It is a long-established joke that Carlsberg Special Brew is central heating for tramps. For years, its high alcoholic content and ready availablility made it the obvious choice for those drinking to forget. Now established to the point where its name is synonymous with the gutter, Carlsberg has raised the prices beyond the means of its core audience, relegating it to the preserve of "ironic" students.
The train station from which I go to work affords reasonable shelter, enabling me to identify those drinks competing for the Special Brew crown: Breaker Super Brew, White Lightning "Big Can", Ice Dragon White Cider, and Lucozade.
Sadly, there seem to be no pictures of these online, with the obvious exception of Lucozade. I think someone else probably left that there. Hopefully several people; there was a lot of it.
Breaker Super Brew is the obvious choice. Though its price remains a mystery, it both has a powerful 9% volume and retains the bulk of the 'S______ Brew' name so is easily remembered, or at least confused.
White Lightning has the downside that it is cider an not beer, but it is an established brand and, at only £0.69, a 'Big Can' is very affordable.
Carlsberg Special Brew (£1.45) does still have its redeeming features though: drinking is known to be a communal activity, and that is no less true of down-and-outs. Community spirit amongst the homeless can only be bolstered, especially as the nights grow longer, by the text "best served well chilled", whether this is a matter of choice or not.
I am not sure which of these was implicit in the actions of the boy I saw trying to set his hand on fire in a concerning attempt to win an argument with a telegraph pole. However, one of these beverages is that good.
