Friends Of Ham Ilkley

It's that time of year again, the festive season is upon us. For many of us that means catching up with family and friends who we have not seen in a while, more often than not with some form of tipple in hand.

For anyone who has read my previous blogs, or even followed me on twitter will notice that one of our current favourite places to drink is Friends Of Ham in Leeds City Centre. On Saturday night we had arranged for a family get together in Ilkley, where Friends Of Ham have recently opened up their second bar/charcuterie.

The Ilkley bar is instantly recognisable for those who have sampled Leeds. As you enter there is a rustic looking bar full of various beers that you hardly ever see anywhere else. To your right is the 'shop' side of the bar, where you can purchase your beer, cheese or meat to go! In the back and downstairs are rooms where you can sit and eat, however I can not say much about the rest of the place as immediately became settled on the large table by the bar. Now it is a small bar, so our family basically took up the whole place!
The main difference between Leeds & Ilkley is that the Ilkley bar is a little bit more 'polished', where the Leeds one seems very mix and match, Ilkley is smart whilst still keeping the rustic theme...I'm not sure which I prefer, but the Ilkley bar is clearly aimed at the local crowd, who may not necessarily drink in the Leeds bar.

Before I get to the beer I want to mention two great aspects of this bar. First of all the food, midway through the evening olives, bread, a cheese board and a charcuterie board appeared infront of us, at this stage in the night I was distracted by my beer so can not tell you the names of the cheeses, but lets just say there was enough for the 9 of us, with something for everyone...yum !
Secondly, after leaving the bar we all agreed that the staff were brilliant, they were engaging with us as a group...helped pick out which beers to sample, and generally made it feel like we had been going there for years!

So we now get to the beer! Following our trip to Bruges we have really acquired a taste for strong Belgian beer...so Friends of Ham is the right place for that. Liz, Julie and Becky were straight on with the Delirium...swapping between the sweet fruity 'Red' to the festive caramely 'Noel'. At £4.25 and £5.25 for half a pint it is not a cheap bar, but it really is not somewhere you go to get drunk. The Delirium Red was 8% and the Noel 10%, so you don't really mind paying the extra.

As you know, I will drink anything! However at this time of year I really enjoy stout & porter...and there is only really one person that I know who shares my beer taste properly, that person being the father in law. We started on a pint of spiced coffee porter each before we noticed that a couple of members of our party had a tasting platter infront of them...I was given an approving nod and knew what we would be drinking. Over the course of the night we had two boards, but we liked our selection so much we pretty much had the same board twice...which was made up of all the Christmas beer on offer. Our platter consisted of: Anchor Christmas, Highwire, Mary Christmas, Old Faithful, Black Chocolate Stout and Delirium Noel. For £10 for a platter, you can not go wrong!!

Out of all the beer on offer, the Delirium Noel tasted the most festive of them all, but the winner of the night had to be from Brooklyn Brewery. If you asked my what my favourite lager was, I would say Brooklyn. I have had their Pale Ale before but never before this evening had I tried their Black Chocolate Stout (10%). This Imperial Stout was quite sweet compared to the first beer of the night, with an intense chocolaty flavour, I also tasted hints of liquorice in it. This has topped my all-time favourite chocolate stouts...sorry to Saltaire and York breweries !

Due to our location, it is just as easy to access Ilkley as it is Leeds, so we will definitely be visiting again soon, if your in the area this is worth a try...just make sure you have a big budget, you dont want to run out of money before you have sampled all their selection!

First Dabble into Sloe Gin - Part 2

As you probably read a couple of months ago, after many years of toying with the idea I decided to have a little 'dabble' into Sloe Gin making.

It was great fun making the gin, I ended up with a classic Sloe Gin, an Xmas Sloe Gin and finally (with the leftover sloes) I made a bottle of Sloe Vodka. The recipes can be found here.

Every couple of days I have been shaking the bottles, holding in my anticipation to finally sample these delights...well that time has come.

After leaving the tipples for at least two months all you need to do is bottle up. For this I sterilised the intended bottles and made a make-shift filter. I took a measuring jug, a blue kitchen cloth (unused) and one of Liz's bobbles. Once the filter was 'assembled' all you have to do is slowly pour the contents of your jars into the jug, depending on the amount made it may fill up several times. Once the filter has done it's job all you have to do is pour your tipples into their bottles, then when you fancy a festive treat pour some into a shot glass and enjoy.

