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Hello, I’m cooking fresh fish with cider over a trangia camping stove in sunny Galicia, northern Spain. With videography by Evan Roberts, this youTube is pretty self explanatory.

The actual location is a campsite at Camping Moreiras, O Grove, Pontevedra, Galicia. The fish, a whole monkfish, came from the fish market on the harbour at O Grove itself, as did the vegetables and the cider is an Asturian Sidra Natural obtaine en route from one of many Eroski supermarkets. Just a bit of fun really, but it captures one of many happy mealtimes from a memorable holiday touring Asturias and Galicia in September 2011. There are loads of photos online  at both my collection and Linda’s Flickr  photostreams.   Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogCooking Monkfish with Cider in Galicia

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The International Craft Cider Festival

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An eighth of the UKs pubs are owned bu Punch Taverns, and every time they spend money on re-branding interiors to meet different market segments rather than delivering good quality beer and cider and in a congenial atmosphere, they are slowly failing.

This article titled “Punch Taverns plots another way out of £3bn debt and a pub empire in crisis” was written by Andrew Clark, for The Observer on Sunday 27th March 2011 00.05 UTC There’s no logo above the door of its pubs. No branding, no advertising, not the slightest sign of corporate identity. But an eighth of Britain’s licensed houses are quietly owned by Punch Taverns, a sprawling, anonymous empire of neighbourhood drinking establishments disintegrating under a mountain of £3bn in debt. Punch owns 6,770 of Britain’s 52,000 pubs, an estate built over a decade of frenetic multibillion-pound purchases, sales, mergers and demergers at the height of Britain’s leveraged buyout boom. Its empire stretches from the Quayside Inn in Falmouth, Cornwall, to the Chieftain, in Inverness. But after slashing the balance sheet value of hundreds of struggling pubs, it slid to a £159m loss last year and had to make interest payments on its debts of £260m. Shares have slumped by 95% over four years amid mounting alarm that Punch could default on its debts. Top executives blame external factors – they say drinkers have been lured out of pubs by cheap lager on supermarket shelves and by the Labour government’s 2007 decision to outlaw smoking in pubs. “The dynamics in the market changed and that really started with the smoking ban,” says Roger Whiteside, managing director of Punch’s tenanted pubs division. “There’s been a long-term decline for decades in volume sales of beer. What used to be copeable with – a 2% or 3% drop a year – became 7% or 8%.” Whiteside says ultra-cheap lager in Asda, Sainsbury’s or Tesco has not helped, but blames the smoking ban, swiftly followed by a recession, for an unprecedented cash crunch: “Consumers are drinking more at home. That’s been driven by an ever-widening gap between beer prices in supermarkets and in pubs, exacerbated by the social aspects of banning smoking.” Punch, which narrowly trails Enterprise Inns as Britain’s second-biggest pub owner, briefed the City last week on its strategy for stopping the rot. It plans a demerger to separate Punch Partnerships, its vast rump of quasi-independent tenanted pubs, from its snazzier high-street managed division, known as Spirit, which is doing better because its outlets sell more food. Followers of the industry could be excused a weary sense of deja vu. The history of Punch Taverns reads like a corporate finance catalogue. It has kept lawyers, investment bankers and brokers in clover to a staggering degree since its creation in 1997 by former Pizza Express boss Hugh Osmond. In transactions worth billions, backed by massive bond issues, Punch bought pub estates from Bass, Allied Domecq, Pubmaster, Innspired and Inn Business. It has sold off pubs in dribs and drabs and unsuccessfully attempted a huge merger with Mitchells & Butlers in 2008. It has merged, demerged, remerged – and is demerging again – with Spirit. Along the way, some have made a fortune; former chief executive Giles Thorley, who ran Punch from 2001 until 2010, took home nearly £30m over five years. Investors objected, voting down the company’s remuneration policy in 2009. New boss Ian Dyson’s latest wheeze to split the group in two will cost £30m in advisory fees, prompting derision from certain bondholders, one of whom told the Guardian: “There’s a £30m corporate finance party on the top deck of the Titanic when attention should be focused on urgent engine room repairs.” Many have tired of constant financial engineering and ask why the City has added such spectacular complications to an ostensibly