Beer in the Evening

Hello everyone and Happy New Year!

Hope you all had a good time off relaxing (and visiting pubs!) – here are the poll results for our poll we ran over Christmas. We asked you where you were going to spend NYE..

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55% of you then chose to not spend it in any sort of licensed establishment. Probably the sort of figure we’d been expecting actually. This year I spent it in a club again with a load of friends – it was considerably quieter than usual though until after midnight when it filled up. Is this the culture changing now, more people drinking at home before going out?

On to this week’s poll. There has been a lot of talk from some pubco’s about lobbying to change the drinking age - should it be lower, higher or stay the same?

Would be interested in some comments to why you think it should be changed too! 

ps. I hope the one of you that voted ‘Online’ had a good time playing Second Life or whatever you did on NYE!

Hi Everyone.

Well, we’re out of the office now until Jan 2nd – although we’ll still be doing admin stuff on the site and forums we might not be so public on the blog. So we just want to wish you all a Merry Xmas and we’ll be back with our first post of the New Year on Jan 2^nd. Until then – have a good time and don’t drink and drive! Drink and rate pubs instead! – The BITE Team!

First of all thank you to all who entered this competition, we received hundreds of correct entries.  Infact we had so much interest I have decided to give away a second and thrid prize.  So two extra lucky people will each be receiving some Rosey Nosey this festive season.

So, to recap we asked you;

Question 1. What was the name of the Georgian Style property purchased by George Bateman in 1880?
Answer 1.  Salem House

Question 2. In 1927 Harry Bateman purchased which hotel in Skegness?
Answer 2.  The Vine Hotel

Question 3. Name the Peterborough pub that George G. Bateman purchased in 2003
Answer 3.  The Palmerston Arms

And the winners;
1st prize goes to Martin Goodson from East Grinstead, well done Martin 6 bottles of Rosey Nosey will be on their way to you.

2nd prize goes to Micheal Dunai from Cardiff, well done Micheal, 3 bottles of Rosey Nosey will be on their way to you.

3rd prize goes to Jo Major from Bracebridge Heath Lincoln, well done Jo, 2 bottles of Rosey Nosey will be on their way to you.

Well done to our winners, and thank you again to everybody who entered the competition, may you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Don’t forget to check back here in the New Year for more Beer In The Evening prizes to be won.

If you’d like to know more about Rosey Nosey real ale you can read our review.
Or, if you’d like to learn more about Batemans Family Brewery and buy Rosey Nosey online, visit the Bateman brewery website.

Start your Christmas festivities off with a few Snowballs! This sweet, bitter, fluffy drink has been a tradition in our house for years, marking the start of Christmas partying – as soon as you get a glass of snowball in your hands it’s time to kick back, relax and let the merriment begin.

Snowballs are a simple cocktail made from two standard ingredients, Advocaat and lemonade.  Advocaat is a bright yellow Dutch liqueur made from aromatic spirits, egg yolks, vanilla and brandy. There are many variations of this recipe some we have listed below for you to try;

The Classic Snowball
70ml Advocaat egg liqueur (2 shot)
Lemonade (top up half pint glass)
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Add the Advocaat to your glass, top up with lemonade, be careful as the two liquids mixed have a very reactive ‘expanding’ effect, add a few drops of fresh lemon juice, stir.
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The Russkie Snowballov
35ml Vodka (1 shot)
35ml Advocaat (1 shot)
Lemonade (top up)
Ice

If you attempt this one, trust us, build it the way we recommend, alternatives can be messy! Start with the vodka, top up to half way with lemonade, add the ice, then the Advocaat, finally topping up with more lemonade if required. This one has some kick.
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The Snow-lazy-ball
35ml Advocaat (1 shot)
1 can of sprite

Start with the Advocaat, gently add the sprite, and stir, 5 seconds and it’s done.
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Fireside-ball
35ml Advocaat (1 shot)
15ml brandy (dash or ½ a shot)
Lemonade (top up)

Start with the Advocaat, add the brandy and give it a quick stir, slowly add the lemonade top up. That’ll warm the barnacles off a north sea trawler.
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Citrus-twist-balls
35ml Advocaat (1 shot)
15ml fresh lime juice
Lemonade (top up)

Start with the Advocaat, top up to almost the top of the glass with lemonade, then add the lime juice, give it a good stir. Ouch – that’s zesty!
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Catballs
70ml Advocaat (2 shots)
Sprite
1 tblspn vanilla ice cream

Add the Advocaat and ice cream, top up gently with Sprite, the cat that got the cream.
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The Kings Snowball
Vanilla sugar
35ml Advocaat (1 shot)
15ml Brandy
1 tblspn vanilla ice cream
2 Slices of fresh lemon
1 tspn fresh lemon juice
Lemonade (top up)

Put a sprinkling of vanilla sugar on a plate and with one of the slices of lemon run it around the lip of the glass making it slightly wet with lemon juice, turn the glass upside down and place onto the plate of sugar allowing the lemon juice to attract some of the sugar grains. Turn the glass up the other way and into it add the Advocaat, dash of brandy, fresh lemon juice, and stir. Then add the tablespoon of vanilla ice cream. Slowly top up the glass with lemonade, finally decorate with the other slice of lemon. A lot of preparation involved, but the result is a drink fit for a king.

Sorry it’s late – I managed to change the poll yesterday but then totally forgot about posting the last week results - doh!

Anyway, last week we asked if you thought the DrinkAware thing was a good thing or not – We in essence think it is, but it seems a little ‘overused’ – is alcohol advertising getting like cigarette advertising now, with all the WARNINGS every two minutes? Personally, I think we can be responsible enough without all those, but anyway, onto the results:

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You agreed with us (sort of) 87% of you said you think it’s a good thing, with 41% of the total vote saying you were sick of seeing it so much. Surprisingly, 13% of the total vote decided DrinkAware wasn’t a good thing? Not sure why, no one left any comments (hint, hint) – Nice to see a lot more votes this week – 119. Although that was because we did send out a newsletter (which plenty of you loved and plenty of you thought we had told you Xmas had been cancelled by the responses we got!)

This week we’re asking where are you spending New Year’s Eve? For many, they choose to stay in and watch BBC1 or perhaps go round to friends houses (we’ll call this a ‘party’ in this poll) – others choose to go to a pub or club – some even a restaurant (I have never spent a New Year in a restaurant, not overly sure that that’d be that enjoyable?) Anyway, where are you going?