We went to a wine sampling last week. My wife and I were asked over by a friend in Fakenham who said that he’d answered an online ad to get a free gift in return for an hour’s tasting session. The idea was to try half a dozen different wines before being invited to order a case of them.

When we arrived the rep was already there, armed with two small suitcase-type boxes full of reds and whites. After being asked about the types of wine we normally preferred, we were offered shot-sized plastic glasses, a third filled with three whites and three reds from various countries.

The rep, who was very pleasant and not at all pushy, described each of them in turn before we sampled them. He seemed reasonably knowledgeable, although came out with some marketing-talk which was a bit dodgy. He said that as the wine contained no additives it would keep fresh after opening for several weeks. Also, he insisted that you wouldn’t get a hangover by drinking them (again a refence to their lack of impurities). I took both those statements with a large pinch of salt, but still promised myself to judge the wine purely on merit. 

How did they taste? They were nice enough (except for one red which I couldn’t bring myself to finish). Trouble was, they cost from around £9 to £15 a bottle plus VAT and to me, they seemed to be no better than a bottle you can pick up in Tesco for a fiver! This was emphasised by the fact that when the rep had left (heading for an appointment in North Park – sadly, without selling us any wine) we shared a bottle of supermarket red which was every bit as good as any of the samples we’d just tasted!

For your info, the winery is called Pieroth, a German company with their UK arm based in Luton. The rep covers a wide area across North Norfolk, so if you’re interested look them up (their free gift – a desktop ‘weather station’ looked useful). Thanks to Graham for the interesting invite -and the very tasty supermarket plonk!

Several people may have asked about the origins of stout and porter…

Back in the 13th century, it was a Belgian ale called Stout Porter, being named after an old stout porter who worked at Waterloo. This beer, being the original, was 100% true to style – which is strange, as it was a completely clear liquid (this was due to the Belgian Purity laws which dictated that all brewing had to be totally transparent).

In the 14th century it was brought over to Britain, but the style immediately became less than 100% true due to small mammals being added to the mash to provide extra fizz and fermentation (English brewers had misheard the Belgians’ accent as “stoat porter”). No matter, because the Danish brewers of Northampton quickly went to court and stopped this ale being sold due to it being too like their own lager – almost colourless, fizzy and with a slight whiff of polecat wee.

It wasn’t until the 20th century that the beer took on the dark colouring we associate with it today. Brewers had started adding clinker to the mash, which gave it a smokey flavour. Coal Porter, as it was known, became a success. Inspired by this, more variants were invented: Nyree Dawn Porter, which came to the UK from New Zealand. Gail Porter, which had a great body and a smooth head. Stout Yeoman, made with freeze-dried mashed potato, and finally Alec Guinness – which looked quite weak, but had a force which was strong.

As you can see from the photo, I found my favourite Fuller’s London Porter at Waitrose, Swaffham. They have a nice choice of beers on sale, especially from the Fullers stable. All I need now to quaff over the Xmas holiday is a bottle or two of Schlenkerla Rauschbier (yes, smoked beer really does exist, although it isn’t called ‘Coal Porter’).

The Crown’s a very tastefully done place. Chic off-whites, wood floors, bare brick walls and timber beams plus a roaring fire give it a simple but up-market gastropub interior. But is it a case of ’style over content’?

We went there this evening for a staff Xmas meal. A drink at the bar before everybody arrived gave us a choice of three ales – Woodforde’s Wherry, Adnams Bitter or Broadside. Not an inspiring choice – and I was sure they made a big thing of their ‘local ales’ on the website (how local is Suffolk?). Wherry is at least from our county (and a lovely pint if kept well) , but you find it almost everywhere. Safe but pretty dull. However, the ale was in good nick.

We ate in the room upstairs – another tastefully finished  area, although seating for our large group was a bit haphazard, with a bench as well as chairs and some unlevel tables joined together.

The food: My starter was spicy parsnip soup with a ‘hand-made’ bread roll and croutons. Quite tasty but not the best I’ve tasted.

Main course was turkey with all the trimmings. The meat was a tad sparse and dry, stuffing was a nondescript afterthought – but the bacon-wrapped banger was very flavoursome. Red cabbage, roast potatoes and carrots were good but the sprouts were the size and consistency of golf balls! They should have been cooked for twice the amount of time for beasts of that size. Only a couple of bowls of veg between us all too.

