A 59-year-old expat has been forced to take back his remark that Luxembourg has no good beer – in the most enjoyable way possible.
Junglinster resident Thomas Malloy, 59, who moved to Luxembourg three years ago, offhandedly said to several people at the annual neighborhood party that while he likes living in the country, “it doesn’t have any good beer.”
The following weekend, a group of them spent 12 hours pouring into an empty swimming pool nearly 10,000 bottles of their preferred local craft beer, a tasty pale ale from a microbrewery near Echternach.
When Malloy got home from work last Friday, his neighbors were there waiting for him. They threw him in the swimming pool and waited for his reaction.
“Yum,” Malloy said after surfacing. “Yes, that it is a fine brew.”
Because they really wanted to drive their point home, the neighbors, led by a 125-kg machinist named Carlo, wouldn’t let Malloy out, at least not until he had time to really enjoy the fruits of a local brewer’s labor.
“Yup, it’s still really good,” Malloy said two hours later, standing on his tiptoes in the middle of the pool. “I was wrong. Your country has great beer.”
Still, the group of neighbors were not sure that the expat had truly, genuinely retracted his remark from six days earlier.
“It’s been four hours now, and while I will appreciate this opportunity, I believe the point has been made, and I can’t feel my legs anymore,” Malloy said another two hours later, prompting his satisfied neighbors to lift him out.