Polish Beer Sampling

I seem to have completely lost track of time recently, no blogs in over a month! Hopefully the gap between posts will become shorter over the upcoming months!!!

If you follow me on twitter or facebook you may have seen a post regarding a Polish friend of mine. Whilst talking about what we had planned for the weekend a very shocking statement was said, my friend said that he was going to spend the weekend drinking Polish beer as 'English beer is all shit'.
This did not sit right for me.
After reeling off all of my favourite tipples to Jarek we made the decision to buy two bottles of our favourite beers, then swap. This way I knew that I could make sure that the reputation of British beer would go up (if ever so slightly).
I purchased a bottle of Brewdog Punk IPA (which Jarek was not keen on, but his other half really enjoyed) followed by Black Sheep Riggwelter (I had to go for something strong, and this one went down a treat).

So next was for me to sample a couple of Polish beers.

I started with the weakest of the two, which at 5.6% was still pretty strong. I really enjoyed drinking the Tyskie, it was really refreshing, the flavours very subtle and not too over the top (considering the percentage). On tasting the lager there was an immediate flowery burst of flavour, which toned down as you got through the bottle. Tyskie can be found in Wetherspoons so is easily accessible whilst out in town, however for me I would still go towards Italy's Birre Morretti as my lager of choice.

My second Polish beer was Debowe. On tasting the beer the flavours did not quite get through, the Tyskie definately had more flavour. It did not even taste to be that strong, at 14% I expected it to be really hard to drink...however this was very easy going, which I learnt by drinking it quite quickly and stumbling over after getting up from the sofa! The flavour was an almost buttery and honey taste (if that is even a combination).

Out of the two, I would definatley buy the Tyskie again. However maybe not the 14% Debowe, for that kind of strength I would really expect there to be a kick with it.

Maybe I am biased...but I think my choice for Jarek were definatly the best out of both our sampling bottles.

Aldi Beer Session !

Recently we had a couple of friends over for a bit of a drinking session. The plan was a quick bite to eat followed by a very small pub crawl....two pubs. In Guiseley we have two pubs worth going into, first of all The Station, which is a typical local with a small selection of guest ales and decent prices. Secondly is Cooper's Bar...which is for us beer drinkers, they have the usual selection of local ales but 90% of the selection changes everytime we visit.....perfect for a sample session.

So on the day of the gathering Scott and I were trying to figure out what our pre-drinks with a bite to eat would be, so I ventured out to ALDI to see their selection...as I knew that going to Coopers would be very expensive! Everybody always raves about the wine selection at ALDI, but no-one ever mentions the beer !! As you might already know my 'go to' ale is Black Sheep + Theakstons, and ALDI usually have Black Sheep Ale & Theakston's Old Peculier for £1.25 a bottle (bargain!). I decided that we would have a bit of a tasting session. One of the beer's that we purchased was £1.59, another 99p and the rest £1.25. There were a couple of good ones and a couple of bad ones. Tweet me if you have tried any and let me know what you liked!

First up was the Schofferhofer (5%). Now this is a firm favourite of mine, it is a typical German Wheat beer that would compare with Hoegarrden ... and kind of reminds me of Leffe. Now Scott had never had this type of beer, I know he prefered the IPA but this was certainly up there with the best of the night. On pouring the drink it is typically cloudy for a wheat beer and gave off a smell almost of bananas. It has quite a strong aftertaste, in hindsight we should have probably saved this until last.

Secondly we went (carrying on with the German beers) we tried the Berliner Kindl Pils (4.8%). Not for me !!! It poured fine, kept a good head and generally looked the part. It was really watery, no distinctive taste to it at all...this may have had something to do with our first beer, or even the fact that we were more biased to beer as opposed to lager. But even for price it is not one to recommend, ALDI sell Bavaria Lager for 99p and if you have the choice then pick up the latter.

After tasting Germany we moved back to home turf and went for the Wainwright Golden Ale (4.1&). Brewed across the border in Lancashire this Ale does what it says on the tin. On pouring it the beer had a light golden look to it, with an almost biscuity taste. The after taste had a strong hint of citrus, if we were just having an afternoon in the garden then this would have been the session ale to choose.