Once I had sampled all of my Sloe Tipples I had made some notes for next year. The classic Sloe Gin had the intended flavour, where as the Xmas blend had a bit too much of a hit of aniseed - it really overpowered the cinnamon flavour that I was after. The main note I made was that even though the taste and colour were all to plan, it was a bit too thin. The other day I tried a family members blackberry vodka which had the texture that I wanted, sad to say mine did not match up. So if you are in the Guiseley/Otley area please let me know where I can find fresh sloe's ready for next year, as I do think that this will be my last attempt using dehydrated sloes. Just as an added note, after wittering on about Sloe Gin for months I have to admit, the tipple with the strongest and fruitiest flavour was actually the Vodka!

At the weekend we had a couple of friends round for a little get-together and naturally I wanted to showcase the tipples...so find below the 'reviews' of the 2015 vintage.

"Not harsh, quite tasty" - @andybrindley
"Mmmmmm, really nice considering I dont usually drink Vodka" - @elizabethrdawson
"I liked the cinnamon taste as it hit the back of my throat, it warmed me up and tasted just like how Christmas would taste" - @chloeconnett
"Sweet but not too sweet, it has the right balance of spices and alcohol" - @ameliavictoriax

As I type this I am ready to pour myself another glass, knowing that by the new year it will all be gone.

Have you made any this year? If so tweet my a picture so we can compare.

- Sam

Cafe Craenenburg, De Garre & 2Be - Our visit to Bruges

When you think of Belgium what do you think?
Beer and Chocolate...their two most famous exports.
So when Liz & I booked onto a P&O MiniCruise to Bruges we knew that we could enjoy a well deserved break full of beer and chocolate.
As this is a beer blog I will not bore you with a full account of our trip, but will just focus on two of the best bars that we found. However, in a nutshell we would fully recommend the P&O Mini Cruises...value for money and the town itself is beautiful, we will be visiting again soon!

This cafe/bar is well worth a visit

Lets begin our beer tour. We spent out morning exploring the town, after a couple of hours we were well in need of a coffee. The weather was great for November and the market was full of stalls from the Christmas Market. We found an empty table at the Grand Cafe Craenenburg, the waiter came out and we ordered our coffee...well we intended on a coffee and ended up with a couple of beers. The cafe/restaurant was clearly aimed at tourists, but felt really welcoming and a million miles away from town centre chain restaurants that we are all used to in the UK (in a whole day we only saw 2 brands that are found in the UK!).

Better than ordering Coffee!

Liz wanted a fruity beer, as she normally has cider back home we just asked for what the barman recommended, he brought her a glass of Belle Vue Kriek 5.2%, it had an intense cherry flavour, but was not too sour. As for me, my first drink in Belgium was a beer that can be found everywhere in the UK, but as it is one of my favourites I could not resist, Leffe Brune 6.5%, this having slight fruit notes but mainly caramel/coffee flavours that you would expect with a dark beer...thats what I love about belgian dark beers, they are easier drinking and not as heavy as english Stouts, but still pack in the flavour. Both drinks were served in typical chalice glasses and whilst sat on the
market square watching the world go by we both knew, we would be back!

De Garre, blink and you miss it.

Following a hotdog and a wander around the Christmas Market we searched for De Garre. Now when I say search, I mean search. This bar is situated down an alley which if you do not know what you are looking for you will walk right past it. It's like the Diagon Alley of the Beer world. Walking down the alley we did question whether we were in the right place, this being due to the uneven cobbles and the fact we were venturing down a dark alley. Luckily we were in the correct place.
De Garre is like a traditional english country pub, as you walk in you are greeted by the barman, the room itself is tiny with maybe 8 tables inside. As all the tables were full we ventured up the old wooden staircase to the second floor, where once again we found a small bar and about 6-7 tables. We  took a table next to a group of old english blokes who we laughing and made sure we knew they had been drinking strong belgian beer for 3 days!

Just a sneak peak of the huge selection
of beer on offer in De Garre

Once again we were undecided as to what to drink, the menu was full of a variety of different beers to match all pallets...I have to admit though that the menu was a little overwhelming. At this stage we looked to our english friends in the corner for a recommendation. We were torn between the house Tripel and the house Dark beer...so as their were two of us we ordered one of each. What arrived were two small doorknob shaped glasses full of foam above some deliciously strong beer. These were served with a small portion of cheese.

Best two beers of the trip, in the best bar.

The house triple is actually named after the bar itself. At 11% the amber ale was full of flavour, it did not taste as strong as it was...which could have lead to us drinking a lot without realising how hard it would be to walk after. I chose to try the house dark beer, Gulden Draak 10%. Brewed at the same brewery as the house ale, Gulden Draak was surprisingly fruity considering it was a dark beer. Our drinks were accompanied by a small helping of cheese. If we had more time to spend in Bruges we would have likely stayed here for a couple more rounds...one thing to note is that due to the strength you are limited to 3x beers each! At 9 euros for the two drinks I thought it was a bargain, considering the strength of the beer.

