More drinks for Christmas

Jim Beam Bourbon is one the best Bourbons that are available.

It comes all the way from Kentucky and is an ideal drink for the Christmas season, bringing the warming tastes of the best of American summers.

It's great by itself, on the rocks or as the basis for many good cocktails.

My wife and I enjoyed it with some home-made cinnamon sugar, which was perfect.

But then came some Jim Beam's Devil's Cut 90 Proof Bourbon.

It has a heady, woody taste to it that has echoes of it's brother bourbon, but which takes you on a journey through a variety of spices and flavours.

You have to sip it, really sip it. Because it really is that good.

Amidst the bourbons we found our bottle of Courvoisier Cognac.

Wow! What can I say? We were, once again, blown away by this cognac. If creating this drink was all that France was known for, it would be enough to earn France its place in the sun.

Delicious and an ideal companion for Christmas, sat by the flickering fire, eating mince pies and sipping Courvoisier. Charming and enchanting.

Then we came to our bottle of Auchentoshan 12 year-old Scotch. Triple distilled for three times the three times the flavour?

Yes, that's so! My wife is not, it has to be said, all that keen on Scotch. But she nodded in bliss, smiled and said: "That hits the spot!"

We then moved on to a bottle of Licor 43, or Cuarenta Y. An ideal friend of the cocktail maker, this Spanish liqueur is a combination of fruit juices and 43 different herbs and spices, hence the 43 in the name.

You can taste vanilla and the warming Spanish sun. It's a thick, sweet golden liqueur, we mixed it with ginger ale and were pleasantly impressed with the result.

We next worked with some Jim Beam Red Stag, which was flavoured with black cherry. Some products that are cherry flavoured taste a bit like bubble gum, but red Stag with Black Cherry is pure cherry, through-and-through. Along with the wonderful taste of Jim, Beam, of course!

Were we flagging? Not a bit of it! Next we tried some Jim Beam with Honey and marvelled anew at the bourbon maker's artistry in creating yet another wonderful drink, so suited to Christmas and the New Year.

Give the chocoholic in your life the ultimate Christmas gift

Yes, you can give the chocoholic in your life the ultimate Christmas gift, this year.

If you have been  spending ages tracking down the best Christmas present ever for the chocolate lover that's close to your heart, look no further, because you have found that special present in the very appealing shape of Chocolate Ecstasy Tours www.chocolateecstasytours.com.

Chocolate Ecstasy Tours provide guided chocolate tours around London and Brighton.

These acclaimed walking tours take the chocolate lover on a tour the likes of which they might not even have imagined, visiting gorgeous chocolate boutiques, sampling the chocolates in the company of chocolateries who are at the height of their profession.

Tours cost from surprisingly modest  £33. They will include the Mayfair Chocolate Tour for samples beloved of the Queen and of the late Roald Dahl; the connoisseur’s tour of Chelsea’s top chocolateries; an ultra-caffeinated Coffee and Chocolate Tour in Notting Hill; a perfect date Evening Tour that finishes with a cocktail in a secret bar; and the brand new seaside Chocolate Tour in Brighton.

Talented guides 'walk the walk and talk the talk' when it comes to chocolate. They love taking the small groups of tour guests to exquisite chocolatiers to sample the divine creations and interspersing these delights with fascinating local history.  VIP discounts on chocolate purchases are also included for those who wish to top-up their gift with extra chocolate!

Chocolate Ecstasy Tours has a Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence and is one of the top 30 activities to do in London. Tours and Golden Ticket gift certificates can be bought online. Gift vouchers can also be printed from home, perfect for those last-minute purchases!

Visit www.chocolateecstasytours.com to buy the perfect gift. Want to talk about a private booking? Then give them a call on 0203 4321 306 or email info@chocolateecstasytours.com.  

Celebrate Christmas in West Park hotel style

Harrogate's West Park hotel, restaurant and bar will be the place to celebrate Christmas and the New Year.

This season residents and guests will be enjoying two very exciting Christmas cocktails, created specially for the West Park Hotel by Mark Young, the bar manager at West Park Hotel, Harrogate’s latest destination bar and luxury boutique hotel.

West Park Cinnamon Berry Fizz

Enjoy a little yuletide cheer with this delicious cinnamon berry fizz cocktail to help keep spirits high this festive season.


Ingredients for one cocktail:

15ml Chambord

15ml Crème de Peche

15ml Cinnamon Gomme

15ml Bronte Blackberry Sloe Liqueur

7.5ml Cranberry Juice

100ml Prosecco

Holly Leaf for garnish

Method:

Combine the first five ingredients in a mixing glass and shake with ice then strain into a chilled flute.

Add crushed ice and top up the flute with Prosecco.

Finish with a crushed ice crown and holly leaf for garnish.









West Park Smoky Gingerbread Manhattan

Create a talking point this Christmas by offering guests this wonderfully smoky festive drink, complimented perfectly with the traditional taste of Christmas gingerbread men.

Ingredients for one cocktail:

30ml Whisky

30ml Pain d’Epices Gingerbread Liqueur

15ml Vermouth

15ml Apple Juice

Gingerbread men to garnish

Method:

Place all ingredients into a mixing glass.

Shake with ice then stir until combined and strain into a carafe.

Add a 1 inch cube of food grade dry ice* to the carafe, leave to ‘smoke’ for one minute then strain into a chilled martini glass (with ice ball).

Serve with freshly baked gingerbread men


*NB Follow safety precautions when handling dry ice. Do not add directly to the drink and do not consume.

Credit: http://www.thewestparkhotel.com

(That's Christmas would like to thank Mark Young, the West Park hotel and Eve Tindall for assisting us in the preparation of this article.)

