Gee Gee Gin from start to finish, it's a real winner!

What happens when you love gin and also love horses? You combine the two and you get Gee Gee Gin!

The gin is proper, real craft gin distilled in the traditional manner using small batch distillation, with each batch produced with love and attention to detail in a special nano distillery in Newbury, Berkshire, not far from the world renowned Newbury Racecourse.  

Unlike many craft ginmakers Gee Gee make everything from scratch. They even produce their own initial neutral alcohol base. Many other ginmakers buy in the alcohol, which is not the case with Gee Gee, so they know exactly what went into their base alcohol.

A spokesman for Geee Gee said: “We lovingly craft our gins from the very start to the finish. Yes, it is a long and complex process but the finished product is well worth the wait.it.  

“So our Master Distiller is a true distiller unlike other small batch gins that are on the market.”

He went on to explain “Our gin is only made using the finest quality natural ingredients. We can guarantee that our small batch gins contain absolutely nothing artificial. 

“I must emphasise that each part of the process of producing our gin is made entirely by hand and this includes drying the natural botanicals that we use, right through to hand dipping the gin bottles into wax.” 

How can you buy Gee Gee Gin? You can join the UK’s newest Craft Gin Club.

Select the monthly subscription for your favourite Gee Gee Gin and they'll ensure you never run out by delivering to your door a fresh bottle of craft Gee Gee Gin each month. 

But that’s not all you will receive. Because with your monthly gin subscription you’ll also receive a variety of especially chosen gifts that will include dried fruit garnishes, special mixers and a sample of another high quality gin for you to try.

The monthly cost is a modest £30, which you can pause or even cancel whenever you want. Makes an idea present for a loved one or as a reward to yourself!

Or why not browse the gins in their online shop to see what’s available for purchase now?

The people behind Gee Gee are gin lovers themselves, so they’re keen on trying out new varieties so do keep an eye open for new, experimental flavours.​

Flavours available include Classic Dry, Dark Berries, Elderflower and Lavender. There are currently two limited edition gins, Seville Orange and also Magic Blue Summer Berries.

500ml bottles of all gins, including the limited edition varieties cost £27.50 each.

To learn more and to make your first purchase visit them at https://www.geegeegin.co.uk/.

Brothers Cider

If you want to see Veganuary out in style, then you should do it with some Brothers Cider.

I was introduced to ciders when I was a student in the student union bar in the dim and distant 1980s. It was OK, but I can honestly say I was not overly impressed.

However, moving on to modern times when my wife and I discovered Brothers Cider my wife and I were both monumentally impressed. And as my wife is from Devon and grew up drinking West Country Cider, that is high praise indeed!

We have been drinking several bottles of Brothers Toffee Apple Cider and I have to say that it is a properly balanced cider which does have a lovely toffee flavour added to it. To me it reminded me of toffee apples consumed during village Halloween celebrations many years ago.

Although I prefer the 4.0% alcohol version of the Toffee Apple Cider my wife was more keen on the alcohol free version, which is also available.

Other flavours are available, including Strawberry and Lime, Rhubarb and Custard, Wild Fruit, Tutti Frutti, Pink Grapefruit Cider, Honeycomb, Red Apple, Parma Violet, Strawberries and Cream, Cloudy Lemon and also Marshmallow flavour. The latter I think I'll be trying next.  

The family know a great deal about making cider from their Somerset homeland, as there is documentary evidence that their Uncle 14 times removed, Gabriel Showering, was taking the family produced cider round the pubs in the area in 1658. That's nearly 365 years of the production of cidery goodness!

And now four brothers, Matthew, Jonathan, Francis and Daniel are continuing the fine family tradition by bringing good quality real ciders with a modern twist.

You can buy it from your local retailer or direct from Brothers https://brotherscider.co.uk/.

If you want retail their ciders please visit https://brotherscider.co.uk/pages/trade-customers

Lion Brewery. Beer brewed, naturally

The Lion Brewery company's proud claim is that it was born and raised on the banks of the River Thames, 186 years ago in 1836.

The history of the Lion Brewery was a long and distinguished one, it developed ales and beers that it shipped all over the world.

Absent from the brewing world for several decades, two Brits decided to re-licence the Lion Brewery on the UK and Singapore, under the original trademark in 2017.

The Lion Brewery brews its beers using the small batch system and strives to only use the highest quality ingredients which it uses to brew its beers totally naturally.

My wife and I have been able to sample two of their beers; Pale Ale and Island Lager.

The Pale Ale has an ABV of 4.5% and the Island Lager has a slightly higher ABV of 4.7%.