Following on from the Golden Ale we moved onto Tower Brewery's Salts Burton Ale (3.5%). This was an amber ale with a slightly darker look to our previous tipple. The less that can be said the better, I would put this as second to last in taste ( Kindl being last!). The beer looked good in the glass, but really had no taste to it at all.

Four down, two to go ! So Scott has a favourite, which I have recently adopted as my current favourite type of beer...we moved onto the Empire IPA (5.7%). In recent months I have really grown fond of Marston's beers, they tend to own and brew everything I like (Ringwood & more famously Wychwood) and best of all they are easy on the wallet (Morrisons are selling Wychwood Golden Ale for 99p!). On pouring this beer it looked more like a red ale, but the instant strong hint of hopps lead to a disctinct IPA taste! As mentioned previously Marston's are usually quite cheap to pick up, so if you get the chance then try this beer!

Last and certainly not least is my 'old faithful'. On messaging Scott about our beer session I learnt something very shocking...he had never tried Black Sheep Ale (4.4%)...I had to fix this! This was the darkest looking ale of the bunch, it has a dark amber look to it and the taste has hints of caramel, and for me raisins? I have been a fan of this beer and this brewery for many years so I am very biased when it comes to Black Sheep Brewery, this is one of the best bottled beers that they have to offer and is very easily drinkable. If you ever see their selection of cask ales then give this brewery a try!

Overall we really found some great beers here, with the winner of the bunch being the IPA (black sheep was joint first for me but Scott went for the IPA so it became the winner). The rest of the evening ended in a bit of a blur in the pubs, but our tasting session was definatley a success. It just comes to show what you can find on a budget....although with anything these things are trial and error, so go to ALDI and try them all...well 4 out of 6 of them.

Is there anywhere you have found that sells decent ale for bargain prices, tweet me and Scott with your suggestions @tonightstipple & @scott_cadmen

So IKEA now sell beer...

You know that you have hit a certain age and stage in your life when bank holiday mondays change from the pub to DIY or garden centers. For us this week we decided to brave IKEA...if you think we have gone mad you are probably right, venture away from the arrows on the ground and you are separated between a sea of furniture customers.
Whilst waiting for our friends to pay at the end of the store I decided to have a browse around the food section. I started by picking up a pack of Elk mini sausages (yum), moved onto some blue cheese (not so yum). When I went to pay I discovered that Ikea sold beer! This was a very exciting time for me as when choosing lager I tend to stick to Czech, Belgium and German lager.
Both beers are 4.7% and cost £1.50 a bottle...which is certainly overpriced for a 330ml bottle, but worth a try surely?

At looking at the bottles I decided to start with the Ol Ljus Lager. This was a very generic lager, golden in colour and ideally suited chilled. After drinking a bottle of Staropramen the other day (£2 for a 660ml bottle in Morrisons at the moment) I was expecting something similar due to the flavourful aroma coming from the lager. Unfortunately the flavours ended with the smell, it was still a really refreshing lager but lacked a lasting taste in the mouth. Honestly I will purchase this again, maybe for a Sunday afternoon in August when I am not in the mood for an IPA. It certainly is better than Carlsberg or Fosters...but if you want better quality for your money then pick up a Staropramen, or even a Birra Morretti (for a more value Peroni). 6/10

Following the light lager I moved onto the Ol Mork Lager (dark lager). This excited me at first, all I could think of was dark Budvar. On pouring this beer it really did look the part (see below), however I ended up with the same dissapointment that I had from Guinness Dublin Porter. It was really bland, it had the fizzyness (is that a word) of a bottle of Old Peculier, but was almost like I had watered down a fizzy guinness....not good at all. So if you see this bottle...avoid it. 2/10

All in all I wouldn't say that my venture into IKEA beer was completely unsuccessful, the Ol Ljus light lager is really worth a try, if it is ever better priced...or even in larger bottles for your money then it will certainly be making an appearance in my fridge again. But as mentioned above, avoid the Ol Mork and pick up a bottle of dark Budvar instead.

