O Canada: We love you for your exceptional beer, hockey prowess and William Shatner. America thanks you for being such a stylish hat.*
*Stolen from someone, somewhere.
by Betty Cracker| 162 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads
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[…] 1 July 2013 | 4:10 pm Happy Canada Day / Bonne Fte du Canada. Posted by Betty Cracker at 12:10 pm. Jul 012013. canada flag. O Canada: We love уοu fοr уουr exceptional beer, hockey prowess аחԁ James Shatner. America tһaחkѕ уου fοr bеіnɡ suсһ а stylish&9999;… https://balloon-juice.com/2013/07/01/happy-canada-day-bonne-fete-du-canada/ […]
Goblue72
Exceptional beer?
schrodinger's cat
James Shatner? You mean William Shatner, right?
schrodinger's cat
@Goblue72: Molson is somewhat better than Budweiser.
Ted & Hellen
Who shat near here?
scav
They could send us some of those frigid cold fronts they’re usually so generous with in February. Like, now? Use the West Door.
Soonergrunt
James Shatner?
I would also add the always enjoyable giant inflatable beaver.
I’m saving up for mine.
Betty Cracker
@Goblue72: I love Molson and Labatt. YMMV.
@schrodinger’s cat: Thanks. Not sure where THAT came from…maybe James Tiberius Kirk?
Goblue72
@schrodinger’s cat: I guess. Maybe. But that’s just picking nits between two brands of completely shitty beer. American craft beer by and large kicks Canada’s butt.
Redshirt
Canada has an incredibly high percentage of awesome people compared to overall population.
Thus, once can conclude, Canada is awesome.
As a Mainer, I like to think of myself as semi-Canadian, and I’m a better person for it!
Comrade Dread
Also Strange Brew and universal health care.
And for not taking the whole trying to invade you twice thing too seriously.
schrodinger's cat
@Goblue72: I defer to your expert opinion.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker:
Probably. BTW, you forgot maple syrup.
HelloRochester
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/06/24/oh_canada?page=0,0
Love, Daddy Downer.
JGabriel
Happy Canuckistan Day, Canucks! We promise we won’t invade today.
P.S. Love your health care system. Can I immigrate?
Joey Giraud
William Shatner… especially him.
And we forgive you for Rush…
What’s that? It was the *band* that came from Canada? Not the radio clown?
Never mind..
Redshirt
@Comrade Dread: Fun fact to know and share: The movie “Strange Brew” is a re-telling of Hamlet. A very literal re-telling. Bob and Doug and Rosencrantz and Guilderstein. The heiress of the brewery is Hamlet. The brewery setting is named “Elsinore”.
The mouse in the bottle is….
Comrade Mary
@Goblue72: Canadian craft beer (the real thing, not Rickard’s and the like) is pretty damn fine.
But we don’t provide free beer to all our schoolchildren via federal mandate, which, of course, makes us history’s greatest monsters.
quannlace
And Dudley Doright.
jon
Mexico has universal health care. Canada was there first, but when we get beaten by Mexico it’s supposed to be in sports where the ball isn’t touched by most players’ hands, not public health programs.
As for the beer: I’ll take a Negra Modelo over any mass-produced American or Canadian brew. There are many good beers on this continent, but not a single great beer nation. (I’m proud to be a beer snob, pay for the privilege, and Budweiser gives me a runny nose.)
Redshirt
Yeah, the one thing I’ve really been surprised during my trips to Canada is the relatively poor beer selections. I spend time in PEI and I’ve yet to find a store that sells more than the standard Canadian mega-brews. Maybe I’m not looking hard enough.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@HelloRochester: Yeah, the whole Canadian take on tar sands and Keystone has been pretty depressing. Have Darryl Hannah and Bill McKibben directed any of their outrage at Stephen Harper?
muddy
Hat? Probably more of a toque (tooook). In the early 80’s we used to import our own beer from Canada. Brador for the win!
