Drink of the Week: Heroes Vodka

Thanks to the bottles, barrels and jugs of experimental boozes that slosh their way through our Brewing Shed*, we are never short of something to guzzle after a hard day spent mooching around the allotment, staring at weeds. In addition to this endless torrent of home-brewed beverages, we also get the occasional bottle of booze sent to us by companies eager to tap into our alco-knowledge for ‘expert’ feedback. Whilst many of these boozes are consigned to the dusty downstairs cupboard to ‘mature for a bit’ before being forgotten about, we jumped to attention and saluted when this courageous bottle of vodka commando-rolled through the letterbox and leapt into our arms (in a manly fashion).

Heroes Vodka came about through the distilling adventures of Chris Gillan, a former soldier who had his career cut short after sustaining an injury whilst training in Afghanistan. A period of unemployment followed, resulting in Chris turning to the Armed Forces charities for financial support. Chris founded the Heroes Drinks Company off the back of this support, creating a booze business that pledges donations from sales. Twenty percent of profits from the vodka go to forces and veterans charities, supporting business development and creating jobs for veterans nationwide through a series of work placement programs.

Heroes Vodka is a slick, 75% proof, wheat-based booze, with a scant sweetness on the palate, a dusting of peppery spice and a slight hint of vanilla on finish. It’s a fine drink served chilled and supped from a shot glass, but also makes a great mixer.

Perfect, in fact for sending on a mission…

A covert cocktail mission – codename: Brass Monkey**

How to make a Brass Monkey Cocktail

For our Brass Monkey cocktail, Heroes Vodka spearheads the assault. We press-ganged Pusser’s Rum to provide naval firepower, and we tipped our beret to the Air Force with the addition of a paper umbrella parachute.

1. Airdrop 2 oz Heroes Vodka and 2 oz Pusser’s Navy Rum into the danger zone of a tall glass
2. Top up with orange juice
3. Send in ice, for support
4. Add parachute
5. Sup, two, three, four…

Heroes Vodka can be purchased from selected Asda stores.

 

* *Some of these boozes have been known to pass through the Brewing Shed, skipping the ‘bottle to glass to lips’ part, and going direct to the drain.

** The phrase ‘to freeze the balls off a brass monkey’ is an English colloquialism used to describe cold weather. As in “Hey Alan, it’s cold down here on the allotment. It’s enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.” 

There’s a common held belief that this phrase refers to a rack of cannonballs held in a pyramid frame on old naval gunships. A ten-second google search reveals the truth – cannonballs were never stored in pyramids on naval gunships, they were stored in wooden troughs. The ‘brass monkey’ in this phrase refers to a monkey. Made from brass. With brass monkey balls.

A musical footnote

The Beastie Boys sung about their love for the Brass Monkey cocktail, and in doing so, cemented their place amongst the ranks of great poetic lyricists with this poignant verse. Bob Dylan, eat your heart out…

“Because I drink it anytime and anyplace
When it’s time to get ill I pour it on my face
Monkey tastes def when you pour it on ice
Come on y’all it’s time to get nice”
The Beastie Boys, Brass Monkey, 1986

 

 

 

https://www.rafbf.org/

 

 

 

https://www.rnrmc.org.uk/

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.soldierscharity.org/

The post Drink of the Week: Heroes Vodka appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2017/03/drink-week-heroes-vodka/

Three new gardening books reviewed

2017 already looks like being a great year for gardening books if the standard of review copies coming our way is anything to go by. Spring has barely begun and we’ve already picked out three that deserve a space on your shelves, and here’s why…

Build a Better Vegetable Garden

By Joyce Russell, photography by Ben Russell
Published by Frances Lincoln, £16.99

The clue to the contents of this book come in its subtitle, ’30 DIY Projects to Improve your Harvest’, and anyone with a liking for the practical-building aspect of gardening will be charging up their cordless drill within minutes of opening it. Joyce Russell guides the reader through 30 projects, including raised beds, bean frames and boot cleaners, every stage of construction matched with an instructive photograph.

Each one of the projects is presented with such down-to-earth clarity that even the toughest ‘five dot’ builds – such as a natty looking garden caddy – look easy enough for anyone able to unroll a tape measure. For those less sure of the items in their tool box, the book opens with a guide to the basic tools required followed by handy tips on some of the drilling and cutting actions required.

