Cocktails for the spring sun

I’m away at the moment, sampling Welsh beers and drinking cocktails on the porch.

Before I left, a much-beloved Scottish friend sent me these cocktail recipes. Unlike some, they work really well with cheap hooch.

I pass them on to you to enjoy as the sun beats down and the yard/garden/balcony becomes an extra room

You will need a shaker. And it’s much easier with a drinks’ measure.

Key
1 measure = 1.5 tablespoon
1tbsp = 15ml
1tsp = 5ml

Goldilocks

1 measure dark rum
1 measure Malibu
3 measures pineapple juice
2 measures orange juice

Shake with ice, and strain into a tall glass half-filled with crushed ice. Garnish with slices of pineapple and orange.

Caribbean Breeze

1 and half measure dark rum
half measure creme de banane
3 measures pineapple juice
2 measure cranberry juice (or orange juice)
quarter measure lime cordial

Shake all ingredients well with ice and strain into a large wine goblet, generously filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a slice of pineapple and a wedge of lime.
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Piña Colada
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One of the world’s most popular cocktails, with a name meaning strained pineapple. For an extra Caribbean touch the drink may be served in a hollowed out pineapple and you can liquidise the flesh for the juice of the cocktail. A bowl shaped cocktail glass is the next best thing.
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2 measures white rum or dark rum
2 measures pineapple juice
1 and half measures coconut cream
1 tsp caster sugar if you use freshly blended fruit
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Shake all ingredients well with ice, and strain into a cocktail goblet. Garnish with a slice of pineapple and a cherry. If you can’t get coconut cream use Malibu or equivalent quantity of any coconut liqueur.
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And for the ladies who prefer vodka…
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Sea Breeze
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2 measures vodka
2 measures grapefruit juice
3 measures cranberry juice
Shake all ingredients well with ice, and pour everything into a chilled highball glass. Add wedge of lime and a few cranberries.
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Sex on the beach
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1 measuure vodka
1 measure peach schnapps
3 measures cranberry juice
3 measures pineapple juice
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Half-fill a highball glass with cracked ice, add ingredients and stir vigorously. Garnish with pieces of pineapple and orange.
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Happy drinking

Festival week

The Baron’s four-week beer festival continues its impressive way with a quiz night tomorrow (Sunday, May 11) at 9pm.

This week is all about beers from Merseyside, with brews from the Southport Brewery, Cain’s, the George Wright Brewery of Rainford and, most intriguingly of all, Higson’s – a Bootle-brewed version of the much loved Liverpool ale that disappeared decades ago to the horror of its fans.

Meanwhile, The Southport Food and Drink Festival takes place from May 15-18.

There will be a range of activities and attractions on offer in the town throughout the four-day festival - from expert beer and wine tastings to ale-related beauty treatments.

I’d give you more on what’s going on, but trying to get info from Sefton Council is like trying to get blood out of a stone. Camra are doing a stall somewhere with free beer samples.

Fair pint campaign to launch in London

The Fair Pint Campaign against the greed of the pubcos and the anti-pub legislation of this Government launches at 9.30am on Tuesday 13 May at the House of Commons.

Press and MP’s in abundance, all welcome.

If you’re in the big smoke on the day, get down there and join the chorus of boos against these enemies of the people.

S&B beer festival

Southport & Birkdale cricket club are putting on a beer festival next weekend (Saturday 17-Sunday 18).

The festival, which features 15 beers, is open to the public with a £5 entry charge that entitles you to try “six or seven” beers in third-of-a-pint glasses before being invited to buy halves and pints “at reduced rates”.

There will be food on sale and Birkdale 2nds will be playing a match on Saturday, which is as pleasant a way of whiling away the time with a couple of beers as I can think of.

In the beer line up there will be three brews from the brilliant Southport Brewery, three from Cain’s and nine others selected in conjunction with Camra member and all-round good egg Martin Christopher.

If you’ve never been to the S&B club, it’s a really smart bar with good views of the cricket pitch and tennis courts. Bar prices are normally a bit on the high side, but the free entertainment is worth the extra.

Bar manager Matt Harrison said: “We wanted to do our bit for the summer festival season in Southport and also to celebrate that we’ve awarded a Cask Marque – which means drinkers can be confident that we look after our beer properly.”

Plod wants your pints

The Chief Constable of Merseyside, Bernard Hogan-Howe, says that the rise in violent gun crime in Britain is down to…you guessed it, alcohol.

Howe wants a ban on new off-licences opening, and a return of powers to veto pubs and off-licences – powers his Force lost when the High Court ruled them to be illegal in 2000.

At Channel 4’s Street Weapons Commission in Liverpool yesterday, Hogan-Howe said restrictions on alcohol sales are necessary as part of a “total war on crime”.