Mike G
Happy Canada Day to America’s Hat!
http://tinyurl.com/blzesvx
Sincerely, from Canada’s Pants
http://tinyurl.com/kdzrs6w
Morbo
@Goblue72: Obviously referring to Unibroue.
Haydnseek
Well, Budweiser is plywood aged………
Just One More Canuck
@Goblue72: Mass-produced Canadian beer is slightly less-shitty than mass-produced American beer. You can get good craft beer on either side of the border
@schrodinger’s cat: also, beaver tails
pokeyblow
Canada doesn’t have Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Kansas, etc.
We can learn from them.
Soonergrunt
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Why is that? It’s a national natural resource that they want to exploit. Where is it written that anybody in any country, let alone Canadians, has to be better or more moral than Americans?
Kyle
@quannlace:
And Emily Batty
http://tinyurl.com/lyqeuxk
http://tinyurl.com/l3r6sed
Cassidy
Sum 41, Billy Talent, motherfucking Kids in the Hall….you’re awright Canadia.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@pokeyblow: They have Alberta, which is like an unholy union of Texas and Idaho.
Plenty of fucktardery to our north.
Yatsuno
Still my favourite version. Gotta check with Dad on how serious he is about repatriating.
EDIT: I always thought this whole week should be a big holiday in both countries. What with our national days within three days of each other and all.
@Cassidy: Canadian men are no slouches either. Especially big burly defencemen, but that’s my personal bias there. Carrie Underwood married quite well.
@Just One More Canuck: What no love for timbits??
Cassidy
@Just One More Canuck: I have to admit, I was quite fond of Canadian women in my single days as well.
Roger Moore
@Goblue72:
She must be thinking of Unibroue.
raven
@Redshirt: Did you fish?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Soonergrunt: It’s a national natural resource that is dangerous to their nation, ours and the whole planet. My point is that activists should hold Harper and his gov’t to the same standard they hold Obama.
schrodinger's cat
@Just One More Canuck: That’s a strange name for a pastry.
JGabriel
FP via HelloRochester:
Whoa, you guys have that much oil? On second thought, Canada, you probably should take steps to make sure you don’t get invaded next time the US has a Republican president.
.
Redshirt
@raven: I don’t fish. It seems cruel to me, toying with the fish so. I’m a super hippy, for the record.
I did golf, and wow there are some awesome courses on PEI.
SmallAxe
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
Also too, TransCanada which rivals Exxon for A-holery. Setting aside the horrific environmental issues with Keystone, remind me again why we should back a Canadian Co. with US taxpayer dollars? (I’m a rare dual citizen btw so feel I can say this with some authority)
Went to the the Canadian Day celebration at the Embassy today in DC, Alberta theme complete with RCMP mounties on horseback with Pancakes and Canadian bacon. Alberta’s good for some things I guess.
Cassidy
@Just One More Canuck: @schrodinger’s cat: Pastry? Please disregard my comment at 33.
raven
And for all you hockey freaks, the NBA draft outdrew 2 of the NHL championship games and there were basically no superstars in the draft this year.
Roger Moore
@jon:
I think there’s really only one great beer nation: Belgium.
Svensker
@Redshirt:
The thing is, the big stores don’t carry the craft beers. You have to go to pubs or the brewery itself. It’s a dumb thing.
On the other hand, there’s the whole health care thing and the not invading Iraq thing…
Goblue72
@Morbo: as damn fine as Unibroue is, I don’t think that she was thinking of it.
gene108
I will never forgive Canadians for burning down the White House and blaming it on the British.
Redshirt
@Svensker: That’s strange, and bad for the Canadian craft brew industry. I assume this is some kind of lobbying effort by the big breweries, since all beer is sold through state stores?
Goblue72
@Just One More Canuck: again – that’s like arguing over who is less shittier – the Astros or the Marlins?
TOP123
@Roger Moore: England and Germany would both like a word with you…
Southern Beale
Oh Canada! We’re so jealous of your universal healthcare.