Within each project you’ll also find useful gardening advice. So following on from the photograh of Joyce proudly putting her A-shaped bean frame in place we have a page of sowing and growing tips for the beans that will swarm around its timbers. And it’s this combination of building and growing advice that makes this book so special – you know that each one of these projects has been conceived by a proper gardener with the aim of making the vegetable growing experience more rewarding.

My Garden is a Car Park and other Design Dilemmas

By Kendra Wilson
Published by Laurence King Publishing, £12.99

Is your garden too long and narrow? Does it have high walls and railings? Or are you considering keeping chickens but are worried they’ll destroy everything in sight? Most of us have at least one gardening obstacle or anxiety to overcome, and Kendra Wilson has addressed some of the most common in this new book.

Given the book’s premise, you might think not many of the 144 pages are going to apply to any one garden, but you would be surprised. Besides design concerns of garden shape and situation, the book also answers questions related to specific plants (“are roses complicated”) and troublesome tasks (“I don’t like mowing around trees”). Each topic is given a full page of advice facing a page of photography, with related topics cross referenced, making this a dip-in-and-of book, rather than a cover-to-cover affair.

Wilson’s writing is as neat and tidy as the book’s presentation, dispatching various considerations to each subject with a confident and reassuring purpose. Even if you’re so laid back about your own garden that you can’t possibly think of a problem that needs overcoming, a quick flick through this book might just open you up to new ideas to get even more from your cherished outdoor space.

The Gardener’s Companion to Medicinal Plants

By Monique Simmonds, Melanie-Jayne Howes and Jason Irving
Published by Frances Lincoln, £14.99

We all know that plants are grown to provide beauty for an outdoor space, sustenance for the vegetable gardener or, in our case, ingredients for booze. But one of the most fascinating, yet under appreciated benefits to nurturing some plants is for their medicinal qualities.

This book delves into the vast banks of knowledge available from over 250 years of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and shares an understanding of the medicinal properties of more than 270 plants. Each one comes with brief botanical knowledge and medicinal uses, accompanied with clear illustration to aid identification. You’ll also find 24 practical projects for preparing tinctures, teas and oils from some of the book’s star subjects.

It’s a lovely reference tool for anyone who wants an informative overview on the subject of medicinal plants. You’ll find growing and picking advice, potential cures for ailments you’ve never heard of, and plenty of fascinating facts and insights that makes each passage of copy an educational and enjoyable read.

The post Three new gardening books reviewed appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2017/03/review-gardening-books-kendra-wilson-joyce-russell-kew-gardens/

Craft Beer Rising 2017: our top 5 beers

After putting on a few demos at last year’s Craft Beer Rising, the event organisers invited us back this year to present more of the same to the boozy masses who happened to wander into the tasting room. We spent our alotted hour demonstrating how home grown and foraged ingredients could be used in the making of  beer. The punters at Craft Beer Rising, held at the magnificent Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, sniffed and nibbled coriander seeds, rosemary and wormwood; they guzzled our nettle beer with glee; they sampled some professional brews from our pals at St Austell Brewery and Gyle 59; but most of all they wondered what was the knobbly, soily mass of roots temporarily housed in an ice cream tub. It was a hop plant.* Everyone was familiar with the taste, smell and appearance of the flower cones, but no-one – not even the professional Brewers that stopped for a chat – recognised the dormant plant.

Despite being on hop-educational duties we were still able to plough through plenty of the beers on offer, drunkenness kept in check by the provision of tiny tasting glasses (although these were swapped for more substantial vessels when our demo was over). To round off the event we’ve put together a list of our five Craft Beer Rising 2017 favourites – delicious nettle beer not included.

Fierce Beer / Dugges, Wee Fierce Dugges, 9%

We’ve been tipping Fierce for success ever since we laid our tongues on their Cranachan Killer and the new Scottish brewing stars delivered a boozy sensation with this Wee Heavy – with a little help from Swedish booze aces Dugges. The smell alone was worth the cost of entry and the Butterscotch sweetness and a beautifully smooth malty body were a genuine alcohol-laden treat.

Epic Brewing Company, Tart N Juicy Sour IPA, 4.5%

This beer, from Utah’s Epic, is a cross between a hoppy IPA and sour gose. Our Tart n Juicy exprience began with an unusual musty aroma and was soon followed by intense flavours of plum and sharp, cheek-crushing grapefruit. Distinctive and delicious.

