[johnfowles]

Sorry Mende,but my overriding memory of Fosters Lager is that it had something to do with Gnat's effluent but I did enjoy Coopers Adelaide brewed beer in Queensland and actually saw a single bottle of Coopers Lager on sale in a World Market store in Florida last week. from their website:-
"We "hopped" our way through England, Ireland, Thailand, Mexico, China, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Australia and New Zealand to bring you the best brews each country has to offer.

" as for Canadian beers. in common with American beer it is essential to drink it ice cold else the underlying poor taste gets you in the gullet or somewhere. Of course the REAL ALE in my native England has to be drunk at room temp to bring out the finer elements of the superb taste of a good bitter.
My very favourite beer is Butcombr brewed in Somerset.
"Simon Whitmore, formerly Managing Director of Courage Western and before that with Guinness worldwide, set up Butcombe Brewery in old farm buildings at his family home in Butcombe, 10 miles south of Bristol, in September 1978"
I recall once at a local pub finding that the driver of the Butcombe dray was none otherbthan Mr Whitmore himself!

Although the London Pride from London brewer Fullers is very good also

and I hope to be reminded of it in May when the Hephalump and Castle pub next to the Delta Chelsea had better still have it on draught!
I just refound the story behind the use of the words Porter and stout on the Fuller'scsite at
http://www.fullers-ales.com/london_porter.php
(due to its popularirty with the stout porters at Lodon's Billingsgate and Smithfield meat markets)
I was reminded by the wine/beer department salesman in World Market of another fine UK brew:- Old speckled Hen

from Abingdon Oxfordshire,
home of the MG sports cars now unfortunately gone to that great garage in the sky the relevant history is explained on
http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000104.html
"This creature is a character in the folklore of Abingdon, and had its beginnings with another local industry, MG cars. The nickname Speckled Hen was originally applied to a demonstration model MG with a gold-flecked black body made from cellulosed fabric, produced when the marque moved to Abingdon in 1929.
When the factory celebrated its half-century, the brewery made a celebration ale -- Old Speckled Hen. Because it was created for a 50th birthday it was made to an original gravity of 1050. This figure is a measure of the density of malt sugars in the brew, but the last two numbers give a clue to the final alcohol. A beer of 1050 will usually have about 5 per cent"
yet another good 'un is Old Thumper from the Ringwood Hants brewery, whuich is also brewed very nicely by the Shipyard Brewery up in Portland Maine.
And it was very many years ago (ten??) that I found and bought the fabled beer shown below in my local Sherborne Dorset supermarket!!!