Here in the U.S. we have Republican Senators Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn telling the heads of the major pro sports leagues to not help the Obama Administration promote Obamacare enrollment! What unbelievable ASSHOLES:
SmallAxe
@Redshirt:
I know in Ontario at least the beer stores carry a bunch of the micro brews. I dig Upper Canada and Sleemans.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@JGabriel: They’ve been our #1 supplier for over a decade.
raven
@Southern Beale: The administration needs to get on the stick and recruit individual NFL players to help in this effort.
patroclus
Ever since that Diefenbacher terminated the Avro Arrow with no compunction, everything in Canada has pretty much turned to shit.
piratedan
@TOP123: I Imagine the Czech Republic too…. love me some Pilsner Urquell
Howard Beale IV
Let’s not forget Don Cherry, eh?
Geeno
@Redshirt: OPHELIA!! Am I right?? Huh?
forked tongue
On the up side, Canada gave us SCTV, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, 4/5 of The Band, and David Cronenberg.
On the down side, she gave us my ex-wife.
On balance, I’d have to say Canada has been a bane to humanity.
Roger Moore
@TOP123:
Sorry, but mass produced shit beer is still mass produced shit beer, whether it’s labeled Budweiser, Watney’s Red Barrel, or Spaten. The English may be too stubborn to admit that Belgium is head and shoulders above them when it comes to beer quality, but the Germans I’ve asked about it will admit it when pressed.
Ronnie Pudding
@Roger Moore:
The US is a great beer nation.
SmallAxe
@Howard Beale IV:
Impossible to forget his jackets that’s for sure.
Just One More Canuck
@schrodinger’s cat: very tasty though
Redshirt
@Geeno: Maybe? I’ve not put enough thought into it. I’m not sure Ophelia is in the movie. Maybe she’s Hosehead, the wonder dog.
Svensker
@Redshirt:
Perhaps it’s only Ontario that has this bizarre beer thing happening. The “Beer Store” which is where 98% of retail beer is sold in Ontario, is owned by Anheuser-Busch, Sapporo and Molson Coors. It’s a government endorsed monopoly: and is not only very restrictive of what beers one can buy, but also supremely unpleasant to shop in. It’s like a Soviet store.
CanadaGoose
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s the government. And the current government does not represent a majority of Canadians.
srv
Snowman request asylum in CCCP
Thanks Wiki!
SmallAxe
@forked tongue:
Up side adds: Rush, Bare Naked Ladies, Tragically Hip, Pam Anderson, Elisha Cuthbert, Rachel McAdams and Evangeline Lily.
Down Sides: Alanis Morriset, Celine Dion Bryan Adams and Bieber…
Second thought you’re right!
Lurking Canadian
@JGabriel: Eh. If you don’t come for the oil, you’ll come for the water. It’s inevitable.
The other option, of course is that Alberta will secede and apply for statehood. That would save you the trouble of an invasion.
handsmile
@forked tongue:
Well played, sir.
– a polite Scandinavian
Betty Cracker
@srv: From your link:
LOLWUT?
Davis X. Machina
@raven: Hyundai sells far more cars than Tesla, too.
TOP123
@Roger Moore: Agreed, mass produced shit beer is shit beer the world ’round, though you haven’t tried mass produced shit beer till you’ve tried Korean mass produced shit beer. That said, Watney’s isn’t exactly what I had in mind; more like barrel conditioned bitters from England, alts, rauchbier, and others from Germany–and though I love wits from Belgium as well, there’s a reason Weihenstephaner Hefe-Weiss has been around so long…
BUT I must confess, Belgium is actually my first beer love!
Lurking Canadian
@Svensker: Where in Ontario are you shopping? Yes, The Beer Store is a monopoly owned by large brewers, and yes, the customer service is…idiosyncratic, but you can usually get a pretty good variety.
