Sunday 7 October 2012

Longevity, Recall, Unusual Bottle Find, Award Winners & Price Rise

The Dogfish Head Craft Brewery is an innovative and quirky brewery from Milton, Delaware. I like to follow developments because its beers, whether they reach production or not, can be very imaginative. One beer I read about recently is a soup-like brew called Hot Thoup!, an imperial pale ale with added ginger and carrots. I don't know what it tastes like and I never will as it will only be on tap while supplies last.

The Daily Express reported that Dorothy Peel, who has just celebrated her 110th birthday, attributes her longevity to a daily glass of ginger ale with a bit of whisky. I shall raise a belated glass to you, Dorothy.

A fascinating archaeology article was featured in Get Surrey last week. Professionals and volunteers have been excavating the ruins of Woking Palace, a building used by Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The article mentioned one particular unusual discovery - a ginger beer bottle. The bottle, of the Codd variety, was marked Castle Brewery (Guildford) and dated between 1910 and 1918. It is believed that the bottle was discarded during the 1911 Lord Iveagh excavation.

A couple of supplementary facts. Lord Iveagh was chief executive and, subsequently, chairman of Guinness. A Codd bottle incorporated a marble and a rubber washer in the neck and was designed for carbonated drinks by the British soft drink maker Hiram Codd in 1872.

Thai Ginger Butter is one of a number of products to be recalled by Sunland, Inc, according to many media outlets including CNN.

The Riverfront Times blog reported on an interesting development in University City, Missouri. Three local businesses have collaborated on the creation of two new sodas. One of these drinks is Pi Ginger Beer which is described as a cross between ginger ale and a spicy Jamaican ginger beer.

This is a bit late (early August actually) but better late than never. The Wrest Point Royal Hobart Fine Food Awards show, organised by The Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania, is a key event in the Australian culinary calendar. I'm mentioning this because a number of ginger products picked up awards (not enough in my view). So congratulations to (deep breath): Tasmanian Ginger for Ginger Kisses, Choc Cherry Ginger Bites, Scary Gingerbread House and the Gluten-Free Gingerbread Man; Cocobean Chocolate for Macadamia & Ginger Bark; Red Dragon Organics for Certified Organic Ginger Beer and Living Elixir; Tasmanian Chilli Beer Company for Ginger Chilli Beer (Non-Alcoholic) and Ginger Beer (Non-Alcoholic); Carlson's Handcrafted Ginger Cordial; Doolan Country Rhubarb & Ginger Jam; Nina's Fig & Ginger Jam; Lemon Ginger Marmalade from Pirates Bay Berry Farm and, finally, Taverner's Tasmanian Double Ginger Honey. So, if you live in Australia, add these to your shopping list. You can see the full list here.

The latest unusual ginger-spiced beer I've found (read about, not tried) is Autumnation from the Sixpoint Brewery in Brooklyn, New York. This beer is brewed with ginger, pumpkin and "wet" hops. "Wet" hops are used freshly picked rather than dried in the traditional manner.

In the early summer I mentioned that the sowing of ginger in the Indian state of Karnataka had been adversely affected by the absence of the monsoon rains. The Deccan Herald has just reported that farmers in the village of Shanivarasanthe in the Kodagu district of the state have just started taking what I assume is newly-harvested baby ginger to market. Because the lack of rain has affected the quantity of ginger, the consequent lack of ginger at market has led to an increase in the wholesale price. Good news for farmers but bad news for shoppers.

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