My Rum Diary: Part 2

If you look at our home bar you will see a huge mix of differnet tipples, we have Gin, Amaretto, Vodka, Tequila, Red Wine, Prosecco and finally Rum...lots and lots of Rum.
I have always enjoyed drinking Rum, this all began after a holiday with friends to Lanzarote many years ago where I was introduced to Havana Club. I tried to get into Whisky as it is my Dad's favourite, but the spirit of my choice is definately Rum. I think it is because it is sweet and has many different variations. A current favourite of mine is Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum....little hint, stray away from the coke and try it with fresh orange juice...it really is a winner!

Now if you read my last blog you will know of our trip to Cuba last September. When we were planning our holiday I used my love of Rum as one of the main selling points of Varadero. Unfortunately you can only bring so much back with you to the UK. We had a real issue, ow on earth do you pick what to bring back when you are in a country famous for Rum...you sample as many different types as you can.
In the hotel, the first thing we did was to make friends with some of the bar staff. This way when ordering a Cuba Libre we managed to try various different brands as opposed to the house Rum.
Varadero is very much a tourist resort, you could walk out of the hotel, jump on the bus and explore the town without any safety worries. We were told by our rep that there was a shop called the House of Rum....we had to visit it.

 


When we arrived it was heaven for me and Liz, the shop (as can be seen in the picture) was absolutely crammed full of every different Rum that you could imagine of...it was perfect for me seeing so many bottles of Havana Club. As we browsed we were asked the question 'would you like a sample?' how could we say no? Usually when that question is asked you will get a single shot of what ever spirit you are sampling...by the time we had finished we had sampled 8 different shots each (white, golden, spiced, sweet, dark...what a mix).
After having 16 shots between us (small measures may I add) we made the decision to purchase our holiday rum from this shop. Originally I went for the Havana Club bottles that I know and love (for about a third of the UK price), however Liz suggested that we picked out bottles that we had sampled and that we would not see on supermarket shelves in the UK.
Each bottle of Rum that we purchased cost 8 Cuban Pesos...so approx £5.
This is what we came home with:

The first Rum that we purchased was Havana Club Ritual (37.5%). At the time this was a brand new product, we purchased it as the closest supermarkets that will stock this will be in Spain. This is perfect for a Cuba Libre! It is a mix of sweet and spiced rum (mainly sweet)...think of a smoother Sailor Jerrys. You can get this in the UK now, but just online only at https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-26840.aspx.

The second Rum purchased was again from Havana Club. It was the Anejo Reserva (40%). Translated this is their Old Reserve. You can purchase many of the normal Havana Club Rum's in many drinks shops (3 year, Especial, 7 Year) but I have not seen this one. It is certainly one to purchase. Like the Ritual, this Rum is a mix of sweet and spicy. But at the same time is essentially the opposite to it, there is definately more spice than sweetness from this Rum. If I were to compare this to a Rum in the UK it would be Captain Morgans, but as this is an aged Rum you can really taste the quality, it has an oaky flavour and slight harshness to it (less harsh than the Havana 7 Year). If you were to drink this with coke you can taste the smooth flavours from an average shot...whereas for the Ritual a larger shot is recommended so that the mixer doesn't drown out the flavours. You can order this on Amazon, or again from the Whisky Exhange website http://www.amazon.co.uk/Havana-Club-Anejo-Reserva-Reserve/dp/B00BFMA9BW

Ron Mulata Elixir De Ron (32%). Now this is a brand well known in Cuba, our hotel bar was fully stocked with all the different types. Unlike the famous brands, Ron Mulata is still a fairly new product for Rum...the brand is only 20 years old. Check out their website ... this will soon be seen in UK bars. http://www.ron-mulata.co.uk/

As I previously said we decided to bring back only bottles that we knew we couldn't really find in the UK...that is the dissapointing thing about the bottle of Mulata that we brought back, I cannot restock my bar with it. We purchased their sweet rum, which is not on their UK site...and I'm still awaiting a response on twitter whether they will introduce this. Unlike the other rums that we purchased I would recommend to drink the Elixir De Ron as it is, over ice. As soon as you pour a measure you can smell the sweetness of it, it kind of reminded me of a dessert wine, with a mix of raisins and oak flavours. I cant give you a link to where you can purchase this unfortunately...but if you find this in the UK then let me know ASAP.