And what they don’t have, the LCBO usually has. I’m not sure which particular brand you aren’t finding, but it’s not like you can only choose between Blue and Canadian.
raven
Watch this shark hit the Kayak fisherman’s tuna!
Mnemosyne
@Betty Cracker:
I think this is the end result similar to the old joke where the dental patient grabs the dentist by the balls before he starts working and says, “Now, we’re not going to hurt each other, are we, doctor?” IOW, we know more than enough damaging information about Russia to make it very unpleasant for them to release damaging information about us, plus we have enough economic ties to pull a few strings on that front as well.
It was weird to have Ecuador talk about getting better trade status in exchange for not sheltering Snowden as “extortion.” It sounded like good old-fashioned bribery to me.
srv
@Betty Cracker: We came to an agreement with the lovely Mr. Putin.
And so it ends.
(Or Sarah Proud and Tall got to him)
CanadaGoose
@SmallAxe: Dual citizen here, too. There is NO benefit to the US for the Keystone pipeline. None. No benefit for 98% of Canadians either.
Yatsuno
@raven: Shorter shark: NOMZ!! Thanks hairless ape!
burnspbesq
Canada, we also thank you for Joni Mitchell, Bruce Cockburn, k.d. lang, and Kathleen Edwards.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Shania Twain, not so much.
Tokyokie
@Roger Moore: And with Molson merging with Coors and the resulting company becoming part of (London-based) South African Breweries (as is Pilsner Urquell, by the way), aren’t all the major Canadian beers pretty much corporate swill?
But you know what that Belgian beer will do to you, right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtMUfbJRF4o
burnspbesq
Canada is the only country on earth that could have made Mark Steyn the poster-boy for freedom of expression.
FlipYrWhig
@raven: OTOH, the first overall pick in the NBA draft is from… Canada.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
One of my favorite Canadian things is Promiscuous ft Timbaland by Nelly Furtado.
Roger Moore
@TOP123:
Sure, but if you’re going to look at that stuff, you also have to look at the best American craft brews, which are frankly amazing. American craft brewers are busy inventing all kinds of new styles and creating a genuinely American style. If I had to pick one thing that makes Belgium stand apart, though, it’s that they’re doing both things. No other country with such a rich brewing tradition- and face it, Belgium is way up at the top in that respect- is also so far on the forefront of creating new styles.
burnspbesq
@pokeyblow:
No, but they have Alberta, which is every bit as reactionary and one of the world’s worst eco-criminals to boot.
Elie
I live up near the Canadian border in WA state and am very fond of our Canadian neighbors and plenty who come across the border to shop and vacation.
One word of caution to my Canadian friends: those Albertan oil sands bring wealth, but also environmental destruction and all the things that accompany greed. Learn from the US lesson — please do not immitate us — though I fear you are.
Tokyokie
And before I got diverted by the conglomerate beer discussion, I meant to point out that I amaze (and concern) my acquaintances by being able to sing O Canada in French.
ruemara
Yay, Canada! Thanks for Alpha Flight! or not, past issue 4.
Svensker
@Lurking Canadian:
We’re in Cabbagetown. There’s a big Beer Store near us and it does have a lot of different beers. But the things the pub down the street has, you can’t buy there. And there are a couple of local breweries that can’t sell there. It’s a dumb system. And the stores are the least customer friendly places I’ve ever been. Not that the people aren’t nice — they are — just that you can’t look at anything, just a bunch of labels on the wall. I hate that store.
The LCBOs are much better. Still dumb, but not terrible.
Xenos
@Roger Moore:
Agreed. There are some good German beers, but, on the whole, they are much too German about it all.
? Martin
Yay, my Rep has decided to not run for re-election (CA-45). It’s a tough win for a Dem, but no incumbent helps.
Redshirt
@ruemara: I still have Alpha Flight #1. Except a cat peed on it back in 1988. So, not the biggest collector’s item.
Southern Beale
Apparently more than 5,000 have shown up at the Texas State Capitol to protest the anti-abortion law. There are some amazing pictures and coverage on the Progress TX Twitter feed.
