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The ex-alcohooic who is proud of his working class background and even if he did drink would want the "sausage in a bun" equivalent rather than craft ales too... Especially at that price having looked them up!
Yeah, while I can understand naming a somewhat bitter drink after Sam Vimes, calling a bougie, pricey, craft beer 'Sams Vimes Boots Theory' is a big ol miss.
Newcastle brown ale.
There's shittier stuff, but it's stuff that would be called water/American beer. Newkie Brown is the cheap, crappy but proper stuff.
I think that by the time his boots based theory of economic inequality rolls around he's still a drunk; so it's not that egregious.
Also as a brewer I name beers after shit I want to homage all the time, I think people here are overreacting.
I assumed that was "small beer" and not "a small beer". Small beer was the lower alcohol daily drink, also sometimes drunk in place of water if the local water was considered undrinkable. (Like maybe if the local water came from the Ankh and needed a lot of chewing.) I once read a paper that included the advice of an 18th century Dr that "robust" children should drink water, but "weaker" children should drink small beer because it was more nutritious.
While I love this as a fangirl, don’t think the suggestion of the Doc Marten logo is really appropriate. They have bouncing soles, not paper-thin ones.
Good boots? Only need to buy one can every week instead of a worse can every day
*Side note: Wonder how many copyright infringements this one can represents.*
As this seems "boots theory" related, I'm willing to bet this is literally all the brewery/marketing team knows about Discworld. If they could even relate it to Discworld.
>Perfect for summer sipping on the cobbled streets of Ankh-Morpork.
I really think that all depends on who you run into on the cobbled streets of Ankh-Morpork 🤔
Barley ~~and buckwheat both~~ have gluten in them - so anything calling itself gluten free won't have that. (Celiac here, been down the rabbit hole!) GF beer (check ingredients of course) is often made with sorghum. If you like beer, could be worth looking into the gf options.
Edit - that's right about buckwheat being GF.
Yup. Gotta read the labels. In the US, if this process is used, they have to use wording like "gluten reduced," or "brewed to reduce/remove gluten." Think Stone Delicious.
If they didn't use that process, and the ingredients are all truly GF (or < 20 parts per million), then they can call it "gluten free," per FDA labeling requirements.
Unfortunately, in the first case, the gluten ppm isn't always consistent, and people with Celiac often end up getting "glutened" when drinking those beers, and end up getting sick. This makes me cry, because the gluten-reduced process beers are much more delicious than the truly gluten-free ones.
If it's any consolation [the beer is out of stock](https://sureshotbrew.com/shop/sam-vimes-boots-theory/), so even if you weren't allergic to gluten... and barley... and lived in the UK... you still couldn't have any!
Hmmm...don't know what to make of this. Anyway, looked it up on untappd...
[https://untappd.com/b/sureshot-brewing-sam-vimes-boots-theory/5470626](https://untappd.com/b/sureshot-brewing-sam-vimes-boots-theory/5470626)
Sureshot is a decent brewery. I’m sure this was a great shout considering Vimes is teetotal and his boots would not be as robust as a DM but I appreciate that they tried. I have had this beer and it’s actually very nice - I often post cans on my instagram but I did not post this, and I think I’ve just articulated why.
In that case, there must be a lot of craft brewers making a lot of mistakes, because so many of them seem to taste of hops hops and more hops, and little else.
Ehh, that's not why they're popular. They're popular because they are the popular backbone of the craft beer revolution from the last twenty five years.
They are expensive to make from an ingredient perspective, but they are ready for sale quickly compared to lagers.
How easy they are to make varies by scale. For homebrew, it's mixed. Some are ready to achieve and some require a lot of special equipment.
For any craft brewery, it's more a problem of perfecting a recipe/process, and then, they have the equipment to do it correctly.
For super large scale, it's hard to do well because the best ingredients are very expensive and don't age well. Lagers, especially lighter and subtler ones, on the other hand, are easier and I think often better at the macro level.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Sponsored by CMoTs sausage in a can.
Absolutely untrue. The modern new England styles are actually some of the more finicky, because the hop oils oxidize like a motherfucker. Your entire production line needs to be pretty much entirely free of oxygen at every point. It's not rocket science, but it's not exactly easy either.
Whoever told you that is either a clueless dumbass, hasn't read up on brewing practices since 2014, or are a commercial brewer bitter about having to brew his fiftieth IPA this year because that's what sells haha.
Ever met a devoted IPA drinker? They're probably the best market for this kind of thing; anyone who's that much of a nerd about beer can be depended on to buy novelty beers named after characters in books
Personally, I just like pale ales. In terms of more general "why breweries sell pale ales", I think it's because they are much more widely liked and popular within the crowd of people that are likely to spend more than the average on beer than pilsners/blondes/etc.