Last but certainly not least Ron Legendario(34%). Until we arrived home and searched for this online we thought that Legendario was the name of the rum, but like Mulata it is the brand name. They have a mix of white, spiced, dark and aged rums available. I found a link on amazon where you can buy the them all http://www.amazon.co.uk/Legendario-TastePack-bottles-Elixir-Superior/dp/B00GB36RIE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1431176709&sr=8-4&keywords=legendario yes it is alot of money but certainly worth it. We purchased the Elixir De Cuba. Similar to the Mulata this rum has a sweetness to it, but out of the 4 that we brought back this is the closest to a dark rum. If you want a dark rum that is not too harsh then this is for you. Honestly I think some dark rums are a bit harsh (Lambs Navy Rum), but the sweetness in Legendario offsets that.
Out of the bottles in our bar this is our favourite, and probably the best priced to buy online...its about £24.00. If you come round to ours for a drink and get offered a Legendario then you are definately one of our favourite people.
Again this goes well with coke, but it has a really kick to it mixed over ice with fresh orange.


So for about £20 we managed to purchase all these amazing bottles. From our experience at the Casa De Ron in Varadero I now tend to sample random tipples that I have not heard of in bars hoping to find a new gem (as when ordering rum I tend to stick with what I know). So tweet me with what Rum you are drinking, and if you see any of the above then buy them ! It is certainly worth stocking up your bar with one if not all of these tipples.

My Rum Diary: Part 1

Last September we went on a trip. We spent two weeks sat by the beach in Varadero, Cuba. It really was the perfect holiday, we spent our time relaxing by the pool and the beach, touring the historic city of Havana and most importantly drinking rum.
I wanted to share our experiences of Cuban Rum in two parts. This blog will explore what we drank whilst in Cuba, whereas in Part 2 I will be sharing and reviewing the rum that we brought back to the UK…and showing where you can order it from.

After 9 hours sat on the plane I looked out of the window to see a beautiful Caribbean Island, it looked just like the photographs with vast green land mass, turquoise sea and clear sand beaches. We pulled up at our Hotel, the Blau Varadero. The hotel was huge and you could see it from such a distance whilst on the coach. The first thing that excited me about this country was the cars, I looked in the car park of the hotel and it was full of 50’s American cars. Now I know that the cars are an iconic image of Cuba, however I did not expect that every single car would keep within that image. They were all different bright colours and worlds away from any car park in the UK.
The Blau Varadero housed 4 bars: the pool bar (where the staff gave you a funny look if you did not have rum in your drink….even at 11am), the beach bar (perfect for a cold beer whilst looking out at the ocean), the piano bar (where we had our last drink of the night listening to the bar staff sing opera) and finally the main hotel bar. I really hope that the above image does this bar justice as it was unbelievable, there is no where in the UK that I could compare this to…if it was in Leeds City Center then the drinks would be very expensive.

On having our first cocktails we decided that we would try everything on the menu. I am only going to talk about our favourites otherwise this blog would go on forever.

First of all is the Blau Varadero (you guessed it, named after the hotel). This cocktail was perfect for any time of day, however we preferred drinking this during the afternoon whilst sat on the beach. The base of this drink was the hotels Pina Colada mix, available all day from Slush Puppy machines. To the Pina Colada mix they added rum and a very large measure of banana liquor. It was both sweet and refreshing. 8/10

Our trip to the Blau was full of mixing drinks, we would begin the day by drinking Cristal (the local lager in Cuba). We then moved onto pool & beach cocktails which were all rum based, before moving onto wine in the evening and ending the night with more cocktails. The most popular cocktail in Cuba is the Cuba Libre, which is rum and coke for us brits…this is served with a very large measure of rum with a squeeze of lime juice…I wont go into much detail as we have all had this drink in the UK.

