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 !

Friends Of Ham Leeds

This Saturday marked a year since we got engaged. The original plan was to spend the day shopping at the Trafford Centre, buy a nice bottle of something bubbly in Selfridges then make a nice meal at home.
After a trip to Manchester we realised that we needed & deserved a proper date night. Due to Wedding saving we have been very limited on nights out. So we put our original tea plans in the cupboard and boarded the train to Leeds.
The evening consisted of a couple of drinks first, then a meal at Carluccios & ending with a cocktail at the 360 bar in Leeds Trinity Centre. Today thought I want to talk about where we went for pre-drinks...Friends Of Ham.

Now this bar has been around since 2012, with a second bar (closer to home) in Ilkley just havingopened its doors. If you are from Leeds and wonder how I have never been to this bar then please do not judge me! It is just around the corner from the train station and everytime we plan on visiting we just end up on the train back to our local in Guiseley.

On finally entering Friends Of Ham we were surprised as to how much closer to a restaurant than a bar it was (even though we knew they served food). We were greeted as we entered and shown to a couple of stools at the bar. This bar really is a beer lovers paradise ! The menu must have had 30 different cask & keg beers, with stamps showing what was sold out...and what would be available next! The barman must have asked us three times what we would like, I just could not make my mind up! Liz had decided on prosecco the minute we walked in, but I just could not make a decision!

As I was making my decision Liz was transfixed on the food, we had heard of the cheese & charcuterie boards...but had not expected the size of the platters on offer. If we had not already decided on Carluccios we would have just set up camp there.

I began with a pint of All Star Pale Ale from Roosters Brewery in Knaresborough. After getting over excited with the menu I chose this as the pump was right in front of me. At 4.3% this golden Pale Ale was very easy drinking, very fruity and floral ... with the flavours not being too overpowering. Really nice pint, however I kind of wished I was daring enough to go with something that would normally be out of my comfort zone. (http://www.roosters.co.uk)

This followed by something very different and very daring. I usually stick to Porters & Stouts in the Winter (Maccessons Stout being available in my house all over the Christmas period). On a morning I enjoy nothing better than a fresh brewed coffee to start my day, this prompted my decision to try the 'Coffee Anise Porter' from Ticketybrew Brewery. This tasted stronger than the 4.9% advertised...but that might be due to its strong flavour. The coffee hit you straight away, with a subtly spicy aftertaste. For me it could have done with being a bit sweeter...and maybe something to have if you are sat there with a charcuterie board (not about to head out to an Italian meal). I would definitely try this again, but maybe just in half pints. (http://ticketybrew.co.uk)

Just before we left Ham we noticed that you could purchase beer tasting boards (3 3rd glassed) for about £5.50... why had I not seen these before !!!




If you are ever in Leeds, and too far away from North Bar, then Friends Of Ham is the go to place for a decent pint of something that you are likely not to find in a bar anywhere else in the city.

Next stop will be a trip to Friends Of Ham in Ilkley for a family tasting session...and maybe even a platter of meats & cheeses!

(FOH in Leeds can be found on New Station Street...just between the train station & the Trinity Centre)

- Sam

Beer52: My first experience with Subsciption Box Beer

Subscription boxes seem to be everywhere at the moment, at one point it was just Graze Boxes, but now you can get almost everything delivered to your door on a weekly/monthly basis. (As I type I am toying with the idea of trying subscription coffee).
Recently on my facebook page adverts for Craft Beer Clubs began to pop up on my news feed...how exciting! Now where I live in Guiseley the area seems to be full of Craft Beer enthusiasts, from the pubs of Otley to the recent opening of Fuggle & Golding (craft beer shop) in Ilkley. Naturally I prefer to spend my money within our area, however I have a bad habit of looking at something new, but then defaulting back to my old favourites. Because of this I decided to sign up to an online Beer Club, I could see what all the fuss was about and try new tipples in the meantime.

