Anna Mckay shares a recipe perfect for celebrating Chinese New Year
Laura Reynolds reviews the latest arrival to the York cafe scene
Anna Mckay tempts us to break the new year healthy eating streak.
Just 4 days until Christmas..get in the mood with some festive nosh!
It is certainly an unfair generalisation to assert that all pubs and barmen are like this, because of course, they’re not. Some of the finest barmen I’ve met will take you through their more, shall we say, ‘beginner’ beers with a tactful and friendly nod towards the ones that are lighter, less bitter and unlikely to leave you picking the hops out of your teeth afterwards. But others are definitely of the (usually unspoken but you can tell) opinion that beer is for men, fruity beers and cider are for girls and wimps. And that’s that.
Why shouldn’t cider be a man’s drink as well? The average cider is usually a higher percentage than most beers, with Weston’s Old Rosie being 7.3% ABV (I was once told by a barman that Old Rosie can reach up to 13% once it’s in your stomach but we can argue that scientific credibility of that one later). Without foam, embarrassing moustaches are a thing of the past (unless you’re a hipster of course) and a still cider won’t bloat you with bubbles, leaving room for more alcohol.
Cider has undergone a bit of rejuvenation recently, with tramps’ favourite Frosty Jack rebooted with an infuriatingly jaunty and ‘hip’ advertising campaign and the urine coloured carbolic acid that is Strongbow touted as the tipple of a hard working man. The attempt to market it at men is admirable but going about it completely the wrong way, relegating cider to merely an ‘extreme’ version of beer. Here take this, drink it, you’ll get drunk so much faster! Extreme! One pound pints of Strongbow at Reflex on Wednesdays are only testament to this theory.
It is easy to feel somewhat pressurised into pretending that you like beer, especially if you’re not a very girly girl. Cider is a step up from white wine spritzers and Barcadi breezers but it never quite reaches the androgynous lure that a girl enjoying a foaming pint achieves. Which is a shame because the world of real cider is just as rich, detailed and kooky as real ale. How about a cider brandy? Or the fearsome Kingston Black which is fermented in old rum barrels? Whatever it is just don’t make it a Strongbow.
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