simple business – street-corner boozers. Jonathan Mail, head of policy at the Campaign for Real Ale, says: “Because of the financial engineering and debt companies have taken on, lessees haven’t been able to make sufficient profit to invest so that pubs can evolve and change with the times.” Critics of Punch, and its similarly vast competitor Enterprise Inns, argue that, far from being companies with a passion for pubs, they are property businesses largely concerned with milking tenants for rent. Greg Mulholland, the Liberal Democrat MP who chairs parliament’s all-party “Save the pub” group, says: “The big so-called pub companies are really property companies, and very largely property speculators. Some are playing Monopoly with pubs that mean an awful lot to communities they serve.” As 20 pubs a week close in Britain, Mulholland argues that Punch and its fellow megaliths are follies born on the drawing board of City dealmakers during an era of reckless exuberance prior to the financial crisis: “Apart from the fact their size is unwieldy, it’s bad for both tenants and consumers to have so many pubs in the hands of a couple of big companies. The folly of the business model and some of the bad decisions made by Punch are coming home to roost.” Under the tenanted model favoured by Punch, most of its pubs are franchised out to licensees who pay rent at a level fixed over periods of five years. They are obliged to buy their beer from Punch, which, because of its vast scale, can negotiate steep discounts with brewers. However, disaffected tenants complain that Punch has hiked the price of beer in recent years as it struggles to meet debt repayments. Simply servicing the group’s debt costs each of Punch’s pubs an average of £39,000 last year, a hefty chunk of typical annual takings of £200,000-£250,000. For landlords, profit margins are often wafer-thin; a 2009 report by the Commons business and enterprise committee found that 78% of lessees were dissatisfied with their “tie” to big pub companies. Two-thirds earned less than £15,000 a year. The churn as landlords quit has caused concern; Punch says 13% of its outlets are under temporary management. “The model doesn’t work,” says Steve Corbett, founder of the Fair Pint Campaign. “It’s financial engineering in the extreme, whereby they’ve managed to extract the maximum profit to the detriment of tenants and consumers.” The City has little patience for sentiment about pubs. Nigel Parsons, an analyst at Evolution Securities, says licensed houses ought to be treated as dispassionately as any business: “Pubs don’t deserve a special place in society – they’re only there because they work. The ones that go to the wall deserve to because they don’t offer anything special.” He believes that the tenanted model in not inherently flawed, but that players such as Punch have simply over-reached: “The application of the model works, but they’ve pushed it too aggressively.” Punch plans to halve in size from 6,700 pubs to about 3,000. In addition to spinning off its Spirit estate, it intends to sell 2,200 poorly performing pubs. It reckons two-thirds are likely to stay open as pubs, while a third will go to developers for transformation into shops, care homes or residential developments. The company insists its deal-making has raised the standard of pub life. “The choice of beer has absolutely exploded, we sell more than 700 ales,” says Whiteside. “We’ve been instrumental in investing in pubs, putting food into pubs and creating a more pleasant environment.” The Fair Pint Campaign demurs. Corbett says: “Walk down any street in Britain and you can spot a tied pub a mile off. It’s the one falling apart… and may have had four or five tenants over 10 years.” Timeline 1997 Hugh Osmond establishes Punch Taverns by buying 1,400 pubs from Bass   1999 Buys 688 pubs from Inn Business; 3,000 from Allied Domecq   2002 Spirit Group, its managed estate, demerged; 4,200-strong tenanted estate floats as Punch Taverns   2003 Buys rival Pubmaster for £1.2bn, adding a further 3,115 pubs   2004 Purchases Innspired Group for £335m, gaining 1,064 more pubs   2006 Buys back Spirit for £2.7bn   2007 CEO Giles Thorley is the highest paid in the FTSE 100, earning £11.3m   2008 Merger bid for Mitchells & Butlers is rebuffed; trading begins to falter   2009 Emergency cash call raises £375m; executive pay policy voted down   2010 Recession squeezes pub takings; Thorley quits as chief executive   2011 Shares plunge on fear of default; another demerger of Spirit proposed

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The new alcoholic drinks code is clearly the result of determined drinks industry lobbying coupled with a coalition government in thrall to business. The big brewers, brands, cider and alcopop manufacturers have clearly had their say.

