33 ounces of awesome

A salute to 'merica.

To (white, upper-middle-class slightly-food-snobby suburban) America's readily available domestic and international beer selection.


Seasonal brews.

Microbrews.

 

India Pale Ale.

Mix-and-match make your own six packs.

Of thee I sing.

Can Spain Conquer America with Sandwiches?

Can Spain Conquer America with Sandwiches?

So 100 Montaditos, a Spanish sandwich chain, wants to build 4,000 restaurants in the US. Think they'll be successful?

Yes. Yes they can. You know how? 

Make a huge jar of beer cost $1.44. Every day.

Conquering? That'd be blitzkrieg.

Mahou explains the Spanish recession

Mahou, the Madrid beer company, recently released a commercial that encapsulates what I believe to be acrucial factor in the Spanish recession.

Watch this:

In this ad, Javi, a young Spanish worker, has been unemployed for several months. The narrator states that after a while of searching for jobs, he just started staying home rather than going out with his friends. He was sick of everyone having to invite him to have a beer and treat him. His friends, however, said that it's not the same without him. They go out, they all get beers, and then pour a little bit of each of their beers into a glass, making one for Javi. The slogan is "O todos O ninguno" "Either everyone or no one."

The Spanish economic crisis has been grinding for several years now, with young people being the most affected by far. Many societies that achieve such high rates of unemployment and disenfranchisement upon the youth have revolutions or serious social unrest (Arab Spring, Greece...) Spain has had a total of one general strike and a group of young people who have started protesting this May and now are preventing housing evictions.

I think an important factor is the fact that the family is so tight-knit in Spain. The people I know who have lost jobs or just cannot find a job live at home with their parents or move in with extended family. They don't have to worry about health care or housing or food or paying for transportation. The government provides generous unemployment and subsidized or free job retraining classes. Granted, living at home in your mid-twenties is not glamourous or comfortable, but it beats what seems to happen in the US: you're shit outta luck. Here, a family with two young kids can send them to an extended family member's house during the day if they aren't in school. If they are in school the government pays for after-school activities and lunch. They can depend on someone to help them with food, gas, and expenses. If they don't have family, the government cushions them.

What would Javi do if he were young, unemployed, and American? Don't know. But here in Spain, someone's always got his back.

Dropping Perspective: Part one in an occasional series about how much I love my life

Jackie calls in a hurry.

Jackie in Segovia, one of the most photogenic people ever.

"Well I was looking at skyscanner, and even typing in cualquier sitio it was at least 150 euro from Sevilla to wherever. Even to Milan," she said, making clear her opinion about any Ryanair destination that would be more than 100 euro roundtrip.

"I know," I continued, rifling through my cabinet looking for any food that didn't require cooking. "It's holy week, tickets to go anywhere would be expensive. Look, Eric and I found tickets to Oslo for 150 ida y vuelta from Málaga. But Scandinavia is so expensive that it would end up costing more anyways."

Options in my cabinet since my no-Mercadona-until-I-have-to resolution (more on that later) are limited. Only options: Cruzcampo and digestive biscuits. Dinner is served.

"Look, Eric and I were talking about going to southern Portugal after the processions. We could spend a few days near Faro on the beach. That, or to Cadiz for a while and then hop over," I explained, pouring a beer. "We wouldn't even have to rent a car if we planned it well."

"It would be better in terms of money..." Jackie said. She was warming to the idea. Spending February in Madrid makes any beach look like a paradise.

"Yeah, and I would love to get back to Portugal. Okay, well we can hammer out the details on email and then Skype about final plans." I hammered the lid back on the glass bottle of Cruzcampo, wondering if that conserves more carbonation by having a lid on it or loses more by the violent act of reapplying the lid. I stick it in the fridge by the milk boxes. A pink box of desnatada, or skim milk, that is Laura's, and a pale green one of semidesnatada, or 1%, which is mine.

"Okay, sounds great, talk to you later."

Jackie hangs up. I put my phone in my pocket. I put the cookies back in the empty Colacao container so they don't go stale, realizing beer and cookies were never a winning combination.

I drop some perpective: my biggest compromise is spending Spring break in southern Spain and Portugal rather than on a weeklong holiday elsewhere in Europe.

Perspective dropped. I am a lucky one.