Mannerisms

Beer is a major problem here in Las Vegas.

Last day of the Globalpress Summit Conference in Monterey, and one has to say it has all been a great success. Monterey has a surprisingly wide assortment of watering holes many run by ex-pat Brits.

What's the next thing you do after you've come off the flight and checked into your hotel? You hit a bar.The question is: Which bar?

Conrad Black has done us all a favour. When the conversation runs out in the pub, and some bright spark challenges: ‘Name ten famous Canadians’, we’ll all know at least one.

Monkey Island is in the middle of the Thames, or in the middle of Tokyo Bay, take your pick.

There’s now every chance of getting a decent pint in Tokyo. A number of brew-pubs, micro-breweries and bars selling real beer are flourishing there, and a few, discerning Japanese are beginning to learn there’s more to life than the frozen, fizzy, tasteless offerings of Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi et al.

The brewmaster at that fine American institution the Rock Bottom Brewery in Campbell California is not, so it seems to me, a businessman.

Down to Tennessee for a bit of fun and have a great night out in Nashville.

Southern hospitality and downright charm are alive and well and living in Tennessee.

A reader has asked if anyone out there has had a decent pint of wallop in Dallas.

Please send suggestions to david.manners@rbi.co.uk or reply to the blog.

P.S. It is intended to start a good pint guide on this site, but our IS people have been snowed under with new site launchings, and the idea is it will be available next year.

Twenty-one rum punches is the record knocked back in one session at the Mullins beach bar on the West coast of Barbados.

God I love San Francisco. The first time I came was in 1984, and I’ve been every year since and always have a good time. Kicking off at the House of Prime Rib on Van Ness and Washington, a tawny, panelled place like Simpson’s or Rules in London, things started well.

When the immigration officer leans back in his chair with a bit of a smile and you say Hullo and he says Hullo and, without another word, stamps your passport and hands it back, you know you’re entering a civilized country. So it was coming to Dubai last week.