Wall of Beer !

Our trip to De Garre was followed by a shopping trip. We had decided that we would purchase a couple of beer glasses for the bar, as I do not own any form of beer chalice...I have been jealous of my twitter friends for some time. The shopping trip lead us to the 'Wall of Beer', the clue is in the name here! Down an alley we found a long glass cabinet filled with bottles and beer glasses from hundreds of different Belgium beers.

View of 2Be from the Canal

 As we reached the end of the bar we entered 2Be Bar. We had noticed this place earlier in the day as we noticed beer drinkers in a courtyard overlooking the canal and made a point of deciding to have our last beer there. The bar itself was very modern (in comparison to De Garre), but kept a slight traditional feel due to the old building that it was situated in. Looking at the menu I was undecided, Liz ordered a medium glass of Kriek Boon 4.5% which was very similar to the Belle Vue cherry beer that Liz tried in Craenenberg. As I could not make my mind up I ordered a sample platter. For 10 euros I enjoyed 4x small beers alongside some chorizo and peanuts. I sampled all four then drank in order of least - favourite. Now when I say 'least' I do not mean that I didn't enjoy it, because I did, it was just the least enjoyable of the four. I started with the Blanche de Namur 4.3%, this was a smooth wheat beer that had a sour aftertaste...similar to Hoegaarden, the sour aftertaste was not too overwhelming and left you wanting more. After this I had some of the Kriek Boon, which is what Liz ordered (see above). I have to admit, I found it difficult to choose my favourite of the last two, the strongest of the four Paix Dieu 10% was an abbey triple which similar to the De Garre beer didn't taste as strong as it actually was, it would not be out of place in a craft beer pub in the UK. They did make a point of telling us that this is only brewed during the Full Moon !!! As I write this I have now decided, the Gouden Carolus 8.5% was my favourite...surprise surprise it was a belgian dark beer, from this I found it to be not too sweet but with an subtle caramel taste...Yum ! it is no surprise that this was voted the best dark beer in the world 2012 by WBA.

One happy beer drinker!

So there you have it, a run down of the beer from our trip. We are already talking of going again with friends for my birthday next year. For the money, the P&O day trip is a bargain.

-Sam

Game & Ale Pie

Tonight's post it going to be a little bit different.
This weekend I popped round to my Gran's house for a visit, when my dad arrived he brought a couple of treats for Liz and I. The first being a spicy Pork & Chorizo Pie...and the second being a bag of Pheasant breasts...fresh from the local shoot.
For me listening to Dad speak about his weekends with the game keeper is the first sign that the festive season is almost upon us.
Normally we just fry up the meat and have it with veg, but this year I decided that I was going to go all out and attempt to make a pie...I really do spoil Liz.
We kind of made the recipe up as we went along, so feel free to experiment with your own fillings. So below find my recipe for Game & Ale Pie! (I can include it in this blog because of the Ale element!!)

Ingredients:
4x Pheasant Breasts
1x Large White Onion
6x Chestnut Mushrooms
1x Clove of Garlic
4x Rashers of Bacon
20grams of Flour
Saly & Pepper
100grams Black Pudding
100ml Chicken Stock
200ml Ale
1/2 packet of Jus-Rol Puff Pastry
1x Egg

Serves 4

To begin with set the over to 200 (on fan ovens).
Next step, prep the meat. Use a sharp knife to ensure that there are no pellets left in the meat from the shoot, as this could be an unwelcome addition to the pie. Dice the breasts and drop them in a freezer bag containing the flour, salt & pepper. Shake until all the meat is covered.

 Following this, dice the onions & mushrooms and slowly fry them with the garlic until the onions start to change colour. At this point add the bacon (once again, diced) and the flour covered Pheasant meat...leave the rest of the flour to oneside. I found that the flour on the meat helped thicken up the sauce nicely.


Add the black pudding and cook slowly until the bacon is beginning is almost cooked, at this stage add the chicken stock and the main ingredient, the Ale. For this pie I used a fantastic full of flavour English Pale Ale from Beerd Brewery...the flavour really came through in the pie.
As soon as all the ingredients are in the pan, simmer slowly for about 15 minutes whilst you enjoy the remainder of your chosen beer.

Once you have finished your ale, roll out the pastry until you know it will fully cover your oven proof dish. If you like you can 'try' to be creative with a decoration. For my Pie I attempted to make a pint glass and beer bottle...safe to say it did not look right on the finished product for me.