This article titled “New drink code shunned by six key health bodies” was written by Sarah Boseley, health editor, for The Guardian on Monday 14th March 2011 00.01 UTC Six health organisations have walked away from the government’s “responsibility deal” on alcohol, saying that health secretary Andrew Lansley has allowed the industry to drive through a series of insignificant pledges that will do nothing to reduce drink-related illness and deaths. The deal, due to be announced on Tuesday, will see supermarkets, pubs and drinks manufacturers pledge to do their bit to reduce harmful drinking, such as labelling bottles and cans with the number of alcohol units. Other pledges will be made by the food and fitness industries. Health representatives on the alcohol panel, which has been meeting for several months, say the government listened to industry and refused to allow issues that could make a difference, such as price and promotion to children, to be discussed. The Royal College of Physicians, the British Liver Trust, the British Association for the Study of the Liver, the Institute of Alcohol Studies, the British Medical Association and Alcohol Concern have written to Lansley rejecting a deal that they say: • Prioritises the views of industry. Health groups’ proposals for bans on price-based advertising and cinema advertising during under-18 films, and health warnings on bottles and cans, were all turned down. • Aims to “foster a culture of responsible drinking” – not tackle illness and death. • Does not provide any way of measuring the success of the pledges. Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, special adviser on alcohol to the royal college, said it was perfectly appropriate for government to take the economic impact of any policy into account, but “it is not acceptable for the drinks industry to drive the pace and direction that such public health policy takes.” The pledges would not give doctors, “who see the rising tide of health harm from drink in their daily practice, any confidence that they will get to the core of how we reverse this entirely preventable cause of illness and death”. Lansley has said there will be a government alcohol strategy later in the year. But the six organisations say they have seen no evidence that the government is working towards “a comprehensive, cross-departmental strategy to reduce alcohol harm, based on evidence of what works, with rigorous evaluation”. They also complain that government has not committed to any alternative actions – such as legislation – if the pledges fail to cut alcohol-related harm. Lansley said: “We have made clear from the start that the responsibility deal is just one strand of the government’s wide public health policy. It explicitly excludes cost and price competition to avoid conflicts of interest. “The Treasury have already announced a new tax on super-strength beers; the Home Office have made their announcement on a ban in sales of alcohol below cost and plans to tighten licensing laws; and our public health strategy sets out how local areas will be given a ring-fenced public health budget to ensure alcohol misuse gets the priority it deserves. In tandem to this action, the responsibility deal is working with the industry on voluntary agreements to get speedier results. For example, to improve unit labelling. The Responsibility Deal has achieved more in the last six months than the previous Government’s Coalition for Better Health did in a year and a half. What is more, this is only the first step” Alison Rogers, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said there was “a fundamental conflict of interest” for industry, whose objective is to sell more alcohol, sitting on a panel with the aim of reducing alcohol harm. “We know that the most effective measure we could be taking is to cut total population consumption and the drinks industry are never going to do that. Our fundamental concern is that they are sitting at a policy-making table here.” In her letter to Lansley: she points to 20 years’ experience of industry’s voluntary measures, “which by the DH’s [Department of Health's] own evaluation (of labelling, for instance) have been independently assessed as ineffective.” Among the pledges, industry will undertake to continue to fund the Drinkaware Trust. The letter goes on: “We have witnessed a long history of procrastination by the alcohol industry as successive governments have been seduced by the siren calls of voluntary self-regulation We continue to regard this initiative with great scepticism and understand that the DH’s own initial evaluation of the campaign has not been favourable.” Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern said it was “the worst possible deal for everyone who wants to see alcohol harm reduced. There are no firm targets or any sanctions if the drinks industry fails to fulfil its pledges. It’s all carrot and no stick for the drinks industry and supermarkets. “The deal on alcohol is clearly the result of determined drinks industry lobbying coupled with a coalition government in thrall to business.”Vivienne Nathanson, director of professional activities at the BMA, said the pledges would do nothing to tackle the crucial issues – affordability, availability and promotion. They were particularly concerned about the low cost of really powerful drinks and promotion to under-18s. “Young people don’t know alcohol is a poison – that people die of acute toxicity,” she said. Young people were targeted by the sponsorship by industry of pop festivals, for instance. “You can’t buy alcohol under-18 yet young people have favourite alcopops – they have tried them all.”