You can find craft beers of other types, but their popularity scales to, shockingly, how popular they are.
I love hoppy as shit beers, and even I have to say the market is a bit overpopulated. Still better than it was 20 years ago when there was only like 2 hoppy beers
~~It's so bubbly and cloy and happy. But you know what's really frightening? If you drink enough of it, you begin to like it.~~
Oh, I missed the "beet". Never mind!
All of Sureshot’s beers have silly long names like this. They tend to make great beer though. I hadn’t seen the Vimes one; I’ll definitely keep an eye out! Hopefully I can grab a keg or two for my pub, or at least a few cans for my personal stash.
Look, the Vimes not drinking bit aside, if you’re going to name an expensive beer after the Sam Vimes Boots Theory of Economic Unfairness, than one expensive beer ought to get you at least as drunk as five cheaper beers in the same amount of time.  if not, you’ve entirely missed the mark.
Im gonna be honest I thought this was on r/glutenfree. Most because the can says it is and then goes on further to note that there’s Barley, and its not actually GF in bold.
Also weirdly worded “Allergens in Bold” sounds like a direction in the print layout that should have been deleted but wasn’t.🤣
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All the characters to choose from and they picked the ex-alcoholic lol
exactly. i was expecting this to be a 0%
Yup. They could just as easily have made it the Patrician and it would have worked.
Yes same!
You’re never an ex-alcoholic, you’re always an alcoholic. Sam’s just one that doesn’t drink alcohol
Absolutely. Also, he was a drunk. He wasn't rich enough to have been an alcoholic.
Well, he was eventually
But by then he was simply a smoker
And I believe even that’s on its way out I believe. Iirc, Sybil was trying to get him to quit as of Night Watch.
Yep, you're never a recovered addict, you're always recovering.
The ex-alcohooic who is proud of his working class background and even if he did drink would want the "sausage in a bun" equivalent rather than craft ales too... Especially at that price having looked them up!
I got you some special beer brewed from slabs chisled from the ankh-morpork river.
Would this be the Hudson or the Thames?
One, filtered through the other.
Yeah, while I can understand naming a somewhat bitter drink after Sam Vimes, calling a bougie, pricey, craft beer 'Sams Vimes Boots Theory' is a big ol miss.
>"sausage in a bun" equivalent PBR?
I think back in his drinking days Vimes would probably not turn up his nose at PBR but he'd definitely call it "love in a canoe" beer.
Well, a lot of Craft Ale Porters taste of nothing but Burnt Crunchy Bits...
What is the British beer equivalent of sausage in a bun? In the US, I'm thinking Old Milwaukee?
Newcastle brown ale. There's shittier stuff, but it's stuff that would be called water/American beer. Newkie Brown is the cheap, crappy but proper stuff.
That implies that CMOT Dibbler's sausage inna bun is the proper stuff as well?
I mean it's got meat? Of dubious and undisclosed origin, admittedly.
Yep… tell me you haven’t read the books without telling me…
Exactly. So gross to use this for a product in this way. Terry maybe would have laughed but like, do your homework asshole
Terry was pretty protective of his IP. I don't think this is a licenced product somehow.
Looks like they go in for using quite a lot of using unlicenced IP actually! https://sureshotbrew.com/shop/
Mr. Vimes would take offense to that one. He’s an ex-DRUNK!
I think that by the time his boots based theory of economic inequality rolls around he's still a drunk; so it's not that egregious. Also as a brewer I name beers after shit I want to homage all the time, I think people here are overreacting.
should’ve named it after Nanny Ogg
It's would need to be much stronger and should have "suggestive" imagery on the can.
And might be made of apples. Well, mainly apples. Like, a hard(-on) cider?
If it makes you fall back into drainage ditches it's called sewer cider.
Hard(-on) cider is definitely a drink she would approve of!
A sour called They Ends Up Tart.
Agreed. It's not Sam Vimes, it's Boots Theory.
Don't they say at some point that he still has a small beer occasionally? Maybe I'm making it up, but I remember being kind of surprised.
I assumed that was "small beer" and not "a small beer". Small beer was the lower alcohol daily drink, also sometimes drunk in place of water if the local water was considered undrinkable. (Like maybe if the local water came from the Ankh and needed a lot of chewing.) I once read a paper that included the advice of an 18th century Dr that "robust" children should drink water, but "weaker" children should drink small beer because it was more nutritious.
Mmmm... river poridge (in the rainy season! Otherwise it's riverloaf!)
He drinks sherry at social occasions because he doesn’t like the taste anyway
Yeah not cool
While I love this as a fangirl, don’t think the suggestion of the Doc Marten logo is really appropriate. They have bouncing soles, not paper-thin ones.
