Aldi’s New Yorkshire Pudding Beer

For some it’s an essential part of the mighty Roast, for others it’s demoted to a take it or leave it bonus, and whilst we’re used to seeing it smothered in gravy, how does the Yorkshire pudding work in beer?

Channel 4 show Aldi’s Next Big Things gave thirty entrepreneurs the opportunity to get their unique creations onto the supermarket’s shelves, and it was Father and Son duo Harry and Howard Kinder from the award-winning Malton Brewery that jointly scooped the prize alongside Harry Specters Chocolate Bars.

Judges loved the creamy texture and froth of their unusual concoction, which contains half an actual Yorkshire pud in every bottle and comes out at only 3.6% ABV, so it’s pretty mild but I guess you’d expect that when a big portion of the recipe is a Yorkshire pudding. Malton Brewery says it’s based on the first-ever recipe for this beloved creation, written by Hannah Glass in 1747, so it’s vegetarian but unfortunately not vegan.

Incredibly, this isn’t the first product of this kind! In 2020, Leeds brewery Northern Monk partnered with Aunt Bessie’s to release a ‘Sunday Roast’ brown ale, using Yorkshires and roast potatoes, as well as a Jam Roly Poly number. The popularity of this new Malton Brewery product is next level, however, so who knows, maybe the humble roastie was holding the pudding back from its destiny as an essential beer flavouring after all?

You should be able to find it in your local Aldi now, with each 500ml bottle costing £1.49, and packs of four and eight also available if you can’t get enough of them. Keep your eyes peeled though because they recently sold out within hours of being restocked online.

There’s a conveyor of unusual festive food and drink combinations every year, and much of it can be dismissed as a novelty bit of fun, but maybe there’s more to this one? We haven’t tried it just yet, so please let us know if you have, and whether or not it lives up to the hype!

How About a Hellmann’s ‘Mayo-Nog’ this Christmas?

Let’s be honest, eggnog is pretty polarising as it is so when Hellmann’s insist that their signature mayonnaise can be thrown into the mix instead of the egg, well, we don’t know what to make of it frankly.

In partnership with Muddling Memories’ Cody Goldstein, and New York restaurant Amy Fontaine’s, this experimental team is aiming to prove that it works, but how? They’ve created a Frozen Mayo-Nog as well as a Snickerdoodle Mayo Cookie with the aim of producing a Heston Blumenthal-esque milk and cookies revamp.

Unfortunately, if your mouth is watering reading this then, firstly each to their own, and secondly, you better get saving for a trip to the Big Apple, because the Mayo-Nog and the cookie are only officially available at Fontaine’s restaurant for a combined price of $24! But that includes a ‘mayo glaze’ so it’s got to be worth every cent...right?

Not willing to travel to New York to try these mayo creations? Where’s your commitment to the cause? At least you can try it yourself at home because the recipe is on the Muddling Memories Instagram. There is a hell of a lot of egg in America’s best-selling mayo, so it might not be as crazy a leap as you might initially think, as odd as that sounds. The rest of the recipe sounds very nice indeed, with dark rum, apple brandy, milk, cream, syrup, vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon, all blended with a generous helping of Hellmann’s and voila, your first Mayo-Nog...

But will it be your last? We’re desperate to hear if mayonnaise can actually substitute the egg, and if so, is it worse, or maybe even better? We may just try and whip one up on the Bring a Bottle podcast very soon to put it to the test! If you give it a go send us a picture on Instagram/Facebook and let us know what you thought!

The Story of Malbec and the Uco Valley

This article is brought to you by Graffigna Genuine Collection Reserve Malbec from the Uco Valley, with its silky chocolate tones, concentrated black and red fruit notes, a hint of graphite and spice. 

Arguably the best loved red wine grape worldwide, Malbec is enjoyed by novices and experts alike. It’s usually one of the most reliable wines on a wine list and at its price point, it over delivers. Let’s take a quick look at why the quality of Malbec from Argentina particularly is only going one way. 

A brief history of Malbec

Malbec vines have been around a long time; as long ago as Roman times apparently. It first, famously found favour with Eleanor of Aquitaine and Francis I in southwest France, where these ‘black wines’ still feature Malbec as the key grape in the appellation of Cahors. So prized was it by the French royalty, they had Malbec planted around France, where it made its way to the blender’s paradise of Bordeaux where it was used in the famous red blends. When the phylloxera aphid plague decimated Europe's vineyards in the nineteenth century, it did not fare well eventually, much of it was replaced by the hardier Cabernet and Merlot varietals. To this day however, Malbec is still officially permitted in Bordeaux wines and is affectionately known as Pressac in some parts.