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I think they mean English wine really, rather than UK wine, but surely the traditional English wine is made from apples and called cider?

This article titled “The future for UK wines looks rosé” was written by Andrew Mourant, for The Guardian on Monday 28th February 2011 17.00 UTC At his vineyard near St Emilion, Martin Krajewski makes some of France’s best-known rosé wine. But, in an increasingly competitive market, he’s anxious to improve it. Yet while the University of Bordeaux, 20 miles or so down the road, is a leading centre for wine studies, it’s to Plumpton College, in the South Downs of Sussex, that Krajewski has turned for help. Moreover, he’s given the college £75,000 to help fund research programmes. And Krajewski, a lifelong wine enthusiast who made his first batch of elderberry aged 12, isn’t the only donor. Aspiring wine-maker Mark Driver, intent on becoming England’s leading producer of champagne-style fizz, has invested £100,000. The college now hopes to double its money through gift aid and the government’s matched funding scheme, which aims to increase voluntary contributions to higher education providers by matching donations, pound for pound. Both men prospered in the City of London before dedicating themselves to wine production. Krajewski had increased his investment at Château de Sours over several years before taking over entirely. Last October, Driver, a former hedge-fund manager, sank £3.5m into buying Rathfinny Farm, near Lewes, which he plans to cultivate with 400 acres of vines. Plumpton College was an unknown quantity to Krajewski until his daughter Charlotte, who inherited his passion for wine-making, chose to study there. At first he had doubts. “I said ‘Are you sure’? But I read up about it and thought it sounded interesting. I’m amazed by what it’s achieved in quite difficult circumstances. It compares well with any other college or university around the world.” What impressed Krajewski was that graduates of Plumpton’s wine-making degree course – unique in the country – hold senior positions in vineyards across the globe. “Plumpton is small; it’s really hands-on. If you go to university in Bordeaux, you stay there. You’re assigned to one particular chateau where all your practical experience is done.” About half of the Château de Sours production is rosé, described by the late Auberon Waugh as probably the best of its kind in the world. “We’ve invested in processes and equipment,” says Krajewski. “But although we do our own research, we’re a small business and don’t have a lot of time. “We believe Plumpton can improve our wine. They’ll be doing research on the terroir [land in which vines are planted] and taking samples for analysis. They’ll have different approaches. Hopefully, the benefits will be mutual. But the donation I’ve made isn’t just to research rosé. I believe what the college is doing is exciting for the next generation of student wine-makers.” Krajewski says the English wine industry is “very important, but not recognised”. Driver, who is enrolled as a student at Plumpton, agrees. He was impressed by seeing college alumni working around the world and at English sparkling producers Nyetimber and Ridgeview. “I think it [investing] is one of the best things we can do for the future of English wines,” he says. “Research is really important, but none has been done in the UK apart from bits and pieces. No one’s pulled it all together and written definitively – for instance, about successful clones that will produce the right results in the right environment. There are no journals to compare with those in America and Australia. “What we need in England to take wine on to the next level is a top-quality research institution that will provide information for wine-makers and vineyard owners. It will raise skill levels.” Driver finds himself in the odd position of being a first-year student making business decisions normally taken by an experienced graduate. He is employing consultants to help. Rathfinny’s first harvest is due in 2014, and his first sparkling wines, after maturing and secondary fermentation, should be ready by 2017. The donations have allowed Plumpton to retain Dr Belinda Kemp as wine lecturer and department research co-ordinator. Kemp graduated from Plumpton with a first-class degree in viticulture and oenology, then completed a PhD at Lincoln University, New Zealand, researching the effects of vine-leaf removal on fruit ripening. Climate change cuts across several of Plumpton’s research projects. But although warmer temperatures are welcomed by England’s vineyard owners, they come as a mixed blessing. “It isn’t as easy as just saying we can now grow grapes for champagne,” says Kemp. “Everything is complicated.” For instance, last year some English vineyards suffered their first infestations of light-brown apple moth, whose grubs damage leaves and fruit. “We’re looking at ways of combating it without using pesticides. It’s the sort of project we’ll see more of. We’re such a new industry – we have everything to learn. There’s a range of projects under the climate-change umbrella.” Plumpton is also studying the chemistry of wine and innovations that could be used in the UK. England is on the northern rim of wine production and one problem is excess acidity in the grapes. Meanwhile, the college will continue its existing research into three different ways of making rosé and work on refining the methods used by Krajewski at Château de Sours. There will be further studies into champagne-style wines, which look to offer the best chances of commercial success for the English industry. Plumpton can now afford a collaboration with Professor Richard Marchal from the University of Reims to investigate, among other things, how juice changes in quality immediately after grapes have been pressed. “Richard Marchal is an expert on production of champagne and sparkling wine, and his coming to Plumpton is recognition of the possibilities in the UK,” said Krajewski. Soon Plumpton will be home to Britain’s first purpose-built wine research centre, currently under construction, and costing about £500,000. Kemp will establish new research links with the University of Brighton, of which Plumpton is a part. Industry collaborations are planned with UK and international companies, and the college hopes further private funding will allow sponsorship of MSc and PhD research students. Wine studies at Plumpton have come a long way since Chris Foss, who heads the department, set up the first part-time course in 1988. There are now 500 students, including 140 undergraduates. The donations make a tremendous difference,” he says. “They allow us to go beyond teaching into proper research, which is fundamental for a university. “More important, the wine industry now has a dedicated problem-solving tool, which it can use to support its developments. It will be a case of ‘We have this problem … Plumpton can sort it out’.”

