store instead of just stocking up on Boone's Farm and Thunderbird! Glad I have a few months to do it. I know a limo driver, so that's not a problem. What kind of gourmet entrees do you prefer? The racer's steakhouse here is called St. Elmo's, an old, small, traditional high-class place downtown. The gift shop at the Speedway has fine racing crystal and gold jewelry (some items up to $5,000) for your consideration...

I haven't been around here very long but I think you become a Racer at 50 posts, so, in the parlance of the stock-car guys down south, "y'all just keep on talkin' to us, ya heah?"

I don't know why you'd say us Yanks don't understand you folks' jokes. I've never had a problem "getting it" with the Aussies I know. Yes, it's a different KIND of humour (spelling it your way) but in about a-beer-and-a-half, I find everyone seems to be on the same page.

GTR Magic, thanks for the update. I've had Victoria Bitter before. It's different stuff. Stella Artois, I believe, is a French beer, isn't it? You don't see it much here.

There are some stores here in Indy which carry a bunch of imported beers, but I'm not sure it's the same stuff as you get domestically.

And it's the same here...there are many domestics that are as "unpalatable as ever."

[GTRMagic]

Some of the Aussie beers are brewed overseas and strictly speaking arent the same as those made locally.. Australia's water tends to be slightly different, altering the taste and some of the hops/wheat/barley and anything else they want to put in there are generally different too.

Steinlager is made in NZ, and a deal has either been struck/soon to be struck to have Stella Artois made here...

As for American beers, I cant say that they enthralled me, if only because I dont understand how you guys can drink them warm... its just not done

[indycool]

Understand, GTR...know some breweries up here have contracts to make beers under foreign label and they're not the same as the local fare.

Hey, we can't drink 'em warm. You're confusing us with the British.

Remember after a race one time as things were winding down and we just had one warm six-pack left. Somebody found a fire extinguisher, opened 'er up and emptied it on the six...instant cold beer.

[GTRMagic]

LOL @ Indycool... I am surprised the cans didnt stress crack because of the pace of change of temperature...

Interestingly that trick was used in a motor race in Australia, a Bathurst event no less, where the fire extinguisher was pointed to the intercooler and released during the high-boost qualifying...

The scruitineers couldnt prove it had been used but the setup would have decreased air intake temps significantly... for more power! The team was fined $5k but no other penalty given....

[jenna]

one thing worse then beer has got to be warm beer. thats seriously perverted.
can you just stick fire extinguishers on the back of your car/bike like they do in the cartoons to make them go faster?!

[indycool]

GTR, that's a neat story...that kind of thing with a CO2 extinguisher has a lot of beneficial uses.

Aw, Jenna, relax...no pun intended...already told ya we'd score the champagne!

[GTRMagic]

There was a team at the recent Bathurst 24 hrs that had a 'fridge' element and cooling tubes, setup with a powerful cooling fan to blow cool air thru the radiators to eliminate heatsoak... The team is owned by a refrigeration company so that sort of made sense...

The team with the dodgy fire extinguisher was Peter Brock's one so it wasnt just a Joe Nobody having a go

[jenna]

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!

[indycool]

Whoops, belatedly, Merry Christmas Jenna!