The second Cuban cocktail that I wanted to share with you is the Canchanchara…I must have ordered this twice a day once I discovered it, it was amazing and if you ever see this on a cocktail menu in the UK then tweet me where I can get one. I am still amazed how I managed to order this drink as to this day I can not pronounce this. This drink was made up of three ingredients: lime juice, a double measure of white rum and a spoon of honey. The bar staff shook this all up and then poured it into a whisky glass filled with ice. It really had a kick to it, which you can imagine considering it was pretty much just rum! If you are like me and have a sweet tooth then this is for you. Whilst in Cuba I drank a Canchanchara late in the evenings whilst Liz drank Margaritas. In Cuba they used their generic white rum, but if you ever want to make this cocktail for yourself then I would recommend Havana Club Anejo 3 Anos. 10/10 !!!

The excursions that we did in Varadero were amazing, this included a dolphin show and a Catamaran trip to a private island for sea, sun, BBQ & rum!
The best day trip that we took was called ‘Havana Club & Cigars’…this trip is essentially what it says on the tin. We spent the day exploring, drinking rum and smoking cuban cigars. We took a coach into the beautiful city of Havana, we started at the Havana Club Museum where we learnt about the history of rum making on the Island and the history of the brand itself…which was perfect for me as Havana Club is my favourite rum brand. In the museum we started with a rum and fresh orange juice (which is a great change if you don’t fancy coke!). We learnt about the history and all the different rum on offer from Havana Club, including a sneaky shot of their 7 year dark rum!

Following the museum we had a walking tour of the historic town which ended with drinking Daiquiri’s at the famous El Floridita bar…who claim to have invented the cocktail.

Whilst on our walking tour we stopped off at the Hotel Ambos Mundos. Located in the center of the old town this hotel was made famous as the hotel favourited by American author Ernest Hemmingway, before he took up residency in Havana. I really can not explain how hot it was whilst walking through Havana, by the time we reached the Ambos Mundos we were ready for a drink.
This leads me to the final drink that I wanted to talk about… The Mojito.
Lets face it, the Mojito is THE most famous rum based cocktail in the world. We did drink these in the hotel, but they did not match the quality of the drink in the Ambos Mundos. To make a Mojito you take a high ball glass, add sugar lime juice and mint sprigs. You muddle this before adding sparkling water and a large measure of white rum. This drink is refreshing mainly due to the mint and is very drinkable, even with a large measure the alcohol is not too over powering. In the UK a decent Mojito would cost at least £6 (in Leeds anyway). However in the center of Havana we spent 6 Cuban Pesos on two of these drinks…which is about £2 a drink. 8/10

If you go are planning a trip to the Caribbean then you should give Cuba a try, you will not regret it…next on my list is Jamaica, to compare their rum to that of the Cubans.

In a couple of days I will be posting a blog about our visit to Varadero’s house of rum and reviewing the tipples that we brought back with us.

Une bouteille de Cotes Du Rhone

I have only been writing these blogs for a couple of weeks now and for some reason I have ventured away from the Beer Blog that I was originally intending to write. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy drinking and trying out various different tipples, but I had only intended on writing about wine & spirts every now and again.....however I have recently stumbled on something amazing and thought I would share it with you.

As I have previously stated I am far from being a connoseuir, I am happy to try any tipple and purely judge them on whether I enjoy to drink them or not (9 times out of 10 I am happy for a second glass).

Every now and again in our house we do enjoy a glass (or two) of wine. We tend to open a bottle during inpromptu drinking evenings in certain family members dining rooms! If I were to have the choice I would always choose a red wine, for me white wine is better served cold on a warm day...and lets face it on those days I will stick to a beer. When choosing a red wine I enjoy drinking rich, spicy and full bodied red wine...if this sounds like you, then you need to try the tipple below.

At Christmas the in-laws gave us a mixed case of wine, we have made sure to savour these bottles as the in-laws have a very good taste in wine and we know these bottles are worth only drinking when in the mood for a quality glass. On opening the bottle of Saint-Esprit Cotes Du Rhone I was careful not to pour huge measures into our glass, as I already knew that I would want to make this bottle last. Whilst pouring it had a very deep colour to it and really stuck to the glass. The fruity flavours are what hit you first, followed by the spices which leave a really warm aftertaste in the back of your throat. Now I really surprised myself whilst drinking this because I had (without knowing it) paired this wine perfectly with our tea. The heat from the spices really go well with a lamb curry and would match any meal with a few chillis thrown in. 8/10

Cotes Du Rhone is definately a favoured red wine in our household. We first became hooked on it about two years ago whilst on a family holiday in France.
We spent alot of time in L'Epinoux drinking Kronenbourg on an afternoon due to the heat, but because of our location we naturally went towards the red wine as the day went on. The highlight of the whole trip for me was to relax outside of our Gite with the BBQ going and the whole family sat around the table enjoying a glass.

