Drinks
Kopperburg Cider
What a great cider, a plethora of fruit ciders and all taste great even the alcohol free version. Smooth and full of flavour, a nice change to the old favorites.
What a great cider, a plethora of fruit ciders and all taste great even the alcohol free version. Smooth and full of flavour, a nice change to the old favorites.
Strongbow Cider
The girlie cider, tastes like rotten apples and has about as much punch as a small girl hitting you with feather, men drink something with a little more guts in it.
Wild Turkey
Now I do love the taste of a good bourbon, JD is the standard sipping whiskey, 6/10, Jim Beams even better and a bourbon, 7/10, but, if you want a really top quality bourbon its the Wild Turkey you need to track down, classed as a super-superior whiskey this is top of my list.
Smooth, full of flavour that gently warms the throat on its way down (please don't add coke to this fine bourbon, you just kill the flavour if you do) and only girlies add coke and ice, be a man and drink it straight. 9/10, found nothing better yet.
Real Somerset Cider
When we joined the EU, they killed the real cider market, you just cant get it legally anymore, all the farm shops in somerset are now serving watered down filtered cow piss as real cider, however, if you know the right farmers you can still get a gallon or two, so how do you know its a real scrumpy, first its the colour, its sort of brown and very cloudy, if you can see your finger on the other side of your glass then it's not a real cider, it should also have the odd chunk of something in it, remember real cider may contain crushed maggots, and the taste, it tastes, well, different, apples obviously, even the hint on a little lemon, just a good full flavour, and last but not least if you are not a regular drinker of this stuff and you can still say your name after 1 pint then its not real, real cider has a very high alcohol content, don't worry about the rumours that it will send you crazy if you drink too much on a regular basis, that's all part of the fun, we all go a little nuts every now and then.
Port or Port Wine as it's Known
I have a confession to make, I am a bit of a Port snob, I do love a really fine glass of Vintage Port preferably a Warre's, Grahams or Taylors with grapes, (black) and a really good vintage Stilton, listening to Satie or Holst (on VINYL) in my favourite chair, Bliss.
Now then, there are Ports and there are Ports, unless you have a very good palate your not going to get the best from an expensive and hard to find rare Port, so go to a supermarket and buy a six pack of cheap larger, for the rest of us I have listed the Port Styles below.
True Port wine comes only from the Douro Valley in Portugal, in the same way that true Champagne only is produced in the district of the same name located some 90 miles east of Paris. And like Champagne, other wines around the world are produced in a similar style to Port, but they are not Port and -- while these pretenders may be quite aromatic and flavourful -- they fail to capture the delicate balance between complexity and elegance, power and finesse of true Port wines.
Appendix A: An Outline of Port Styles
I. Vintage Porto.
II. Wood Ports.
A. White Ports.
1. Dry.
2. Sweet
B. Ruby Ports.
1. "Regular" Ruby Port.
2. Vintage Character Port.
3. Late Bottled Vintage Port.
4. "Crusting" or "Crusted" Port.
[Please note: In some outlines, the Ports in points 2-4 may appear as sub-sets of I. Vintage Port.]
C. Tawny Ports.
1. Without Age Statements.
a. True Tawny Port.
b. A blend of Ruby and White (to make Tawny).
c. Older "Reserve" Tawny Port (with no age statement).
2. With Age Statements.
a. 10-Year Old Tawny Port.
b. 20-Year Old Tawny Port.
c. 30-Year Old Tawny Port.
d. 40-Year Old Tawny Port.
e. Colheita Ports (Vintage-Dated Tawny Ports).
Appendix B: Major Port Lodges and their Single Quintas
Port Lodge Single Quinta Introduced
Croft Quinta da Roeda 1967
Delaforce Quinta da Corte 1978
Dow Quinta do Bomfim 1978
Fonseca Quinta do Panascal 1983
Taylor Quinta de Vargellas 1958
Warre Quinta da Cavadinha 1978
Appendix C: Major Port Lodges and their Second Labels
Port Lodge Second Label Introduced
Fonseca Fonseca-Guimaraens 1952
Graham Graham's Malvedos 1952
Appendix D: Some Major Port Houses and their Vintage Character Brands
Port Lodge Brand
Burmester Special Reserve
Cockburn Special Reserve
Ca'lem Vintage Character
Fonseca Bin 27
Graham Six Grapes
Noval LB
Sandeman Founder's Reserve
Warre Warrior
Yeah, Yeah, I know, Snob.