Luckily for Malbec, a group of Argentine winemakers, some of them European immigrants, sought the advice of a French agronomist called Michel Pouget to look at how to improve wine quality in the country. Being French, Monsieur Pouget looked to the fine wine region of Bordeaux in France and brought out a variety of grapevines, including Malbec, to Argentina. In these dry, sunny vineyards, Malbec thrived in quite a different way to how it had in France, making wines that were more fruit-driven, soft and in today’s terms, commercial. Quickly establishing itself as Argentina's flagship red grape, it spread out to all wine provinces from Salta in the north to Patagonia in the South, via, of course, Mendoza. 

Malbec across Argentina

Plantings of Malbec across the core winemaking provinces of Argentina of Salta, Patagonia and Mendoza have done much to showcase the diversity of the grape. Very generally speaking, for example, the Malbecs from the particularly high altitudes of luminous Salta, often give a deeper coloured Malbec, like dark, salted chocolate. Down in Patagonia, the style seems to be more on the crunchy, red raspberry side and in Mendoza, Malbec is more about baked blueberries and raspberries dipped in milk chocolate and wrapped in velvet. 

In more recent years, different terroirs within these key provinces have been identified, where each gives their own nuance to the grape and therefore, the wine style. Mendoza, for example, which is the largest wine province by far, responsible for 76% of the country’s area under vine, is divided into five large sub-regions. These are the Uco Valley (includes the departments of Tunuyán, Tupungato and San Carlos), the Primera Zona (including Luján de Cuyo and Maipú), the Northern Oasis (Lavalle and Las Heras), the East (San Martín, Rivadavia, Junín, Santa Rosa and La Paz) and the South (San Rafael, Malargüe and General Alvear). 

World Class Malbec in the Uco Valley

Much new research, investment and development has been done in Argentina to get the most out of its diverse terroirs and vines. It is the Uco Valley in the southwest of the region however, running along the Tunuyán River, that is largely considered to be the finest wine producing region not just in Mendoza, but in the whole of Argentina. Here, a killer combination of high altitude, snowmelt from the Andes and brilliantly draining alluvial soils combine with over 250 days of sunshine every year and huge temperature swings between night and day. The result is exceptionally high quality grapes that give wines that are particularly intense in aroma and flavour, deeply coloured and richly fruited. And it’s not just about Malbec here, although that is the key grape to be found; Semillon, Chardonnay, Torrontes, Cabernet Franc, Bonarda and Barbera grow exceptionally well here too, so look out for wines made with these!

The Uco Valley has also seen great investment in its wine tourism, so it’s a fantastic place to visit, not just to taste incredible wine, but to stay in luxury boutiques with top class restaurants and take in the epic views while walking, hiking, horse riding and much more.

Try this:
Graffigna Genuine Collection Reserve Malbec, 2020 (£9 from Sainsburys £7.50 when on promotion)

A fresh and fruit-forward Malbec, showcasing black cherry and plum notes blending harmoniously with a touch of spice from the oak. It’s a voluminous wine, friendly and intense, with a very good , full and complex midpalate and excellent tannic structure. Taste it with grilled or roasted meats and vegetables or alone with a blanket by the fire.

If you’ve enjoyed this, make sure you check out more wine content here.

Is Johnnie Walker Blonde the Perfect First Whisky?

Very few take to whisky on the first sip which is why many dram debutants quickly disregard it, leaving them completely puzzled about what all the fuss is for. If anyone has an interest in changing that, it should be the world’s best selling Scotch blend Johnnie Walker – introducing, ‘Blonde’.

We’ve covered the iconic colours of Johnnie Walker before, and from their complex black label to their sweeter gold, they have been slowly diversifying their range. This blonde bombshell is a blend of whiskies from Cameronbridge and Cardhu that are then matured in American oak giving the whisky delicious notes of toffee and caramel, as well as sweet fruit and vanilla. 

Not only is this specifically made to be a surprisingly sweet scotch, but it’s also one of the most versatile. Whilst it isn’t likely to offer the more seasoned whisky drinkers much in the way of neat sipping, it is ‘made to be mixed’. As a refreshing whisky lemonade or in most whisky cocktails, Johnnie Blonde truly comes into its own. 

