Hi all,

same friends that I mentioned in my post about Pemuteran and the drought went to Mozaic in Ubud for a significant birthday dinner and (on my advice again) they had the 6 course degustation menu with wine matching. They weren't told there would be a problem but they were apparently served local wines (Hatten I presume) which they described as undrinkable, and bulk Chilean. They were wondering about my advice. They found out later in the evening that the restaurant was unable to get their usual stocks because of the problems currently with the alcohol quota import business.

Does anyone know if this situation is easing yet? We are booked into Mozaic in 5 weeks time for a meal with friends and it may cause a change of plans if the problem continues. Back to my usual Warungs and beer!

Cheers, David

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Smile and the world you are travelling in will smile back at you

First they said it was because someone forgot to renew the orders with the overseas suppliers! It seems to be done to politics and rival interests battling it out for Bali's lucrative booze bizzo. MMMM, Hatten, luvly! Still, you are OK with Bintang right?

Mark,

unlike yourself I actually like bintang - what it is doing to my last few brain cells is unknown though! There is always water..........

David

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Smile and the world you are travelling in will smile back at you

I used to drink Anker but both this and Bintang gave me such dire headaches and liver failure the next day (after only a few, really) that I stopped drinking either. If I could not get an import, I would drink imported wine (light wines, not heavy oakey things in the tropics thanks). If there was no suitable imported wine, I would drink Hatten spritzer. If there was no cold soda water, I would go to Singapore (Tiger Beer, now there's a decent lager). Apart from Bali Hai beer which I believe comes from rat's pee, I think Bintang is the worst slop going in Bali. If you chill the stuff down to 1 degree Celcius, you can convince a seasoned beer drinker it comes from hops.

I was brought up on Australian beer, worse still, South Australian. The shining light (no pun) here in South Oz is from the Cooper's family, a range of ales that seems to be copied in Bali under the brand name "Storm". Bintang ain't that bad. Anker is a shocker, all aldehydic. Haven't tried rats' piss though, so I can't attest to the accuracy of your palette on these matters.

Cheers, David

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Smile and the world you are travelling in will smile back at you

and find that liberal amounts of water intake solves the headaches. Liver failure is a different kettle of fish however.....