American's don't do irony, or so the belief goes. They also have a different sense of humour to us Brits in lots of ways. This is a stereotype! The only exception - and there must be one to prove the rule - is my mate Jeff, who has a very British sense of humour, but then he can trace his blood back to this sceptred isle. Why am I rambling on about this? Well my pal John who does something with computer programmes for the cotton trade, was in Yankley recently. He brought me back a bottle of beer.Buzzards Bay Brewing is based in Westport Massachusetts. It was founded in 1998 and seems to major on lager. The beer John brought back for me is a pale ale. It is brown, the nose is caramelised malt. The beer is quite highly carbonated with malt dominating, with a slightly burnt flavour and little obvious hop. It finishes much the same. Short with just a smack of grapefruit hops. It is fairly ordinary except for one thing; the front label shows a buzzard against a background of a stylised map of the area. The back label says in block capitals "CHART ON FRONT NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATIONAL PURPOSES".
Is this Yankee irony? If it is, it is very well done. If it isn't...................................
10 comments:
It definately is and I agree it's well done. I haven't had Buzzards Bay in a while but now I've got to get me a 6 pack just to see the label again.
Of course it is! The notion that Americans don't do irony was invented to help xenophobic Brits feel smug (well, more smug).
Yep, it sure is, and Buzzards Bay is the location on the southeast coast of Massachusetts. They make a solid line of beers, all of which are quite drinkable. A standout, I'd say, is their Altbier.
I'm surprised to see that beer in particular make its way across the pond. Cheers!
Of course Americans are capable of irony - what about Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor or Tom Lehrer?
I'm sure the label on Tandleman's American beer bottle is intentionally humourous, whereas the opposite is true of that on a box of eggs I bought recently in Southport. It stated: "allergy warning - may contain eggs."
Mr Johnson / Rednev
The whole post was tongue in cheek. Ironic in fact. You both saw that of course......
Of course I did, er, I think...
I blame the German influence.
I once owned a Kawasaki ZZR 600 that had two low fuel warning lights. Apparently for the American market to avoid lawsuits in the event an owner ran out of fuel due to the bulb failing. Maybe that's not true, but I believed it at the time.
This beer sounds quite tasty!
I always thought my American generation was relentlessly ironic. Then there was that piece in the New Yorker after 9-11 saying irony was now dead, so we all packed it in for patriotic reasons.
I'm enjoying browsing your blog! I look forward to spending more time with it.
Wouldn't want to get sued ;)
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