Jack Daniels Honey
Now those that know me, know that I prefer a Wild Turkey to JD, however I have just tried the JD Honey and I love it. Its sweet like a liqueur but has the bourbon taste, honey even a hint of citrus, good for a change, I will keep a bottle in the cocktail cabinet.
The girlie cider, tastes like rotten apples and has about as much punch as a small girl hitting you with feather, men drink something with a little more guts in it.
Wild Turkey
Now I do love the taste of a good bourbon, JD is the standard sipping whiskey, 6/10, Jim Beams even better and a bourbon, 7/10, but, if you want a really top quality bourbon its the Wild Turkey you need to track down, classed as a super-superior whiskey this is top of my list.
Smooth, full of flavour that gently warms the throat on its way down (please don't add coke to this fine bourbon, you just kill the flavour if you do) and only girlies add coke and ice, be a man and drink it straight. 9/10, found nothing better yet.
Real Somerset Cider
When we joined the EU, they killed the real cider market, you just cant get it legally anymore, all the farm shops in somerset are now serving watered down filtered cow piss as real cider, however, if you know the right farmers you can still get a gallon or two, so how do you know its a real scrumpy, first its the colour, its sort of brown and very cloudy, if you can see your finger on the other side of your glass then it's not a real cider, it should also have the odd chunk of something in it, remember real cider may contain crushed maggots, and the taste, it tastes, well, different, apples obviously, even the hint on a little lemon, just a good full flavour, and last but not least if you are not a regular drinker of this stuff and you can still say your name after 1 pint then its not real, real cider has a very high alcohol content, don't worry about the rumours that it will send you crazy if you drink too much on a regular basis, that's all part of the fun, we all go a little nuts every now and then.
Port or Port Wine as it's Known
I have a confession to make, I am a bit of a Port snob, I do love a really fine glass of Vintage Port preferably a Warre's, Grahams or Taylors with grapes, (black) and a really good vintage Stilton, listening to Satie or Holst (on VINYL) in my favourite chair, Bliss.
Now then, there are Ports and there are Ports, unless you have a very good palate your not going to get the best from an expensive and hard to find rare Port, so go to a supermarket and buy a six pack of cheap larger, for the rest of us I have listed the Port Styles below.
True Port wine comes only from the Douro Valley in Portugal, in the same way that true Champagne only is produced in the district of the same name located some 90 miles east of Paris. And like Champagne, other wines around the world are produced in a similar style to Port, but they are not Port and -- while these pretenders may be quite aromatic and flavourful -- they fail to capture the delicate balance between complexity and elegance, power and finesse of true Port wines.
Appendix A: An Outline of Port Styles
I. Vintage Porto.
II. Wood Ports.
A. White Ports.
1. Dry.
2. Sweet
B. Ruby Ports.
1. "Regular" Ruby Port.
2. Vintage Character Port.
3. Late Bottled Vintage Port.
4. "Crusting" or "Crusted" Port.
[Please note: In some outlines, the Ports in points 2-4 may appear as sub-sets of I. Vintage Port.]
C. Tawny Ports.
1. Without Age Statements.
a. True Tawny Port.
b. A blend of Ruby and White (to make Tawny).
c. Older "Reserve" Tawny Port (with no age statement).
2. With Age Statements.
a. 10-Year Old Tawny Port.
b. 20-Year Old Tawny Port.
c. 30-Year Old Tawny Port.
d. 40-Year Old Tawny Port.
e. Colheita Ports (Vintage-Dated Tawny Ports).
Appendix B: Major Port Lodges and their Single Quintas
Port Lodge Single Quinta Introduced
Croft Quinta da Roeda 1967
Delaforce Quinta da Corte 1978
Dow Quinta do Bomfim 1978
Fonseca Quinta do Panascal 1983
Taylor Quinta de Vargellas 1958
Warre Quinta da Cavadinha 1978
Appendix C: Major Port Lodges and their Second Labels
Port Lodge Second Label Introduced
Fonseca Fonseca-Guimaraens 1952
Graham Graham's Malvedos 1952
Appendix D: Some Major Port Houses and their Vintage Character Brands
Port Lodge Brand
Burmester Special Reserve
Cockburn Special Reserve
Ca'lem Vintage Character
Fonseca Bin 27
Graham Six Grapes
Noval LB
Sandeman Founder's Reserve
Warre Warrior
Yeah, Yeah, I know, Snob.
Jack Daniels Honey
Now those that know me, know that I prefer a Wild Turkey to JD, however I have just tried the JD Honey and I love it. Its sweet like a liqueur but has the bourbon taste, honey even a hint of citrus, good for a change, I will keep a bottle in the cocktail cabinet.