The Bottle Shop Global Beer Exchange bar is the closest thing to a town pub that I have found in Manila.
Nestled in a little known, little frequented part of the tiny strip mall that is Paseo de Magallanes, the bar looks more like a store than it does a pub, yet it functions even better than most bars in the city. People drop by after work, down a beer or two to get to a good place before going on home to the drudgery and tedium of the everyday. There is a bar, with seven stools, there are four tables to sit four or five inside the room, and two alfresco tables, the better to imbibe a wide variety of libations to the rhythm of the highway noise and pollution. Who knows.
There are over a hundred brands of beer here, brewed across the miles, bottled, and shipped thousands of miles east to a country whose heat does something mystical, not necessarily magical, to this wondrous beverage.
There are 12 choices of tapas or pica pica or pulutan, or bar chow...6 kinds
Of sliced sausages, queso manchego cheese, pork rind or chicharon, sandwiches. The choice is limited, but the taste is appetizing.
I have discovered Holgate ESB, an amber colored, more woodsy taste described as a stronger taste of beer. The beers here are categorized into three levels, for the neophyte there are entry level light brews, then two other levels of brews that get stronger and contain more alcohol.
I thought wine was complicated, never able to keep up with thousands of vintages and types of grapes and vintners...I thought beer was a simple robust cold glass that you downed at the end of a long day, to mark the start of sundown, or the weekend...
But here in the Global Beer Exchange, it approached something of a science, with hundreds of kinds, and flavors to sample, select, and savor!
Yet though I enjoyed beer, there is still so much I do not know about it. For example, what is it made of? What gives it that unique flavor? What makes it fattening? Why is it always in amber colored bottles and not clear ones? What is its history?
Ignorance and interest will be my guide and motivation to return to this straightforward no frills pub...to learn more about this delightful and delectable poison that I continue to imbibe and put into my body.
Cheers!
Wow! I'm making a mental note to visit that pub one of these days. Thanks for the wonderful entry!
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