Bells 8 Year old Blend

People of my age scoff at the blended whisky Bells and with good reason. For many years it contained malts quickly distilled for maximum profit and gave one hell of a hangover. No age statement was printed on the label and it was a bit of a tramps blend. In fact I HAVE A GOOD friend who would have counted this elixir one of his special occasion drinks as did I in college to be honest. Once I did spy him falling from a cab with a bottle of the stuff clutched to his chest gurgling in a rose bed just before paying his cab driver way too much cash for his short ride home.

The blend has now been given an 8 year old age statement and with this in mind I’ll give it a shot as it were. Anyway, the notes.

Nose: prickle and sweet grain. Toffee maybe orange? better than I remember. The grain is harsh and screws it up for me though.

Pallet: vanilla and grain. Sweet. Damned harsh. No wonder this puts people off whisky.

Finnish: a little oaky fading fast with pleasing sweet notes.

Comment: gains on the finish, but not for me. Maybe with ice and water, lots of water. In fact mixed with a half of laphroaig cask strength this makes a good peaty whisky

Score: 37%

CodeFactory Announce New Version of Popular Product Lines

CodeFactory have just announced Mobile Speak Pocket and Mobile Speak Smartphone 1.1 and 1.3 availability for download. This version has full support for Windows Mobile v6 and includes support for PowerPoint and improvements in other applications and Braille fixes.

Go grab and check out the above linked info.


Also of interest for the Braillests or gamers amongst you are some new games for the mobile platforms.

‘* The games are: Braille Brain which tests your reading and writing
proficiency in contracted Braille, Cryptic Crazy which asks you to
unscramble the letters of a word, Touch Type which tests your QWERTY or
Braille typing speed and accuracy, and Word Wizard which is a Hangman-like
game with single- and multiple-word modes where you guess the word/s given a
limited number of letter guesses.’


You can get the Smartphone version from
http://www.codefactory.es/mobile_speak_smartphone/mss_downloads.htm

Lost and Found in Truro

Last night started badly. We arrived in to Truro a little late and I disembarked with no problems apart from the fact that I’d left my work mobile on the table. I know it’s a shoddy pretext, but when they forget to announce the station and you don’t have gps on it makes one rush to get off before you’re carried away. This I did and took everything but the phone.

I called it a few times as it was wending its way to the southern most reaches of England but with nobody answering so I had to call T-Mobile and put a block on it. To make matters worse the train crew didn’t’ announce the restaurant car on the HST until it was time for it to close so I arrived after 5 hours from Paddington hungry. I did receive cake and tea though as I’d wangled my way in to first class.

The Brookdale hotel was ok but I decided to walk in to town which took around 8 minutes and sample the delights of the Old Ale house 0.4 miles away.

It was nothing special really and full of students getting hammered. After a couple of Truro’s own Skinner’s Cornish Knockers I left and went back to the Hotel for a pint of St Ostel Tribute brewed only a few miles away and this was taken in the hotel bar. If I’d known about the real ale in the hotel I probably wouldn’t have ventured out such was my melancholy at forgetting my phone but maybe with some miracle FGW lost property will turn up trumps when they finally open today.

I’ll post this later as I have no web access at the moment and I have to call FGW.

OK, calls later and breakfast complete I took the expensive cab to my customer and on route called the office to tell them I’d lost the phone. Luckily for me the driver was privy to the conversation and mentioned that a phone had been found in a cab last night. Even luckier that phone turned out to be mine!!! So I’m much happier now with the visit complete, my phone back and two as the driver put it ‘roeet good traditional Cornish pasties’ steaming away in a bag. One for dinner and the other for tea on my trip to Bournemouth.

Exeter I’m on my way!

Work and Music and Stuff

I’ve had a busy time with work recently but did get in a quiet weekend with Clare. The next few look to be anything but with trips over to Bournemouth, Epsom and then to Dublin on the 15th of June.

I downloaded and have been listening to the latest DT album and my does it rock hard. I’ll be posting a review on the 5th of June when I’ve had more time with it. That’s also the release date but I don’t have any guilt. I’ve pre-ordered the standard and special edition of the critter from play.com

The Revenge buy the Allen Lande project is also worth picking up and has some killer tracks. It lacks some of the cheese factor that was so beloved to me from the first effort and is a more mature affair that takes a little longer to grow. Rustle Allen’s vocals are mightily impressive on this disk and better than the first.

Moving to this week I’ve been in London, South end and am now travelling down to Truro with stops in Winchester, Southampton and Exeter along with Bournemouth planned for later in the week.

I think I’ll plod the streets of Truro in an attempt to find a real ale pub tonight should we get in on time.

Clare's Birthday Weekend

Clare’s birthday weekend was the stuff of which legends are made, a superb example of hard whisky lots of mild and much story telling sprinkled with a little anguish as a result of the birthday girl losing her voice on the Friday night and shoddy taxi service from the up to now reliable Hawk Express.

After dumping my bags at home on Friday night I helped tidy a little before our guests arrived. In order to protect them lets just assume the pseudonyms of “pompous sod” and “Scatty Blonde” Because of scheduling commitments and late trains Clare’s dad arrived before they and kindly cooked a huge pile of fajita mix of which we were to partake later.

The girls not been able to wait we started on this just before PS arrived but left plenty for his capacious apatite. When he did actually turn up he did the nosh justice and even then demolished half a spicy pizza and some pasties and sausage roles. The young lad demolished around 2l of German beer and a quart of whisky to make his drunkenness complete and his requirement for much sleep was evident at 5:30 the next day as the birds were starting to chatter. Oh at around 3:30 AM He also got the erge for drunken running through old Ipswich town in the pursuit of a packet of fags which he couldn’t’ obtain in our neighbourhood at that time.

