In one of my favorite news items of all time, it was announced earlier today that the EU Trademark Authority has approved the name “Fucking Hell” for beer and clothing for a company in Germany.

How did this happen? Well, for once this time, the answer is found in Fucking. The Austrian village of Fucking (pronounced Foo-King, real place) has been referenced in the paperwork ok’d by the EU TA. In a beautiful twist of fate, the word “Hell” is a German word used to describe a light ale. Thus, Fucking Hell Beer is born.

Interestingly, there is no Fucking brewery and no plans to build one that the village has seen.  Needless to say, this has some Fucking Austrians confused, while others are simply taking it in stride.

Fucking Background:

Despite the spotlight in recent years, Fucking has its problems. Apparently the town’s signs have been repeatedly stolen which has become such an issue that the town had the opportunity to change its name to prevent shenanigans with town property. Fortunately, the townspeople (all 100 of them) did not agree with this Fucking Off initiative, and thus we are all blessed with aforementioned foul-mouthed products.

Alt+Wine will be tracking this closely. Don’t you worry.

This topic was discovered via the urban outfitters blog, and Spiegel Online International.

While I would love to be one of those people that has backpacked through Thailand on a whim, or on a break from working the harvest in Australia, or from teaching English in Japan, etc., I am NOT one of those people. In fact, I’ve never been to Thailand. So I don’t know what it was that made me pick up the oversize bottle of Thai lager at my local bodega (though the fabulous window advertisement may have played a factor).

I’ve long been a fan of East Asian lagers, from the standard Japanese imports to one of my all-time favorites, India’s Flying Horse Lager. Chang has found it’s place among these to be my current obsession.

The beer is available in 22oz bottles in, apparently, some incredibly random places like my neighborhood bodega. Even when served ice-cold, the nose/smell is delicate, clean and impressive giving off a bit of citrus in the glass. The taste is incredibly crisp (with maybe a bit of green apple tartness?),very well balanced with no bitterness on the finish (ie: the aftertaste). Chang’s US import is 5% abv and is equally delicious as a pairing with both Thai and Mexican light, spicy dishes. This beer is by no means mind-blowing, but it is incredibly satisfying, works well with food, and at $1.99/bottle is definitely a unique and affordable option for any BYOB event.

My obsession is definitely not limited to the delicious, if not earth shattering, beer itself. Much of my newfound love for this beer comes from the amazing english language website. Tip: to get the full experience,

• Do not skip the underwhelming flash intros - if you really like them, you can download them as screensavers!
• Play the music on the lower right hand side of the site. (#3 on the playlist features the male Thai Sade - not to be missed.) You can also download 2 of the tracks if you register.
• Roll your curser over every word and picture and listen to all the sound effects! (My fave is the elephant - simple and direct)
• Download Chang Beer’s Good Food guide.

At the moment I’m listening to a playlist of sweet Thai jamband funk, courtesy of the Chang site. Perhaps this is swaying my decision to keep anyone and everyone informed of Chang Beer merchandizing and awesomeness from now on.