Jolly Pumpkin, Anchorage No Ka Oi, 6.3%

Sylvia Klopp, from the American Brewers Association, led a superb tasting session of some incredible beers. Our favourite was the weakest of the seven (yes, 6.3% was the weakest. We finished with a 12% wheat wine) which was brewed by Michigan’s Jolly Pumpkin. Wild yeast, barrel ageing and adjuncts of raspberry and lime peel built up layers of flavours, creating one of the most complex beers we’ve ever had.

BeerCat, Flor D’ordal, 4.8%

We turned to this Catalan brewery for the most refreshing beer of the show, cleansing our palettes of wheat wines and wee heavies. It’s a light, cloudy beer, flavoured with peach, but in a delicate way that made it not too sweet or overbearingly fruity. We could’ve done with bigger glasses for this highly gluggable booze.

Camden Town Brewery, Pale Ale, 4%

We snuck up on the Camden Town Brewery stand in search of their limited edition rhubarb ale, but we snuck up on the wrong day. Instead Nick ordered a Gentleman’s Wit and Rich a Pale Ale. Sometimes, when you’ve been guzzling barrel aged and wild and sour and peach and raspberry and lime and other extravagantly flavoured brews, something simple, reliable and well crafted is in order. So these beers perfectly hit the spot, with Rich particularly enthusiastic in his praise of the pale.

 

*Variety: Mount Hood, property of Rich, surname Hood

The post Craft Beer Rising 2017: our top 5 beers appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2017/03/craft-beer-rising-2017-top-5-festival-beers-london/

Bright thinking. Five reasons for fitting garden lights

Enjoying your garden doesn’t have to end when the sun goes down. Here are five reasons why it’s worth installing some garden lights.

I can see clearly now
It’s the most obvious reason, but by lighting the garden you can see what you’re doing for longer. I’ve gone for a fairly powerful pair of Philips myGarden Flowers LED solar lights which are more than bright enough to help locate my glass of cider. If I get a few more it would even allow for a spot of midnight weeding.

Get creative
Strategically placed bulbs in a flower border, at the base of a tree, or beside your prize winning gnome collection not only allows you to see your garden for longer, but it also casts a whole new light on your garden features. Position them right and you’ll soon be glowing with extra pride at your illuminating creativity.

Who goes there?
A decent beam of light punctuating a dark sky can actually act as a security measure against those wishing to pilfer your garden tools or break into the house. While in no way a guaranteed deterrent, an outdoor light might persuade a criminal mind that you’re at home when you’re actually down the pub, and with a stronger beam their preferred shadow of darkness has been shattered.

Solar power
One of the big bonuses of garden lighting is the ability to harness the sun’s energy to power up your garden at night. Some lights come with built in solar panels, or you could opt for the increased sun guzzling power of a special panel like the one with my Philips kit. Stick it in a spot that maximises daylight, plug the lights in and you can position them wherever you like – without the need for power cables.

Wild, wild life
For many people, their garden priority is about making a home for wildlife by providing a space where nature can come up close. Bright glares can scare off nocturnal creatures, but a subtle touch of lighting can help the wildlife spotter get a clearer glimpse of hedgehog, fox or other night crawlers. Hang a sheet behind the bulb and you’ve instantly created a moth’s paradise.

Note: the lights featured in the piece were sent to us for review

The post Bright thinking. Five reasons for fitting garden lights appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2017/03/five-reasons-for-fitting-garden-lights/

Five of the best Cornish beers (from Cornwall’s biggest breweries)

Thanks to the likes of Rick Stein, Poldark and some of the UK’s most dramatic landscapes, Cornwall has become one of the most fashionable areas of the country. Local food and drink producers have been capitalising on this surge of interest in Cornwall and anything from sea salt to tea bags has the county’s name stamped all over the packaging in a bid to boost sales.

The region’s brewers have long been held in high regard but now many of their beers are gaining national recognition, riding the crest of the Cornish wave. We’ve been guzzling Cornish booze for decades* so decided it was high time we picked out some of the county’s best beers from its biggest breweries…

Sharp’s Brewery, Rock

Founded in 1994, Sharp’s has long been quenching the thirst of Cornish beer drinkers with its range of real ales. Thanks to some canny investment and marketing nous, their easy-going bitter Doom Bar was transformed into one of the biggest beer brands in the country, making it a regular fixture in pubs and supermarkets throughout the land.

