In medieval Britain the pie was often the centre piece of the meal, filled with exotic fillings such as swans, peacocks and blackbirds (which you may remember from the nursery rhyme).  From the finest London restaurants to the wind swept terraces of football grounds, the pie has since become a stoic dish on the British menu, engraved into our popular culture. The chant “who ate all the pies?!” for example was first sung by Sheffield supporters in 1894 and directed at their clubs goalkeeper at the time William “Fatty” Foulke, an enormous man in stature.

Still lovingly associated with home cooked tradition and British pubs, the pie is here to stay.  Get down your local and demand a pie today!  If you’ve any comments feel free to leave them in our comments section below or join the conversation on our Facebook page. Cheers!

Unless you’ve been living in a hole (or in denial) the last few weeks, you’ve probably noticed that it’s Christmas Day on Sunday. So as one last push to get you into the festive spirit, we thought we’d share with you some interesting Christmas facts you can amaze your family and friends with this weekend.

 • Drinking mulled wine at Christmas originates from Germany during the Medieval period. However, records show that a spiced wine was drunk all the back in 5000BC by ancient Greeks who believed it had healing properties.

• Coca Cola did not invent the red Santa Claus; up until the 1930s he had already been depicted as red, green, short, tall, fat, slim. However, Coca Cola has literally shaped the image of the jolly figure we all know today.

• One – perhaps rather bored – American scientist has calculated that Santa Claus would have to visit 822 homes a second at 650 miles per hour to deliver all his presents on Christmas Eve. That’s why he uses magic, der!

• The ‘X’ in Xmas is not irreligious; it is actually the abbreviated Greek symbol for ‘Christ’.

• Every Christmas since 1947, Norway has provided Trafalgar Square’s Christmas tree to thank us for our support during the Second World War.

• The world’s largest ever snowman was built in Maine, USA in 1999 and stood at a whopping 113ft tall!

So from all of us at Beerintheevening.com we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

During the first world war, in Flanders (Western Belgium), most of this expanse of land was ripped apart, towns, landmarks, vegetation were systematically eradicated from existence by artillery bombardment.  The land was turned into a sea of mud, in this mud men continued to fight one another whilst surrounded by the dead and dying.  Each new artillery bombardment would churn the muddy ground revealing corpses of lost soldiers -  a truly horrific sight for the young men that continued to fight the war of attrition.  During each coming spring an enduring flower would appear, the poppy.  Poppies only grow from freshly churned soil, the war torn landscape being the perfect environment for them to germinate, they grew in such abundance on the battlefields that it was superstitiously believed that each one was grown from the soul of a fallen soldier.

Today we do not simply reflect on the human atrocity conducted during the first world war, Remembrance Day is about all wars that have taken lives, on both sides.  With all of our advances in culture, science, medicine, philosophy it’s hard to comprehend why we continue to kill one another, but it seems part of our nature for now. But, for all of our misgivings there is no reason why we should ever forget those men and women who have laid down their lives for our country, our freedom and peace.

This coming remembrance Sunday, raise your glass to the fallen. Or, instead of buying that pint, consider giving the money to help our veterans, you can donate at www.poppy.org.uk.

Quick Sausage’y facts

1. The sausage is an ancient form of food, pre-dating most historical cultures, the Sumerians were believed to have cooked the first sausages over 5,000 years ago.

2. The slang word for sausages “banger” was adopted during the second world war. Due to a lack of ingredients sausage makers would add water to their sausage recipe, when the water turned to steam inside the sausage skin, it would often explode with a “bang!”

3. The worlds longest sausage weighed in at 15.5 tonnes, and measured 35miles long. Unfortunately never officially adjudicated by the Guinness World records – who recognise a measly 1,500m German sausage as the record holder, our British 35 mile long masterpiece will not be forgotten.

4. Sausages are a product of efficient butchery.  Butchers use parts of the pig that are both edible and nutritious to make sausages, these ‘parts’ including organs, blood and fat would normally go to waste, seen as unsavoury by consumers, wrap it all up in a sausage format and you’ve got Britains number one home cooked meal.

5. The Frankfurter was a sausage made by a German butcher in the image of his pet Dachshund (sausage dog), in 1906, American cartoonist Ted Dorgan produced a painting of a dog in a bread roll covered in mustard to commemorate the German butchers sausage invention, unable to spell Dachshund Ted called it “hot dog”.  The name seemed to stick.

If you’re in the Twickenham area, you might want to get yourself down to the Rifleman they have organised a Beer, Cider and Sausage Festival. If you’ve got any sausage facts, recipies or just want to talk sausage leave a comment in our comments section below or join in the conversation on our Facebook page. Cheers!

Our British pubs provide us with a relaxed, social, and safe environment to meet one another.  Pubs have been an integral part of our society and despite much doubt regarding their future they still continue to be one of the iconic representations of how British people spend their spare time. If your local is doing anything to support British Pub Week 2011 let us know on our Facebook page, or by adding a comment to our comments section below.
We’ve had a few Pubs advertise their Halloween events on our pub events list, but nobody has come forward with an exclusive British Pub Week event.  Don’t forget to spread the message! Cheers!

According to the CAMRA website many of the Cask Marque pubs will operate a ‘Try Before You Buy’ promotion allowing revellers the opportunity to sample-taste a real ale before choosing.   Some Cask Marque pubs may operate the “3 x 1/3 pint” meaning you get to try 3 real ales for the price of a pint which is a great promotion for any new real ale drinker,… and regular ale drinkers alike.  It gives you some time to hone in one a particular brew you might take a fancy to.  So, be sure to look out for pubs with a Cask Marque accreditation this weekend, and be sure to ask about the real ale promotions they may be serving.

If you’ve any tips for a new real ale drinker, or would like to tell us about a promotion in your area, or a distinct real ale you might like people to try, please leave a comment in our comments section below or join in the conversation on our Facebook page. Cheers!

Unfortunately the Obama’s have no intention to market the ale, the only way to obtain one would be to become and American war hero or get invited to the White House on Superbowl night.   The recipe for the ale is being kept secret with the Washington Post reporting just one teaser “over a pound of honey goes into that brew”.  That’s a lot of honey.  Imagine if the Obama’s changed their mind about selling their ale? There would be worldwide interest.

If you have any comments feel free to leave them in our comments section below oor join in the conversation on our Facebook page.

If you know any Guinness related facts feel free to share them in our comments section below, or by joining the conversation on our Facebook Page.

The Butchers Arms will – through the dedication of it’s local community no doubt continue to flourish. The co-operative purchase model could well be that the future of local pubs-in-need, turning to their local communities for financial support. Prime Minister David Cameron even visited The Butchers Arms keen to promote the local community spirit as part of his plans to rebuild British society in the wake of the abysmal rioting. You can read the full story on the Lyvennet Community Pub website.

The Butchers Arms is the not the only co-operative owned pub in the county, The Old Crown at Hesket was purchased by more  than 100 locals in a similar deal.

If you’ve any comments you’d like to add about The Butchers Arms you can do so in our comments section below or join in the conversation on our Facebook page.