The trick if you are ever buying wine in a french supermarket is to look at the emptiest shelf and see what the locals are buying. Here we found this lovely bottle, one that even though we brought half a dozen bottles back with us to the UK I still to this day can not find it on any online wine shops. In the UK you would probably pay at least £7 for the quality of this bottle...however to the French, we managed to purchase these for €1.50 a bottle (looking back the empty shelf may have been down to our family).

If you ever see this in the UK let me know!!!!

The Saint-Esprit is approx £10 a bottle and can be found at the link below
https://www.majestic.co.uk/Cotes-du-Rhone-Saint-Esprit-zid06541

Kopparberg Frozen Fruit Cider

If you have not already guessed from my previous blogs, I am a big fan of beer.
However as the Mrs is not keen and only really drinks cider I have grown fond of having the odd pint of cider every now and again.
When I worked in the local pub as a teenager we had a couple of punters who were really into their cider, because of this I developed a taste for proper Somerset Cider...mainly Scrupmy, which lets face it you can only have one or two before enough is enough.

Like I said, the other half is a bit fan of cider (I almost put 'big cider drinker' but I might have gotten into trouble!). Whenever browsing for a tipple to go with our tea she tends to pick up a fruit cider, mainly the big brands like Strongbow, Kobbarberg & Rekorderlig.
With the weather being as nice as it was I decided to buy her a treat, this resulted in purchasing something completely new from Kobbarberg.....Frozen Fruit Cider. Now unless you are really into fruit cider this may seem like a bit of a gimmik, but with the availability of buying cans of G&T and rum and coke in the supermarket this seems like a natural progression for the big brands to introduce something new as we approach pimms season.


I purchased both of the Frozen Ciders so that we could have a good compare of the products. We picked them up in Morrisons for a rather extortionate £2.99 a bag !! (I thought they were an introductary price of £2....I was wrong). The idea behind the ciders is that you throw them in the freezer for 8 hours and just cut off the top. If you buy these for the summer put them in the freezer on a morning, we left ours overnight and had to let them defrost for a hour or so in the fridge.

So lets start with the Strawberry & Lime.

 I do enjoy a mixed fruit Kopparberg normally when Liz buys them in, however with the Strawberry & Lime I just found it way too sweet. It was even sweeter than a Slush Puppy! At 4% you could really taste the alcohol, as it was mainly ice going up the straw every now and again you just get hit with the alcohol. For me it was just too sweet, now I know that fruit ciders and the 'new' alcopops and are designed to be just like pop, but this was just too much. 3/10

The next Frozen Cider is the Elderflower & Lime.

Similar to the first cider, this was 4%. The similarities end there!
More so than the Strawberry, the Elderflower had a real kick to it. It had a sweetness that you would expect with cider but was not overly sweet. For me, I think I enjoyed this as it reminded me of a iced slush drink that we had beside the pool in Cuba last year. The lime flavour came out quite strongly. On speaking to Liz about this one I all of a sudden had an brainwave...what would make this drink even better? A shot of Gin.
Now Im guessing that Kopparberg intended for these just to be drank as they were on a sunny summers day, but put this in a tall glass with a shot of Gin and a wedge of lime and you would have a really cracking cocktail. On reading this back I am unsure whether my 'brainwave' was a good thing of not for this drink, as it makes it seem like it is a mixer. Anyway, this Frozen Cider is definately worth a try. 7/10

On writing this blog I asked myself (and the cider expert) would we buy these again? Now that would defiantely be price dependant, I think that at £2.99 Kopparberg will really price themselves out of sales, as there are many iced cocktails available on the shelves for a much better price. If they were better priced we would certainly purchase the Elderflower one again...that or pour the bottled version in a freezer bag and make our own.

Tipsy Pig - Keelham Farm Shop

Today's blog is as much about beer as it is the place that we purchased it from !