After the stock & ale has reduced and you are left with a thick mixture of filling you pour the mixture into the dish and cover with your pastry. Egg wash the pastry to ensure a golden brown finish.

Pop your Pie in the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes, then serve up with thick gravy and mash! Oh and don't to make sure you find the perfect beer to accompany your dish, I recommend a Pale Ale for this pie!

Enjoy
-Sam

Leeds Christkindelmarkt

It's the most wonderful time of the year!
We love Christmas in our house, it is only mid-November and most of our shopping is complete and we are itching to open up the 'Christmas Cupboard' so that we can decorate our house.

If you live in Leeds then you will more than likely share a tradition with us...an annual visit to the German Market on Millennium Square - if you are not from Leeds then you need to visit soon, it is worth it.

Taking up the whole of Millennium Square in Leeds, the Christkindelmarkt is a cornucopia of festive delights, full of market stalls selling nutcrackers and various other Christmas treats. Whether you are just passing through, bringing young family members, or even just having a browse with friends there is always something exciting to purchase...more often than not this being the food! You can pick up Schnitzel & Bratwurst to accompany your mulled wine at many of the stalls!

Image taken from Getty Images...I was too excited to enter the beer hall that I forgot to take a photo of the market itself!

For me, after visiting the market for many years I tend to miss the gift stalls...as they have not really changed in 8 years of going, never the less there is something comfortable, familiar and festively warming about the market.

First round of Wheat Beer

So have you decided to visit yet? What ever time of day you go to the Christkindelmarkt there is one place that you have to visit...and once you have you will visit every year...the beer hall. Situated in the heart of the German Market the beer hall visually covers every german stereotype that we have in the UK! For the past few years the queue to enter has been up to 90 minutes long (this normally results in a visit to the small outdoor bar round the corner), however strangely enough last night (Friday) we were in after no more than 10 minutes in the queue. Upon queueing I wondered if Leeds had become bored of the beer hall? This thought was swiftly changed upon entering, even though I remember what it looks like you can not walk into the beer hall without smiling...the stein's were out, beer flowing with the Umpah band in full swing! In the past you have had to put a deposit on a stereotypically large glass stein full of Wheat Beer, however due to the obvious safety issues you are now presented with smaller pint sized steins for a £3 deposit...I kin
d of regret not bringing mine home. I started on the dark Wheat beer before moving onto a pint of the light, reason being that it was a bit too heavy when you know that it is the first of many!! The beer was cracking, with an alternate choice of cider for those who do not appreciate a good wheat beer.
After a couple of hours in the hall listening to the Umpah band, who did not actually do anything German, but instead entertained us with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney & even Michael Jackson (yes you read that correctly) last orders was called, at an early 10pm! I did not mind this so much as it gave us the opportunity to head over to the Brewery Tap for a quick couple of pints before the last train home.

The Christkindelmarkt is definitely worth a visit if you have never been there. However discussing it this morning Liz & I questioned whether we enjoyed it as much knowing that it will be the same night out every year. Can you have too much of a good thing when it comes to beer? Maybe we are just due a festive session elsewhere for a change.
- Sam

Flavourly.com - UK Craft Beer Club

You may remember several months ago that I discussed my first introduction to Beer Subscription boxes with Beer52? I stayed with the club for a couple of months, however have since cancelled due to a couple of reasons...the main one being that I ended up with a lot of 'stock'. You may question why that is a bad thing, sure my bar looks brilliant with all the craft beer...but believe it or not I was not getting through it all. If you are like me, it does not matter how much beer you have at home but if you spot a deal in the supermarket you still buy it! Also, we have made the decision in our house to 'try' and only drink a couple of nights a week. So that, mixed in with the fact I was still buying beer from supermarkets & craft beer shops locally I decided to cancel.

Recently though my Facebook feed has been filled with adverts for another Craft Beer Subscription Club, this one being Flavourly.com. There have been a couple of things that have drawn me to this club, one being the fact that they also have a Deluxe Food club which is perfect for Liz (and her blog The Greedy Lobster). The second thing that drew me to them was the offer that I could not refuse...a trial box of 4x beers for only £1 including delivery...yes you read that correctly, £1!!!....so I signed up!

