Fellow Wine Lovers,
Us again, feels a bit soon to be celebrating the end of another week with a bottle of Friday Fizz but I can assure you that it is definitely the weekend once again. Plus it’s a long one this time, the late August bank holiday is on Monday which signifies the end of bank holiday season until we celebrate a pair of them on the 27th & 28th December; let me be the first to wish you all a very Merry Christmas….
Back in the now, having mentioned the shortage of customers last week it would seem that the much hoped for delivery of clientele needing refreshment has failed to show up this week too. On Monday and Tuesday I think we could probably have put our deckchairs in the middle of Arthur Road and snoozed undisturbed for an hour or two and in fact Wayne did suggest a mammoth game of badminton versus the odd-numbered side of the street but they were all too busy cutting hair, selling houses or making coffee.
So we had to entertain ourselves. Having failed to sell the jeroboam of Sela last weekend it was suggested we taste it anyway, just to check, but Wayne vetoed the prospect of a magnum each on a Monday as setting an unruly precedent, so we had an ice cream instead. Tuesday found us applying for HGV licences as we realised that the quickest way for us to ensure we got our Haribos, Nandos and McDonalds milkshakes was to stop moaning about the problems and become part of the solution, whilst getting paid to do it. Wednesday we listened to a lot of Rolling Stones albums and watched England play cricket in a way that would have made Charlie smile. And Thursday was yesterday, grey and not altogether as warm as it could have been but nonetheless, one step closer to fizz Friday.
In the world outside of our immediate environs it seems the news is largely filled with stuff we kind of thought might happen. Covid spikes in Cornwall – not a total surprise. Harry Kane staying at Spurs – if Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis don’t want you to go Harry, you’re not going. The new travel green list not really changing the status quo for most of us – business as usual really.
And no news whatsoever in the world of wine. In the beer world however, crimes against taste continue to be committed. Reading The Drinks Business earlier, we were delighted to see that Dunkin’ Donuts are releasing 3 more beers on the unsuspecting public. As we didn’t know they were even in the beer game this came as a surprise but apparently for the last few years, in collaboration with Harpoon Brewery, they have been making a Pumpkin Spiced Latte Ale. By all accounts all their beers are made using ‘Dunkin’s iconic coffee, donuts and matcha tea’. We now hear that the new beers in the stable will be: Maple Crème Blonde Ale brewed with donuts and maple syrup from Dunkin’, Midnight American Porter brewed with Dunkin’s new Midnight Roast coffee and Blueberry Matcha IPA brewed with blueberries and matcha. Hmmmm….
Whilst they may be interesting in some corners, we won’t be selling them. Added to this list of things we certainly won’t be selling is the weird collaboration between Virginia’s Champion Brewing Company and Duke’s Mayonnaise to create the perfect beer designed to complement the egg-based condiment!
Beers we do sell look something like this:
Belleville Brewery – Wandsworth Common
Commonside Pale Ale 33cl can 5% – £2.60
Thames Surf IPA 33cl can 5.6% – £2.70
Spring Break Sour 33cl can 4.3% – £3.00
Spring Break Gose 440ml can 4.3% – £4.00
Park Brewery – Kingston’s finest brewery
Kingston Gate Lager 33cl can 4.1% – £2.80
Phantom Kolsch Lager 44cl can 4.2% – £3.50
Killcat Pale 44cl can 3.9% – £3.80
Ballet Loop Table Beer 44cl can 3.4% – £3.80
Gallows Pale Ale 44cl can 4.5% – £4.00
Spankers IPA 44cl can 6.0%£- 4.50
Sambrooks – our longest serving beer, now based in the Ram’s Quarter
Wandle Ale 50cl bottle 4.2% – £2.79
Pumphouse Pale Ale 50cl bottle 4.2% – £2.79
Session IPA 440ml can 4.0% – £3.40
SlyBeast Brewing – brewed in Wandsworth by the Pig & Whistle legends
Lager 33cl can 4.3% – £2.80
1533 Session IPA 44cl can 4.2% – £3.70
Wimbledon Brewery – best brewery in Colliers Wood
Gold Lager 33cl can 4.8% – £2.70
Lindemans – classic Belgian brewer
Gueuze 25cl 5% – £2.00
Paulaner – Munich’s finest
Munchner Hell Munich Lager 50cl bottle 4.9% – £2.79
All far better than anything Mr & Mrs Donut can produce.
That’s about it from us for this week. As it’s the late summer bank hols we’ll open the Château de L’Aumérade ‘Cuvée Marie-Christine’ 2020, Côtes de Provence Cru Classé – £15.99 (Six bottles for £80) and de Bortoli ‘The Accomplice’ Shiraz 2019 – £9.39 both of whom are perfect accompaniments to all that barbecued food you’ll be eating this weekend!
BREAKING NEWS – just sold the jeroboam of Sela, lucky we didn’t polish it off ourselves!