Plod is after your pint. Watch out!

And shouldn’t Channel 4 stick to making episodes of Countdown rather than than giving policemen a platform to push forward their political agenda?

Baron’s beers selling fast

The Baron’s Bar beer festival is proving a runaway success.

The plan is to have four separatly themed weeks, but beer has been selling so fast that boss man George Sourbutts had to start the second week early and draft in extra beers from nearby breweries.

Last night was for Camra members, with pints of the good stuff going for just £1.50 to the affiliated. I wish I had the memory of bloggers like Tyson and Tandleman, but today I can only remember a handful of those sunk last night  - and those not too well.

Squirrel’s Hoard of the Hart brewery of Preston (brewer’s blog here), who annoy some with their cheeky pump clips, was first up.

It didn’t go down too well. I can remember a nutty (natch) back-flavour and wheelbarrows of malt. Just not my cup of tea, or pint of bitter.

Woodfordes Wherry was up next, a beer I’m familiar with having made it from a home-drew kit many moons ago. This was a lot sweeter than I remember with a pleansant sort of “old socks” aftertaste.

Muldoons Black Adder was going down fast with a lot of the drinkers but again didn’t hit the spot for me. There was bits of liquorce, Rolos and toasted malt, reminding me of the milk stout they used to sell in those little cans, but on such a warm night I found it heavy going.

Highlight of the evening was old favourite Bitter and Twisted by the Harviestoun Brewery of Scotland. Refreshing hints of lemon and lots of hoppy goodness, it barely touched the sides as more rounds were ordered, top secret plans for Glass War outrages were formualted, and a raffle was lost.

After that, the evening and beer clips started to blur.

Bosses target drinkers

A cynical survey by the Norwich Union reveals 77% of  bosses believe alcohol is the number one threat to employee well-being and should be stamped out.

This survey is all about selling insurance, so we shouldn’t pay too much heed to it, but interestingly enough it throws up some unintended good news for drinkers. Of the 33% of people who admit to being drunk in the workplace, 35% said it made them less productive.

Does that mean that 65% do better when they’re juicing on the job? 

Windmill Hotel is ’safe’

The owner of the Windmill Hotel pub in Parbold has moved to quash rumours it will be turned into flats.

David Halliwell said: “I just rent the premises to the tenant. I’ve no plans to pull it down or anything like that. The plan is obviously to revamp the pub, either I’ll do it or the tenant will.”

When asked why the rumours had circulated he said: “It’s probably because I’m a property developer but I’m also a property investor and this is one I’ve invested in.”

Camra beer night

The Baron’s bar is offering all real ales at £1.50 a pint tomorrow (Tuesday May 6) to all members of Camra who can search through their kitchen drawers and find a valid membership card.

That’s a choice of 11 beer-festival beers served in peak condition for £1.50 a freakin pint. Amazing value in these cut-throat days.

I’d imagine that if you wanted to join Camra on the night they could accommodate you. You could probably save your membership fee in a single session.

Short, dark night of the soul

To the St Teresa of Avila (my patron saint) social club in Birkdale yesterday and a free bar and buffet to celebrate the First Holy Communion of my wonderful nephew.

When there’s no cask beer, I normally make for the Bloody Mary’s, but as this was a kiddies party, getting hammered wouldn’t have gone down well, so Tetley dark mild was given a go.

This is a beer I love on cask, but it disappointed badly on keg. First of all, it comes out ice cold, with all the subtle flavours bashed into a box under the stairs. What you’re left with is something a bit like a weak Guinness but without the redeeming creamy mouthfeel and full-bodied middle.

Wondering what sort of person drinks this night after night, I decided to delve deeper into sin, getting crack-house-whore dirty and ordering a Carlsberg Extra Cold.

The beer has no flavour other than a dry and chemical hit of alcohol. It’s ice cold and gassy and leaves a ‘chips and scampi’ aftertaste. It’s terrible, feckin terrible, not even as good as a can of barbecue lager.

Yet, why is there a moreish quality?

Is it the alcohol-kick? The lab-rat mucking around that leaves you thirsty after finishing a pint? The secret addition of cocaine in the brewing process?

There was a time when pub opinion had it that if you could only educate people about the joys of real ale then we’d see off the lager filth for good.

But as I made inroads into a second pint, the people told me Carlsberg extra cold is a “great pint”, with a “beer is beer and does what beer does” attitude.

These people don’t want Sheep Lifter ale or Old Cawliflower Hen, as they see the real ale choice, they want adult Coca Cola, cold, fizzy, dry with an instant alcohol cock-slap to the chops.

Real ale missionaries have really got their work cut out.