Southern Beale
@Xenos:
Sorry, but as someone who used to live in Denmark … the Danish beers are the best ….
Cassidy
@Roger Moore: Mass produced is mass produced no matter what country your in. Unless you’re sitting at the abbey in Belgium and they’re flowing your beer out of a cask, odds are you’re drinking something that’s mass produced or no more small batch than any other microbrewery.
Cassidy
@ruemara: They can take back Wolverine, though. One character singlehandedly dicked up the X-Men continuity for life and no amount of retooling gets it back. It’s time for Marvel to do a Nu52.
ruemara
@Redshirt: I had it too, but it was destroyed in the Great Demon Purging of ’84. Where I had to destroy my precious comic collection due to my mom
snoopedwas led by GAWD to it’s hiding place, thanks to the blessing stealing demon aura given off by Chris Claremont’s X-Men.@Cassidy: Shut Your Slut Bucket. Second to Ororo, Wolverine is my guy.
Redshirt
@ruemara: LOL. My stupid cat peed on ALL my comics – he used the box as his litter box. 30 years later and you can still smell it.
It boggles my mind that some parents would be against their kids reading comics. HINT, parents – the kids are reading! Any reading is good reading.
Mike G
@Cassidy:
One thing I don’t see mentioned much in regard to beer is that freshness makes a big difference. I’ve drank beer just hours off the bottling line at Indian Wells Brewery in the eastern Sierra and it was some of the best I’ve ever had. Mass produced beer is more likely to be older due to huge production runs and mass distribution systems so this might explain some fo the quality deterioration.
Cassidy
@ruemara: Wolverine will never be as cool as Sabretooth. Seriously, though, that’s why I stopped reading the comic. I love me some X-Men, but the book might as well have been called “Wolverine’s continual emo hunt for his past and [sometimes] the X-Men”.
ruemara
@Redshirt: Only if it’s these comics, or the bible, or bible stories. I grew up fundy from the branch that read “Pigs in the Parlor”. Every sunday for 8 hours, with demon chasing evenings. The trouble I got into for watching “Close Encounters”…
@Cassidy: I’d duel you, but only if you like Rob Liefield’s artwork. And, yah, kinda emo dude.
Goblue72
@Roger Moore: Agreed. U.S. craft beer is now 6.5% domestic market share by volume, 10% by dollar value share.
There’s so much crazy good American craft beer available. Theres no reason to be drinking Bud OR Molson at this point.
And generally it’s not THAT much more expensive, unless your preferred beer choice is a 30 pack suitcase of Coors Light. I picked up a 12 pack of Deschutes Twilight Summer Ale for a hair over a buck a beer.
Life’s too short to drink bad beer.
Cassidy
@Mike G: Absolutely. Going to Belgium and doing a tour of the abbeys and breweries is on my bucket list, but that’s because I love Belgian style beers. Personally, I think that North American microbrew is just as good as anywhere else in the world, it just depends on what you like.
AHH onna Droid
Not confidential at all to Zapruder-read your rant about Jeantel’s language and want to second upfist times 1000.
It took me the better part of 3 years to become fluent in BEV working in a community of color 6x a week despite studying it in school (!). I still speak it inelegantly due to interferance from the Standard American English (I have an accent but did not grow up speaking a regional dialect of any sort) I was raised with and speak at home.
Ignorant people need to stuff it.
Cassidy
@Goblue72: Depends on what you’re doing. In my fridge I keep good microbrew. If I’m going to the beach/ lake/ BBQ/ fishing all day, I’m taking a couple cases of Coors Light just so I can drink all day without getting inebriated.
Higgs Boson's Mate
The Lumberjack Song
Full bit, no ads.
polyorchnid octopunch
@SmallAxe: that’s because it’s an American company with Canada in its name.
