The Grog on the Tyne is all mine - tasting Hocus Pocus at Brewdog Newcastle

 Walking from my Daughter`s house to the centre of Newcastle took us along the Tyne to the Quayside to taste HocusPocus, the first Spirit Barrel release by Brewdog`s Overworks Brewery which specialises in Soured beers. On the way we tried a couple of beers from the Tescos Craft range including a new can opening system I hadn`t seen before.
Anyway back to Hocus Pocus - soured beers are intentionally infected with wild yeasts which produce acids such as lactic & acetic acid which sour the beer. Normally this is a bad thing (vinegary!) but in controlled conditions produces a mouth puckering complexity.HP is an imperial stout dried out with Brettanomyces yeast, then inoculated with the Overworks house sour culture Cher Ami to develop bright acidity. The addition of raspberries & cocoa nibs augments the dark malts & is intended to balance the acidity of the sour culture – and then a year spent maturing in Speyside whisky casks adds all sorts of complexity.

So what did it taste like? Well the aroma is a big hit of raspberries with a hint of tobacco/cigar sweetness  but it surprises with a very sour acidity with underlying chocolate and dark fruit complexity. This is a dry beer given the Imperial stout origins. I think it is currently a bit unbalanced with a clear separation in the elements BUT it is very young and capable of aging for several years given the oak and the high acidity. Overall it is a brilliant beer but needs cellaring to bring out the promise of maturity. I bought one for laying down for a couple of years! In summary its like a Bordeaux wine!

Best coffee in Teesside - Screamingly good!

Good coffee is worth a journey so we are delighted that some of the best coffee we have ever had is available on  our doorstep. Rountons Coffee Company are local roasters who have two excellent local outlets.

Bedford Street Coffee and Kitchen in Middlesbrough and The Joiners Shop in the village of Ingleby Cross by Ingleby Arncliffe just off the A172 near the A19 junction.

Both do excellent brunch options but the coffee is just superb. Very importantly we could not tell the difference in aroma & flavour between the normal & decaffeinated versions. Anne had a specialty roast americano then the decaff & I had a decaff flat white. As usual I had to draw a little face in the  foam - I usually go for a Hail Hydra logo but this time it ended up looking like Edvard Munch`s  The Scream of nature..............Anyway Hail Hydra!

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The search for tasty steak in North Yorkshire

For years we have enjoyed buying our meat from Fawcetts in Ingleby Greenhow but due to personal circumstances they are currently closed we have failed to find steak with any consistent flavour in our local town of Guisborough. Influenced by the Slow Food  movement we prefer to avoid supermarkets where possible as increasingly we are trying to source as much of our food locally & or grow or make our own produce.....so it was with some excitement that we visited Langthorne`s Farm Shop in Brompton near Northallerton which had been recommended by a local Farmer.

We had a lovely chat with Paul behind the meat counter who told us how he supplies the Ghurkas stationed at Catterick Garrison with Buffalo meat. They have a small abbatoir on the farm therefore slaughter their own animals which includes a Buffalo Herd. 
In addition they have only what I would describe as an Asian Supermarket with spices, sauces,  rice, vegetables (cassava, plantain, yams, rambutan, sweet potatoes), noodles etc all for Indian, Nepalese and Malaysian cuisine.

We bought a T-Bone & a Fillet steak as a trial but also a family pack of frozen Parathas & some Jalapeno cheetos!More details when we cook the meat!