Travels With Nate

Ben McFarland & Tom Sandham are known throughout these lands as the Thinking Drinkers. While Ben has been crowned British Beer Writer of the Year a triad of times, Tom is former editor of a cocktail magazine called CLASS. Together they do a variety of things including writing (as demonstrated in this book), tasting sessions for those who want to learn more about booze & performed in shows from Edinburgh to the London West End.   The whole point of this book is to encourage people to Drink Less but Drink Better, which is a bloody good mantra and one that many of us have fallen foul of in the past. Anyway, this brilliant book takes you through all of the main food drink groups… you’ve got beer, wine, whisk(e)y, gin, tequila, vodka… everything. Every chapter gives you insight into the history of each beverage, along with amusing segments on famous people who are renowned for drinking said drinks, cocktails, recommendations and general hilarity! The wh...

Alcoholic Ice Tea. Why the hell is this a new thing? I mean, when you think about it, alcoholic ice tea has always made sense but we never seemed to have thought about it before. I mean, when you look at summer beverages you think of Ice Tea when you're talking about alcohol free drinks, but drinks with alcohol are basically Pimm's and beer. I've always been a fan of ice tea, when I can get the good stuff. You can forget Lipton's. It needs to be properly brewed ice tea. So when I heard about Harry Brompton, I just needed to try it! Harry Brompton's London Ice Tea is the world's first premium alcoholic ice tea. It's 4% and made with ethically sourced Kenyan Black Tea as well as craft-distilled grain spirit and infused with citrus. It sounds perfect for the summer, right? Well it is. It's absolutely perfect the way the citrus flavours play with the delicious icy cold teas, without being able to taste the alcohol. You get some of the grain, which ...

Fuck me. Time flies when you're having fun. It's been just over a year since I started Booze, Beats & Bites. When I first started my blog, I didn't think anyone would read my shit, much less enjoy it. I'm still not sure why the fuck you guys read my blog or enjoy it in all honesty. Answers on the back of a postcard please. Anyway, over this past year I've met some really fucking awesome people, drank some awesome beers, drank some dreadful beers, pissed people off, eaten delicious food and listened to some awesome music. I've decided to mix things up a bit now, however, with regards to my BOOZE and BITES posts. BEATS will pretty much stay the same with interviews and reviews. But let me explain my beery & foodie plans... BOOZE: You would've noticed already that my last few beer reviews have been collaborative weird reviews with my good friend Jay . Well, I'd quite like to continue this theme of not reviewing the same beers as 90% of ...

Now, this may come as a shock to you but I like a few drinks every once in a while. Ok, more than a few and more nights than not. When I first read that the government were considering minimum pricing per unit on alcoho l I was outraged. Then they decided that it was definitely occurring. I was angry for a few reasons: Firstly, I like alcohol a lot. Secondly, the beer duty escalator pushes the price of beer up enough as it is. And thirdly, this gives the government yet another way to sting us each budget. Yes, I’m aware that it’s not actually a tax and apparently doesn’t benefit the government but minimum pricing is set at 40p (50p in Scotland soon) a unit now but what about next year when they decide that 40p isn’t enough and sticks another 3p on, then another 2p the next year and so on whilst at the same time raising beer duty, yet again. What I don’t get and I’ve seen that others don’t get either ( including a beer retailer ) is who actually gets the money ...