So I have no idea what made me think of this story again. I think it's with all the hot weather we're having here in Sunny Santa Monica. Robbie and I were chatting about beach parties and I thought I'd mention a great example of cultural differences. Here goes..

Business.com (the company I work for) have beach parties every year around August. This is a great thing and, like alot of company sponsored events, Involves drinking. We have a free bar on the beach, games, free food etc etc. Everything you need to have a great time.

I was at the company for about 9 months before my first beach party. As soon as we arrived at said beach everyone ran to the bar. Not wanting to blend in and follow suit I wanted to stay away from the Bud and miller lite and go for a man's drink. I picked the most Scottish/Irish sounding beer (more alcohol obviously) and after tasting it thought it was the "Dogs Danglies". "Yup, this is my choice of beverage for the day", I thought. Because the bar was on a private beach, the barman had to empty the content of the bottle into a plastic cup. Two hours later and I drink the bar dry of said beer and switch to the old fav "Jack and coke". Barman gave me a funny glance but thought nothing of it. End of the day comes and welcome in the weekend.

Monday arrives and at lunch we all get together and chat about the various drunken actions of our work mates. I think back to the day with amazing clarity and boast about how my Scottish ability to hold huge amounts of alcohol was in full effect and despite drinking 9 bottles of beer and 3 Jack and Cokes, I was still standing.  The following conversation ensued:

Me: "Ha, well I managed to do a steller job of not acting like a drunken idiot. I am Scottish and therefore a way better drinker than all of yooz".

Fellow worker: "Emmm...I saw what you were drinking. You were drinking O'Douls".

Me: "Aye what of it?"

Fellow worker: "It's fricken non-alcoholic you idiot".

Now, to this day, this story is STILL mentioned and 2 beach parties have come and gone.  No one bothered to highlight the fact at the time..Oh no, that would be too easy. In the spirit (no pun intended) of helping out a fellow "Non-American", Here  is a good resource of non-alcoholic beverages. Learn these brands to avoid possible confusion and ultimate humiliation.