I decided to try out Beer52, the story of the company is brilliant. James Brown (founder) went on a roadtrip from Edinburgh to Faro on his dad's Harley Davidson and upon stopping off and trying various different weird & wonderful beers he decided to start the company to spread the word about small micro-breweries and share some hidden gems with us.
The box arrived when I was at work, the other half had been teasing me all day after opening the box for a sneaky look. When I arrived home I could not contain my excitement...seriously it was like a child at Christmas. In the box I received not only 8 bottles of beer, but a bottle opener, Beer52 book and 'Ferment' the company's newspaper.
Now you will have to bear with me whilst I sample all these beers as a much needed healthkick is pushing me to weekend beer only...however already I am sold and will be carrying on until my wallet says enough!

So far the best part of the box is not the beer, but the newspaper that was included. The middle page opens up to show all the tipples included in your box with all possible information and tasting notes (how brilliant is that).
I am looking forward to trying 'Mambo Jambo' which is brewed especially for Beer52 as well as 'Wild Goose Chase' as my twitter feed is forever full of bottles from the Wild Beer Co and I can never find any !!!

So in a nutshell I do think that Subscription boxes are the future...I will probably only order them every other month so that I can frequent my local craft beer shops and keep them going, but it really is a brilliant idea. It is a bit pricy, but as an every now and again it makes a good treat...I suppose the cost can really be justified by knowing you are trying something completely different and supporting small micro breweries.
If you want to give these a try then click on the link below to get £10 off your first box.

https://www.beer52.com/join/52054/e134fb0399673fe3

- Sam

American Beer Selection !

The reason why I have been very quiet on the blog front recently is because all of our time is currently focused on planning our Wedding.
We have spent the last week trying to figure out what to do for our honeymoon...it is currently between Italy and the USA...with the latter winning at the moment.
Now I have only really had a couple of American beers (mainly Brooklyn Lager ... thanks to Reds True BBQ in Leeds!!) as I tend to mainly go for local beer in the pubs around my area. So I thought, if there is a chance that I will be going to America I really need to see what they have on offer in the UK.
For this I headed down to M&S, at the moment their craft beer selection is excellent (if a little pricy, it is good for all the hard to find beer, but for example Ilkley Pale Ale is 40p more in M&S than in Morrisons).

So I came out with the following:
Brooklyn Lager
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Sierra Nevada Torpedo
Goose Island IPA
Anchor Steam Lager
Anchor California Lager

At first I planned on sampling these all in one night, the sister in law was staying for G&T's and Prosecco and I needed something decent to drink. Safe to say I did not drink them all in one night, which would have been dangerous considering the percentage of the beer.

Brooklyn Lager is becoming more readily available in the UK now, if you are not quite feeling an Ale but want to avoid Carling/Carlsberg rubbish then I would recommend you try the Brooklyn, it is dark for lager (a kind of coppery colour) and has quite a sweet flavour to it.
Sticking with the lager I moved onto the two Anchor lager's, not a great deal to be said for these as after drinking the Brooklyn the flavours of these are quite bland, which is a shame as I had looked forward to trying these.

Back to proper beer. The Goose Island IPA does exactly what it says on the tin. Small taste of hops but mainly of the malty taste that you would expect, perfect for an afternoon session.

Finally we move onto Sierra Nevada. I first tried their Pale Ale about 5 years ago and up until recently I struggled to find it (most city center bars and some supermarkets now regularly stock it). On pouring it the Ale has quite a strong citrus smell. The flavour itself was typical Pale Ale...and I know it sounds silly but it felt like a 'soft' drinking beer...unsure how to elaborate on that, but it was my first thought on taste.
If you are trying the Pale Ale then you have to also try the Torpedo (7.2%). The taste and appearance are similar to the Pale Ale, however Torpedo has a richer taste to it, more crisp and refreshing. On my facebook page this beer was described as a 'Hoppy Beast'...which is now what I think when ever I see a bottle.

Just to end...by the time we finished sampling the beer (and finished writing the blog) we decided to book the USA, Vegas followed by NYC...so if you know any decent bars that are worth trying then tweet!

- Sam

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.