Now I don't know about you but for me there is nothing worse than walking around one of the big supermarkets on a busy day, so I jumped at the opportunity today to go to our favourite shop...Keelham Farm. 

We first discovered Keelham at a family party, where my Uncle was raving about where he buys his cheese & beer. Apparently this shop was that good that he insisted on picking us up the following weekend for a trip, we had planned to go to the Leeds Food Festival but wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Whilst driving there I expected a small building selling veg from which ever farm it was based on. All I could think was 'lets have a quick look, then go to Leeds Food Festival'... I was wrong. I think we spent more there that on the stalls at the festival later on in the day.

The farm shop is a family run business (naturally, attached to a farm itself). The only way to describe it would be a mix between a Waitrose and the food court at the Great Yorkshire Show. In the past we have purchased meat for a family meal, homemade pizzas, curry kits...you name it. 

Attached to the shop is the garden centre as well as an area for customers to say hello to all the animals on site...mainly for the kids but the other half loves it.

Today we decided on buying Keelham's home made curry for tea (the mint dip is a must try). We also carried on our Keelham tradition of buying a couple of pork pies for the trip home...today was Pork & Pickle and Pork & Chilli...yum !

Now I know that it sounds like I'm rambling on about a 'shop', but if you are in the Otley, Guiseley or Bradford area then you have to have a visit....you will never go to Morrisons again!

https://keelhamfarmshop.co.uk

Ok, so back to the point of Tonights Tipple.

The first time we visited Keelham they were running a competition, to name their own Ale (at this point I'm struggling to remember the ridiculously bad names that we came up with at the time).

The Wine Cellar section at Keelham is great, in keeping with the rest of the store it is full beer from all over Yorkshire, with the main stock being built up of local beers (eg. Ilkley & Saltaire Brewery).

But for me it is a no-brainer, when at Keelham I immediately place a bottle of Tipsy Pig in my basket.  The farm shop teamed up with local Naylors brewery for what is essentially the shops 'own brand' ale. Described on the bottle as 'a real session beer' Tipsy Pig is a really refreshing pale ale. On pouring the beer it has a clear golden appearance and a really refreshing aroma, although I did miss the roasted barley flavour that is mentioned on the bottle. The flavours are not over the top, or even overly strong, however for the price (£1.89) it really is a cracking pint. I will be honest it wouldn't be the type of beer I would have in the pub on an evening, on drinking you would put it at about 3.5%, not the 4.8% that it is.

However, for an afternoon in the sun, whether it be for summer BBQ's...or even bank holidays sorting out the garden, this really is a winner. 

Tipsy Pig has been purchased for Xmas presents & Fathers Day gifts as it really is a treat for an afternoon pint.

If your ever in the area, it would be a crime not to visit and buy a bottle...and don't forget a pork pie to go with it.

Old/New Guinness - new beer, old recipe

So lets face it, at some point or another everyone has had a pint of Guinness. It's the generic first stop if you were going to drink a stout (that or Mackeson's...but we will get to that in a later blog).
It is safe to say that we are currently in a 'Craft Beer Revolution', craft & micro breweries are becoming more and more popular, with many bars focusing on having different beers weekly, instead of just the same old brands that can be found in any pub (even Wetherspoon's have got in on the act, my local Wetherspoon's had a good 8 different guest ales available on my last visit)
The popularity of guest & craft beers can only mean one thing, slower sales for the big brands that we all know....which leads me to todays blog.

Guinness are trying to get in on the craft beer craze that we are going through. Towards the back end of last year they released two new porters, well when I say new... the two 'new' porters have been brewed to the original recipes that Guinness used over 200 years ago. The heritage side of these stouts can be seen straight away with the labelling on the bottles, which if it was not for the word 'Guinness' you would have no idea of the brand behind it, this is what originally drew me to the bottles. I will be honest here, I only purchased these because of the £1.50 introductory price...the fact it was Guinness originally made me want to try a new Brewery.

Seen as I am being honest, these stouts were not 'tonights tipple'. I wanted to write about these beers at this stage in my blog as in my house stouts and porters are mainly purchased in the winter months, so due to the clocks changing yesterday I am going to be heading towards IPA's and Blonde Beer over the upcoming months.


