Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bitter

Where can I find Emu Bitter beer for my grandparents?

speedoavenger — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 09:30:47 -0800

Where can I buy Emu Bitter beer in the US? It's made by Nathan Lion, the same brewery that makes Steinlager. I'm willing to drive anywhere in AZ, NH, or NE, although I would prefer mail order delivery. http://www.lion-nathan.com/Great-Brands/AUS-Beer/Emu.aspx

This beer is for my Grandma and Grandpa. It is the only beer my Grandma has ever liked, and she hasn't had a bottle of it since she visited Australia 15 years ago.

Thank you for your help.

Give us a soundtrack for our walk away from the apocalypse

millipede — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:47:46 -0800

I am looking for songs that call to mind (music-wise, rather than lyrics-wise) the rather specific feeling of walking or driving away from a great disaster that has left one greatly scarred, but alive: Post-apocalyptic victory songs. My roommate and I are having concurrent miseries. We were putting together misery playlists and realized that we didn't really want SAD songs, per se, but songs more of this strange nature. She described it as music that calls to mind driving away from something, through a desert. I'm thinking it's music that is a fitting soundtrack for walking over a bridge away from a burning city that nearly consumed you and that you helped destroy. We are being figurative.

Some examples of music that fits:
"And I" by Portugal.The Man
"Malagueña Salerosa" performed by Chingon
"Gold Dust Woman," Hole's version
"The Show Must Go On" by Queen
"House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals
"I Luv the Valley OH " by Xiu Xiu
"Zoo York" by Paul Oakenfold
"Every Me Every You" by Placebo
"Silence Is Golden by The Tremeloes

Basically, we are looking for dark, churning, vaguely hollow-sounding songs with a sad or bittersweet edge. Lyrical content is not especially important--it's that sound I'm looking for.

Learning How to Like Coffee, and How to Like Beer

WCityMike — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:34:41 -0800

There are two beverages that nearly every American adult seems to like, but I dislike both: coffee and beer. I would like to develop a taste for both of them. For morning caffeine, coffee's free at most workplaces whereas pop isn't; and beer is a cheap mood alterer; but more importantly, both are social lubricants, one that isn't achieved by drinking a soda while others get either awake, buzzed or drunk. It's been a while since I had either, but remembering the tastes, I think it's that I dislike the bitterness in each drink. This isn't anything I'm torn up over, but I can see how acclimating myself to these would be helpful to things I'd like to develop socially. Anyhow, tips on how to change my tastes so that I can become a jittery, coffee-addicted beerhound would be appreciated. :-)

Ideas to cut the bitter taste of orange rinds

smallstatic — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:45:54 -0800

I LOVE my new juicer but the oranges betray me. I just bought a Breville Compact Juicer and I luuuurve it. There is truly nothing more joyous than pulverizing fruit first thing in the morning. But my dilemma is with the oranges - a staple of morning smoothies, I'm sure you'd agree - and specifically the rinds, which are insanely bitter. Obviously I could peel them before juicing but that kind of defeats the ease of the juicer in the first place. What I'm wondering is if there are any food and cooking able people out there that may know a tasty way to balance the bitterness of the orange rinds. Sugar? Yogurt? Bananas? Not much seems to be cutting it. Thanks!

This flu tastes terrrible

mzurer — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 06:59:56 -0800

I am on the trailing edge of a bout of flu, and I have a persistent bitter taste when I drink any fluids. Doesn't seem to be there when I eat things, only drink them. Has anyone else experienced this? When do I get my taste-buds back?

My bleeding heart is shriveling up

zoomorphic — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:04:42 -0800

So I moved to Brooklyn, landed a great magazine internship in the city, and seem to be on the right track professionally. One problem: I'm restless and want to leave NYC. Will I sabotage my future as a magazine journalist by leaving Manhattan, the mecca of magazines? It's not that I dislike New York--there are times when I really, truly believe in this city, especially Brooklyn. But more often I'm wary that I'm wasting my youth in the bowels of the universe where I hate my commute, I hate tourists, I hate slow walkers, and I stare through any poor soul asking for change on the street. I'm bitter, neurotic, self-absorbed, and obsessed with work. Everyone in my office--and in a 5 mile vicinity--is the same way. Paradoxically, I also hate people who blithely write off these traits as merit badges for becoming a New Yorker. I moved here thinking I was happening upon a great literary community of engaged, well-read people, but little has turned up.

