"England" news and stories

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country... and occasionally beyond.

"We don't see many Yanks around here," says a bartender as he pours a couple pints.

True, Sheffield, England is not a tourist epicenter in the United Kingdom. Due east from Liverpool and about 160 miles north of London, the former steel hub is better known for its working-class roots and recent economic redevelopment than for attracting much worldwide attention.

However, the city has spawned a number of prominent music acts over the years, including Def Leppard, the Arctic Monkeys and synth-poppers the Human League. The 1997 international hit film The Fully Monty was even set in Sheffield.

The Rising Sun is a friendly brewery pub (not to be confused with a "brewpub") on the west side of town. They are directly associated with Sheffield's Abbeydale Brewery, meaning they always have five of their unique ales on the handpumps (as opposed to a "brewpub" which brews its own beer on the premises). In addition, the Rising Sun features a rotating selection of seven other real ales from guest microbreweries around the country.

In England, cask-conditioned beer is known as real ale and has a rich history, as the tradition of the English pub predates fancy, modern refrigeration. Ales were far more commonly (and easily) brewed and kept cool by storing kegs in the pub's cellar. Handpumps (or beer engines) brought the liquid to the pint using natural human power instead of any forced carbonation. Some stodgy types, in fact, only refer to real ales as "beer" -- pretty much anything else is a "lager."

Oyster, passion fruit jelly and lavender at the Fat Duck. Photo: smashz, Flickr

The Fat Duck restaurant is one of the world's finest eateries and has the statistics to prove it -- three Michelin stars, a number two rating by S. Pellegrino's World's 50 Best Restaurants, among them -- but it's the number 529 that has stuck with the restaurant since February.

That's the number of customers who fell ill with vomiting and diarrhea at the Bray, England restaurant, and forced its two-week closure. Now, Britain's Health Protection Agency has published a 47-page report pinning the blame on norovirus caused by oysters contaminated with human sewage, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Photo: Aaron Landry/flickr

A British restaurant is in hot water after one of their employees reportedly referred to a toddler as a "little f----r" on the check.

Craig and Kimberley Cartin received the receipt at Cactus Joe's, a new Mexican restaurant in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England on Aug. 30, the Daily Mail reports. Their 2-year-old, Molly, had been restless during the meal.

Listed among miscellaneous extras such as medium spice was "thankyoulittell f----r."

See the receipt, after the jump.

There has lately been a lot of negative pressure on bottled water producers. A lot of attention is being focused on the environmental impact of the bottles and transportation, as well as the possibility of wasting a natural resource. Environmental groups and government officials alike have been working to get consumers to drink tap water from reusable containers.

The three biggest bottled water producers in England have gotten together to form the Natural Hydration Council to fight back. One goal the Council has set for itself is "to undertake new research and communicate the facts to ensure fully informed consumer choices."

According to the article, the European bottled water market has actually grown over the last few years and is expected to stay healthy, so the Natural Hydration Council seems to be more of a preemptive strike and more of a response to what's happening in the US. What do you think of the new bottled water council?

This is kind of like when the US Supreme Court ruled that tomatoes were not fruit.

The High Court in London decided that Pringles do not count as "crisps" (that's chips to us in the USA) for tax purposes. The VAT (value added tax) in England isn't applied to most foodstuffs, but potato crisps are subject to the tax. Lawyers for Prinlges, however, argued that since they are made from only 42% potato flour and their shape isn't based on anything natural, they are not really crisps and should therefore be exempt from the VAT.

According to Times Online, the High Court in London agreed, but don't count on that being the last word on the matter. England's Department of Revenue and Customs isn't happy about missing out on that tax money and is considering an appeal.

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