Upon writing this blog I find it difficult to discuss any differences between the two clubs, on receiving my first box I opened up a small selection of 'winter' beers. As we are approaching Christmas I opted for the 'dark' beer box...I would normally go for mixed, however I had no bottles of stout in the bar...this has now changed.
The box also contained a couple of snacks from graze.com and information about my beer (more on the beer itself on my next blog). Upon reading the information given I realised that this company had a great story. The founder first came up with the idea after noting that his father, a small business owner, was struggling to get his product distributed...the foodies box was born, helping get small batch products out to customers across the country. Following this, and Ryan's love of beer, the craft beer club began. On talking about setting up his company, Ryan stated that 'theres only so much fizzy bronze-coloured water one man can endure'.....which many of us real ale & craft beer lovers will definitely relate to...I know I do!
Whilst reading the information I suddenly realised that I had seen this company before, they were on Dragons Den (the best part of the company's story if you ask me!). I seem to remember that although they failed in getting an investment from a Dragon, their company had a great PR boost...at the time Liz & I were actually going to order the foodies box but at that time the website had crashed due to all the internet traffic following Dragon's Den.

Another thing to note about Flavourly, as it is a random box of small batch brews, subscription boxes can sometimes be unpredictable and leave you with a sour taste (if you dont like sour beer!). So on their website they have a Brewstore, which is simply an online store...the benefit of this is that if you find a beer in your box that you love, there is a one-stop place to order it. The average that I have seen is about £2.25 a bottle...more expensive than the supermarkets (and for 330ml bottles), but for small batch brews that are hard to find it is a price that us craft beer lovers should be prepared to pay so that we are not just stuck with the big breweries.

With these beer subscription clubs it is important to remember that they are small businesses, supporting small breweries...so when you look at the cost, approx £24 for 8 beers, it is not a bad price...as I would hope that the beer you will receive will be brews not found in the local supermarket! A lot of people will use the intro offer and cancel...which after my problem with my last beer club this was tempting. However, the beauty of Flavourly is that you do not have to take a delivery every month...so until my 'stock' dries up I will be receiving a box every 3 months, this makes sure I can still spread my beer budget across beer club, my local craft beer shop and the pub!

If you are not currently part of a Craft Beer Club then follow this link for a discount off of your first box, very similar to Beer52 in terms of what you receive and how you order, but it is definitely worth it!

-Sam

Shaken, Not Stirred - my favourite tipples from the world of James Bond.

'Maybe I misjudged Stromberg. Any man who drinks Dom Perigean '52 can't be all bad' - The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Unsure whether you have noticed or not, but there is another Bond film coming out.
SPECTRE, Daniel Craig's fourth outing as the legendary 007 opens in cinema's on 26th October...do you have your tickets booked?  We sure do!

A lot of people know me to be quite a geek, with a love of all things superhero, Doctor Who etc.  Many of you will know me for my love of beer.  However, my biggest passion is the franchise goliath that is James Bond.

Still taken from Goldfinger via Getty Images 

Ever since I opened a VHS copy of Goldeneye & Dr No at Christmas and saw the Q-Boat chase of The World Is Not Enough in the cinema (I am only 26 after all) I have been obsessed with the giant that is the worlds longest running movie franchise.  Even featuring it when discussing the role of British film franchises in cinema for my university dissertation, so it is safe to assume my excitement of seeing 007 come up against an old enemy in the form of the villainous organisation that is SPECTRE.

Throughout the cinematic history of 007 (and even in the novels), alcohol has played a huge part in James Bond's lifestyle. Whether it to be a way to showcase his lavish lifestyle, a way to figure out a villain in plain sight (Red Grant in From Russia With Love 'Red wine with fish, that should have told me something') or even as a blatant piece of product placement. Here I will discuss my favourite tipples from the James Bond franchise.

First up I will start with the champagne. From dining with colleagues and villains, to (mostly) accompanying him to bed with one of his many Bond Girls, champagne is present in almost all the James Bond films.
'Bollinger? If it is a '69, you were expecting me' - Moonraker
I have to admit, I first purchased a bottle of Champagne Bollinger purely after seeing 007 drink it, I was not disappointed in the taste! I remember having some friends over many years ago where we drank a bottle watching a Roger Moore 007 film. Sometimes the bottle is hidden in the back of shot, however I can remember at least three times where it was blatantly in shot of the camera...my favourite being the champagne cooler built into Pierce Brosnan's DB5.
Champagne Bollinger has been present in the James Bond films since Roger Moore in Live And Let Die and continues to pop up even now into Daniel Craig's era.
Due to the iconic connotations of Bollinger, the brand has taken up the 007 logo on many limited edition bottles...something that I have yet to have the joy of purchasing. For SPECTRE, Bollinger have released a limited edition Crystal cooler. at £4500 it is certainly not cheap, but one for the collectors.