Try this: Sea Fury (5%) is Doom Bar’s big brother, first brewed 20 years ago, and with more muscle than its better known sibling. It’s styled along ‘special bitter’ lines, with some toastiness to the malt, fruity berry flavours and a bitter finish.

Buy some here

St. Austell Brewery

St. Austell’s famous brewery has been crafting beer since 1865, but it was a trip to Oregon by brewer Roger Ryman in 2004 that launched it into the modern era with one of the UK’s most prominent IPAs. Inspired by the full flavoured American versions of this historical British drink, Proper Job was born, and the brewery’s creative juices have shown no signs of slowing down since.

Try this: Proper Job is still one of the best IPAs around, but St Austell’s experimental small batch ales are equally worthy of attention. APA Eureka (4.9%) is one that has been elevated to ‘regular’ status, named after a new hop variety and blessed with a swirl of bitter citrus, fruity berry and punchy herbal flavours.

Buy some here

Harbour Brewing Co, Bodmin

In 2003 we were invited to take part in Sainsbury’s ‘Great British Beer Hunt‘ to help thesupermarket find a new beer to stock. Our vote went to a superb porter brewed by Harbour which made it to the national final before being beaten by the same brewery’s IPA. Since then they’ve gone on to even bigger and better things, including a series of impressive collaborations with global breweries and introducing cans to their beer range.

Try this: Harbour’s Session IPA (4.3%) has a wonderful tropical aroma and tastes superbly fresh. It has a light malt and plenty of grapefruit and mango flavours with a satisfying crisp finish for maximum gluggability.

Buy some here

Skinner’s Brewery, Truro

Steve Skinner began brewing traditional beers with an extra notch of flavour back in 1997 and, with the help of some saucy cartoon packaging quickly built up a loyal bunch of followers. Helped by the recent interest in Cornish beers, those labels have been smartened up and the beers are becoming a familiar site beyond the Devon border.

Try this: Cornish bitter Betty Stogs was once crowned the nation’s best beer by CAMRA and, along with Cornish Knocker, is the brewery’s most well known beer. It’s a very fine traditional bitter, with a good malty body supporting some mellow bitter hops, and it’s easy-drinking nature makes it ideal for those who like to take big swigs of their booze.

Buy some here

Keltek Brewery, Redruth

Of all the many Cornish breweries queuing up for a piece of the limelight we reckon Keltek is as well placed as any of them to hit the big time. The brewery started as a hobby back in 1997 and steadily grew over the subsequent ten years before moving to large premises in Redruth and acquiring its own pubs a few years later.

Try this: Keltek’s range of beers each has a reference to King Arthur, claimed by some to be a Cornishman, and mostly follow traditional ale styles. Lance (4%) is a golden ale of the style popular before hop forward pale ales started dominating the scene. It’s light and easy going with a slight bite of biscuit malts, a refreshing spritz of lemony fruit and a soothing touch of honey. A simple pleasure that’s pitched just right for mass market appeal.

Buy some here

*Most of Nick’s family is Cornish, cutting his Cornish beer teeth on pints of Spingo at his dad’s local, the Blue Anchor in Helston

The post Five of the best Cornish beers (from Cornwall’s biggest breweries) appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2017/03/five-best-cornish-beers-st-pirans-day-austell-keltek-skinners-sharp-harbour/

Interview with the Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival organisers

May bank holiday weekend will see over thirty internationally renowned brewers pitch up their stands at the 2017 Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival for one of the most eagerly anticipated booze-ups of the year. To whet your appetite for the beery offerings ahead we caught up with organisers Daniel Sylvester (pictured left) and Greg Wells (right) to find out a little more about what’s in store…

There are a lot of beer festivals around at the moment. Why did you decide to put one together?
We have organised successful beer festivals in London and Bristol and the feedback has been amazing. Beer-goers are excited by the idea they will be able to try beers they have never tried before, and find out about breweries they haven’t heard of before. We are bringing the world’s best breweries under one roof and Edinburgh is the perfect festival city to celebrate our love of beer.

You have an impressive line-up of international breweries – how did you decide which ones to invite?
We have great relationships with many breweries, we really respect what they are doing and the beer they are making. Usually, beer festivals tend to focus on local talent, but we really want to make this festival a global celebration of beer.  We reached out to breweries we knew our festival-goers would love to try and we are excited to welcome them to Scotland.

