Spirits Of The Day

[sunny-dave]

In CB for quick visibility.

Four genuine reductions in Amazon's BF Sale - if you like them (I do) they are good deals :

Kraken Rum - £16.80

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation


Sorry for the long links - no time to shorten them all

Bottoms Up

SD xx

[sunny-dave]

Drat - the links are bust :(

Will re-do one at a time

Sd x

[sunny-dave]

Kraken Rum - £16.80

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[sunny-dave]

Knob Creek - £24.99

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[sunny-dave]

Jura superstition - £22.49

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[sunny-dave]

Laphroaig Quarter Cask - £24.99 - on back order but you can still order at the offer price - click on the 'new from' link

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[sunny-dave]

What a faff - hope it helps one or two of our regular tipplers though

SD xx

[Buenchico]

I used to love Laphroaig but I find that my taste buds seem to have changed as I've grown older. It's now rather too 'medicinal' for me. I prefer something a little more mellow (and less peaty, such as the 'Jura' range).

[Peter Pedant]

Many thanks SD
damned nippy up Here I have to say
oop t North ...

[Hopkirk]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/11/18/15/3A83EFA700000578-0-image-m-63_1479483087985.jpg

[sunny-dave]

I'll have a case please Hoppy - and some maraschino cherries to have on my swizzle stick ...

[Tilly2]

Dave, sorry to interrupt but I wonder if you can help.

When I was a child, my dad and his uncle, who introduced him to it, would drink a combination of rum and Black Beer.

Recently my dad, who tends to live in the past, has been asking me to get him some black beer and some rum. I have googled Black Beer and it seems to be available but I'm not sure it's the same thing as he used to drink. Have you heard of that combination?

[Baldric]

Anything like ?

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/gb/groceries/mathers-black-beer-680ml?langId=44&;storeId=10151&krypto=9%2FbhBeUsyWHrwRkTf%2BNrVVYunzMFdI1Lft0N5w6Q648WVpc8p2jABW0kiOefE4UPoDTFVsghHUgFrzlVC6nf9WZXzsqR5yDPJ6s9GBTppNu54sihknL2DyNhyRYe0Fu%2BX7OVYweosh2nEFwNuBSLn0lM30NtIyrcOfenbA%2BzjWQ%3D&ddkey=http%3Agb%2Fgroceries%2Fmathers-black-beer-680ml

[sunny-dave]

Not come across it before, tilly - Balders' link looks interesting though.

[sunny-dave]

Sadly, it may be out of production - but I found this poster :

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/10151944_478772535557411_1359434772_n.jpg?oh=7a47968f7bf6312fb2baa935ba1c0c81&oe=58C3B9BC

[Tilly2]

I don't know what the beer was like except it seemed to be thin and watery, not like a stout or Guinness. Thanks for the link though, Baldric. I'll get him a bottle of that and see what he says.

[Baldric]

Just found this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzbier

[Tilly2]

Dave, your picture is the same brand as the one in Baldric's link. Maybe that it! Thank you.

[Buenchico]

The product referred to was almost certainly Mather's Black Beer. Up until 2012, although it had a hell of a kick at 8.5% ABV, it wasn't officially classed as a 'beer' as far as the tax system was concerned. So there was no excise duty charged on it.

However that changed in the 2012 budget, doubling the price of the product:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/apr/05/black-beer-future-budget-tax-relief

As predicted in that article, the manufacturer's were soon forced to cease production, as confirmed by their press release here:
http://www.continental-wine.co.uk/News.shtml

Mather's Black Beer was actually a 'spruce beer'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce_beer
but, unless you can get hold of specialist beers brewed in the USA and New Zealand, it's no longer commercially available.

If you know a home brewer though (who has got access to plenty of spruce needles) there are several recipes on the web.

[Tilly2]

At 8.5% mixed with rum, I now understand why my dad and my great uncle spent the whole of Christmas and Boxing Day night singing and then falling asleep!

[jno]

looks like you can order this one in the UK, Tilly

http://www.sanza.co.uk/Monteiths_Black.asp