Image taken from JamesBondLifestyle.com.

Bollinger SPECTRE 007 Limited Edition Crystal cooler

with Bollinger R.D. 1988 Magnum bottle.

photo © Champagne Bollinger

So Bollinger is still Bond's Champagne of choice, however he has not always had such a tie to one brand. Another famous Champagne seen in the films is Dom Perignon. This champagne was present from Sean Connery to Roger Moore. I have not yet had the opportunity to sample this tipple so I can not really comment on it...when ever I see a bottle in Selfridges it is at least £100 more than my budget for that day.  However what I love about the inclusion of this brand is that 007 uses it many times to comment on his adversaries...or even just to impress a woman.

'My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perigean '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees fahrenheit. Thats as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs' - Goldfinger (1964)

Moving on to the most famous of James Bond's tipples...the Martini
Iconically ordered by Sean Connery in Dr No to be 'shaken, not stirred' this quote can not be said without trying to imitate Sean's Scottish accent. As Daniel Craig's films aimed to take 007 back to how Fleming wrote him it was natural to bring the recipe of 007's own version of the drink into the films. In Casino Royale, 007 orders a Vodka Martini with:
'Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it over ice, and add a thin slice of lemon peel'
This is then named the Vesper...which is now top of the list of the Martini section in many cocktail bars in Leeds...even though one ingredient Kina Lillet is no longer available. As I have never had a Martini containing Kina Lillet I have never actually had a Vesper, but many bars just add vermouth. The first time I ordered a Vesper was whilst trying to impress Liz in Harvey Nichols on Valentines Day...she is still with me so didn't scare her off, which was probably down to holding in the Connery accent. On a personal level though, I have to say I generally order a gin martini as opposed to 007's vodka martini, which I now find strange how for years Bond ordered 'vodka martini' when the Vesper contains two parts Gordons....anyway I digress.
Just a note for those in Leeds, the 360 Bar in Trinity Kitchen does an amazing Martini with Bombay Sapphire, the barman even attempted a Connery accent!

Finally I wanted to discuss the alcohol that Bond drinks which are clearly paid for by the company themselves. Now I have nothing against this, product placement in movies is more often than not a vital way of the producers being able to actually finance the film...my favourite moment being when Bond first meets Vesper in Casino Royale when she is literally sizing up 007. Vesper comments on his expensive watch 'what is it...Rolex?' to which Bond replies 'Omega' with the face of the watch facing the camera...they could have just taken that clip for Omega's ad campaign. In Skyfall there was a small uproar about Bond drinking Heineken. Beer has been present in several of the films, but not really associated with the 'gentleman spy' image. However Daniel Craig has openly commented how Skyfall could not have been made without the advertising funds...I think I read that Heineken paid £30million ! Luckily Bond takes a few swigs before drinking a Scotch with Silva.
In SPECTRE Bond will be drinking Belvedere vodka, whether he will actually request the brand or whether it is just in the background is currently unknown however the brand are cashing in on their investment with limited edition bottles...is it sad that even though we do not generally drink Vodka in our house I still want a bottle in my bar?

SPECTRE opens on Monday in the UK...I have booked for Friday so no spoilers on Twitter or Facebook please !!! - Sam

Trembling Madness York

There is something calming about walking around York centre. Yes it is busy, and you are forever being slowed down by groups of tourists, however the old buildings and traditional back street shops have that much character that you can never get tired of.
We popped over to York for no particular reason, just feeling in the mood for a bit of window shopping...and a fat rascal from Betty's!
Cue the exciting look on my face when we walked past a beer shop, not just any beer shop...but the best beer shop in York!
Trembling Madness is situated on Stonegate in York. Walking down the cobbled street you could almost miss it. From the front it looks like just a little shop, but don't let the small shop front deceive you...it is like the Tardis of the beer shop world.
Upon entering you are greeted with a selection of Cider and fridges full of canned favourites from the US & Europe. This room was exciting enough, until we spotted a separate room towards the back. I can not put this room into words so please refer to the pictures! Wall to wall beer, including known brands from all over the world as well as a huge selection of craft beer's from small and local breweries. Their website boats that the store has 5000 different tipples ... WOW !
Not to end there, the stairs downstairs lead to a huge selection of spirits....and upstairs their own bar! How had I never seen this place up until now. Visit their site at http://www.tremblingmadness.co.uk ... or just visit the store!

