Food Drink
Eat out, drink up
I WEI-Ls ' l i '
le and hearty
If you want to stay healthy and keep drinking, try something a little different. Words: Leroy Harris
()l"(} traditional Scottish beers. :ncluding a ii:ii“ber of real ales. use all sorts of unusual stuff in the ‘e""‘enti'ig process. l rout heather to pine to banana. 'i‘ar‘i. of those ingredients haxe been used for medical reasons and for general good health. Here at The l is: we thought we‘d tn, a few purelj. for the benefit of you readers. of course —- so you kl‘fl‘.'.’ that to tie for next time you lane; a healthier pint . Caledonian Golden Promise. £1.80 1 pint COO lhe first bottle we try and the initial opinion is 'yei‘. we, but it's veallt just like a regular beer. on'i, a little less fix/y Imagine if you ‘.'.’(?l(? to order a real ale and got back a pint of flat 'auei 't would he a little disappointing. Zaledonia'i would ii‘ake a wee sunwmr's (lat drink. but not much else. Grozet. £1.50 330ml .0. Htfll‘y ‘.'.t:-i:-ui,. Make that lei. neiht. No one is make of this: it tastes OK. net unpleasant. but there’s a *1 it too much o". '.~.e||. herbiness. Gib/e! is n‘azle unit“ ng‘sr-be'"; a'x'l cereal. so we start to worry about her: the actual heil‘ laserl ales we're about to sample are going to taste. Alba £1.80 330ml 0 lVlll‘l‘T't‘ it smells like honey; doesn't that smell really ii-ite’P' Seems promising. but a sip for each taster lee to -.-.'i'i<‘ing. (“.0 watering and then shouting and S‘.‘.(—?Eil'l'ig. We can‘t confiri‘.‘ this. but Alba niax he the sweetest man-ir‘ade substaiwe Expressions such as ‘molasses ll‘lXOd ‘.‘.’|ill Radex' (ll‘fl ‘imngin' mediCine' sum up the general feeling. Fraoch, £1.50 330ml 00 The most famous traditional ale here. Fraoch is bre.-.ie;l with heather to gixe it its taste. I‘. has the herbiness you may expect from heather. and it's pleasant enough to drink. but there is a bit of a sinister smell to it. A hint of ‘iiiilkrness' doesn't really help the flaxour.
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News to nibble on
I THOSE SAGE darlings of modern British/Mediterranean cuisine. Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray. have published another version of their River Cafe recipe book - this time designed to make their creations more accessible. The new River Cafe Cook Book Easy, published by Ebury (£20), even includes the notoriously difficult -‘- 3:. 0 Nemesis chocolate cake,
iii
Julian Barnes recently --PROMlSi~.- Jill.
wrote: ‘There are certain - ,r/ ‘n‘ '1. '. H n ..t- L
dishes always best eaten REAL ALE PUBS
in restaurants, however tempting the cookbook GLASGOW Bon Accord 153 Nonh
version appears.’ Rogers and Gray will no doubt be exalting an alternative view this fortnight when the promotional tour
Street. 0141 248 4427 behind the book comes
Clockwork Beer Co, to Edinburgh. You can
1 1534 155 Camcan catch them at Valvona
A. Road. 0141 649 0184, and Crolla on Tuesday 29
" Pivo Pivo 15 Waterloo
Street. 0141 564 8100.
Three Judges 141
Dumbarton Road. 0141
337 3055.
April at 7.30pm.
I THE LIST BREAKS NEW The State Bar 148 Holland Street. 0141 332
~ {(1 ‘:\.L ' . ' ~.
ground in a month with a full-colour pocket-size gmde on good places to buy good food across the breadth of Scotland. The Deli and
2159. Good Food DirectOry will be the first of its type in the EDINBURGH c0untry — more than 140
The Abbotsford 3 Rose Street. 0131 225 5276. Barony Bar 81 -83 BrOLighton Street. 0131 557 0546.
Guilford Arms 1 West Register Street. 0131 556 4312.
The Cask and Barrel
1 15 Broughton Street. 0131556 3132.
The Starbank Inn 64 Laverockbank Road. Leith. 0131552 4141.
pages with 300 entries and comprehensive listings of delicatessens. fine food and wine shops, the farmers' markets. box schemes. the best butchers. fantastic fishmongers and more. In addition, useful indexes will help you find what you're after. whether it's cheese from the isle of Arran or Speyside single malt whisky. Published with The List on Thursday 22 May.
Banana Bread Beer, £1.80 1 pint 000.
This is like novelty beer. The (NOll‘t'l of bananas is very strong. It’s made With real bananas. but the smell is reminiscent of the artificial stuff you use to make banana milk. erryone likes the taste. but i.-.'hether anyone could make it past one pint is dOubtful — 'though it could appeal to
underagers as the alcopop Of the - COFGRATULAT'ONS To real ale world’. Our only problem is we're not Sure if there were "‘9 w'm‘e's 0' our first Eating & Drinking Guide
bananas in Scotland during the ‘Saxon' period that the bottle hints at.
Kelpie, £1.80 330ml 0...
Keipie is brewed wrth seaweed to give it its flavour. This stuff looks riarker and thicker than Guinness. It even smells dark. like thick treacle. The best descriptions are ‘smoky barbeoue sauce' and watery stout”. SOunds a bit odd for an ale. but it's actually really nice. It's certainly good for one pint.
Ebulum, £1.80 330ml 0
Can‘t guite deCide if we've acodentally picked up a bottle of strong cough medicme or whether this is definitely for drinking. The elderberry taste in this is ‘sweet. strong. thick and srckly'. It's quite difficult to swallow. Someone describes it as 'SOy sauce with the salt taken out' and there is a gr0up ‘awwwww . . .' as even, one tried to express this strange taste.
I Caledonian Golden Promise and Banana Bread Beer available frOm l/iCIOria Wines; all others distributed by Heather Ale, 07357 529529. mmvheathera/eCOuk
awards. For details and first reactions see news, page 4.
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