Appetizers

Ripped From the Inbox

An ongoing series in which we present a few gems from our press release-jammed inbox with no context or comment.

14g Protein + 7g Fiber In a Waffle That Travels Anywhere! Samples Available!

Papi Steak's $1,000 Beef Case is going mail-order

Ammunition Depot Launches AmmoVault, a New Way to Buy, Store and Ship Ammunition Over Time

Speight’s Take

While sipping a martini at a closet-sized dive bar in Auckland called Mo’s, a bartender told me an interesting fact—which, like many things bartenders say, may not be entirely true. The barkeep, a twenty-six-year-old self-described “reprobate” named Ross, pointed at three beer bottles: Speight’s Gold Medal Ale, Lion Red, and Waikato Draught. These are the New Zealand beers, and everyone in the country has an opinion about which is best (and worst). The thing is, Ross said, they’re all owned by the same company and all use the same brewing process, known as continuous fermentation, a scheme developed in New Zealand. (It essentially means beer is brewed in a continuous flow rather than in large individual batches.) Ross had his opinions about which is best, but also admitted that they essentially all taste the same—he added that it’s even possible that they are literally the same beer, just in different bottles. Indeed it is true that they are all now owned by the parent company Lion, a subsidiary of the Japanese juggernaut Kirin. And it’s hard to pin down if any of the beers still use the process. 

Ross had me taste all three and choose a winner. Their flavors were all mild, akin to any easy light beer: PBR, High Life, or regional lagers with their own rivalries like Hamm’s and Olympia in the Pacific Northwest. I ultimately chose Waikato as my favo(u)rite. Ross then covered each of the labels, mixed them up, and had me drink them again. I chose Speight’s. —Cale