After about 15 minutes of browsing we finally make a decision as to what tipples we would purchase. Liz went for a cider, not just any cider but Rum & Poached Pear Cider 4% from Blind Pig. The cider had a subtle scent of white rum (reminded me of our 'house' Havana Club from our home bar). The poached pear was quite a subtle but sweet flavour and a welcome addition to the rum. As a cider this was still very refreshing as you would expect. The guys at Blind Pig also do a Whiskey, Honey & Apple Cider and a Bourbon & Blueberry... we will certainly be purchasing these on our next visit.

My choice of beer was a little harder to come across than with Liz and her cider. I think I picked up and put back about 8 different beers before I came to it. I put down a trappist beer, a Thornbridge bottle as well as various different Belgium beers (the reason being I wanted to save that sort of purchasing for our upcoming trip to Bruges). As we were in York I finally decided to pick something local. The York Chocolate Stout 5.9% from Rudgate brewery does exactly what it says on the tin. Sometimes I find that chocolate stouts are a bit too heavy and should be saved for a day when you are 'just having one'. This however did not sit too heavy, even with the strong flavour. It had a good mix of sweetness and bitterness that is found in good quality rich chocolate. For a city with such a long chocolate heritage, this really hits the spot.

Next time we visit York we will be taking a bigger beer budget! One thing for sure we will not eat lunch first, as their pub is on our list of places to lunch!

-Sam

n.b following our visit to Trembling Madness it turns out that the Blind Pig Cider is actually made my Heineken...surprising !

First dabble into Sloe Gin

Winter is coming !
What tipple do you most associate with the cold weather, roaring pub fires and the snow. If you are like me you will immediately think of Sloe Gin.
In the village where I grew up the local pub hosted an annual Sloe Gin competition, where the locals would battle out for the tastiest tipple of the year. Working behind the bar was always a benefit as I managed to sneak many samples throughout the night...this began my taste for Sloe Gin.

Now you can pick up Sloe Gin anywhere nowadays, with Gordons offering their own brand, as well as specialist companies such as SloeMotion. This for me just is not the same, it has to be home made!
So this year I decided to finally (after years of saying 'this year I am going to...) make my own.


The only problem I found that I know nowhere local where I can find hawthorne bushes, so this blog may seem controversial to the purists. I went online and (wait for it) purchased a bag of dehydrated sloe's. They came from amazon at around £7.50 posted, which for someone with no time to go exploring the woods was quite a bargain. The only problem with purchasing these sloe's is that on starting the gin the rich red colour that you usually see is not as rich as you would expect, at this stage a purply grey... I am sure in time it will get better!



So the recipes:
I decided to make two different tipples, a conventional Sloe Gin & a Christmas version.
You need (makes two gin's):
500g Sloe Berries
500g Caster Sugar
1litre Gin (cheaper the better...apparently)
2x flip top jars (found for less than £2 each in IKEA)
2x months of patience



Simply, take 250g of sloes (if you buy dehydrated make sure you soak and wash them thoroughly, then leave to soak in warm water overnight...just to rehydrate them). Add the sloes to the jar, followed by 250g of caster sugar and half a litre of gin. It is as simple as that !

For my Christmassy Gin I used the above recipe and added a cinnamon stick and a couple of whole star anise....little bit on an experiment.
All in all, for all the ingredients (inc the Xmas spices) it cost just under £20.

Following this leave the jars out of direct sunlight and turn every couple of days. After approximately 2 months strain out the gin, rebottle and enjoy...maybe with a mince pie!
Once we completed the Sloe Gin, we still had a lot of sloe's left...so out came our untouched bottle of Smirnoff (for guests as we do not usually have vodka!) and a bottle of Sloe Vodka was added (same recipe just different spirit)

Like I said earlier, the inclusion of the dried sloes is a bit of an experiment...it may or may not work, so come back in two months and lets see what it is like!

-Sam

Back to the farm...new tipples from Keelham Farm Shop

We have had a few expensive weekends in our house recently, built up of visits from friends and family members...with a significant amount of Prosecco consumed. This weekend we decided that we needed to have a quiet one. As a sneaky treat for the quiet weekend we decided that we were going to have steak night, so where else to visit but our favourite farm shop....Keelham.

My last post about Keelham will let you know all about this place, so I shall not repeat myself.

