Taking Sides: Tennants Super vs Carlsberg Special Brew

Confirming its sophisticated rep, Special Brew was the drink of choice among public schoolboys when I was a nipper.

Unfortunately both are undrinkable, and tend to turn into molasses if the can is open for longer than a minute. For serious kamikaze fuck- everything suicide binges, strong cider is better. Last time I did that, I woke up in a bed full of broken glass and discovered that I had taken a dump on the kitchen floor, plus I had a shiner from God knows where. Cider is also good to mix with methylated spirits.

Neither. Force 10 lager is clearly superior to both.

The only one I've ever tried is Tennants Super and it was OK. We used to have a couple of pints before going to the local indie disco when I lived in Italy to get us set up (having downed some Super we were perfectly able to cope with the vicious Long Island Iced Teas at the club). I don't know if it counts though - I suppose it depends on whether it was brewed under licence in Italy or if it was Tennents Super Export. Hell, I don't care what I drink as long as it's not Buckfast.

I prefer Nigerian/export strength Guinness. Although that's only 7.5% so I guess I should butt out.

Look you cockfarmers if I'd wanted to start a thread called "Search And Destroy: Super Strength Beers And Ciders" I would have started a thread called "Search And Destroy: Super Strength Beers And Ciders".

My insane grandpa wuvs Spesh and insists that my dad keeps it in the house for when he is visiting. My dad hides it in the garage. More embarrassing - and dangerous - is when grandpa orders the stuff in pubs then drives you home round the narrow bendy roads of Devon. As he also drinks Gin & French and Gin & Dubonnet I can only assume that Spesh is exceedingly dud and Tennants must be preferable.

If my grandpa ever discovers the interweb or Google I am so out of his will.

Like all beers, they both taste absolutely delicious when drunk from the tin on the side of the road.

I am open to foreign cultures, so I go for Carlsberg Special Brew.

Jesus, Special Brew of course. Many a brave man was lost after trying to finish a 3rd can. :) Actually I thought Special Brew was rather tasty, although it has been awhile. Can't find the damn thing over here. Although we have a thing called Het Kanon by Grolsch, the Cannon of course, which had to be pulled from the shelves when it was introduced because people were getting hospitalized drinking it as normal beer. I think it has been re-introduced after some time in normal bottles and not the standard half-litre Grolsch bottles. Alcohol % of 11.6 btw.

it is very important to occasionally drink special brew from the can at a bustop while looking like someone who might have been hanging around with happy mondays in 1986. this usually works better on acid.

Miller lite...

Cally all the way baby! Tennants gets boring after a while and you need the exotic foreign taste of Carlsberg to keep you on your toes, especially if you are being chased by the police, the F.B.I. and Thunderbird drinking aliens.

I've been a brewaholic for many a year now I use them as mogadon. They make me sleep like a log and some. Never touch them in the day though. Except for once many moons ago I drank eight of them in about 10 hours, don't ask me how I don't know. I only weigh about ten stone. Every time I drank one I put it atop the previous one, thats how I know it was eight, I had witnesses as well. Which reminds me of a game you can play with beer cans, that is see how many cans you can stack on top of each other, of course you have to empty them first. The higher you get, the higher the pile of cans get. Depending on the strength of the beverage dictates the heigth of the pile. Coke cans are not allowed.

Peter

tennants super all the way to the gutter. Special brew is the sole reason for white shite. lm drinking a couple of cans the noo and i dont effect your typoing un vdhj nmndmnm+

its like arguing between white lightening and frosty jacks cider. Tennants wins overall through for its marvelous impact on scotish culture, (why the fuck do you think they talk like that).

Well, special is by far the most refined drink eSPECIAlly when taken with strong English cheddar, pork pie and a pickled onion. On occasions have I found this to be a most effecatious breakfast drink and my driving has improved by a factor of 2. Bends straighten themselves out and roads unsuitable for motors become inviting challenges for my superannuated land rover. Try it and see.

ian

ToM SeZ:

Confirming its sophisticated rep, Special Brew was the drink of choice among public schoolboys when I was a nipper.

It was also thee chosen drink ov comprehensive school geordie scum. Well do I remember thee party where someone (not me NOT!!!!ME!!!!), pissed up on special brew, vomited copiously into thee bathroom sink, but not before carefully putting the plug in. Yes, I'm afraid our host did have to roll up his sleeves and dip his hand in to remove the plug. He also had to push the lumps down the hole w/his fingers. Ah happy days of youth never to be repeated etc etc

I am a GP and the answer is that special brew is easilly the best, as it is much more drinkable.Medically proven. Has anyone tried kestrel super strength lately, I used to drink crates of it when I was training and it helped me get my medical degree.

this is amazing, to find so many like minded brew drinkers. I can relate to all your stories !! does anyone find their memory is effected by the brew ??

i have had to be reminded of *many* things that i have done whilst under the influence (impromptu g 'n' r covers being the most recent). but i do them under the influence of normal, tasty beer or perhaps gin.

I was once in need of some serious booze, im tellin you, we'd drunk a litre of vodka in 45 mins between 3 of us and it hadn't done shite, this was at about 8 o clock in the morning after a particularly heavy chemical session the night before and we needed to smooth off those sharp edges. i knew a 'dodgy' newsagent who might sell us some cans so off we went. We were amazingly together walking to the newsagents and had no problem getting served. We each bought a four pack of Tennants Super - known as Blue handgrenades round my way - and began drinking them on the way home. Christ on a bike, by the time we had walked not 100 yards we were stumbling drunkenly from one side of the road to the other, one of the boys tried to take a piss 10 mins later, he fell over half way through and was incapeable of standing back up or not pissing on himself. My head felt like it was 100 miles from my feet, i could hear giggling coming from somewhere then realised it was me, all sense of time was lost, it was like being in a dream sequence, very vivid and 'realistic' but pretty detached from the action, i felt safe but i had no feeling of control over any situation. I can only assume that the sheer power of the Tennants acted like a catylist for all the dormant booze in our bloodstream. We drank our 4 cans by the side of the road, and bought another can each later on. (we pussied out in the afternoon and went on to stellas but that's irrelevent here) In the course of the morning we met about 20 people who were happy to either talk to us and even stop and enjoy a drink. So that's a vote for the Tennants i think.

Crest 10 o/o is the worst. £1.29 from an Indian offy in Stourbridge. Truly dreadful.

Well I havent tried Super brew, I can say the olde purple tin is not as bad as a) Finne Du Monde or b) Bellzelbub (both Quebecois) c) Molson XXX 40 Onze.

― Mr Noodles, Friday, 28 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)