My Aching Head

I must confess, I’ve got a real penchant for beer and I think it’s pretty good just as it is. That and we have a definite policy here at My Aching Head of trying not to shirk your responsibilities to the booze when you are drinking it, this is to say there’s not much room for light beer or half nips. However, there is a definite need for these types of drinks for drivers and children. All that aside, the original idea of the radler was brilliant, as my Bavarian (not German) friend delighted in telling me a genius bartender realised that he was running out of beer and decided to start selling it watered down with lemonade to cyclists - as though it was what was intended all along. The Wikipedia article on Shandy covers this and more, I’m particularly impressed with the section on the turbo shandy, a staple of some of my more fund-limited friends.

So I’m telling you stuff you probably already know,and having read the Wikipedia article already you will know that radler is German for “cyclist” but as one of my good friends (also from the aforementioned southern region of Germany) taught me, “shandy” is the German word for “shame”. Quite fitting really as shame is the emotion you should be feeling when drinking a shandy.

All of this is pretty harsh really, but it’s not all bad, a shandy can be very refreshing of a heavy morning and probably won’t have the effects of pushing you over the edge back into a drunk state. Secondly, there is a Monteith’s beer in New Zealand called Radler. This is a very crisp clean beer with a twist of lemon flavour yet it isn’t watered down at all, weighing in at 5% this is a perfect beer for a summer’s day (well, not quite as perfect as a Monteith’s Summer Ale).

As far as curing a hangover there are few better remedies in the morning that Coffee and Bacon. As I’ve discussed previously, there certainly is a skill to frying up a good breakfast but that skill notwithstanding most of the time you are probably best to leave it to a trained professional. Now what I mean by a trained professional is someone you are going to pay to cook you up a feast. What I’m trying to say is that you’ve basically got 3 options of a heavy morning:

1. The hair of the dog that bit you
2. Sort yourself out something to eat
3. Pay someone to help you out with some food

Anyhow, I’m a huge fan of the 3rd option but my wallet isn’t yet that doesn’t stop me. There is a list of cafes as long as my arm that I’m planning on reviewing here on this site for starters the list is:

• Sassafras, Paddington, Brisbane
• Motogrill, Queenstown
• Bob’s Weigh, Queenstown
• The Parkhouse Cafe, Toowoomba
• Fat Boys, The Valley, Brisbane
• Joe’s Garage, Queenstown

While we here at My Aching Head are generally more interested in the finer points of boozing it up - good food and booze I do have a sweet spot for less subtle tactics. Some of those tactics here are perfectly summed up by the DrinkPlanner in his guide to getting hammered, in fact I’d go so far as saying some of it is pure genius. The idea that a drinking game is there to supplement your steady drinking are truly the words of someone who has done the hard yards. In any case, you could go worse than following these directions to getting well and truly boozed.

Possibly the coolest advertising campaign ever, with Harvey Keitel telling everyone how cool New Zealand is, and finally claiming the he loves the beer. It’s pretty clear that the campaign and the beer have been a runaway success here, with 2 other brands of beer coming out with clones and everyone and their dog drinking the beer itself. It comes in a tall sleek green bottle that really stands out from the crowd of kiwi beers. The whole premise behind this beer is that it is made from all pure ingredients (and no preservatives) sourced from the untouched wilds of New Zealand.

It’s clearly cliched to call the taste of Steinlager Pure crisp and clean, but I’m all for cliche, so to describe the flavour, it is crisp and clean. I don’t really believe in the idea that some beer gives you a worse hangover than others (with equal alcohol content and this is one is a reasonable %5). I’m a huge believer that all hangovers were created equal and if you don’t wake up with an aching head then you haven’t drunk enough. Anyway, a few people I know think that because of it’s purity it is gentler on the head.

In any case, of all the good commercial beer in New Zealand (and there is a lot of good beer) I’m willing to say that Steinlager Pure is the best. 2 high quality beers that it is comparable to in drinkability are Speights Distinction Ale and Monteiths Radler. Distinction Ale is obviously a more robust drink while Radler is similarly crisp but has a taste that you can’t have for more than a few. Generally though, you could spend the whole night on the Pure.

Frying mushrooms is an easy process, which can be repeated time and time again. There is a few things to remember when you are cooking mushrooms, mushrooms are full of water and you want to keep them that way and they are quite fragile, the heat doesn’t need to be scorched earth setting, a medium heat is where it’s at and don’t let them dry out. The steps:

1. Select your mushrooms. I prefer Swiss Browns, but button mushies are also good. Definitely keep clear of bigger dark mushrooms such as Portabello, the flavours are overpowering.
2. Slice, don’t dice. There is no need to peel the mushrooms, or even take off the stalks, if it so inclines you, wash them all but leave the extras all there and slice the mushrooms, not too finely.
3. Heat your saucepan to a low-medium heat, add the mushrooms and a good dollop of butter to them. It’s really important not to burn either the butter or the mushrooms.
4. As the butter melts add seasoning. This means cracked pepper and cracked rock salt, not too much salt but the pepper you can go crazy with.
5. Reduce the butter slowly and serve.