With a four-year gap between them, it can be easy for football fans to get swept up in World Cup mania when it comes around.
Over the decades, supporters have found numerous ways to further fuel the excitement generated by a World Cup, be it by entering an office sweepstake, attempting the mammoth task of completing a Panini sticker book, and studiously scribbling in each result on a sprawling wall chart.
England fan Gus Hully has developed a less conventional (and more inebriating) World Cup habit. Rather than collecting cards or stickers, he has managed to get his hands on a national beer from each country represented in Qatar, including from those where alcohol is prohibited, to enjoy during the tournament. In other words, it’s the World Cup of Beers.
His successful feat has not gone unnoticed on social media: at the time of writing, a tweet picturing all 32 beers he has purchased for Qatar 2022, has been liked over 100,000 times.
“My wife thinks it’s ridiculous! Honestly, I can’t believe the social media reaction to it all and I’m not sure any of my friends can either,” Gus tells i.
“It’s been a mix of people thinking it’s a brilliant idea, people thinking it’s a stupid idea, people saying I’ve chosen the worst beer from their country (hello to all the Americans on Reddit) and then people saying I’ve got the best beer from their country (hello to all the Ghanaians on Twitter). Turns out you can’t please everybody, but I knew that from previous years when Dutch people slated me for getting Grolsch for Euro 2020.”
Getting hold of beers from countries with a tradition for drinking the stuff was the easy part. For nations to whom that applies, Gus was able to be picky, selecting beers he either hasn’t had, like the head spinning 9 per cent ABV Chimay Blue from Belgium, or ones that he already enjoys, such as Estrella Galicia from Spain. In some instances, he was restricted to a country’s most popular overseas lager, such as Argentina’s Quilmes or Club from Ghana.
The full list of World Cup 2022 beers
- Argentina – Quilmes
- Australia – Cooper’s Red Ale
- Belgium – Chimay Blue
- Brazil – Antarctica
- Cameroon – Beaufort Light
- Canada – Moosehead
- Costa Rica – Imperial
- Croatia – Karlovacko
- Denmark – FAXE
- Ecuador – Pilsener
- England – Camden Hells
- France – Kronenbourg 1664
- Germany – Spaten Oktoberfest
- Ghana – Club
- Iran – Istak
- Japan – Hitachino Red Rice Ale
- Mexico – Modelo
- Morocco – Casablanca
- Netherlands – Bavaria
- Poland – Tyskie
- Portugal – Super Bock
- Qatar – Fizzin Melon
- Saudi Arabia – Hillsburg Honey
- Senegal – La Gazelle
- Serbia – Lav
- South Korea – Cass
- Spain – Estrella Galicia
- Switzerland – 1936
- Tunisia – Celtia
- Uruguay – Patricia
- USA – Miller High Life
- Wales – Bale Lager
Sourcing beverages from countries that either don’t drink or have limited exportation to England or central Europe proved to be more tricky, however.
“Qatar was definitely difficult considering they didn’t have a brewery in the country until late 2020,” Gus explains. “I found out the Fizzin had different cans available for sale in Qatar but wouldn’t ship outside of Qatar so I put out a tweet to see if anybody I knew happened to know somebody in Qatar but no luck.
“A month or two later I did the same which worked as my friend Dan said he knew a guy flying in from Qatar soon. Turns out his friend was more than happy to help, picked up a can on his next trip to his local supermarket, gave it to Dan on his visit to the UK who then gave it to me a week later. Easy.”
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Tracking down a can of Fizzin may have been challenging but it was nothing compared to finding a bottle of Senegal’s La Gazelle, a task that looked as though it could torpedo the whole operation. Fortunately, a benevolent beer drinker from Russia came to the rescue.
“In 2018 I went over to Little Africa in Paris and got a bottle of La Gazelle from there,” Gus explains. “But it turns out that no shops in Paris have had La Gazelle for at least six months and a restaurant owner said that he didn’t have any future shipments arriving so that put me back to square one.
“I basically had to monitor people checking in La Gazelle on untappd [an app for beer conoisseurs to rate different beers] and message them to see if they would help me out. I had a couple of months of nothing until this Russian bloke on holiday got back to me saying he was happy to help out, provided I paid for shipping which was absolutely no problem for me.”
All in all, Gus’ mission set him back £150 in total. Compared to the £12 pints of Budweiser being sold in Fifa’s fan parks in Qatar, £80 bottles of Corona on offer in the country’s hotels and the complete booze ban in World Cup stadiums, though, Gus got a pretty good deal.
So having completed the World Cup of beers what comes next? There are two rules that Gus abides by: 1) the beer must have been brewed in the country it’s representing (ruling out Tadcaster brewed “Spanish lager” Madri, for instance) and 2) a beer can only be drunk once the country has exited the tournament or won it outright.
As an avid England fan, Gus will no doubt be hoping to save his can of Camden Hells until last.
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