Ramalama
Youse all have forgotten to mention the awesome (and beautifully strange) Feist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYF0qU5WSew
&
Arcade Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Euj9f3gdyM
Weird but the quality of the dairy here in Quebecistan is outstanding, but the ice cream situation SUCKS. I’m currently investigating why this is so. Meanwhile, la fromage.
Trollhattan
I am grateful for Joni Anderson, Margo Timmins, the McGarrigle sisters, Neil Young and Holly Cole. I lurves me some Unibroue and really appreciate all the subsidized Canadian lumber that went into my home addition. When living in Seattle I definitely enjoyed my escapes to Victoria, Vancouver (bestest city in western North America) and Vancouver Island.
Yay fifty-first state!
Rush can FOAD; I’d sooner listen to a BTO tribute band.
Comrade Mary
@Svensker: You missed the pre-80s era for Ontario LCBOs, where you had to fill out little forms with golf pencils before you could get your cherry brandy[1] brought out from the mysterious back room. There were absolutely no bottles out on display. People still argue back and forth about dumping the LCBO stores and going private.
Anyway, unless there’s something weird going on in the Cabbagetown TBSs, you will find a lot of 2-4s out on the floor of a TBS, along with some smaller containers, even though the bulk does have to be brought out from the back. But it’s not Soviet like the LCBO used to be.[2]
[1] I was a kid, OK? I moved straight from 50 to Singapore Slings.
[2] Bonus 80s Toronto Soviet reference. No, he’s not singing “Soviet brewery”.
dewzke
The nation of Wisconsin is no slouch for providing great craft beer to its citizens.
Cassidy
@ruemara: Oh of small feet and bazillions of pouches. It just seemed like the throwaway storyline when they couldn’t come up with anything else in the “extreme” 90’s. The storyline where he found Jubilee was awesome, so I never had a problem with Wolverine getting spotlight time. it was just the “Who am I? Is my wife dead? did I really have a wife? Where did I come from? ” and so on and so forth. Admittedly, I feel the same way about Scott Summers, Jean Gray/ Pheonix , and Wolverine love triangle, and the recent addition of Emma Frost.
Suffern ACE
What’s the national cocktail I’m supposed to lift for a toast? A seven and seven? Is that the Canada Libre?
Comrade Mary
Also: drug clubs.
Also also: The Matador.
Trollhattan
@Goblue72:
Yup. Amazingly, my local Costco now has a HUGE craft brew selections, not just cases but dozens of big bottle choices, many of them from local brewers.Yay for freedom from crap. (Interestingly, a couple months ago there were signs in the beer section noting “Budwiser, Bud Lite….[bunch of InBev brands] are not available because we are unable to secure pricing from the maker that assures our customers receive the best prices available.” I’ll bet that caused some butthurt.)
Yatsuno
@Ramalama:
Ice cream is unfortunately not a French art. Gelato is squarely Italian and ice milks are the province of Britain. The French prefer sorbets, which tend to have no dairy in them.
? Martin
Rubio is polling 1 point higher than Romney earned in 2012. And everyone will read their own message. Dems will argue this proves the GOP needs to back popular policies. The GOP will argue that even if a Latino can’t win their vote, then their vote is ungettable and double down on the white men. And I wonder how much more damage to the women’s vote the GOP can do. Ohio is now down. Tx is working hard to expand that 55/44 gap:
Mnemosyne
I guess I’m the only one here who likes Guy Maddin. Not that I’m surprised — he’s an acquired taste, at best.
piratedan
hearing that the Texas GOP has shut down electricity and wifi around the capitol, gee, I wonder why….
scav
@Suffern ACE: hoping it’s not actually poutine, but trust them to use something of much higher proof.
Yatsuno
@Trollhattan:
How it should work out. We’re halfway there anyway.
different-church-lady
Top Ten Canadian Nicknames For Americans*
10. Skinny Bacon Lovers
9. Gretskynappers
8. Continent Hogs
7. Un-Mounties
6. Surfboard-Riding Barbarians
5. Individually Wrapped Cheese Slice Junkies
4. Upper Mexicans
3. Pizza-Gorged Convertible Jockeys
2. Star-Spangled Sissy Boys
1. Puckstops
(*Stolen from someone, somewhere.)