In short, my job makes me happy, the city doesn't. Thwarting my relocation ambitions is the sinking realization that I lack the self-discipline to freelance, making an in-house journalism job nigh imperative. So what happens if I move? I really love Chicago, but I can't think of any notable magazines or lit hubs there, except the Poetry Foundation and (yikes) Time Out Chicago. What else is out there?

Or should I wipe the city grime from my eyes and keep seeking out the elusive literati lurking in some Brooklyn nook?

Life gave me bitter lemonade...now what?

tastybrains — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:04:16 -0800

Why is my lemonade turning bitter? I recently decided to try making some homemade lemonade using the basic recipe I've found on about a gazillion recipe sites ... sliced lemons (1 per quart), sugar (1 cup), ice, water. I take the thiny sliced & seeded lemons and sugar and I mash the crap out of them so there is a nice slushy sugary lemony mess. Then I mix it all up with ice and water. And it tastes awesome.

However, when I leave it to chill overnight, it turns horribly bitter & undrinkable. Mixing it up doesn't help.

Why is this? I feel like it's probably something obvious, but my Google-fu sucks and all I found were metaphors of bitterness and life giving you lemons and that sort of thing.

Is it the lemon peels? Should I peel the lemons before mashing everything up? Or does lemonade just not stay tasty for long?

Help...I really like lemonade & I really feel stupid that I can't make a simple pitcher of lemonade that tastes good for a full 24 hours.

I hate you.

keswick — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 16:50:02 -0800

What do you do when you're stuck in a persistive state of misanthropy? there is no more inside

Anit-love-song mixtape

ChasFile — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 12:28:20 -0800

Love-sucks-anti-Valentine's-Day-Filter: Help me make a mix of anti-love songs. Visualize a mix you might give your ex after a really, really nasty break-up. Something that says "F0ck you, I hate you, and every second we were together was torture, you evil witch," with every song. Maybe starting with OMD's "If You Leave," and getting nastier from there. Alternatively, I also like the sentiment expressed in "If You Leave," so suggestions for a mix that says "If you think you broke my heart, don't kid yourself, I never really cared about you anyway," would be appreciated, as well.

Bonus points on both counts for songs set to a sentimental or poppy melody, again along the lines of "If You Leave." The idea here being that it should be a mixtape that, were it not for the lyrics and sentiment behind it, the girlfriend might otherwise really like and listen to. Just to give the knife that extra little twist. Hence Eminem's "Bonnie and Clyde" doesn't really work. You get the idea, right?

Why do I hate beer?

robbie01 — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 16:06:53 -0800

I hate beer. What's wrong with me? I've never been a big drinker (didn't do much acclimation in high school) but beer is disgusting to me. I'm aware, of course, of the world's obsession with the beverage, but I just don't get it. It's bitter, there's too much of it per serving in a bar, and it just tastes bad. To me. Is there something wrong with my taste buds? Could I be overly-sensitive to bitter flavors?

I've tried several varieties of beer (pale, dark, canned, bottled, cheap, expensive, national brands, microbrews, seasonals), and they all have that same basically bad flavor. I understand there is something called the "IBU", which is a measure of how bitter a beer is, but even something very low on the scale is just terrible to me.

The thought of someone coming home after work and popping open a beer to drink is confounding.

It's not that I desire to drink more beer, though sometimes I feel a little awkward being the only one drinking soda, water (or even mixed drinks, which I also have a tendency to dislike intensely), but I figured the world must be in on something that I'm just not getting, or has everyone just learned to acquire the taste because it's generally the cheapest, most ubiquitous method of getting drunk?