• 04Dec
    Hugh Johnson's Wine Book

    Hugh Johnson's Wine Book

    It’s coming up to that time of year when normal sensible drinks seem to go out the window, and everyone thinks it’s a good idea to break out the Cherry B and the advocaat. Or that may just be in our house. Anyway, in a break from the rounds of cookery books, this week I’m taking a look at the the most wished for books in drinks and beverages, that would help educate about drinking, rather than necessarily your palate!

    1. Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2010 – from an immensely popular and knowledgeable writer, this is the latest version, as concise and wide ranging as usual. If you travel a lot, this is a great book to carry around with you on your trips, to make sure you get the most from your visits wine shops overseas.

    2. Good Beer Guide 2010 – of course, it’s not all about wine, and this is another popular guide each year. This really is the definitive guide to get a pint of real ale, if that’s your thing, from town to countryside. This also goes beyond just pubs though to give you a full rundown of the breweries producing real ale in the UK, from micro through to national breweries, so giving sources for some home drinking options too.

    3. The Classic 1000 Cocktails - this should add some interesting twists to your Christmas drink options! This covers everything from long and short drinks, champagne based cocktails, and even hot cocktails, and gives the lowdown on equipment as well as key ingredients to have on standby for an impromptu cocktail party. I have no idea what a Barnaby’s Buffalo Blizzard is, but it sounds like one of those that would be rather difficult to say after one too many!

    4. The World Atlas of Wine - this is a great book for those wanting to learn more about wine, from two giants of the wine world, Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson. This has been updated recently, and reflects the rapid growth of vineyards and producers in some parts of the world. This is a great book for the real enthusiast, and those planning trips to great wine producing parts of the world.

    5. Brew Your Own British Real Ale - when I wrote about food trends at the start of the year, home made was definitely one of the big ones, and home brew within that. This is a classic guide that has been rewritten and updated, and has plenty of recipes for everything from old favourites no longer brewed commercially through to contemporary offerings. It could be the start of a lot of strange burping noises around the home, and that’s just in the brewing stage!

    All of these should expand the drinker’s knowledge and possibly their repertoire for future drinking opportunities. Now, pass the advocaat please!

  • 02Nov
    Wine please!

    Wine please!

    We’re obviously running into pre-Christmas discounting time as offers seem to fly in every day. As of now, Majestic are offering 20% off a huge range of wine, which makes it the perfect time to stock up, either for your own consumption or for gifts, of either the planned or last minute type. Having some decent wine tucked away will save you the embarrassment of presenting someone with a last minute bottle of Lambrini.

    Or even worse, Black Tower.

    So right now you can get 20% off a selection of great wines from New Zealand, Chile or the Rhone, and 20% off some decent sparkling as well when you buy at least two bottles from that selection. And some have further money off, so something like the Ned Black Label Waihopai River Sauvignon Blanc 2008 has £2.49 off a bottle, and then with the further 20% off takes it down to just £5.99. That’s a quality bottle for just over £1 more than the Vin du Soleil I wrote about.

    There’s also really good offers on sparkling wine, with between 25% and 50% off two bottles. Fizz makes any celebration to me, and a nice fizz always makes a good last minute gift. The Lindauer Special Reserve is an IWC Silver winner, and you save £10 when you buy two, and it’s a nice light drink. This has definitely been the year of Prosecco and for something as far as you can imagine from Lambrusco then I’d buy Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Extra Dry NV.

    If you require the real thing, then there are champagne offers too. I would be happy to stock up on the Taittinger Brut Reserve, and could be tempted to try the Oeil de Perdrix Rosé at these prices. I think one bottle for Christmas Day and one for New Year’s Eve feels not completely out of keeping with the way the year has gone! Although I think we might be doing nostalgia too, so will be looking for a bottle of Advocaat to make a few Snowballs with!

    Beautiful wine shot by billaday on Flickr.