Tonight's Tipple.. Caledonian Brewery, Newcastle Werewolf

This bottle has been kicking around in the fridge for a little while and noone seems entirely sure who put it there, after a bit of research online it would appear that it was a 'limited edition' beer from 2011/2012?!? Although it definitely has not been in my fridge for that long!!

The labels profess a 'blood red ale' with 'mellow overtones of sweet berry fruit' then 'a bite of bitterness suddenly cuts through, long, deep and lingering'.

It delivered on the sweet berry notes at the start and there was a lingering bitterness at the end but I'm not sure the change was sudden and I found the bitter notes quite sweet.

I found it quite light and easy drinking on a warm summer's evening even though it's sold as a 'Fall' beer. I'm not sure it really has the body to get you through a Scottish autumn.

As far as red ales go, this one is fairly middle of the line. The rye malt means it's not overwhelming hoppy, which is all good by me.

Perfectly fine as a session beer, the flavours are light, it's inoffensive and at 4.5% it won't completely blow your socks off once you've had a few.

Afternoon Tea at The Turquoise Thistle

I was delighted when I received an invitation to the launch of the afternoon tea menu at Turquoise Thistle, it'd been on my list of places to try for a long time, so it was great to finally find a time to go.

The setting is fantastic, the dining room with large windows on to York Place offer plenty of natural light even though it was slightly dreich the day we were there. 

I was very impressed with all the savouries on the afternoon tea, rather than the usual sandwiches, we were presented with egg vol-au-vent, salmon on a tattie scone, cucumber on rye crispbread and ham & brie on a croissant. Everything was fantastic and I couldn't pick a favourite out of the lot.

The scone was fabulously fluffy, the shortbread was crunchy and buttery. We were off to a good start!! Unfortunately, I felt the sweets were a slight let down.. The lemon drizzle cake needed a bit more zing, the filo pastry on the fruit tartlet was slightly greasy and as the cranachan cheesecake was served in a tall shot glass it was much more cranachan and not really any cheesecake.  

The chocolate profiteroles had caught my attention from when the stand was delivered but maybe due to it having sat out for a good while, the pastry ended up a bit wet. The chocolate truffle looked promising but was a bit doughy and dry.

What was the most disappointing was that we didn't actually have TEA when our afternoon tea was served..With there being quite a large group of us, it's not always easy to get the timing right for things, but surely getting people's tea orders should be high on the list?! My tea didn't arrive until after I'd got through most of my savouries and although the menu promised a selection of loose leaf teas my earl grey was a tea bag.  Having served afternoon tea in a previous lifetime, I am a firm believer that 50% of an afternoon tea really does lie in the quality of the, well, TEA... You don't need to serve a large range, but you really should have both English Breakfast and Earl Grey as loose leaf.

Overall, I loved the savouries and look forward to finding a time to return for dinner and would happily return for afternoon tea if a few tweaks were made to the sweets. 

Tonight's tipple.. Atom Beers Dark Alchemy

Atom Beers' Dark Alchemy was absolutely delightful!

The fact that it has no hops made it especially endearing. As much as I love beer, I really don't love hops...

The label on the back promised "a complex malt bill with the bitterness and aroma from lots of cardamom & coriander to create a porter rich in body and brimming with character" and it certainly did not disappoint.

Smooth, light and very easy drinking..Full bodied and velvety chocolate on the palette with a slight hint of bitterness at the finish. The good kind of bitterness.. like eating 80% chocolate.. you want it to linger a bit so you can savour the flavour just that little bit longer.

Paired especially well with my slow cooked ribs in a slightly spicy BBQ sauce.

Will definitely be picking up more of this next time I'm at the bottle shop!

Tonight's Tipple... Drygate Brewery Outtaspace Apple Ale

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I often post a "Today's tipple" or "Tonight's Tipple", part of me things I should just jump on the blog and post a few tasting notes each time, as much as a record for myself as well as for sharing my thoughts on the things I'm drinking.. I was asked tonight on facebook about what I thought of tonight's tipple so here's we go..

Very, very appley on the nose and palate.. very sweet and quite sugary at the finish, then a slight hoppy bite at the end with a lingering sweetness in the mouth... Great for a sunny day though probably couldn't drink more than one with it being quite sugary and also slightly syrupy

As much as I enjoyed the Apple Ale, I think I prefer fruity beers that have a bit more tartness. I'm looking forward to trying more beers from Drygate and hopefully getting to visit their brewery in Glasgow soon!