After all the waiting and counting down, at last Arthur’s Day is here. 250 years in the making to celebrate this special day for Guinness. This is the Arthur’s Day eve celebration at Sid’s Pub on the 24 September 09, an hour of free flow plus 25% donation to all the Guinness purchase on that night.

As usual, I came early to book a table for my friend and fellow Beerbeer reader if they recognise me. I was so early that they are still setting up the place. Hanging up balloons and doing the sound test.

I maybe early but the place already pack with people booking the sits for their friend and the regulars there. Sid’s Pub have become a good drinking place that the customer base is getting bigger and bigger. As everyone waiting for the free flow to start at 6pm. Even before the event start, I already finish up my second pint of Guinness… haha

Once the announcement is make, everyone line up to get their free flow of Guinness. I have no idea that outside is already full of people. In the tent, Guinness have prepare 3 draught machine to cater for the free flow.

The line are long even with 3 draught machine going out full force. It’s amazing where the crowd come from. 1 minute at 5:59pm the place is filled but by 6pm the place is sandwich pack. To line up to get your beer you need to spend around 5-8 minutes just to get the perfect pint.

Guinness have make sure everyone get a good pint of Guinness draught. Because to pour a good pint of Guinness you need to split into 2 part, fast pour at the beginning and let the beer settle down for the second slow pour to fill it up.

Everywhere you turn you will see happy faces. Cause everyone have their fare share of Guinness. Everyone mingle around and having a good time. I met up some Beerbeer reader while lining up, we even met the Thirsty Blogger.

The MC for the night is Rashid Salleh. A great MC that stir the crowd even more. Every once a while we will toast “To Arthur”.

As the free flow is over, is time for the coupon for the charity. RM 10 for a perfect pint of Guinness Draught. 25% of the money will proceed to charity. Who said drinking can’t be good? Seldom we have opportunity to drink beer for a good course.

As the sun set, the night brings in the chill fun night. With so many people around I though I was at beerfest, holding my beer walking around, mingle with people and non-stop yamsing and “To Arthur”.

The atmosphere is great, although have a few blackout once a while but who cares. We enjoy the evening with a beer in hand. Every where you turn you see happy faces. Is a great and wonderful crowd.

As every event has to come to an end, we have great fun and crazy night. I didn’t stay until the event is finish as I ‘m already too freaking drunk by then. I never drank so much Guinness in 1 day, as for the celebration of 25oth Anniversary for Guinness, what the heck. By the time for Guinness 300th Anniversary I will be too old for this, if I still alive. Thank You Guinness for having a good event and thanks Sid’s Pub for a delightful gathering. With all this “To Arthur”!

Share on Facebook

(TheStar Online) MILAN (Reuters) – Gone midnight on the last Saturday in summer and the young people in the square drinking cocktails and beer slur as they chant: “Happy birthday, son of a bitch…”

An unremarkable sight in northern European countries like Britain, it’s becoming familiar in Milan as an Italian tradition of touching wine only at meals caves in to the power of binge-drinking.

In a country where proverbially “wine makes good blood” — a popular belief that moderate alcohol intake makes people good-humoured and can be healthy — the authorities are grappling with a youth drinks culture modelled on the heavy-drinking north.

“We have not yet reached levels seen in the UK but in five years we’ll be there. We are not that far off,” Dr. Luca Bernardo, an expert in adolescent health at Milan’s Fatebenefratelli hospital, told Reuters.

His hospital is in an area surrounded by bars and he said at least every two weeks its emergency room has to treat a young patient who is in an alcoholic coma or severely intoxicated.

It’s no surprise to see children as young as 11 to 13 in the emergency room, Bernardo said. Alcohol advertising, new products such as alcopops aimed at a younger public, boredom and psychological problems can spur youth drinking, doctors say.

In the Milan square near the San Lorenzo Columns, two hoardings overlook the scene: one is for Absolut vodka, the other for Nastro Azzurro beer.

At the bar on the corner where students in their twenties line up, the top drinks are cuba libre, vodka and lemon, gin and tonic, and various brands of beer.

Milan in July became Italy’s first city to crack down on youth drinking. In a move applauded by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the business hub set 500-euro fines for the possession and consumption of alcohol by under-16s or those selling to them.

Alcohol’s social and economic costs — estimated by the World Health Organisation in 2004 at 5 to 6 percent of gross domestic product — include increased traffic fatalities.

Italian media regularly report on the “Saturday Night Massacre”.

Drunk-driving kills about 2,800 young people every year, according to a proposal in March by centre-right ruling party MPs to raise the legal drinking age to 18 and reduce blood alcohol content allowed in driving.

“Public opinion is quite sensitive to this,” Senator Lucio Malan, one of the signatories, told Reuters.

Continue Reading Here.