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The Harp is still Central  London’s best Cider pub too. The Harp - London Cider Pub

This article titled “Pub of the year award goes to a London local for first time” was written by Ben Quinn, for The Guardian on Wednesday 16th February 2011 00.05 UTC With its reputation for glitzy musicals and crammed weekend shopping, the bustling tourist magnet that is Covent Garden might seem an unlikely location for the latest official place of pilgrimage for beer purists. Yet in a first for London, a cosy bolthole in Chandos Place, near Trafalgar Square, has been named Britain’s pub of the year.by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra). It was standing room only at what Camra described as a “true gem” where a cross-section of local workers, including musicians from nearby theatres, mingled in a narrow bar area adorned with mirrors and theatrical memorabilia. Undisturbed by either television or music, staff handed patrons samples from a range of eight real ales and imparted taste advice with all the authority of a master sommelier. “They look after their regulars very well – that’s the secret,” said Martin Knowles, a tubist from the English National Opera, sipping a pint of Darkstar Hophead with colleagues under the whir of a fan. Upstairs, a handful of drinkers relaxed in a small carpeted lounge area as the owner, Bridget Walsh, praised “good staff” for The Harp’s 17-year-old reputation. “They are the backbone, but we also pride ourselves on the range and quality of our real ale,” said Walsh, a real ale pioneer, who fretted slightly about the potential upsurge of interest in her pub, which outshone rivals from some of the more traditional real ale heartlands. Runners-up in the national pub of the year competition were Taps in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, the Beacon Hotel in Sedgley, West Midlands, and the Salutation Inn in Ham, Gloucestershire. Julian Hough, Camra’s pubs director, said the most impressive aspect of the Harp was its appeal as a true local, “even though situated in the tourist heart of the capital”. He added: “What makes a great pub is the ability for it to welcome both regulars and first time customers alike and this is something it does to perfection.” Situated close to Charing Cross station, the pub has been no stranger to awards in the past and has long been regarded with fondness by ale connoisseurs seeking a refuge to quench their thirst in the heart of the city. Beer choices generally include a mild or porter, Dark Star and London micro-brewery seasonal while real ciders, perries and malt whiskies also feature strongly. Completing a package that won over the notoriously choosy real ale drinking fraternity are award-winning real sausages in baps. Kimberly Martin, Camra’s London regional director, said: “I never ceased to be impressed or surprised by the continuing success of a pub staffed by individuals so passionate about the real ale industry. The Harp is a perfect example of how the London cask beer scene is reaching out to new drinkers.”

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Helford Creek Cyder

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Helford Creek Cyder

basket press When we say real cider we are talking about cider that is made from freshly pressed apples, undiluted or fortified. The apples may be grown as cider fruit or can be culinary apples or a mixture...

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Heron Valley Cider

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Apple Cider Vinegar with Mother

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ukcider.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Chimes_of_Pimlico_-_restaura...