Paper Monitor
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
Paper Monitor is nursing a mild hangover, an unfortunate state of affairs not helped by a feature in this morning's Daily Mail.
It concerns the world's strongest beer, a 65% alcohol concoction by the name of Armageddon. Each 330ml bottle contains 22 units, the equivalent of 10 pints of Carlsberg.
and handed the task of sampling the stuff:
Yes, it is quite bitter - I prefer a milder-tasting ale - but it's not off the scale. There's a definite maltiness and a rather pleasant sweet aftertaste at the centre and back of my tongue.I'm happy to take a second sip. Just curiosity, you understand. And a third, and a fourth... I could, I'm sure, empty the glass.
Hold on a moment. I think I'd better stop while I'm ahead.
According to Graff, the brew is the latest product of an ongoing battle between manufacturers to produce the most potent ale.
It's not the only taste bud-related trend examined by today's papers.
In the Independent, Katherine Butler bemoans a recent visit to a fashionable London restaurant which was spoiled for her by
A request for the volume to be turned down was refused by the management - to the apparent dismay of the waiting staff. She writes:
Music can help create the right buzz wherever people gather and our venue's playlist wasn't bad, but even Mozart's Lacrimosa played at volumes favoured in the interrogation rooms at Guantanamo would be anti-social.
She concludes the restaurant's owners have calculated that "if they can't actually talk, people will drink more".
Perhaps that 65% beer will catch on after all.