First up:
West Indies Porter

When I originally purchased this beer it was at an 'introductory' price of £1.50. Now in many stores it is around £2.50. The price is pretty justified, it is 6%.
As previously mentioned, the new bottles were brewed to an old recipe. This one being the original export recipe from 1801 (clue is in the name).
I have to say...I loved this porter, the strength really comes through. It has a really full flavour and had a taste of liquorice and chocolate. The taste was unbelievable, it reminded me of a chocolaty version of Old Peculier.
9/10 and a must purchase for any stout & porter fan!

Now, onto the Dublin Porter.
Once again, I purchased this for £1.50 and by looking online the price seems to be the same at the moment. I kind of regret drinking this second bottle (as was the case with Friday's Wychwood beers) as it is the weak one of the two (in more ways than one). To start with this Guinness is 3.8%, so you would think it would be perfect for a session beer. Unfortunately that is not the case, for me it was almost like drinking a watered down version of the Guinness that you can get at any pub in the UK, maybe this was because I had the West Indies first...who knows.
4/10 ... really disappointed, stick with Original (or just buy the West Indies)

On writing this blog I have wondered what was next for Guinness and hope that these Porter's are not a 'one off'. As I mentioned before, we are getting into the time of year where I lean towards Blonde Beer & IPA's...so let's hope that Guinness' new venture 'Guinness Blonde' comes across the pond from the US.

Who has tried the Dublin & West Indies porter....and what do you think of Guinness' venture of the Blonde American Lager?

Wychwood Hot Cross Bunny & Dr Thirsty

So tonight I left work and thought, a beer is definitely due.
If your like me you will spend ages stood in the supermarket just browsing through all the beers. At the moment Morrisons have a couple of Wychwood beers on offer...currently £1.25 each. Bargain !
Everyone has at some point tried Hobgoblin, but Wychwood always seem to have something new on the shelves. They never seems to advertise so I always just stumble on their beers.

The first one that I tried was the 'Hot Cross Bunny', any seasonal beer is really worth a try if you come across it.
Because it is a seasonal beer you would straight away expect it to have a strong individual flavour. This beer did not disappoint. It smelt quite fruity, but as soon as you taste it the spices hit you straight away (predominantly Cinnamon). Once I finished the bottle I had immediately regretted not buying two, however I can imagine that the spices in this beer would make it quite difficult to drink as a session beer.
The fruitiness brought it into the spring season for me, as the spices reminded me of an Xmas beer. 7/10 !

The second offering from Wychwood was Dr Thirsty's No.4 Blonde. This beer is 4.1%, so stronger than the Hot Cross Bunny's 3.8%. However it did not taste as strong as the first beer. 

The label is spot on when it says that this beer gives 'instant refreshment'. To me it is a clear session Blonde Beer, the flavours are not as distinctive as the Bunny, but it is very easily drinkable. I shall certainly be stocking up on this for the summer. 6/10

Writing this blog I have been asking myself, which did I prefer? Now that is a tough one... I enjoyed them both.

As a one off, I would choose the Hot Cross Bunny, purely down to its distinctively individual flavour. Dr Thirsty's Blonde will definitely be on my next shopping list, however to me it was very similar to a lot of the Blonde beers that you can find down the pub.

At the moment, these two beers are £1.25 each at Morrisons.....which is a bargain considering the prices of all the other beers on their shelves !

First Post :-)

So I decided to begin a blog for various reasons. First of all when ever I am out in a bar, or just perusing the beer aisles at the shops, I am constantly looking to try new beers and tipples. Anyone who knows me will agree that I do not have a 'usual' drink, as I tend to swap and change depending on my mood at the time.

In our house we are definitely foodies and trying different drinks has stemmed from wandering around the local food & drink festivals. (York being our favourite !!!)

I spend a lot of time tweeting about what I am drinking, so this seems to be a natural progression....or step back, was blogging before twitter???

Anyway... so the aim of this blog is to review and document all the tipples that I enjoy. So expect lots of pictures and opinions on various different drinks, and hopefully the posts will push people to try a few new drinks.

So here we go.........