The Pale Ale is actually a highly enjoyable and well-hopped IPA which would certainly hold its own against any other IPAs that are on the market.

It's a Single Malt and Single Hop beer. This type of pale ale is known as a SMaSH, and believe me, the Lion Brewery really does smash it with this pale ale! The malt used is Maris Otter barley, the sole hop used is Citra.

The Island Lager is a stunning lager. I have to say that it is like no other lager that I have ever tried. It's designed for the warmer temperatures of the tropics and is certainly very drinkable, to me it seems, to capture the best of lager beers and the best of traditional IPAs. There is definitely more than a hint of pine resin aroma and a floral finish to it. 

To learn more or to place orders please visit https://lionbreweryco.com/en/lion-brewery-co-shop/

Just look out for the embossed lion on the cans.

Also, Lion strives to be a genuinely sustainable and green company in every aspect of its operations, including using lightweight, recyclable cans rather than heavy glass bottles. 

Creative Nature helps you bake at home

You like the idea of baking a cake at home but you perhaps don't have the necessary self-confidence? Aren't sure your meagre baking skills are up to the task of baking a cake as good as your mother, your father or perhaps your grandmother used to make?

And you are worried about creating a vegan, gluten, dairy and gluten free masterpiece?

Fret no longer because you've got this! With the help of Creative Nature, of course. 

Creative Nature create gold award winning bake at home cake mixes so that your home baked cakes will always rise to the occasion!

There's their absolutely chocolatey cacao rich chocolate cake baking mix. 

All you do is add 250ml of your favourite non-dairy milk (they recommend rice milk as their favourite type of milk, but I made mine with some Lilk) add 110ml of vegetable oil, or 100g of melted coconut oil if you have any of that.

Place all the ingredients into a mixing bowl, give it a good mixing and then put it into an oven pre-heated to 180C/350F or Gas Mark 4 for 25 minutes.

They suggest icing the cake if you can avoid eating it right away.

Although not included with the packet they recommend using 130g of icing sugar or powdered coconut sugar, three heaped tbsp of Creative Nature Cacao Powder, 80g dairy free spread and milk, if you want.

Smoothly mix the ingredients together and when ready, use it to ice the cake.

Also available is the Banana Bread Mix, the Simply Spiced Carrot Cake Loaf Mix, Chocolate Chip Muffin Baking Mix and Corn Bread Baking Mix.

If you feel like being a little more adventurous in your kitchen why not try their Gluten Free All Purpose Flour?

You can order directly from Creative Nature at their website https://www.creativenaturesuperfoods.co.uk/

They have a massive range of other goodies that are available, so why not check those out when you visit them?

Why we lost our local bakeries

The received wisdom, or what everyone knows, is that small, local bakeries all closed down because giant evil corporate supermarket chains opened up branches in small towns and out-priced the small, family-owned local bakers which, as a result, had to close down. victims of corporate greed.

Whilst this might have happened in some cases, the story I can relate, based on my own local experience does not bear this out.

I am thinking of a moderately sized market town. It had three traditional family owned bakers who all did a very good business supplying fresh bread to the people of the town.

However, the young generations of the family bakers did not want to follow on in the footsteps of their parents. 

Their parents had to get up at three o'clock in the morning to mix the dough and to fire up the ovens to bake the bread. 

Their children did not want to get up in the middle of the night to bake bread so they decided to go off to do other things and follow other career paths. One went to work for the Inland Revenue, some joined the armed forces and so on. 

Eventually when the older generations of bakers came to retirement age they had nobody to pass their businesses on to and one-by-one, they closed down.

Eventually the Morrison's supermarket chain came to town and opened up a bakery department which made fresh bread and fresh cakes. Items we hadn't seen in town for several years.

When someone was chuntering on about how the supermarkets had killed off small, family bakers I pointed out that all of the family bakers in town had closed before Morrison's came to town. He said: "Oh! That's right, isn't it? I hadn't realised that!"

(Image curtesy summa/Pixabay.)

Mints just got guilt free with Mintastic

Mints are now guilt free and it's all thanks to Mintasatic!

Per 100g Mintastic contains 13 calories, zero sugar and zero carbs. 

Compared to other sugar sugar free mints which contain 240 calories, zero sugar and 25 calories per 100g.

They are vegan friendly and sweetened with Erythritol and are completely tooth friendly.

And the great thing is that Erythriol is a plant-based sweetener.

Mintastic is a small British sweet maker and they are keen to bring minty guilt-free goodness to all mint lovers, but especially those who cannot tolerate sugar such as people who have diabetes or who are on a calorie controlled diet.

They come in a variety of flavours including spearmint, peppermint, cinnamon and strawberry flavours. 

