What to Drink in England
In a word, tea. Tea is most decidedly the national drink of England. In the US, people seem to think of this as a cliche, but the truth is that you will never enter a friend's home in England without an immediate offer of tea. You may depend upon it.
On the other hand, Londoners seem to have sold their souls to Starbucks. What Dunkin' Donuts is to New England, so is Starbucks to London; in other words, you can hardly throw a stone without hitting one (at least in the more upscale areas). Along a 1-mile stretch of Oxford Street, we must have seen at least six separate stores, all doing big business in mid-afternoon. Interestingly enough, people don't seem to be up in arms about Starbucks the way they are about McDonald's. Yet.
As for soft drinks ("fizzy drinks"), the old standards are still being served (sans ice) all over the country -- Coke, Fanta Orange, and so forth. One drink I like very much is Lilt, which is something like a British version of Fresca (although it's not a diet drink). I did notice something new since my last trip -- soft drinks being sold in "American-style torpedo bottles" (as described by the sign in the shop), rather than just in cans. Trust Americans to have something as belligerent-sounding as "torpedo bottles," yeah?
But of course, that's not all there is to drink in England. This trip was the first time I made a point of frequenting pubs and trying different beers. (Last time I was there, in 1988, was just before I learned to like beer. I left England that summer for Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands, and went home an educated beer drinker.) This time, we visited a pub almost every day of the trip, and tried a new beer almost every day as well. The first beer we had (on day one in London) was a Greene King Abbot Ale. I don't remember all of the different ones I tried, although I was bold enough to try the "Speckled Hen" at the Three Horseshoes pub in Gravely, and I also remember drinking a draught Guinness on St. Patrick's day (although of course that wasn't my first Guinness). A few other names that spring to mind are Boddington's, John Courage, and Strong's. In Bridgnorth I drank my first draught Kingfisher (okay, my first two), and finished the trip off with a half pint of cider.
The pub is, I think, specific to England. American bars are not the same, even ones that serve food and lots of different beers. I don't think I can put my finger on what makes the pub unique, but I am sure much has been written by others on this topic. Luckily, our London guide book gave very explicit instructions for how a pub works (I think this may have been the only section of the book that Marty read), and so from our very first one we knew what we were doing. Walk in, order at the bar (drinks and food, if you are eating), pay there, then sit. We had a lot of very tasty and inexpensive meals in pubs. You can eat surprisingly cheaply in England if you know what to look for. Cheaply and well, I should say.
Bonus pic: Marty in Thetford, holding up the wall of the Anchor Hotel.
In a word, tea. Tea is most decidedly the national drink of England. In the US, people seem to think of this as a cliche, but the truth is that you will never enter a friend's home in England without an immediate offer of tea. You may depend upon it.
On the other hand, Londoners seem to have sold their souls to Starbucks. What Dunkin' Donuts is to New England, so is Starbucks to London; in other words, you can hardly throw a stone without hitting one (at least in the more upscale areas). Along a 1-mile stretch of Oxford Street, we must have seen at least six separate stores, all doing big business in mid-afternoon. Interestingly enough, people don't seem to be up in arms about Starbucks the way they are about McDonald's. Yet.
As for soft drinks ("fizzy drinks"), the old standards are still being served (sans ice) all over the country -- Coke, Fanta Orange, and so forth. One drink I like very much is Lilt, which is something like a British version of Fresca (although it's not a diet drink). I did notice something new since my last trip -- soft drinks being sold in "American-style torpedo bottles" (as described by the sign in the shop), rather than just in cans. Trust Americans to have something as belligerent-sounding as "torpedo bottles," yeah?
But of course, that's not all there is to drink in England. This trip was the first time I made a point of frequenting pubs and trying different beers. (Last time I was there, in 1988, was just before I learned to like beer. I left England that summer for Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands, and went home an educated beer drinker.) This time, we visited a pub almost every day of the trip, and tried a new beer almost every day as well. The first beer we had (on day one in London) was a Greene King Abbot Ale. I don't remember all of the different ones I tried, although I was bold enough to try the "Speckled Hen" at the Three Horseshoes pub in Gravely, and I also remember drinking a draught Guinness on St. Patrick's day (although of course that wasn't my first Guinness). A few other names that spring to mind are Boddington's, John Courage, and Strong's. In Bridgnorth I drank my first draught Kingfisher (okay, my first two), and finished the trip off with a half pint of cider.
The pub is, I think, specific to England. American bars are not the same, even ones that serve food and lots of different beers. I don't think I can put my finger on what makes the pub unique, but I am sure much has been written by others on this topic. Luckily, our London guide book gave very explicit instructions for how a pub works (I think this may have been the only section of the book that Marty read), and so from our very first one we knew what we were doing. Walk in, order at the bar (drinks and food, if you are eating), pay there, then sit. We had a lot of very tasty and inexpensive meals in pubs. You can eat surprisingly cheaply in England if you know what to look for. Cheaply and well, I should say.
Bonus pic: Marty in Thetford, holding up the wall of the Anchor Hotel.
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