Government To Set A Minimum Price For Alcohol
The Times is saying that the Government will be consulting on this. What I noticed was that the article was accompanied by a picture of a plastic bottle of own brand supermarket cider, which it said could treble in price.
If it increased in price by ten times, it wouldn’t bother me, as that is the sort of drink, that would make me ill, as I’m allergy to gluten, which those drinks often contain.
My preferred long drink is actually Aspall’s cyder, which is generally about a couple of pounds for a half litre. The muck shown in the article is quoted as costing about £1.20 and that’s for four times as much.
I prefer to enjoy my drinking, rather than drink to oblivion.
So I’m very much in favour of a minimum price for a unit of alcohol. It might cost me a couple of quid a week at most.
They Don’t Make Pubs Like This Anymore
In Hartlepool station, there is the Rat Race Ale House micropub.
The sign says it all. Note the barrels and the absence of the bar. As I said before, every station needs one of these.
Is Cider Good For You?
it is reported on the BBC that alcohol-related disease is very much on the rise, in a study from John Moores University.
Here’s an extract from the BBC report.
Annual rates for alcohol-related hospital admission in Liverpool are 3,114 per 100,000 compared to 849 per 100,000 in the Isle of Wight.
In Blackpool, the findings showed the number of deaths from chronic liver disease were 46 per 100,000 men and 21 per 100,000 women, compared with the lowest rates in the City of London and in West Somerset where nobody died of liver disease.
Does the last bit mean that cider is good for you?
You’d have thought that the City of London would be higher up the list too. Although, I did have lunch with a stockbroker yesterday and all he had was a bottle of Italian beer. But he did have to ride his bike back to Kingston after work.
An Objective in Life!
Last night, I was writing to a friend about the pubs near to my new house. I said the following.
My local is just four doors away, but it needs educating. All it serves is crap upside-down lager and chemical cider. But there are a few Adnams pubs within a few minutes walk. And most Adnams pubs serve the best cider in the world, Aspall, which has been crafted in Suffolk since 1728.
Perhaps my first objective in life is to celebrate their tri-centenary. I’ll only be 81!
I used to worry that because my father and his father died so young, that I might suffer the same fate. But now I’m more optimistic, especially as I’e found out that most of my grandfather’s brothers and my mother and both grandmothers, lived either well into their eighth decade or even into their ninth.
So perhaps, it’s an objective I stand a chance of fulfilling. I’m certainly going to give it a good shot!
The Welcome Invader from the East.
After racing yesterday, I took the train from Thirsk to York, so that I could see my old boss, who was in hospital in York. He seemed better in some ways to when I saw him a few weeks ago, but I understand from his family he has a long way to go. But I know he’ll do it, as he’ll find some way to pull through. I’ll also visit him when I can, as he has been such a great support to me over the previous couple of years through my troubles and I know I must pay that back. But I’m not that good on those sorts of debts!
But as I got back from York to Cambridge for the princely sum of just £13.20, it’s not something that would worry anybody on cost grounds!
After I’d seen him in hospital, I went with his son to the local Premium Inn. They had bottles of Aspall cyder in the bar! So over 250 years after it was first brewed in Suffolk, it finally invades Yorkshire!
I certainly needed a drink after the day I’d had!
An Ideal Mouth Refresher
My mouth still feels rubish and I try to freshen it up with all sorts of things from curries to whisky.
Last night though when I cooked the chicken pie, I found the ideal drink to refresh my mouth. As I had some cider left over, I did the good thing and drunk half a bottle of Aspall’s Premier Cru Suffolk Cyder. It was so good, I’m drinking another bottle tonight!
Cider in Edinburgh
Proper cider is my long drink of choice and it seemed to be almost missing from Edinburgh pubs and hostelries. Only as we were getting a bus late on Friday, did I find some Weston’s being advertised outside a J D Wetherspoon’s pub called the Alexander Graham Bell.
Now I’m watching Michael Portillo in Carluke and he is talking apple juice and cider.
So I searched and found this page on the web. But I can’t find his Carluke cider makers.
The Princess of Shoreditch
One of the problems of being a coeliac is that you have trouble with eating on the hoof. Today, I was walking through Shoreditch, just looking at the buildings, when I came across a (gastro)pub called the Princess of Shoreditch.
The menu looked that one or two of the items were gluten free, so I thought I’d go in and see if I could have a meal. I entered and found that they had Aspall Cyder on draught, which is always a welcome sign for me. And probably for a lot of other coeliacs too!
I asked whether the poached cod on the menu was gluten free and this was checked with the chef. I got a friendly thumbs up sign, so I ordered it.
Poached Cod
It was very good and the whole lunch including a pint of Aspall and coffee cost twenty pounds. I’ll go again.
Since I’ve got home, I’ve checked Time Out. They like it too!
The Cider Revolt
The BBC has just had a full hour on the tax on cider.
But perhaps the most extraordinary feature is the number of protests on Facebook in a Group called, “Leave Our Cider Alone”. It has got over 13,000 members in well under a day.
The Anonymous Widower 