Category: Food & Drink

Unsurprising

Food & Drink

Found via Insty, we see this little snippet:

Judged by a panel of 40 industry experts, Lidl’s [private label] Queen Margot, an eight-year blended Scotch whisky, took home a category win for “Scotch Blended 12 Years & Under.” The whisky beat out some serious competition from industry giants (and far pricier bottles) including Johnnie Walker Black Label. Queen Margot retails for £13.49, or approximately $17.98 USD, proving that good Scotch doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg.

Blended Scotch isn’t a “premium” product by any stretch of the imagination, so this shouldn’t come as any surprise.  And “taste” is purely subjective, in any case.  (I think the above-mentioned Johnnie Walker Black Label is overpriced for a liquor that tastes like cough medicine mixed with diluted engine oil, for instance, but many people love it.)

For the record, I have two favorite blended Scotches, when I feel like drinking more than one or two shots:  J&B (with lots of ice and water) for a “light” drink, and Famous Grouse for a more substantial, undiluted one.

As Glenn dryly (and correctly) notes:

“The price/value correlation with booze isn’t super-tight.”

Nor with so many other “premium”-styled products, either, e.g. the $300,000+ Rolls Cullinan:

Oh STFU

Food & Drink, Men & Women

I started reading this article because it looked amusing:

Real men don’t crave cheesecake.
In fact, a new study claims that sexy images of the female form leave men hankering for beef and pork.
Researchers behind “Is Meat Sexy?,” published in the journal Food Quality and Preference, tracked more than 1,600 men and women in the US, UK and Australia to explore advertising’s impact on red-meat consumption and how that relates to mating.

And so on.

But it wouldn’t be an academic study without one of the academics slipping in a little slice of bullshit from the Narrative:

“Sexualized images of women can make men eat meat more as a way to increase their masculinity and status, to show them off to the opposite sex,” he says. “[But] since the growing trend of meat consumption harms one’s health and is bad for the environment, sexy ads don’t just sell the latest cologne or clothing — they may have unforeseen consequences.”

And here we are, back to cow farts.

1) Meat consumption harms one’s health — that’s a fucking lie.
2) Meat farming is bad for the environment — that’s another fucking lie — no more than vegetable farming or any other kind of farming is bad for the environment.

I’m getting so sick of academia.

And just to cheer everyone up, here’s a sexualized image.

Now go and eat some meat.

Banzai

Business, Food & Drink

I don’t quite know what to make of all this:

London Pride maker Fuller, Smith & Turner, better known as Fuller’s, is to sell its entire beer business to the European division of Japanese brewer Asahi.
In a deal which values the division at £250million, the London-based brewer will sell the production and distribution of its well-known beers, including its flagship drink London Pride, as well as its ale, stout, porter, craft lager and cider brands.

Considering that London Pride is my second-favorite beer (after Wadworth 6X), I can only hope that Asahi won’t look at Pride’s miniscule U.S. distribution and decide that it’s not worth it.

On the other hand, they might also think that Fuller are a bunch of morons for not getting Pride greater exposure in the U.S., with the result that I could soon buy it at Kroger.

So it’s “wait and see”, not something I typically enjoy doing.

Gah.  I hate  change.

Chippies

Food & Drink

I see that the top 10 list of fish ‘n chip shops in the U.K. has been published.  The one I’m going to make a beeline for the next time I’m Over There is Harbor Lights in Falmouth, Cornwall, because of this pic:

Granted, it may have been a promotional gimmick to get that many people to queue up outside the place, but whatever.

All that said, however, I’m still a huge fan of Sharon’s Plaice, in Boscastle, Cornwall:

…because I have never eaten such good fish ‘n chips before, anywhere.  And yes, the potatoes are locally-sourced (delivered fresh daily) as is the fish, caught right offshore and brought into the harbor.  I hope it survives until my next visit — Boscastle is a small village, and very dependent on tourism to keep its head above water, so any  retail establishment there leads a precarious existence (other than the pubs, of course).

Tragedy

Bad News, Business, Food & Drink

As Longtime Readers may know, one of my favorite stops when I’m in Britishland is Patisserie Valerie, which makes some of the best pastries I’ve ever tasted (along with outstanding croissants at breakfast time).  Apparently, quality merchandise hasn’t been enough:

Patisserie Holdings plc announces today that, as a direct result of the significant fraud referred to in previous announcements, it has been unable to renew its bank facilities, and therefore regrettably the business does not have sufficient funding to meet its liabilities as they fall due.
As a consequence, the directors have appointed partners at KPMG as administrators to the company and its various subsidiaries.
The Chairman Luke Johnson has personally extended an unsecured, interest-free loan to help ensure that the January wages are paid to all staff working in the ongoing business.
This Loan will also assist the administrators in trading as many profitable stores as possible while a sale process is undertaken.

Needless to say, stores will be closed and people will lose their jobs.

This after one of its senior executives siphoned money out of the place to support his jet-set lifestyle.  And if I could get hold of the asshole, his legal and financial problems would be the least of his problems.

Yes, I take my pastries that  seriously.

Not Diligent

Food & Drink

I see that I’ve forgotten to itemize my non-vegan intake over the past two weeks.  I plead Old Fart Forgetfulness, so please forgive my sloppiness.  Here, however, is sort of a representative summary of my meals thus far:

Oh wait, there was some pulled pork in there too:

I’ll try to do better next time, promise.