Brighton Rock (Cocktail)

I'm blogging again about our last holiday in Brighton. During our stay here, we went to a pizzeria named Pinocchio. But I'm not going to blog about their pizza (this will be for another post). I wanted to blog about a cocktail my wife drank there. My wife seldom drinks alcohol, even on holiday. When she does, she goes for sugary cocktails, like this one. It's called a Brighton rock, in honour of the confectionery of the same name. It has gin, blue Curaçao (no surprise there) and... A chunk of Brighton rock. Verdict? It tastes disgusting. My wife didn't like it, I had a sip and didn't like it. I'm not surprised: it looks radioactive. But hey, it looks pretty in a glass. Anyway, now that you have the recipe for it, you can try it if you are brave.

Christmas Gin

During my last time at the Christmas fayre, I had the chance to taste the products of The Marlow Distillery. The town doesn't only have a brewery, it also had a distillery that makes dry gin. Among them, a Christmas gin that is now sold out, which is a shame as it is really a delight. It tastes spicy and festive. I suspect Santa Claus has a few on his big night out, to get through the job. I'd leave him a shot if I could. Anyway, I am not a connoisseur, but I might buy their products one day.

Microdistilleries

Mon frère Andrew a reçu en cadeau pour sa fête cette boîte de spiritueux de différentes distilleries du Québec. Enfin, de microdistilleries, comme dans "partez à la découverte des microdistilleries du Québec". Je crois que c'est un cadeau de mes parents, peut-être de sa femme. Dans tous les cas, c'est une excellente idée de cadeau et microdistillerie est le mot du jour.

Blueberry Gin

 In my adult life, I rarely ever drank gin. When I did, it was occasionally, when I was living in Liverpool, as one of my housemates and friend was quite keen on gin and tonic. When I drank some with her, it was more out of friendship than anything, like a nice little ritual. That said, I recently got curious about a specific gin from the Distillerie du Fjord (the fjord being the Saguenay fjord where I come from) called 48 Chemin Price. This gin is different as it is made with blueberries, the fruit of my region. From my exprrience, in has a strong flavour of tasting nothing but hard liquor, so I am curious about how this one can taste blueberries.

48 Chemin Price (gin au bleuet)

Mon père m'a envoyé des photos de 48 Chemin Price, qui est le nom un peu long d'un gin au bleuet fait par la Distillerie du Fjord. J'ai bu très peu de gin dans ma vie, un peu plus durant mon année à Liverpool, mais j'essaierais bien celui-ci. Parce qu'il est au bleuet, parce qu'il est régional. Je suis curieux, parce que selon mon expérience (assez limitée), le gin ne goûte pas grand-chose, sauf l'alcool fort. Je me demande si on peut vraiment goûter le bleuet. J'imagine que oui, mais je suis curieux de savoir à quel point.

Sangria

My parents told me that they recently bought a bottle of already made sangria, but that it was not good. That trivial bit of conversation reminded me that a few years ago, I was a fairly regular drinker of sangria. It was back when I was a uni student: at our kitchen parties, or simply at our gatherings, we often made sangria. Ironically, my friends then were mostly Italian. We bought some cheap wine, some fizzy soft drink, fresh fruits, fruit juice and a bottle of spirit, either tequila, gin or vodka. And we mixed it in the biggest bowl we could find. That's how our evenings started, usually. My Spaniard friend would say: "All right guys, we're gonna make sangria." And we did. I don't remember it tasting nice, but we drank plenty of it. I don't remember getting drunk from it, but one of my Italian friends got sick on sangria at the end of the infamous Saint Paddy's kitchen party of 2,000. Infamous in our circle of friends at the time anyway. Shehad decided to finish the bowl when everybody but three people were gone, after my other friend and I were downing beers. I still tease her about it. But yeah, after my uni years, I don't think I ever drank sangria again.

Km12: gin régional

Petite nouvelle régionale ce soir prise du Quotidien qui m'a donné un petit moment de fierté: le Km2 de la Distillerie du Fjord a été sacré meilleur gin canadien. Dans une dégustation à Londres, ça ne s'invente pas. Je bois peu ou pas de gin, mais faudra que je l'essaie, fierté régionale oblige. Je me suis fait dire qu'il a un goût d'épinette prononcé, mais ça me va, il lui faut bien une saveur saguenéenne.