Suffern ACE
@Ramalama: you have liberete yogurt. You don’t need ice cream.
? Martin
@Suffern ACE:
Poutine martini, plenty of ice.
Ramalama
Also (too)
Martha Wainwright
and her brother Rufus
SmallAxe
@polyorchnid octopunch:
Where do you get that? Publicly traded TRP ticker symbol, HQ is in Calgary, Chairman and President both Canadians. I know they have an office in Houston and DC but it’s a Canadian company as far as I know.
Goblue72
@Southern Beale: mikkelker make some tasty brews. But even those guys would admit they were inspired by the “break the rule book” approach of the American craft brew industry.
For some odd reason, people don’t want to admit that thanks to pioneers like Fritz Maytag (Anchor Steam), Bert Grant (Grant’s Brewpub in Yakima), Jack McAuliffe (New Albion Brewery), & others, the U.S. has vaulted itself to the top ranks of great beer making nations, alongside Germany, Denmark, Belgium, & the UK.
Villago Delenda Est
@Redshirt:
Jack Lemmon’s part in the Branaugh version of “Hamlet”?
Ramalama
@Suffern ACE: You know, I’ve been spoiled by Boston and the many (though dwindling) offerings of the most incredible ice cream makers ever. JP Licks and Christina’s in particular are stand outs over every other ice cream.
You’re right about the yogurt. The cheese is incredible – unless you’re gunning for cheddar – then you should just do what I do and carry it over from Vermont. It’s probably just the American in me that wants to take the dairy one step further. Happy sucky ice cream, Canada Day.
Goblue72
@Cassidy: while many micros sport eye popping ABVs (does the world need another Imperial Ale? Apparently so.), a number of craft brewers are putting out great low alcohol session beers.
Deschutes River Ale is a fantastic, quenchable, session beer. Light, refreshing, hint of hops, AND an ABV of 4%. Coors Light ABV is 4.2%
It’s a misnomer that microbrew means boozy.
Villago Delenda Est
@? Martin:
Good.
Keep fucking that chicken, fascist, racist scum.
Cassidy
@Goblue72: Eh, it’s relative.
gbear
I’ll thank Canada for the band Sloan. Not every album is a classic, but it’s cool that they bucked the grunge trend when they started off and managed to keep the band together for over 20 years with all of the same original members.
When it’s Austrailia day, I’ll thank them for the band You Am I.
? Martin
@Villago Delenda Est: Yeah, strategically that’d be the best outcome, but I’d much rather the GOP come to their senses and pass immigration reform. The current situation is completely intolerable.
Southern Beale
Guess what you guys! House Republicans are trying to repeal Obamacare … AGAIN!
Goblue72
@Ramalama: I miss Boston’s ice cream shop on every street corner.
And Vermont does more than cheddah. The Vermont Cheese Trail is great way to sample the states award winning artisanal cheese.
different-church-lady
@? Martin: I love poutine. I love martinis. And what you said is disgusting.
Roger Moore
Let’s add Cirque du Soleil to the list of great things from Canada.
Davis X. Machina
Maybe because we’re so close to Québec, but I always think of this as the national anthem…
Complainte pour Ste. Catherine….
ruemara
@Cassidy: At this point, I think that’s a love hexadecimal.
Redshirt
@Davis X. Machina: I have seen the annual migration – Quebec trucks hauling trailers, headed for their ancestral Summer breeding ground of Old Orchard Beach.
I went to school in OOB in the 4th grade and had to take French. Also, my best friend that year was a guy named Francois.
Steve M.
Shout-out for Sarah Polley’s lovely documentary about her family, Stories We Tell. Also for Slings and Arrows, which is goofily brilliant.
