Sparge

This weekend I went on a brewery tour and drinking expedition. People often tell a story, don't get as much laughter as they hoped, and then say "you had to be there". In the case of the walk between the brewery and the pub you really had to be there. Something very funny was either said, or happened, and we're pretty sure that it would have made a perfect instalment of this blog. Unfortunately we've all completely forgotten what it was.

[stop reading now if you have delicate sensibilities. The next section involves rude words]

During our visit to the brewery there was great confusion between the words "sparge" "spurge" and "spooge". The first is a brewing term to do with spraying liquid over something. The second is a type of plant. The third is apparently a dirty word, again relating to spraying (small quantities of) liquid.

One of my friends suffered an acute giggling fit when the tour guide said that they would spray sparge all over the mixture of barley and liquor. After the tour he was trying to convince me that it really was a rude word and I ended up saying that I had spurge (euphorbia) all over my garden. He laughed so hard that be briefly lost the ability to breathe.

Richard "vase varse vawse" B