September 2009 Archives

There's sure to be great craic on the Emerald Isle tonight (actually there probably has been all day). As anyone who's been near an Irish pub today will no doubt testify, today is the 250th birthday of Ireland's unofficial national drink, Guinness.

It all began when Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on a rundown brewery in Dublin's St James's Gate with an annual rent of £45 and began brewing the now iconic stout.

Management of the brewery has been passed down through six generations of the Guinness family and it is now owned by Diageo since a merger in 1997.

Dublin is leading the party with Rory Guinness, a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Arthur Guinness, raising a toast to his ancestor. Live music will play in the city's pubs but 'Arthur's Day' will be celebrated worldwide since Guinness is now brewed as far afield as America, Australia, the Far East and Africa.

For the perfect pint, timed at 119.5 seconds, Diageo recommends tilting the glass to 45 degrees and carefully pouring until three quarters full and leave to settle on the bar before filling to the brim.

So what are you waiting for? Irish or not, we should all pour a pint of the black stuff and raise a toast to Arthur Guinness. But if you have more than one, be careful you don't make an eejit of yourself.

Exhibitions are great places to unearth unique products and this year's Speciality & Fine Food Fair was no exception. Product Junkie hotfooted it to Olympia and has come up with a couple of gems to share with you.

First, there's potato vodka. Single estate English potato vodka no less. It's made by William Chase, founder of Tyrrells Potato Chips and obviously fond of potatoes.

Vodka is typically distilled from grain but Chase potato vodka is distilled from, you've guessed it, potatoes. Gluten-free, full pedigree natural potatoes grown on the company's Hereford farm - how's that for provenance.

It's distilled using a hand-crafted copper batch pot (you can see a miniature one in the photo) to produce a smooth velvety spirit which is presented in a striking bottle.

What's more, the company also produces fruit liqueurs in funky flavours such as rhubarb, elderflower, white peach and blackcurrant.

Moving on, Product Junkie's eye was taken by a wine cooler like no other. The Iced Wine Cooler not only cools your wine, it also serves as a table decoration.

Basically, you buy a kit which allows you to freeze decorations such as flowers, shells and pictures within the walls of an ice bucket shape. Simple but brilliant. The resulting ice bucket will last for 8-12 hours, losing about 0.4 litres of water per hour into an aluminium reservoir.

Our photo doesn't really do it justice so make sure you check out Iced World to see how stunning they look.

Anyone else find anything interesting they'd like to share with us?

Forgive My Delirium, but Beck's has only gone and revealed a collection of bespoke limited edition labels created by musicians Ladyhawke and Hard-Fi.

I mean, the fact that the beer's green bottles will be available adorned with two unique designs by each of the artists as part of a 'Music Inspired Art' project is surely Hard to Beat.

More than 16 million 275ml bottles of Beck's will be wrapped with the new labels with which Ken Valledy, brand director for Beck's at InBev UK, says the brewer is "championing the artists of tomorrow and giving support to the new creativity in the boldest way possible, handing over the aesthetic control of the brand label" and that "the new designs will appeal to consumers and attract interest in the brand."

It goes without saying that if your punters are Living for the Weekend when they can drink from Dusk til Dawn, please encourage them to drink responsibly so we don't end up with any more Unnecessary Trouble in this Crazy World.