By responding to, ‘a change in who’s ordering whisky, and how they’re drinking it’ as brand ambassador Tim Phillips-Johansson said, the hope is that this light and sweet scotch will win more drinkers around from the off, who then fall in love with whisky and go on to explore more challenging and complex flavour profiles – a well-trodden path indeed, and one that many of you might recognise yourself?

So, if you’ve simply never got on with whisky or you just want to try something a bit different, then a bottle of Blonde might surprise you. 

You can find it here for £27.88. If your scotch experiment goes well, then you might want to dive deeper into the world of whisky and explore some of Johnnie Walker’s other colours! You can find our breakdown of those here. 

Oh, one last thing - definitely let us know if Blonde has turned out to be your whisky breakthrough! And congratulations, a whole new world awaits you!

The Perfect Christmas Gift: Wine And Whisky Region Jigsaws

Buying gifts for wine and whisky lovers can be a daunting prospect. The truth is that many of the gadgets out there that propose to ‘change the way you drink forever’ end up gathering dust in a dark corner of your home. They might not work as well as you expected, or you realise they’re nothing more than a novelty. Either way, we think we can do better!

Under the guidance of games developer Ginger Fox, Puzzle Cru have come up with an alternative – beautifully crafted hand-drawn wine and whisky jigsaws. Created by Rebecca Gibb, one of only 418 Masters of Wine in the world, each jigsaw is a map of a particular region showing the finest drinks produced there.

Rebecca said, “The original inspiration came to me in 2016 when I was doing a jigsaw of a map and wondered if anyone had ever done puzzles of wine regions. The answer was ‘no’. Cue the birth of my wine jigsaw puzzle range.”

Relaxing, satisfying, and educational too – what’s not to like?

Take the ‘Wines of Italy’ jigsaw, you can explore Italy’s wonderfully illustrated landmarks from the Alps to Sicily and uncover the diverse wines of each region along the way. Whether the sparkling reds of Lambrusco or the Moscato d’Asti of Piedmont, as assemble the 1000 pieces, you’ll learn a surprising amount about each area and have fun doing it too.

Making up the rest of the puzzles collection are the Wines of France, The Wines of Spain and Portugal, and the Whiskies of Scotland. By the way, the whisky jigsaw is a slightly easier challenge at just 500 pieces so that might help those who want to drink as they go ;)

For more information and close-ups of the charming maps, you can go to Ginger Fox Games here. All four are also available on Amazon, priced at £17.99 except the Whiskies of Scotland which is slightly cheaper £12.99.

The ideal gift for the wine or whisky lovers out there, or maybe just for you? Why not treat yourself?

Could You Drink Mustard Gin?!

Continuing his exploration into gin after his ‘Asian Parsnip’ concoction, television presenter James May has announced his latest unusual gin – American Mustard!

Surprisingly, in the United States itself, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Trade Bureau have very recently banned James May from calling it, ‘American Mustard’ because it isn’t literally a mustard, and apparently people might get confused. As baffling as that is, whilst the ‘American Mustard’ name stays for everyone else, in America it will be printed as, ‘American Ramstud’ –which you might have instantly spotted is an anagram for mustard – crafty!

Yellow mustard seeds are the front and centre botanical, but the American hot dog and burger theme is bolstered by the inclusion of gherkin and tomato too. These experimental flavours sit on a more familiar botanical base including orange, rosemary, angelica root, liquorice, coriander seed, bay and of course, that beautiful juniper. All in all, you can expect a very unique flavour profile with a subtle spice on your tongue and a warmth in your belly, so it could shape up to be a very nice cold evening gin indeed.

It wasn’t just the flavour that caused May to pick mustard, but what it represents, saying, “It is more conceptual; an abstract signifier of America’s greatness. In producing this gin, I am acknowledging the UK’s debt to the Land of the Free and celebrating the special relationship our two nations enjoy.”

The initial release of 500 bottles sold out but not to worry if you’re intrigued and want to get your hands on some the gin has now been officially launched. you can buy the 40% ABV bottle from the James Gin website for £39.

We haven’t managed to try it just yet but we have a feeling mustard could be very hit or miss. If you have managed to get your hands on a bottle, do reach out to us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and let us know what you thought!

The Three Drinkers In Ireland Wins Award For ‘Cultural Contribution To The Spirits Industry’

The Three Drinkers are delighted to announce that their TV series The Three Drinkers in Ireland has won the award for ‘Cultural Contribution to the Spirits Industry’ at The Spirits Business Awards 2022.

