Last Friday witnessed the beginning of a new annual tradition. The First Malthouse Old World IPA Challenge witnessed seven New Zealand craft beers compete to be crowned the inaugural best “traditional, proper, English-style India Pale Ale in the colony.”  

When I first heard about the creation of International Stout Day I was completely overjoyed.  After all, mothers have Mothers Day, fathers have Fathers Day, protestors have Waitangi Day

The authoritative Oxford Companion to Beer defines India Pale Ale (IPA) as “a beer style characterised by high levels of alcohol and hops.  It gained its name thanks to its huge popularity in British India and other outposts of the British Empire throughout the 19th Century, a result of its keeping abilities on long sea voyages and its refreshing character when it finally reached its destination.”

Of course, it is never that simple. 

The Scottish people have, over the centuries, invented many useful products including postage stamps, light bulbs, telephones, televisions, colour televisions, radar, Billy Connolly, ATMs, the theory of the Higgs-Boson God Particle

We live in an instant gratification society. Everything has to be easy and quick – from ultra-fast broadband to instant messaging to fast food. 

From 1 February 2003 to 1 March 2003, independent film maker Morgan Spurlock ate exclusively at various McDonalds Family Restaurants.