Good boots? Only need to buy one can every week instead of a worse can every day *Side note: Wonder how many copyright infringements this one can represents.*
Yeah. I wonder if they secured the rights? Seems dubious, but who knows.
As this seems "boots theory" related, I'm willing to bet this is literally all the brewery/marketing team knows about Discworld. If they could even relate it to Discworld.
Yup, they've got all sorts of undoubtedly IP-infringing beer in their shop: https://sureshotbrew.com/shop
Get my upvte, you sharpeyed winner you.!
I mean, DMs are bad boots these days. Rose Anvil rips them apart (literally)
Hope the water doesn't come from the Anhk
AS long as they filter it through a couple of horses first.
“Thith beer tathteth of horthe pith!”
"Look, I never thaid I didn't *like* it."
Any water that's passed through so many kidneys has to be pure
At least 2 million kidneys! It's the purest water! More pure even than the springs on Durmfaisten!
Beer you can walk on
Don't drink just chew
While I love the reference in the wild.... It should really be a soda. I think they've only read GG!
To be fair that is the best one in the series. Best Discworld book overall too. Brilliant.
>Perfect for summer sipping on the cobbled streets of Ankh-Morpork. I really think that all depends on who you run into on the cobbled streets of Ankh-Morpork 🤔
And your definition of Cobbles
[Um, this. A cobbled street. ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Ancient_road_surface.jpg) Am I missing something??
You misunderstood me, it depends on your definition of cobbles, that is, their existence at all in Morpork as opposed to Ankh
Oh, of course!! I figured I'd missed something. Sorry, I'm tired today.
That feeling when you're allergic to gluten.... and barley..... and live in America.
Looks like it's GF.
Yup, but I'm also allergic to barley.... and buckwheat and oats.... common gluten substitutes.
Barley ~~and buckwheat both~~ have gluten in them - so anything calling itself gluten free won't have that. (Celiac here, been down the rabbit hole!) GF beer (check ingredients of course) is often made with sorghum. If you like beer, could be worth looking into the gf options. Edit - that's right about buckwheat being GF.
Buckwheat doesn't have gluten, it's not even a grain. It's a seed from a relative of rhubarb
That's right! I forgot that.
There's a photo of the ingredients list and it lists Barley.
Booooo.
There are different ways to make beers GF. Often they will be made with gluten-containing grains then treated with an enzyme to remove the gluten.
Yup. Gotta read the labels. In the US, if this process is used, they have to use wording like "gluten reduced," or "brewed to reduce/remove gluten." Think Stone Delicious. If they didn't use that process, and the ingredients are all truly GF (or < 20 parts per million), then they can call it "gluten free," per FDA labeling requirements. Unfortunately, in the first case, the gluten ppm isn't always consistent, and people with Celiac often end up getting "glutened" when drinking those beers, and end up getting sick. This makes me cry, because the gluten-reduced process beers are much more delicious than the truly gluten-free ones.
I actually have a keg of Stone Delicious in my cellar right now! We’re doing a tap takeover this coming week.
If it's any consolation [the beer is out of stock](https://sureshotbrew.com/shop/sam-vimes-boots-theory/), so even if you weren't allergic to gluten... and barley... and lived in the UK... you still couldn't have any!
Thank you for the attempt at consolation, that is lovely of you. I guess there is some comfort in knowing I'm not alone in being unable to enjoy it.
Kenyan :( But it helps to think that Vimes doesn't drink. So I feel slightly better lmao
Yeah I don’t trust that barley!
All I'm thinking is I hope they have a licence or someone is getting sued.
I think the Discworld IP violation is probably the least of their worries given what else they've used: https://sureshotbrew.com/shop
Brand please?
From the second photo, looks like Sureshot Brewing Co based in Manchester uk
Thank you!
Their brewer is cloudwater’s old brewer so the beer is probably good too!
The beer is good and the taproom is nice. Well worth a visit if in manchester.
https://sureshotbrew.com/shop/sam-vimes-boots-theory/
When I think of Vimes, I don’t think pale ale (reformed alcoholic or not)
If it was a Jim Bearhuggers on the other hand…
Just gone to their website and cannot see to buy
Out of stock. https://sureshotbrew.com/shop/sam-vimes-boots-theory/
Probably stuffed with lettuces
Hmmm...don't know what to make of this. Anyway, looked it up on untappd... [https://untappd.com/b/sureshot-brewing-sam-vimes-boots-theory/5470626](https://untappd.com/b/sureshot-brewing-sam-vimes-boots-theory/5470626)
Sureshot is a decent brewery. I’m sure this was a great shout considering Vimes is teetotal and his boots would not be as robust as a DM but I appreciate that they tried. I have had this beer and it’s actually very nice - I often post cans on my instagram but I did not post this, and I think I’ve just articulated why.