On the Saturday I awoke a little late but we all showered and then made our way birthday cake in hot pursuit to the Dove for a quick stop off which lasted approximately 8 hours. The banter was good, the chilli and beef in ale excellent and the beer impeccable. SB wasn’t impressed with her fruit wines but did like the Trekker and lots of vodka, an unusual combination but it suited her on that occasion.

After all that chatting it was time for the birthday girls wish to be granted as in a croaky voice she earlyer that day had demanded Eurovision on the TV so we slipped off to the back room to pretend not to enjoy this yearly freak fest.

Wersle and Chris turned up baring gifts and cards we all chatted and mingled happily until a Labrador of unknown ownership went for Jaid 3 times. I was forced to tell the bar staff who ejected the animal with owner as it was basically out of control when seeing jaid.

Eurovision over Chris Wersle and I went to Akbar’s and had them bring round a feast of a meal to the pub and Karen provided plates ETC for this spicy banquet. It was then time for cake, presents and champagne provided by the PS and some goodbyes and a last pint or two before getting our very late taxi home for: yep more beer and whisky, talking or in the birthday girls case croaking and squeaking before we buggered off to bed after listening to Mr Thackeray.

We missed our dinner in the greyhound on Sunday not as a result of sleeping in but because of shite service from Hawk and had to buy the birthday steak pie in the wetherspoons. Another example of at first shite service but this did improve, it had too. As SB commented ‘Ipswich is on a brain drain today’ we then dropped off PS at the train station for his journey back to the midlands.

The birthday evening was spent chatting eating crisps and other rubbish all topped off with a chocolate bun or two.

I was working with a nice bloke from Ipswich social services on Monday first thing and then went to talk with Action for Blind Norfolk/Suffolk branch and the young members of Ipswich blind society in the afternoon. Unfortunately the birthday girls cold had kicked in though her voice was returning so after work it was off to bed with her and hotel booking for me.

Today finds me travelling down to Kent.

Another Week Over

Clare and I spent last weekend in the northeast with various friends and had a wonderful time. Highlights were the best fish and chips I’ve ever tasted in Seaton Sluice and all Marg and Andy’s kindness. We had a wonderful Saturday and Sunday with them enjoying lounging around and eating Andy’s smashing food. I think the dogs also had a good time playing and Jaid loved her free run with Tex and Angus.
We said goodbye and took the train down to Doncaster on Monday and as per usual the staff at Newcastle were most unhelpful before our departure. My intention was to travel back to Ipswich on the Tuesday but we changed these plans at the last minute and I took an extra day at work meaning I’ve only had a two day week because of the bank holiday. I also wanted to spend some time with Seann to discuss the probable sale of some property.

Work took me to Liverpool yesterday to finish off some training and I stayed in Preston at the Ashwood last night. I’d had a few pints of Cains in the big city so rather than go out I went to bed on arrival at my hotel. I’m in Blackburn and York today.

Clare and I have guests this weekend as its her birthday so I’l report on that next week.

Go Mild in May

During May the Campaign for Real Ale promote the much maligned style of beer mild. Mild was at one time the most popular beer in this country but sadly now enjoys an old man cloth cap reputation. This is a shame because though most mild’s are low in strength they offer a tasty alternative to bitter beers. They are often low in aroma hops depending on malt and enough hops to leave a pleasant taste. The low strength of most mild’s means that you can drink them all night and not be too bad the next day. They were consumed in the North of England in heavy industry areas like the north west and they still remain popular in the midlands and north west to this day.

I am going to review 3 easy to purchase mild’s in cans which one can find in Tesco or Asda. They are each priced between £2.60 and £2.80 for a 4 pack. I served the milds after 24 hours in the fridge.

Banks’s Origional is a mild from the black country and is brewed in Dudley to this day. This comes in larger cans than the other brews at 500ML and was purchased from Asda. It is a less dark mild than the others and slightly sweet. It has a nose of malt and fruity yeast. The pallet is fruity and full of malt. The finish is short and a little bitter but clean and pleasing and the drink wouldn’t dominate food. At 3.5% it’s not going to nock you on the floor but is stronger than other good milds which may even have more flavour.

The next candidate is brewed by the Blackburn brewer Thwaites. Thwaites mild is enitially hopped on the nose but this disapates. The taste is full of christel malt and this is probably accentuated by its 3.0 strength. The finnish is short and I guess it could be considered a little watery for some but its refreshing and less sweet than the banks’s. Probably more drinkable too.

My last can is Cain’s Dark Mild. This from the cask or can is one of my favourites and is only 3.2 in strength. The nose is coffee and roasted malt, rather rich and stouty. The pallet is a little milky like some porters but with a big espresso hit. The finish is longer than most of the milds but smoky and chocolaty. This could easy kill less flavoursome foods and is my favourite canned mild. Just lovely.


All these milds should go down well from the can or draft but if you’re after some others from the cask try the following.

Elgoods Black Dog from Cambridge. Lovely dark mild with a slightly smoky sweet flavour.

Mighty Oak Oskar Wild Mild has a rich coffee and chocolate flavour. Brains Dark is similar but not as interesting for me and theakstons of Masham brew a splendid Yorkshire mild. I should also mention the splendid Moorhouses Black Cat a Camera award winner from Burnley which is also a cracking drink.