Some come from far-flung places, was it easy to persuade them to fly over to Scotland?
It didn’t take much arm-twisting to persuade them to make the trip to Scotland. The craft beer scene in the UK is really lively at the moment and the brewers are excited by the set-up of our festival and joining a bunch of like-minded people at our global gathering of the best of craft beer.

You’ve also got some of the finest Scottish breweries in attendance. We reckon Scotland is right at the forefront of the craft beer scene – why do you think there are so many great new Scottish breweries springing up?
Scotland has a great brewing heritage that is currently being redefined and given a contemporary edge. Our Scottish partner breweries attending Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival are continually pushing the barriers of craft beer making, coming up with exciting new offerings and building a loyal following.

Unusually for a beer festival, the ticket price gets visitors unlimited samples of beer. Why did you decide to go down this route?
The event is a celebration of world beer so we need to make it accessible and inclusive. We want ticket holders to have the opportunity to try the amazing beers on offer. Festival-goers get small 100ml tasters of beer while other beer festivals tend to charge for half and two third pints.

You’ve also got food lined up for hungry punters. Can we expect deep fried Mars bars?
Deep fried mars bars will not be on the menu! We have teamed up with local food market The Pitt who offer a fantastic array of street-food from pizza to BBQ and everything in between. The Pitt felt like a natural food partner for us following the success of their Pitt St market just down the road from the Biscuit Factory in Leith.

Finally, can you point us in the direction of five great beers you think we should try?
The breweries are still finalising the beers they are showcasing at the festival, but recently our favourite beers have been, of course, some Scottish beers…

Fallen – Chew Chew
Tempest Brew Co – Old Fashioned
Pilot – UltraViolet
Dugges – The Tango Twang
Wiper & True – Amber Ale Red Orange

Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival runs from Friday 26 May to Sunday 28 May 207 at The Biscuit Factory in Leith. Tickets are available now: http://www.edinburghcraftbeerfestival.co.uk

 

Photograph by Stewart Attwood

The post Interview with the Edinburgh Craft Beer Festival organisers appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2017/03/interview-organisers-edinburgh-craft-beer-festival-2017-leith/

Careful with that sappie, Eugene: your guide to unusual wood chopping tools

Chopping wood? Then you’ll obviously need an axe of some description. But there are also some less familiar tools that might just come in handy. Here are a few of them…

Sappie

A sappie has an axe-like handle with a curved metal beak-like end, which is swung into small pieces of tree trunk or logs to enable them to be lifted without bending your back. Tools used for clearing overgrown areas, such as some brush hooks and bill hooks, can also double up to this task, while shorter moving tools include drag hooks, pulp hooks and lifting tongs.

Cant Hook

Similar to the‘sappie, a cant hook consists of a giant hook and blunt spike (known as a dog), sometimes with teeth, on the end of a long lever. It’s designed to make it easier to move logs, particularly for speedily turning them over. Similar to a peavey, which has a pointed spike instead of the toothy option. Not to be confused with the swing dingle or loose-tongued sloop, log moving devices akin to a sled.

The first photo features a ‘STUBAI Hand Sappie’ and second a ‘STUBAI Cant Hook’ from top tool merchants Engelbert Strauss, which can be found online here

Grenade

A grenade is a lump of metal with a point at one end, which is placed in the middle of a slice of tree and whacked with a mallet. Hit the sweet spot and the wood will conveniently split. They’re similar to a range of wedges, which include splitting wedge, felling wedge and cleaving wedge, that are used to split wood lengthways or assist with chopping down whole trees.

We included a bit more information about grenade usage in our piece ‘How to chop wood with a mighty log splitting axe’

Froe

A froe is an L-shaped tool with a fat cleaving knife joined at a right angle to the end of a wooden handle. It sits along the grain of a piece of timber, traditionally held in a cleaving brake, and is whacked with mallet causing it to split before twisting the blade to break the wood into two pieces. Can be spelt frow and is also known as a shake axe.

Fancy making your own Froe? This blog by Chris Colley shows you how…

 

Note: In case you’re wondering, here’s the reference to the title of this piece

 

 

 

 

 

The post Careful with that sappie, Eugene: your guide to unusual wood chopping tools appeared first on Two Thirsty Gardeners.

from Two Thirsty Gardeners http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2017/03/sappie-efore-cant-hook-grenade-unusual-wood-chopping-tools/