Tol earn more please visit them at https://www.mintastic.co.uk/.

You can buy direct from their website, a taster box of four flavours costs £8.00 and delivery is free.

Great Sausages, By Heck!

If you want to eat great quality sausages like you used to get made by your local high street or village butcher, then, as Heck says: "You need flavour you can swear by!"

My wife loves Heck sausages not only because they taste so very good, but because they are gluten free. And as someone who is diagnosed as suffering from coeliac disease, being able to obtain gluten-free foods that actually taste good, too, is very important for her.

They are also highly useful for people, like myself, who need to eat a carefully balanced diet due to having diabetes. And having great tasting foods also makes you feel good, too!

One of the reasons that Heck sausages are so very good is that they are very keen on some simple, key facts.

1) Only use the finest of ingredients, including the herbs and spices.

2) Only prepare the sausages in traditional small batch methods.

And it really is that simple. 

But even though Heck does use good, old fashioned sausage making techniques they are also an innovative family-owned and operated company.

For example a firm favourite of mine, and of my wife, is the Heck Paprika Chicken sausages.

These are chicken chipolata sausages with paprika and red pepper. They are 85% British chicken and they use pea flour, plus a good mix of herbs and spices.

Their pork sausages are also awesomely good and contain 97% British pork.

What different sausages do they offer? Paprika Chicken, Chicken Italia, Simply Chicken, Spring Chicken (with spring onions!) Heck 97% Pork, Heck Reduced Fat, Heck Vegan Breakfast Sausages, Heck Meat Free, Heck Vegan Italia, Heck Family Favourite, Heck 60/40 (Chicken Mushroom and Wild Rice) Heck 60/40 (Pork, Oven Roasted Tomatoes and Olives) Heck Pork Italia, too.

But there's much more! Burgers, including vegan, a range of minces, posh nuggets, Heck Alcohol free IPA beer is also available, too. Heck! I wasn't expecting that!

To learn more or to put your orders in please visit them at https://www.heckfood.co.uk/.

They are also at some retailers, too.

Like No Udder Montezuma's Extraordinary Chocolate

Like No Udder Montezuma's Extraordinary Chocolate, is, simply, an extraordinary chocolate.

It's vegan and organic and it is an alternative to milk chocolate. Helen of Montezuma's says that Like No Udder is their very own creation and that is as close to milk chocolate as they could get it.

As a milk chocolate fan since I was first given a blue foil wrapped chocolate bar in the late 1950s, I have to say that I did sneak a peek at the ingredients list to see how they had managed to create a milk chocolate taste and gorgeous mouthfeel without using any milk or other dairy-derived products.

Was it the organic cane sugar? The organic cocoa butter? The organic cocoa mass? The organic rice powder? The organic vanilla extract? The organic cocoa nibs? The organic peppermint oil?

Well, of course the answer is that it will all of those things, but what makes all the difference is the knowledge and years of chocolate making experience of Helen, Simon and the fine folks at Montezuma's Chocolate who produce the finest of fine chocolates from their chocolatier headquarters in West Sussex.

One touch that I especially like, apart from the exquisite taste, is the absolutely perfect crunch provided by the cocoa nibs.

flavours other than yummy peppermint are available, please check on their website which you will find at https://www.montezumas.co.uk/like-no-udder.html.

You can buy from them or check out their website for your nearest retailer.

Really Good Tomato Ketchup

Really Good Tomato Ketchup. That's a good, no, a great name for a product. Declaring it to be "Really Good."

But it's also a somewhat bold claim. Does it bear up to closer scrutiny? Yes, it certainly does on several grounds.

Firstly it is ideal for vegans and vegetarians because it is entirely plant-based.

Secondly it contains no added sugar (it actually contains 75% less sugar) and it us ideal for people who want to watch their salt intake as it contains 78% less salt.

And as an added fillip the plastic bottle is 100% recyclable. 

But this brings us on to the other, equally important point about Really Good Tomato Ketchup. What oes it taste like? Here it is a clear winner because it also tastes like a Really Good Tomato Ketchup.

Which is probably the main reason it was voted Food Innovation Award Best Children's Product last year, 2021. And has received other accolades for its innovative products and its genuine green agenda.

Based in Yorkshire, the Really Good range of products was founded by Elizabeth Jones.

They make a range of other products including Smoked Barbeque Sauce and Smokey Barbeque Ketchup.

A pack of six 310g bottles will cost £17.99 at Amazon.

You can purchase the products at Ocado, Amazon and Wholefoods Market. 

If you are a retailer or a wholesaler, Really Good would like to hear from you.

Visit them at https://realgoodketchup.com/.

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