As we pulled into the carpark we saw a big sign stating that the Keelham Beer Festival was on...gutted as I was the designated driver for the day.
Unlike a typical beer festival the Keelham Beer Festival was business as usual for the shop, just with an added extra. At the end of most of the aisles were tables where local breweries (all stocked in the beer section) could showcase their brews and hand out shot sized samples. Apar


t from my recent discovery of Beer52 (and love of American IPA's) I generally tend to stick to local breweries. This made me feel less bad about not being able to sample everything.
Visiting breweries included Saltaire & Ilkley which are both on my doorstep...if you ever see their beer stocked in your local shop, or on offer in the pub then please try them, you will not be disappointed.  http://saltairebrewery.co.uk/saltaire/  http://www.ilkleybrewery.co.uk

The reason why I am writing this blog is because (if you read my last Keelham blog you will know) that this is the only farm shop I know that have their own beer. Whenever we visit I always pick up a bottle of Tipsy Pig. This time was different !
The shop were running a competition to find the next 'own brand' beer. With the name already chosen (Squiffy Sheep) all they needed was a decision on the brew. The choices were Fruity & Spicy Bitter, Chestnut Bitter and Golden Bitter all brewed for the shop by the Dark Horse Brewery based in North Yorkshire.
After picking up a couple of bottles I have to say that the Golden Bitter was by far the favourite, it was a little stronger than the Tipsy Pig and had a dark bronze look to it. It was not the most extreme in flavour, but was really fitting as a typical Yorkshire session ale. I may be biased to this as it reminded me of my beloved Black Sheep Ale.

If you get the chance to pop in, have a try and let them know your favourite...you never know it may just become available on your every visit!

As we walked out of the shop, beer, steak & cheese in hand we noticed one more stand by the door. How did we not know that Keelham now had their own cider!
I had to turn around and pick up a bottle for Liz.
At 6% this cider was very crisp and refreshing. It had a lot more taste than your typical branded ciders, but not as much as the high strength ciders that are found at festivals. This was a winner for Liz as she only likes fizzy cider. We would choose this over a Strongbow or Thatchers Gold...however Liz is still pushed more towards the fruity ciders of Rekorderlig.

Has anyone found any other local places like Keelham that do their own beer?

-Sam

Leeds Beer Festival 2015

Who doesn't love a good beer festival?
For the last 6 months I have been counting down to visiting the Leeds Beer Festival. My history with beer festivals have been very steroetypical. In the village where I grew up they have a beer festival every year in the village hall, where about 20 different beers and ciders are on offer (with a burger or cheese board for lunch) to the villagers. On average you see a couple of hundred people there maximum...which is the first difference with Leeds.

On arrival at the Leeds Town Hall the first thing that surprised me was the scale of the event. The queue ran down the street, and the front of the town hall was full of food kiosks. As we had been organised we already had tickets and skipped the queue. It didn't take long for us to bump into our friends who we had planned the day with...they were by the prosecco stand...that is the girls covered!


By the time we arrived Scott had already spent a good hour sampling the beer on offer, this was a good thing for me as due to the scale of the event he could be my guide to what is where.
The main room in the town hall was huge, hundreds of beer lovers were gathered in the centre surrounded by beer pumps...what do I try first?


We made the decision to head into the American room where I began the day with a half of 'Firestone Walker'...unfortunately I was disappointed as this tasted more of a lager than what I expected...however it was still up there with the top tasting lagers that I have had.


Following our American visit we made a quick stop at the Prosecco bar for Liz & Fay then headed downstairs to Europe. All the corridors and cellar rooms were filled with more beer pumps, I could not believe how vast it was. In Europe Scott and I sampled 2 or three different beers (swapping glasses on one as Scott could not stand the flowery Hoegaarden inspired german beer that we had). The highlight in this section of the festival was the Peter Pale Mary 4.6% Ale from Copenhagen, this was very flowery and very hoppy, the flavours were very intense and fruity....yum.


I just want to take a break from talking about beer to mention......the food!!! Naturally we had built up quite a hunger following a couple of hours of 'sampling' beer so we headed outside for some BBQ treats. The selection was almost as extensive as the beer selection, you had everything from fish & chips to BBQ!
I decided to go for the hotdog (as I always tend to go towards burger's) which was covered in onions and mustard. Liz & Scott went for the burgers (topped with pulled pork), and Fay kept it simple with a portion of chips....ready to get back into the beer hall.



Outside we decided to have a quick half from the Beavertown Brewery, Scott went for an IPA and I tried the stout. The Stout was very nice, full of coffee & chocolate flavours...maybe not the best for the weather, but I could not not try a stout.


Finally, in the beer hall we tried a really sour, fruity beer from the London Brewing Co (where we picked up our now famous badges). This beer was, as I said, very sour, I can not really compare it to anything else I have had in the past...but wow what a flavour.


So thats it, one fantastic afternoon at the Leeds Beer Festival. We will definitely be back next year.

-Sam

Btw the day did not end there, but ended in a very messy cocktail session across Leeds City Centre...but that is a story for a different day...see below of pics of the best !