2012 May 11

Brown ales are usually dark amber or brown in colour. The term was first used by London brewers in the late 17th century to describe their products, such as mild ale, though the term had a rather different meaning than it does today. 18th-century brown ales were lightly hopped and brewed from 100% brown malt. The term “brown ale” was revived at the end of the 19th century when London brewer Mann introduced a beer with that name. However, the style only became widely brewed in the 1920s. The brown ales of this period were considerably stronger than most modern English versions.

Caramel and chocolate flavours are evident. Brown ales from northeastern England tend to be strong and malty, often nutty, while those from southern England are usually darker, sweeter and lower in alcohol. North American brown ales are usually drier than their English counterparts, with a slight citrus accent and an aroma, bitterness, and medium body due to American hop varieties. Fruitiness from esters are subdued. When chilled to cold temperatures, some haziness may be noticed. Appropriate foods are apple pie, pork with brown sauce, beef vegetable soup and cheddar.

A light-flavored, malt-accented beer that is readily suited to drinking in quantity. Some of the more famous brown ales are the Nescastle Brown Ale, Brooklyn Brown Ale, Goose Island Nut Brown Ale, Garrison Nut Brown Ale and, pictured here, the Amsterdam Nut Brown Ale. Look very refreshing & tasty.

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By Roshan • Drinking • 0

May 11 2012

Racist Or Not?

Unless you were hiding under a rock or not online much, you would most likely have seen you have seen or heard about the Ashton Kutcher ad for Popchips depicting him (among other characters) as an Indian man, Raj a Bollywood Producer, with a fake and bad Indian accent and in brownface! Yeah, ok and if you haven’t seen the ad or clip online, the above pic should help you. Take a minute to fully appreciate it.

Now this ad was pulled after following a public uproar over its alleged racist overtones. Which makes me shake my head? How is this ad racist? Because Kutcher was in brownface and faked a badly done Indian accent. He also fakes a German/Austrian accent – does that make it racist against Germans & Austrians? Indian origin Canadian stand up comic genius Russell Peters makes fun of the Indian accent – would you call him racist? No!! He also does killer Philipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, South American, Mexican, Arab and British accents. Is he racist against all these people? One think that I notice in his videos is when he is doing a joke about a particular ethnic group, it’s that ethnic group that laughs the loudest & the hardest! Because they know that there is some truth in it and he is just stating a stereotype.

And you think Indians don’t make fun of other nations? Indian ads & music channels used to have a ton of ads or videos of Indians faking American or UK accents. Look at all the voice overs of English & American announcers speaking in badly accented Hindi (I seriously think that some Indians consider that entertainment). There are jokes where the punchline is badly pronounced English words in Hindi, Tamil & Malayalam and more Indian languages. Hell, the Malayalam tv, movie & mimicry industry has run for decades on mispronouncing English words & faking accents. Are they all racist?

Stereotypes are poking good hearted fun at a particular ethnicity. That’s exactly what this portrayal of “Raj” is – a stereotype. Done badly – yes. The accent is terrible – yes. I am not a fan of Ashton, I don’t think much of him as an actor. I don’t watch his movies. I think he isn’t very talented. He isn’t very funny. I thought the ad was a bit funny. Indians take themselves way too seriously. They make fun of others but they can’t take a joke. If you want to get riled up over something choose something more substantial. Like actual racism and mis-treatment based on race & colour. Not this stupid stuff!

The original ad is below.