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A Little Luxury For Me

Drink

Once Upon A Time In Birmingham

November 15, 2019 by Erica Hughes 7 Comments

once upon a time in birmingham

I was invited along to try out a new pop-up bar in Birmingham’s Bullring: Once Upon A Time In Birmingham.    You’ll find Once Upon A Time In Birmingham been designed as a festive world first by Bompas & Parr.  The venue is lit up with 88,000 fairy lights and it’s a festive tea parlour, party bar and event space.  It’s in the space in the Middle Mall of the Bullring that was previously occupied by Jamie’s Italian so it’s well located and the perfect spot to meet up with friends for a Christmas drink.

cocktailsWe tried a number of the cocktails from the selection on offer and a few of the desserts from the menu.  There’s very much a Christmas theme going on especially with the drinks selection.  You can order from a wide range of beers, wines and spirits or you can opt for one of the cocktails.  Once Upon A Time In Birmingham seems made for cocktails, so we decided to sample those.  I started with the Plum, Apple & Cinnamon Colour Changing Ice Tea (the tall green drink pictured above).  It’s a refreshing drink with that hint of Christmas going on with the cinnamon flavouring. Or go for that Christmas favourite eggnog in the shape of the Flambéed Golden Eggnog with a gold dust meringue topping.

seats

There are lots of fun features to enjoy from vibrating seats and over the top Christmas decorations within to bar area, to light up toilet bowls in the ladies.  I recommend you try looking at the lights through the special glasses available – perhaps best to try it before you have your drinks as it’s a touch peculiar.

crystal clear christmas puddings

Food wise there’s a selection of desserts available and you can even opt to try a festive Christmas afternoon tea.  They are the perfect treat if you like something sweet.  My personal favourite was this amazing clear jelly which looked really special under the lights and had a delicate festive flavour.

Filed Under: Drink, Food

Sadler’s Expands Venue Roster With Launch Of Brewer’s Social Harborne

September 11, 2019 by Erica Hughes 2 Comments

pints beer bitterSadler’s Brewing Co. has announced the launch of Brewer’s Social Harborne, the third venue in its expanding roster which includes Sadler’s Brewhouse & Bar in Lye and Sadler’s Taproom Quinton.  My brother’s father-in-law is a big Sadler’s fan and has visited both Sadler’s in Lye (for a brewery tour) as well as the Quinton Taproom, which is one of his locals.

A place to be social no matter what time of day, Brewer’s Social will be a permanent fixture (rather than just a pop-up) and will create over 20 jobs when it opens on Friday 27th September 2019 from midday, in the former home of the Sadler’s Pop-Up, on Harborne High Street.  Harborne’s busy high street seems like the perfect place for Sadler’s as many local people travel into Harborne for a local night out from the surrounding areas.

Alongside Sadler’s award-winning ales and spirits, the all-day venue will offer collaborative and special edition brews; craft spirits and cocktails – and great food.

From brunch and morning coffee and cake, through lunch to an exciting evening menu featuring unique slow-cooked and BBQ dishes, sourcing and provenance of ingredients will be at the heart of everything.

Brewer’s Social’s wide-ranging menu will feature all-day brunch and light bites; home-smoked meat and fish; bar snacks; butties; cakes and pastries, and soft serve ice cream. The evening menu will offer the likes of Mud City Baby Back Ribs, Smoked Brisket in Sadler’s Ale Sauce and Truffle Mac and Cheese.

Sadler’s Brewing Co. managing director, Chris Sadler, said: “We want the ‘social’ part of the name to really mean something and for Brewer’s Social to appeal to everyone, with special community events, brewing collaborations and fundraising for local charities.

“Following the success of the Harborne Pop-Up, the logical next step was to install a kitchen and expand the offering; we’re really excited about this new chapter – with lots more in the pipeline.”

Filed Under: Drink, Food

Ground Breaking Spirits From Brewdog

June 3, 2019 by Erica Hughes 8 Comments

brewdog spirits

The BrewDog Distilling Co. invited me to their Birmingham road show last month.  I’d heard of BrewDog, but I’d not ventured into their Birmingham bar before and their spirit range was new to me.

We were greeted with a very refreshing gin and tonic and I sat with a local couple who were shareholders in the company.  This might sound like something that is out of reach for most people, but the company isn’t publically listed and you can buy a share for £25.  Even with a single share you get a 5% discount in BrewDog bars and a 10% discount online, but more shares mean bigger discounts and other benefits too.  The couple I sat with were enthusiastic ambassadors for the company and clearly felt like part of a community.  They were regular purchasers online and had even made it to the AGM in Aberdeenshire!

Bulldog Gin and TonicHaving seen and heard so much passion from their customers, I was interested to hear about the distilling of the spirits.  It was really interesting to hear from Brewdog’s Steven Kersley (Head Of Distillation) because his knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm shone through.  We started tasting the pure spirits as he talked about each one.  Before we tried each one, we were encouraged to swill it around in the glass and take a good smell, a bit like you do at wine tastings.  We also tried the tasting process with a cube of ice in the drink – it was amazing how it was so much more difficult to smell the spirit once we’d done this.

We started by trying a number of the gins.  First up was the LoneWolf gin which comes in a bottle with a very striking wolf label.  This was the gin that was in our gin and tonic, but we also tried it neat. Obviously for a gin, it’s the botanicals that really make it taste good and I was amazed at the level of thought, detail and experimentation that goes into selecting the right ingredients.  We heard about the search for the best juniper berries; the importance of bringing in Scottish ingredients like pine needles; the various methods for extracting the flavour; and the vast number of distillations taken to fine tune and hone the final product.  Next up we tried a delicious variation on the LoneWolf gin theme: LoneWolf Cloudy Lemon Gin.  The gin is macerated in fresh Sicilian lemon peel for seven days to get a real punch of lemon flavour.

Next we tried the uncompromisingly pure single-malt Rogue Wave vodka. Vodka isn’t my favourite drink, but this one is a smooth, confident spirit.  It benefits from the careful four times distilling process that brings forth all of the flavour, and the single filtration to hand onto all that taste.  It’s typical of Brewdog’s commitment to quality that they put so much effort into making a quality base spirit.

Overall I was really impressed by the commitment and determination of BrewDog to make quality spirits with a great level of attention to detail.  I’ll certainly be back to try some of their beer and maybe buy a share or two too.

Filed Under: Drink

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ericaI’m Erica Hughes: interested in beauty products as well as being a keen foodie and amateur cook. I write here about my passions in life including good food, fine wine, beauty plus all the little luxuries that make life worthwhile.

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