(Beerbeer) I think younger people must have at least a simple knowledge of alcohol, so that they don’t get them self dead drunk. At the same time we must find out why the teenagers want to resolve with alcohol, we have to study their social problems. What started the binge drinking?

Share on Facebook

(travelandleisure online) - The original Oktoberfest, in Munich (above), kicks off this Saturday, September 19, and runs through October 4. But if you can’t be in Germany this year because you’re traveling, chances are pretty good there’s an Oktoberfest celebration wherever you’ll be. Here, some of the more interesting fall beer-fests in some unlikely locations:

Philippines: Multiple cities, September 4 – October 9, 2009
Cynics might say an Oktoberfest sponsored by a single brewery is just a shameless marketing ploy to get people to sit around for hours at a time sampling the company’s wide array of beers. To which I would reply, “And your point is…?” In addition to its regular brews at this year’s events, San Miguel Brewery will offer the limited-edition Oktoberfest Beer. The sponsor’s 30 street parties in key cities kicked off on September 4. Other events include “house-to-house raids,” bar tours, and a five-day-a week, monthlong television game show in October. Highlight: The only Oktoberfest on earth that, apparently, has absolutely nothing traditional about it—no polka dancing, no roast chicken, no oompah music, no weisswurst, no fake lederhosen costumes.

Blumenau, Brazil: October 1-18, 2009
At 18 days long, this is one serious Oktoberfest. More than half a million visitors are expected at this year’s event. And why not? This charming town full of Germanic architecture, founded by German immigrants in 1850, still has a sizable number of German-speakers who cling to their Old World traditions. It even has a beer museum, for crying out loud. The city’s 26th annual Oktoberfest will be staged in a recreated German Village called the Vila Parque Germanica. Beer-drinking contests abound. There will be a traditional biergarten, parades, and dances. This rates an 11 on the Authenticity Scale. Highlight: Free beer distributed from a wagon in the city center each afternoon.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: October 6-11, 2009
What Ho Chi Minh City’s Oktoberfest lacks in the way of lederhosen is made up for by its sheer energy. The Windsor Plaza’s Jade Ballroom is the stand-in for Munich’s Theresienwiese (the field where the beer tents are erected each year), filled with the Munich city colors of blue and white, Oktoberfest posters, and long wooden tables and benches as you would find in the beer halls of Germany. Dancing is called for: the crowd will be zigga-zagga’d by the authentic sounds of Trenkwalder. Amazingly, Oktoberfest has been celebrated here since 1992. Last year’s event attracted 10,000 people who drank an estimated 10,000 liters of beer. To which we say, you can do better than that! Mot, hai, ba, Prosit! (One, two, three, cheers!) Highlight: Vietnamese desserts washed down with all-you-can-drink Schneider Weisse beer.

Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: October 9-17, 2009
The German roots in these twin towns go deep. Not only do Kitchener and Waterloo boast a number of German-speaking citizens, but Kitchener was formerly named Berlin. Oktoberfest here is one of the largest outside Germany, with more than 700,000 guests expected this year. Events will be spread across 15 individual Festhallen throughout the region, including those sponsored by the Alpine Club (“Famous for our Apple Strudel”), Altes Muenchen Haus (“Home to Canada’s Polka King”), and the Jodler Haus, with an unexpectedly Swiss take on the affair (“Enjoy yodeling and cowbells”). Highlight: One of the largest selections of Oktoberfest souvenirs, including steins, hats, clothes, pins and buttons, and home decorations (for those of you who like to decorate your home with Oktoberfest souvenirs), sold at the festival headquarters, Hans Haus.

Lima, Peru: October 15-18, 2009
Launched in 2002, the Lima Oktoberfest (above) takes place under a massive tent in the city’s VIDENA sports complex. The stage will be rockin’ with oompah music, beer-drinking contests, schuhplattler dancing, and alpenhorn trios. (But don’t worry, you can step outside for a few minutes when they whip out the alpenhorns.) A special Oktoberfest brew of Cusqueña beer will be on tap, which will likely lead to another Oktoberfest tradition—dancing on the tables. The event has proved so popular that a sister beer fest has started up in Cuzco. Highlight: A polka band playing “La Bamba” may sound weird, but somehow, in Lima, it works.

Bangalore, India: October 23-25, 2009
The organizers of the fifth Great Indian October Fest have promised “a safe environment for the entire family,” but personally I think you should go anyway. October Fest (for some reason the organizers have declined to use the traditional spelling) is held on the grounds of Bangalore Palace. The festival features rock bands, flea markets, a car show, a beer tent, and food that reflects the traditions of both Bangalore and Bavaria. Highlight: Bangalore Palace itself, said to have been modeled on England’s Windsor Castle.

Mark Orwoll is the international editor at Travel + Leisure.

Share on Facebook