Is it a champagne? Is it a sparkling wine? No, it's a beer!
Need a celebratory gift for a beer lover? Someone who won’t thank you for a bottle of champagne’s finest? Look no further. Those groovy guys at Adnams have come up with just the tipple.
Brewed to commemorate 350 years of brewing at the current site, Sole Bay is a 75cl, 10% Belgian-style beer that arrives chicly disguised as a sparkling wine, complete with tin.
Bolney’s first sparkling red is named after one of the most visible stars in the night skies, the super red giant, Antares – its radius is about 800 times that of the sun. Made in the traditional manner from Dornfelder, a grape that does well in the cooler climates of England, less than 200 cases were produced, so this is one to catch while you can.
Don't be shy, there's plenty to go around
Now is a great time to be a whisky explorer. Although nothing beats a trip around the distillery – see below for some ideas on where to get started if you are heading to Scotland this Summer – Charles Maclean’s World Whisky, out last year, is to be joined by Dave Broom’s World Atlas of Whisky this autumn. Typically beautiful – well it is produced by those lovely people who brought you the World Atlas of Wine and Dave’s other evocative book, Rum – this sizeable tome is likely to be a welcome addition to any malt-lover’s bookshelves.
Placing this most complex of products in its context, both in terms of history and flavour, is a fascinating exercise. Where else can a dent in the production vessel have a pivotal role on the final taste – or be so imprtant that any new containers must replicate said “flaw”?
More than just music: Glastonbury Abbey revives cider magic
Festivals have played as much a part in sharing the joy of cider with a wider audience as any amount of ice-cube inspired campaigns. So, as tents get pitched and guitars are tuned, the news that a Glastonbury Cider beat off 360 rivals at the Royal Bath & West Show to be named Supreme Cider Champion might not be too surprising.
What is unusual is its origins: the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey. Apples have been grown here since medieval times with records showing the monks enjoying a tipple or two, but 2009 was the year the Abbey teamed up with cider revival pioneer, Julian Temperley of the Somerset Cider Brandy company.
Denbies: off to the fields with you
Want to find out one of the techniques for ensuring a good harvest? Known as bud-rubbing – or bud busting if you’re from Down Under – it’s the removal of unwanted baby shoots around the base of a vine and Denbies in Dorking would like to share the skills with you. Renowned for its Vine and Dine harvesting days in October, for English Wine Week this year it is holding its first Vine Bud Rubbing experience on Tues 1 June.
Simon says... winemaking techniques come in handy for producing good perry
What luck! News in mid-May that Simon Day’s Ribston Lawn Sparkling Perry 2008 had been crowned joint Sparkling Cider & Perry champion in the annual Hereford Cider Museum’s International Cider & Perry Competition came the day I had – guess what – nestled in my fridge? Yep, said beverage. The other category winner in this, one of the top three shows in the cider and perry world, was Oliver’s Herefordshire Cider.
To be honest, the Ribston Lawn had been in my possession a while but I had been waiting for a suitable occasion to crack the smart-looking bottle. And a birthday picnic in the delightful environs of Reigate’s Priory Park with our Argentine friend, Juan, his family and international coterie of friends provided just the setting. continue reading…
Out in the cold: Once upon a Tree's little sweetie
The elegant bottle with its apricot-coloured liquid had been peaking seductively at me for a little while now. But then you need to prepare yourself for something rather different like a dessert cider. I’m not talking about limbering up or putting on the glad rags, more having the right grub on offer, and I have to say that’s a challenge I hadn’t faced before.
But then I won’t be alone in this dilemma — this is after all the first dessert cider to be produced in the UK.
The brainchild of Simon Day, founder of the award-winning Once Upon a Tree, his Blenheim Orange (after the apple) dessert cider is made from fruit from his family’s inspiringly named Dragon Orchard in Herefordshire’s apple growing heartland of Putley near Ledbury. continue reading…
Building bridges: Urban Wine 2009
A few weeks ago, in between an extensive Spanish tasting and donning my posh frock for the Benevolent’s annual ball, I zipped across town to a tasting with a difference. Fighting my way to the bar amidst the grandeur of the Le Gothique restaurant, it could have been any first growth launch. But no, despite the film crews this wasn’t a 99 pointer à la Monseiur Parker, rather it was the 2009 release from the Urban Wine Company, a refreshing rosé nicknamed Chateau Tooting made from grapes from the gardens and allotments of Greater London.
Community activist and Tooting resident Richard Sharp got the inspiration while holidaying with his young family in the south of France a few years ago. continue reading…
Our correspondent north of the border writes
The remote beauty of Abhainn Dearg
The newest and most remote distillery in Britain, Abhainn Dearg on the Isle of Lewis, has released its first batch of New Make Spirit – as yet it is too young to be legally called whisky. Around 100 people gathered at McSorley’s Bar in central Glasgow on March 16th to watch Marco Tayburn, founder of Abhainn Dearg, and Bill MacIntosh, chair of Glasgow’s Whisky Club, officially launch the Spirit of Lewis.
Although I couldn’t make that evening, I ventured along the next night to see what was happening. continue reading…
Richard Balfour-Lynn: same grapes but no fizz
Hotel du Vin visitors will be the first to try the still sibling to Hush Heath’s award-winning Balfour Brut Rosé this summer. Called Nannette’s English Rose after founder, hotel and retail magnate Richard Balfour-Lynn’s daughter, only 4500 bottles are being produced.
‘She lights up a room with her smile,’ Balfour-Lynn says of his daughter. ‘And the wine reflects that. Like her, it is soft, feminine and artistic.’ As we speak, Nannette, about to turn 17, is working with her mother, Leslie, to finalise the label.
Always one to trust his instincts, Balfour-Lynn has long believed that rosé has great potential. continue reading…
latest member of the Firefly family
What could be more British than Bramley apples, blackberries and raspberries? Exactly. That’s what those healthy drink-meisters Firefly thought when it selected Holly Siddon’s patriotic creation, Britannia, to add to its range. Beating off 400 other energetic contenders, Holly supplied not just the recipe , inspired by her love of the countryside, but also the bottle image – ‘my boyfriend ‘! continue reading…
