A cache of Victorian beer has been found over in the U.K . One person who has tried it was impressed: “It’s amazing that beers this antique can still taste so delicious…Established wisdom would say beers this old should taste of vinegar, damp rags and Marmite.”

Wait a minute. That’s supposed to be bad?

Apparently so, because the taster went on to comment that many of these beers “show flavours of raisins and sultanas, baked apple and honey. The oldest – the 1869 Ratcliff Ale – is bright and luminous like an ancient Amontillado sherry and has a meaty character like smoked partridge with hints of molasses.”

Good grief.

Meanwhile, a number of readers have responded to my post earlier this week on Venedikt Erofeyev’s Soviet-era cocktails. One pointrd out that the correct name for “‘Tears of a Komsomol Girl’ was in a fact the “bit more pognant” ‘Tear of a Komsomol Girl’, and drew attention to the doubtless splendidly refreshing ”Spirit of Geneva” and “Bitch’s Innards.” Another remembered seeing Tom Courtenay performing a dramatized version of Erofeyev’s “Moscow Stations” in which Tom Courtenay, discussing the ingredients of “Balsam of Canaan” had this to say: “distilled varnish. (pause) I shan’t tell you how to distill varnish, that’s child’s play.”

Cheers.