Davis X. Machina
@Redshirt: Les francophones have their own CB channel down to OOB… hear stuff you don’t get to in school, even in AP French…
Redshirt
@Davis X. Machina: Yet another reason to get a CB. There are so many reasons.
Gravenstone
@ruemara: C’mon now, the first 12 issues of AF were pretty good. The balance of Byrne’s tenure had moments. What Marvel chose to do to the title post-Byrne was an absolute crime.
Gravenstone
@Cassidy: Marvel put out a compliation of Wolverine’s history through the various titles as part of Free Comic Book Day a couple years back. I’d largely walked away from comics back in the late 80’s so I had no clue the depths to which the brand had sunk over the years as every two bit writer in the Marvel stables wanted to put their particular spin on his history.
Lurking Canadian
@Suffern ACE: To the extent that there is a “Canadian cocktail” it is a thing called a “Bloody Caesar” (usually just “Caesar”), which is just like a bloody Mary, except that instead of tomato juice, it’s made from something called “Clamato juice”, which (at least as I understand it), though it looks like tomato juice, has something to do with actual clams.
I don’t know. It sounds, and has always sounded, revolting to me, but people around here love that shit.
Redshirt
I think Wolverine is great. That said, is he really Canadian, or does he just not know where he comes from, so chose Canada, because that’s that oldest place he remembers?
Also, the greatest Canadian comic character is clearly the Wendigo.
Cassidy
@Gravenstone: They had to go back and retcon a lot of things to try and make it coherent. It just got ridiculous. Sucks. Wolverine was a pretty cool character when he first came on the scene, but they just saturated the storylines with it.
Munira
@pokeyblow: We do, however, have Alberta and the tar sands and the crazy Quebec language laws.
muddy
@Lurking Canadian: John Cole was raving about the delights of Clamato a few months ago. He’s welcome to it.
jon
Now that Belgians own Budweiser, Scotland is a better beer nation.
No One of Consequence
@Yatsuno: **BUZZER**
Wrong.
(Used to work in an Ice Cream factory.)
Here is how it breaks down: largely by butter fat content.
You have your Haagen Daas (sp?) clocking in at 14 – 16%
Normal Ice Cream (in the States should be around 8%)
Ice Milk (frozen soft serve Dairy Queen stuff) at about 4%
Sherbet or Sorbet (about 2%, and about twice the sugar or more).
For those in the know: Ice Milk mix is pretty tasty as a liquid. Like vanilla milk.
– NOoC
Origuy
@No One of Consequence: Where did you work? Sherbet ≠ sorbet; sherbet has, as you said, 1% to 2% butterfat, sorbet has no regulation but is normally nondairy.
No One of Consequence
@Origuy: A regional ice cream manufacturer in the midwest. This was 20 years ago. However, I worked in the laboratory, doing batch tests and analysis for contamination and consistency of product and quality. My bad on Sorbet. Je parles tros petit peux Francais, but I thought that sorbet was merely the French equivalent of Sherbet. My bad. Shouldad, wouldad, couldad googled…
Thanks,
– NOoC
Mnemosyne
@No One of Consequence:
Sorbet and sorbetto (Italian) are the same thing and are milk free, but sherbet (or sherbert) is a different product that has milk in it.
— Lactose-intolerant label reader
Bobby Thomson
@TOP123: Not true. African mass produced shit beer has formaldehyde in it for that extra buzz.
chrome agnomen
i hate william shatner
pluege
a LOT of great musicians and singers from Canada.
e.a.f.
Thank you for the happy birthday Canada wish. Yes Canada is awsome and has awsome people. We just have a dork for a prime minister and his cabinet ministers aren’t the brightest lights in the country.
We have an AWSOME mayor in Calgary!
Canada’s a great place to live. We have gun control! We have a health care system which is government funded. Americans have their guns, we have medical cards. its the reallllly big differance.
Hope the Americans have a great 4 July
morley bolero
@Mnemosyne: He’s awesome!