Dear friends and readers,
from all the beers I've tried in my life, this one is most likely the one I've consumed the most.
You see, some beers have a fine selection of malts and hops; some beers have exotic ingredients in their recipe; others rely on showing semi-naked women in their TV advertisements; and some print creative and colourful labels or use oddly shaped/coloured bottles to call the consumers attention.
Not this one.
This beer doesn't feature in expensive commercials (Antarctica barely advertises "Original"), it doesn't have anything exotic or special in its formulation and had held the same traditional old-fashioned lable for ages! Also the brown, 600ml bottle is the most regular bottle one can find in Brazil.
Antarctica Original - Good ol' college companion
Its taste is, in my opinion, only slightly better than the other InBev-produced Brazilian beers (like Skol, Brahma, etc...) and it is not (much) more expensive than the other brands either... but this beer STILL holds a special place in my collection and in my memories...
I mentioned in my last post that the taste of a beer has a strong relation with the occasion in which you consume the beer, and that's what makes this beer so special to me. It is enough to say that this is the beer that was sold at the students center, Centro Moraes Rego (or simply CMR), during my university years.
I usually try to tell a story for each beer that I post here, but this one has simply too many stories... a good one is maybe how it was used by the CMR's administration as leverage on a negotiation with the veteran students: It would be sold at cost-price as long as there was no smoking indoors in the common area - a rather weird deal, but good for all parts involved :)
Many strong friendships were built while sipping from these bottles, many good parties were fueled by it and many calm and enjoyable evenings went by while playing pool, cards and/or just talking and clinging bottles at CMR
Living away from my home country, sometimes I feel nostalgic, and when I do, not even the finest IPA will help.
Too many "beer connouisseurs" get too full of themselves and snobish from the top of their refined ales and craft beers and end up forgetting that, in the end, the most important thing is not what you are drinking.
But with whom you are drinking...
Cheers.
I usually try to tell a story for each beer that I post here, but this one has simply too many stories... a good one is maybe how it was used by the CMR's administration as leverage on a negotiation with the veteran students: It would be sold at cost-price as long as there was no smoking indoors in the common area - a rather weird deal, but good for all parts involved :)
Many strong friendships were built while sipping from these bottles, many good parties were fueled by it and many calm and enjoyable evenings went by while playing pool, cards and/or just talking and clinging bottles at CMR
Living away from my home country, sometimes I feel nostalgic, and when I do, not even the finest IPA will help.
Too many "beer connouisseurs" get too full of themselves and snobish from the top of their refined ales and craft beers and end up forgetting that, in the end, the most important thing is not what you are drinking.
But with whom you are drinking...
Cheers.
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