These biscuits really are Jule's Finest

There are certain Christmas traditions that every family indulges in. Stilton and Port, Sherry and mince pies and some fancy biscuits.

This year you should make your biscuit selection to be Jule's Finest.

Jules Destrooper is the top biscuit baker in all of Belgium and has been for nearly 130 years.

And Jules' Finest Selection Box is a stunningly tasty collection of seven biscuits that are, it has to be said, amongst the Rolls Royces  of speciality biscuits.

Each one is baked to perfection, using a secret recipe, with craftsman-blended spices. Chocolate, nutty, buttery, crunchy caramel, there's something for everyone this Christmas.

Luxury Belgian biscuits at a non-Luxury price of a very reasonable £4.99, available from Tesco stores.

Best by twice the amount you are planning on, because they will be gone well before Christmas if the family see them!

Boris and the Dumb Skulls

What can one say about the latest book by author Frank Hinks' Ramion series?

It tells the story of Boris who used to be a punk rocker with a huge safety pin through his nose, but he doesn't have a safety pin any longer. Well, truth to tell, he hasn't got a nose any more, or a body for that matter, because Boris is a skull. A singing skull. And a special, faithful companion to Griselda the witch. The evil witch.

Sadly Griselda has been imbibing of a little too much of the hard stuff, the really hard stuff, evil spirits, which has encouraged her to bully Boris and the dwarves who decide to launch a punk band, with Boris as the head, sorry, lead singer.

They antagonise Griselda by performing their favourite punk anthem, Pretty Vacant and after she puts a curse on them this spurs them on to form their own punk band.

Besides Boris, Griselda her evil, yet dead ancestors, you'll meet victims of the guillotine who refused to die (yet kept on fighting and/or dancing), a music shop in Sevenoaks, a dancing dad, a body collector, a cat, a set of vampires, The Polhill Arms pub and much, much more besides.

What of Griselda's plans to take Boris as a bridegroom, providing she can get his body back? 

Will the band be a success? What will The Gardener make if it all?

Written and illustrated (with some pretty seriously fantastic colourful drawings) by Frank Hinks, the story is either charmingly alarming, or alarmingly charming, I'm not sure which.

However,  what I do know is that any child who gets this book for Christmas will be in for a real treat and it's a more than OK way to get into the Ramion series of books by Frank Hinks.

It's a hardback book and reportedly ideal for helping children who find getting  into reading a bit of a chore somewhat more fun and inviting.

It costs a very reasonable £7.99 and is the 16th book in the Ramion series and it is published  by Perronet Press, ISBN 97809 5470 4698.

www.ramion-books.com.

EDITOR: Picture taken from front cover of the book.)

Bring a touch of the Summer to your Christmas fayre

As a long-time fan of Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer, I would not have thought that you could improve on perfection.

I am happy to say that I was proven to be wrong, when I tried Crabbie's Strawberry and Lime flavoured Ginger Beer.

Yes, there's the traditional warming ginger flavour we have come to know and love. But! There's now so much more to enjoy with Crabbie's Strawberry and Lime flavoured Ginger Beer.

There's also now a subtle hint of zesty lime and also a strong, yet not overpowering, taste of real strawberries.

Serve chilled and over ice this is the ideal drink for just chilling with your friends and family during the Christmas and New Year holidays or even as an interesting replacement for the more traditional wines to accompany your Christmas Dinner.

And the Raspberry Ginger Beer is equally tasty and just as satisfying in its own unique way.

Here is a cocktail you can try
Crabbie’s Moscow Mule

50ml vodka

25ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

20ml sugar syrup

Crabbie’s Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer

Plenty of crushed ice

GLASS: A long Collins

METHOD:

Add the vodka, fruit juices juice and syrup to a cocktail shaker.

Shake well and strain into a glass filled crammed with ice.

Add a generous measure of Crabbie’s Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer, or use the Strawberry and Lime or Raspberry versions, to be a little adventurous.

GARNISH with a wheel of fresh lemon

Gin lovers, Whitley Neill Gin will make your Christmas

Although I am not, in the ordinary run of things, a gin aficionado, I can report that  Whitley Neill Gin will make your Christmas, if you are a gin lover or not.

It is a superbly produced example of the art of the true handcrafter of small batch gins.

We were supposed to be using Whitley Neill Gin to develop some new Christmas cocktails, but my wife, who is a true gin aficionado, would not hear of such sacrilege.

"You are not going to mess around with my gin, by adding other things to it!" she told me and so this Christmas there will be no gin cocktails. Well, certainly none that are to be made with Whitley Neill Gin!

What does it taste like? What makes it so special. so unique?

It's warming, so is an ideal stiffener after a bracing Christmas walk through the frosty countryside.

And when you taste it (sip, by glorious sip!) you know you are in the presence of pure gin making genius.

I couldn't quite get my head around the intoxicating mixture of flavours. It's gin, but like no other gin I have ever tried before.

My wife, who is knowledgeable about such matters, said: "It's because it's produced using African flavours, plus more traditional botanicals. It's the Baobab tree fruit and Cape Gooseberries, really. That's what makes it different and that's why you aren't adding anything to it!"

So, that's me told!

http://www.whitleyneill.com  will tell you all you need to know, including the fact that they have been small batch producing gin in an antique copper still for well over 250 years.

I think, when nobody is looking, I might try to make at least one gin cocktail. Actually, no. I've just had another sip and I'll take my wife's advice and enjoy Whitley Neill Gin as it comes!

Happy Christmas comes no happier, I think, than with Whitley Neill Gin and some organic mince pies!