WHAT ARE THE SPIRITS BUSINESS AWARDS?

The Spirits Business Awards is an annual, global competition, established in 2019 with the aim of rewarding the people and brands that are doing great things across the industry. There are multiple categories in the awards including celebrating retailers, distributors, marketers, brands, distillers, blenders, and more.

Aidy Smith from The Three Drinkers says “We are absolutely delighted to have been recognised for this award as this is exactly what we had hoped to achieve. When we made this show the idea was to move away from the intimidation that is all too often wrapped around drinks on TV. No abundance of swirling glasses and mundane tasting notes, just some friends on a journey exploring a world they have such a deep rooted passion for while getting to know the region they’re in through travel, food and tourism.”

WHO ARE THE THREE DRINKERS?

The Three Drinkers are drinks experts, writers and broadcasters Helena Nicklin and Aidy Smith, joined by a deliciously diverse revolving roster of ‘third drinker’ guests. As well as this, their second Amazon Three Drinkers TV series, they also produce the popular ‘Bring a Bottle’ podcast, run the drink, travel and lifestyle-focused online magazine thethreedrinkers.com and have a growing social media/influencer presence (@thethreedrinkers @HelenaSips @Sypped).

MORE ABOUT THE THREE DRINKERS IN IRELAND

The Three Drinkers in Ireland is an aspirational, gastronomic journey through the picturesque island of Ireland. Drinks experts Aidy Smith and Helena Nicklin with special guests Beth Brickenden and Eulanda Shead-Osagiede explore a variety of Irish drinks, from whiskey, gin and poitín to cider and Irish cream, take a deep dive into Ireland’s incredible food scene and showcase some traditional activities such as bog snorkelling, cheesemaking, eel fishing and Irish dancing.

The Three Drinkers returned to our screens in March this year with a brand new, six-part series on Amazon Prime called ‘The Three Drinkers in Ireland’.

Mara Barrat from Bord Bia says “Ireland is renowned for producing high quality, sustainable food and drink. So, it is really important that we work with the right partners to showcase this to the world. Working with The Three Drinkers was excellent as through their global reach, production expertise and innovative production style, we are able to demonstrate the premium quality and sustainability of Irish produce and furthermore tell the story of the passion, love and craftsmanship of Irish food and drink producers. We are also very excited about what this series will do for Irish food and drinks tourism."

Julie Wakley, Head of GB at Tourism Ireland says: “Tourism Ireland was delighted to work with The Three Drinkers, to create this exciting new series. With many people set to watch the series on Amazon Prime and beyond, it promises to be a great way to shine a spotlight on Ireland’s great food and drink offering, rich culture and spectacular landscapes.”

The series is available worldwide on Amazon Prime Video and you can now also watch episodes of the series on major airlines such as British Airways, Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Iberia, Aer Lingus and more.

Bar Douro

Picture this: It’s a rainy Sunday afternoon and you are in search of the perfect place for an end-of-week treat that won’t break the bank. We have the perfect place for you! Tucked away in the Southwark Quarter by London Bridge is Bar Douro; a Portuguese bar and restaurant. The restaurant is small, intimate and cosy - ideal for rainy days sipping on a glass of red. There is also an outdoor terrace, which is great in the summer.

The menu has various traditional Portuguese tapas divided into 4 sections: snacks, garden, sea and land. These dishes are meant for sharing and the waitress recommended two to three plates per person. What we loved was that she also gave her recommendations based on what reminded her of home - a great personal touch! There is quite a wide price range, from £5 to £17, so you can choose how much you want to splurge on food. Our favourite dishes were the mushroom pie (a new addition to the menu) and the croquetes de alheira.

Now onto the exciting part - the wine. The extensive cellar list is filled with Portuguese wines organised by colour and then by region. This can naturally be confusing if you are not familiar with Portuguese wine regions, so a handy map is included, which also explains the key characteristics of the grapes. What filled us with even more excitement is that on Sundays, Bar Douro has a selection of wines sold at cellar prices (what they are calling “Festa Sundays”). We tried the Domino Foxtrot 2020, a beautiful light red from the Alentejo region for only £20. This wine was a light-bodied, easy drinking red, with notes of ripe red fruits, and went well with the wide variety of dishes we tried. 

Bar Douro is ideal for: Date night, or dinner with a friend. Due to the smaller space, we wouldn’t recommend large groups (4+)

Ambience: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Value: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Range: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall: 9/10

To see more reviews, click here!

Words by Hannah van Houweninge.