Quench
Drinks Preview
Real Ale and Cider Festival 2007
Brewery: Breconshire Brewery
Location: Brecon, Powys, Wales
Beer: Golden Valley (4.2% ABV)
*Since its establishment in 2002, Breconshire has become as a local favourite with Golden Valley as its flagship brew. Voted Champion Beer of Wales in 2004, Golden Valley is a shining example of the new golden ale style, which is particularly popular among younger drinkers. Floral and mildly bitter, this is easy drinking and perfect for a real ale newcomer. *
Brewery: Crouch Vale
Location: Chelmsford, Essex, England
Beer: Brewers Gold (4.0% ABV)
Brewer’s Gold holds a rare honour in brewing history as one of only a handful of ales to have been named Champion Beer of Britain two years running. The reigning champion, Brewers Gold is a golden ale, perfect for young people just getting into real ale. Light in both colour and taste, this is thirst quenching real ale at its best.
Brewery: Fitzpatrick’s Herbal Health Shop
Location: Rawtenstall, Lancashire, England
Drinks: Sarsaparilla & Ginger Beer (< .2%)
A new introduction to the festival this year is the inclusion of two non-alcoholic real-brewed traditional drinks: Sarsaparilla and Ginger Beer, both award-winning examples of a long tradition of temperance brewing in Britain. Sarsaparilla is a dark infusion of natural plant extracts, while Ginger Beer is a light, warming drink superior to the bottled examples commonly found in supermarkets. Either is the perfect drink if you don’t drink alcohol, want to take a break and enjoy the music, or simply want to experiment.
Brewery: Harviestoun Brewery
Location: Alva, Clackmannanshire, Scotland
Beer: Schiehallion (4.8% ABV)
The cold climate of Scotland makes it practical to brew a genuine German-style lager, and so Harviestoun have done, crafting a sweet, light, yet complex beer featuring the delicate aromas of German hops with a distinctly British twist of citrus. Overtones of honey and caramel support the middle and it finishes with an English-style bitterness. Schiehallion, like Rhymney Premier Lager (see below), may ruin fizzy yellow lagers for you forever.
Brewery: Otley Brewing Company
Location: Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan, Wales
Beer: O-Garden (4.6% ABV)
A naturally-cloudy witbier, O-Garden is, like its Belgian namesake, flavored with coriander and orange peel to provide a uniquely light palate of spices; as far as we know, this is the only beer of this style made commercially in Britain. Otley’s hallmark dry finish rounds out a delicate, wheaty body. A beer which appeals easily to people who don’t normally drink beer.
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In Review: Urban dictionary
In between spay-painting small horses with swastikas and sniffing glue the youth of today still like to chew the fat from time to time. Unfortunately the cretins have adopted a bizarre type of new-speak which can leave “me-mans” (myself and some of my close friends) “well vexed” (Perplexed, Peeved). That’s where the Urban dictionary comes in. With this peer monitored compendium of British and American slang you can find out what the little twazocks actually said to you before you walked off full of impotent rage and self loathing. Yay. To elaborate. After hearing a rap-tune recently I heard the word “skeet” a term with which I was unfamiliar. Consulting the Urban dictionary I discovered that skeet is a verb that describes, “Bustin’ a nut in a skizzles grill” or, the act of ejaculating onto a woman’s face. Other notable explanations submitted included the rather quaint: “To drop a banana item in Mario Kart 64, thereby causing a trailing opponent to slip on it and skid out” and the colorful “Something I would love to do on the Olsen twins. “The real fun lies in contrasting the Neanderthal with the surely mock-serious entries. Of course some helpful souls point out the real meaning of the word (something to do with clay pigeon shooting) but it is all done very tongue in cheek. A running dialogue on the site led one poster to claim it was a word which White people only heard about from the comedian Dave Chapelle. This in turn led one of his fellows to inform us that it is a completely fictional word invented by black people because they needed something to do in between collecting welfare cheques. As if via osmosis the stupidity seeps into you brain and you can impress the Gs in your hood with your newfound knowledge and/or prejudices lest ye be merced by your in the know peers.
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Diversions
Exposure sees Diversions return to the stage with a new triple bill for 2007. Each of the dances is remarkably different from the others and it’s this variety that draws audiences back to see the dance company time and again.
Tunnel Vision
Right, first off, I really hate it when people, namely students, bang on about programmes they used to watch when they were young. The top three offending programmes are as follows: Super Ted. Danger Mouse and the Magic Roundabout.