The Off Topic Topic

[viper37]

You guys make powdered milk. It gets imported and added to local production.

they export milk protein that gets used to make commercial cheese.

I have yet to see an american cheese in grocery stores.  Excluding fake cheese like Velveeta or Cheez-Whiz. 

I'm surprised since Vermont is one of the larger cheese producers (in fact there's a Vermont Cheese Trail.

I know about Vermont.  And American maple syrup too.  But I just haven't seen any of this in a local grocery store.  Maybe in Montreal, with a bigger market, but over here, they push local products and imported european products.

[Richard Hakluyt]

It is very hard to find good wine from the USA in the UK; but I know from direct experience that the USA produces some good wines. The American market is large though, so my working hypothesis is that they drink all the good stuff and only export a small fraction of it.

Perhaps it is the same for cheese? The internal market of 330m people instantly buying the entire production whenever a good cheesemaker sets up?

[Admiral Yi]

I read once that US cheese is handicapped by the legal requirement that all cheese has to be made from pasteurized milk.

[Syt]

It is very hard to find good wine from the USA in the UK; but I know from direct experience that the USA produces some good wines. The American market is large though, so my working hypothesis is that they drink all the good stuff and only export a small fraction of it.

Perhaps it is the same for cheese? The internal market of 330m people instantly buying the entire production whenever a good cheesemaker sets up?

I don't buy much wine, but Ernest & Julio Gallo have been on shelves here for ages. You're more like to find US craft beers in beer shops, though.

[celedhring]

It's very rare (or downright impossible) to find yank wine over here in regular store shelves, and specialized wine stores don't carry that much either. Argie/Chilean wines are supercommon though (and delightful).

When I was in NYC my classmates were obsessed with buying Coppola wine (film school, duh) for parties, and I found it pretty terrible. So I never had much chance of trying the good yank wines, really.

[Syt]

Just had a look at the only shop of Billa, one of the main supermarket chains here. By far the most common origins of wine is Austria (duh), followed by France and Italy. A few Spanish, Chilean, Australian, Greek wines sprinkled throughout. Only American wines are Gallo.

Rather disconcertingly, they also have a few Doppler (i.e. 2 liter bottles) of "European Wine" for 1.99 per bottle.



Spar, the biggest supermarket chain, have a dedicated site for buying wine, beer, and liquor, and they have a few more US wines, and from other origins that Billa doesn't cover (South Africa, New Zealand, Germany ...), but American whisky outnumbers American wine about 4-1.

[Syt]

Number of wines per origin on the Spar website:

[Syt]

Btw, Down the Rabbit Hole had a good video about the 1980s wine poisoning scandal in Austria (which has, in turn, led to an overhaul of wine production in Austria and improving quality considerably): https://youtu.be/qhN-o2ame-4

[The Brain]

Swedish Systembolaget (state monopoly alcohol store) has the following number of US wines (some other countries for comparison).

United States: 548

France: 3724
Germany: 535

[Josquius]

Looks like the UK is going full mad max 2

BBC News - Fuel supplies: Mortar tanker tailed by drivers looking for petrol
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-58767230

[The Brain]

Swedish artist Lars Vilks (of Mohammed cartoons fame) and two police officers have died in what appears to be a car accident.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/04/muhammad-cartoonist-lars-vilks-reportedly-dies-in-car-crash

[garbon]

I wondered why that was international news.

[jimmy olsen]

Watching the kick bounce of the goal post in the Pats game. 

https://twitter.com/ComplexSports/status/1444869354500276230

[Eddie Teach]

How is Brady still playing? Robot parts?

[DGuller]

I wondered why that was international news.

Because he was in international news during his life?