Distillerie du Fjord

Tiens, parlons gin, puisque je le fais parfois. Mon père m'a envoyé un lien vers le site de la Distillerie du Fjord, une distillerie du Saguenay. J'avais déjà lu un article ou deux à leur sujet, je crois. Quand même, j'en suis conscient maintenant: on fait du gin dans ma région! Je savais déjà qu'il y avait des amateurs de gin, j'en ai connu quelques même (bien entendu), mais maintenant qu'on fait notre propre gin, il faudra que j'aille goûter leurs produits lorsqu'on y retournera.

Gincident

It's Friday, so it is time for drinking alcohol and for a bit of fun. I thought I would share a humorous chalkboard which I saw in the town of Thame, which we visited a few weeks ago. It was a lovely place, full of charm, and we want to visit it again. And there was this chalkboard on display, which I found funny enough to photograph. Sadly I cannot remember in front of which business it was. I don't drink gin very often, not since my year in Liverpool anyway (read the details here). It is not my poison of choice. Nevertheless, I can easily imagine how a "gincident" can be like. In any case, it is now the word of the day.

"Dry January"

Many of you probably know the concept of Dry January, a campaign that exists here in the UK and elsewhere, sometimes under different names, encouraging people to avoid alcohol for the whole month of January. I am not very fond of these kinds of campaigns, I don't like being preached to and see no point of being a teetotaler if you are not an alcoholic and enjoy alcohol in moderation. In other words, drink responsibly, or else quit drinking altogether. So I was quite amused when I saw very amused when I saw this picture on social media. A friend of mine shared it. I don't know where this pub is, but they got it right, and it's the kind of Dry January I can enjoy.

Gin Cocktail Tasting Evening

Nice piece of news from the International Anthony Burgess Foundation: in association with Tanqueray, they are organising a night of gin-based cocktail drinking. You can read the details here. My favourite writer was not only an avid gin drinker, he also created his own cocktails. All three cocktails in the event are based on Burgess' recipes. Sounds like a lot of fun. I have never been much of a gin drinker, except for the odd gin and tonic provided by my former housemate back when I lived in Liverpool. Experiencing a night of consuming spirits would be a nice call back if nothing else, and of course literature will be involved, as well apparently as information about the history of gin. It will be on the first of March, not so far off then, but I just can't go to Manchester with my family life. And I can't really drag my wife and Wolfie there. It's all right, I'll live and my liver will be grateful, although I do have a pang of regret as this is the kind of special event I'd love to experience.

NEW WARNING RELEASED

A friend on Facebook published this on his Wall, I placed it on mine and thought it was so funny I had to put it on this blog:

"NEW WARNING RELEASED: Vodka and ice will ruin your kidneys. Rum and ice will ruin your liver. Whiskey and ice will ruin your heart. Gin and ice will ruin your brain. Pepsi and ice will ruin your teeth. Apparently ICE is LETHAL!
Warn all your friends: Lay off the ice ~ ~ Copy & paste this immediately.
You could save a life......and don't forget it also sunk the Titanic!!"

Ways to spend a Friday evening

I am always tired on Friday evenings nowadays. I don't go out, I usually stay indoors and watch TV. I guess it is the nature of the beast, Friday nights are meant for those who don't work on that day. That said, I rarely went out in the past on Friday nights. Even when invited at dinner with my colleagues, say, I usually try to make it short and never stay there until dessert. If it is not with friends and/or family I usually try to avoid an evening out on Friday. It used to be different of course and there was a time when I could not wait to get out on Friday. But even in Liverpool, when I never worked on Fridays, my best evenings were spent at home. We had a few home parties that were more pleasant than nights out (especially since at that time there was no smoking ban in public places, so the bars were giant ashtrays), but even a quiet night watching whatever was on TV, reading some books, stroking the cat and having gin and tonic ("I'm making gin and tonic, would anybody like some?" I never enjoyed this drink unless it was in these particular circumstances I think) was pleasurable enough. No wonder I idealise that time.