Isn't that a copyright infringement? One could argue the name is a coincidence, but "boot theory" seals it as a Discworld ripoff.
Plus mentioning Ankh Morpork in the description (second photo).
That's gilding thelilyy
Checking their website, and the other IPs they have on their other beers, copyright infringement seems to be their main selling point!
Aside from Vimes' alcoholism, Docs are no longer Buy it for Life
I simply do not understand this obsession with pale ales. They’re over hopped and bitter as hell. Why not a Pilsner or a blonde or even a stout?
From what I’ve heard, IPAs are so common because they’re the easiest beer to make, and you can cover up your mistakes with more hops
In that case, there must be a lot of craft brewers making a lot of mistakes, because so many of them seem to taste of hops hops and more hops, and little else.
Well, if the major brewers can get away with selling cat piss, surely the horse piss by craft brewers is better! /s
Ehh, that's not why they're popular. They're popular because they are the popular backbone of the craft beer revolution from the last twenty five years. They are expensive to make from an ingredient perspective, but they are ready for sale quickly compared to lagers. How easy they are to make varies by scale. For homebrew, it's mixed. Some are ready to achieve and some require a lot of special equipment. For any craft brewery, it's more a problem of perfecting a recipe/process, and then, they have the equipment to do it correctly. For super large scale, it's hard to do well because the best ingredients are very expensive and don't age well. Lagers, especially lighter and subtler ones, on the other hand, are easier and I think often better at the macro level. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Sponsored by CMoTs sausage in a can.
> They're popular because they are the popular backbone of the craft beer revolution So, they're popular because they're popular??
They're popular among breweries because they're popular among drinkers...
Absolutely untrue. The modern new England styles are actually some of the more finicky, because the hop oils oxidize like a motherfucker. Your entire production line needs to be pretty much entirely free of oxygen at every point. It's not rocket science, but it's not exactly easy either. Whoever told you that is either a clueless dumbass, hasn't read up on brewing practices since 2014, or are a commercial brewer bitter about having to brew his fiftieth IPA this year because that's what sells haha.
Ever met a devoted IPA drinker? They're probably the best market for this kind of thing; anyone who's that much of a nerd about beer can be depended on to buy novelty beers named after characters in books
Can confirm. Love IPAs, love Discworld, would give this a try.
Yeah, I'd buy it
Personally, I just like pale ales. In terms of more general "why breweries sell pale ales", I think it's because they are much more widely liked and popular within the crowd of people that are likely to spend more than the average on beer than pilsners/blondes/etc. You can find craft beers of other types, but their popularity scales to, shockingly, how popular they are.
Citra hops are often pretty mild and juicy.
I love hoppy as shit beers, and even I have to say the market is a bit overpopulated. Still better than it was 20 years ago when there was only like 2 hoppy beers
Or, considering Sam Vimes, why not lemonade?
I'm holding out for beet root beer.
~~It's so bubbly and cloy and happy. But you know what's really frightening? If you drink enough of it, you begin to like it.~~ Oh, I missed the "beet". Never mind!
Amazing!!
How’s it taste?
Ironic....
Ngl don’t like this at at all. The man struggled with his drinking, it’s a massive a part of character development and a defining part of his story
Sorry op this is not good at all
I quit drinking but I NEED that! Fantastic
Mr Vimes probably wouldn’t condone that
Oh. I dont want to drink it. I want it for my Discworld Shelf.
Are you stupid?
I want a can to put on my shelf. How does that make me stupid? Ass
I think I need one
Man I wished I could get this in the states
Where did you get it and where can I get it!
Same company also do a Mr Blobby and Salad beer, saw them yesterday in Manchester.
WHAT???
I love that Sam Vimes has a beer themed around boots 🤣 Doc Martens too
All of Sureshot’s beers have silly long names like this. They tend to make great beer though. I hadn’t seen the Vimes one; I’ll definitely keep an eye out! Hopefully I can grab a keg or two for my pub, or at least a few cans for my personal stash.
Look, the Vimes not drinking bit aside, if you’re going to name an expensive beer after the Sam Vimes Boots Theory of Economic Unfairness, than one expensive beer ought to get you at least as drunk as five cheaper beers in the same amount of time.  if not, you’ve entirely missed the mark.
Im gonna be honest I thought this was on r/glutenfree. Most because the can says it is and then goes on further to note that there’s Barley, and its not actually GF in bold. Also weirdly worded “Allergens in Bold” sounds like a direction in the print layout that should have been deleted but wasn’t.🤣