Pudding: I had ‘pineapple spring rolls’ but there seemed to be just one – cut into two parts. Not much flavour, I’m afraid. Somebody said their ‘chocolate orange torte’ was just choc flavoured with an orange ‘jus’. The descriptions of the food need to be adjusted, methinks.

Overall a nice welcoming pub (and it was good to see it being well-used by locals) but I was underwhelmed with  the meal which cost £25 a head. Last year’s Xmas dinner at The Hourglass in Sculthorpe knocked spots off it – and for less money. Knowing that the Crown’s owner is a well-known chef makes it more of a disappointment – I was probably expecting something more exciting.

Eaten anywhere good in the area recently? Post a comment and share it with us.

Christmas is a time when people tend to spend more money on alcohol to drink at home and I guess we usually spend most of that in the supermarket. I popped into Fakenham’s Tesco to buy some coffee today (they’re the only shop locally which stocks my brand of decaf) and took note of the ‘ale’ section of the Tesco booze aisle.

Disappointing choice, I must say – I’m sure it’s shrunk since the shop opened. Fakenham Morrisons’ ale section must be at least double that size! Waitrose in Swaffham usually has a decent selection too, I seem to remember.  Lidl’s is just a bit of an afterthought – they don’t even stock any good Euro beers.

So… it looks like a December pilgrimage to Beers Of Europe at Setchey near Kings Lynn is on the cards. Imagine a shop the size of Lidl, but full of hundreds of beers from all over the world, and you’ll get the picture. Absolutely amazing place. I’ll be on the lookout for Fullers London Porter and Vintage Ale, Krusovice Cerne, Bernard and Budvar Dark Czech lager and maybe some American ‘hop bombs’ too. Cheers!

The English Whisky Company at Roudham near Thetford have just released their first single malt whisky, a non-peated version called “Chapter 6″ - the first to be distilled in England for more than 100 years. The distillery was set up in 2006, but only now can their spirit be oficially called whisky, after being stored in oak barrels for 3 years.

They sell other whiskies and their own Norfolk liqueurs too. I ordered a bottle of their malt spirit last Christmas as a present for somebody and they were very helpful with the purchase, shipping my pretty-late order up to Lancashire safely and in time for the holiday with no fuss.

There – that’s another idea for a Norfolk Christmas present sorted for you!

Local pea and bean harvester manufacturers PMC have been chosen to represent the UK farming industry at London’s Lord mayor’s Show tomorrow. The Fakenham company will be proudly displaying one of their £350,000 pea harvesters in the parade, promoting the ‘Yes Peas’ campaign on behalf of The Worshipful Company of Farmers. Well done to PMC in Holt Road, putting Fakenham firmly on the UK agricultural map!

Did you know that 20% of pea production in the UK comes from Norfolk? Also, did you realise that although the pea season only lasts around 7 weeks, one of PMC’s harvesters could fill 3,000,000 packs of peas in that time? Oh… and PMC’s Engineering Manager goes by the name of Robert Plant – if that doesn’t rock, what does?

Fakenham sarà godendo il gusto del Mediterraneo a 2O Venerdì e Sabato 21 novembre, quando il mercato italiano arriva in città. “Italia in Piazza”, promette un sacco di specialità regionali, comprese pizze, pasta, formaggi, carne e pane.

I thought that’d make you look! Sorry if that’s an ‘iffy’ attempt at Italian, but what I was trying to say was…

I look after the website for The Real Ale Shop in Wells-next-the-Sea. They sell a range of over 50 bottled beers from Norfolk breweries – all ‘real ale in a bottle’ (bottle conditioned).

Teddy, the owner, just sent me a photo of their Christmas Case of real ales to put onto the site. They sound scrummy. If you’re stuck for a Christmas prezzy for a chap who’s into his ale, you could do far worse than to get one sent to his door in time for the festivities.

Well, a few beers to be more accurate. The Norwich beer festival opened its doors at 5.30 yesterday evening and I was in a 7-strong team forming part of the queue which meandered round the corner and down the road.

It didn’t take too long before we made our way inside to buy our festival glasses and stock up on beer tokens (no money changes hands at the bar). The place was packed, but we made our way to our usual ‘family spot’ between the two main halls. No seating, but a bit of space to move and lower background noise so it was possible to hold a conversation.

There’s a massive list of beers to choose from, but true to form the ones I’d singled out to find weren’t available. I’d been keeping an eye open for Timothy Taylor Ram Tam as it’d been recommended before. For the third year running it wasn’t on when I was there. Same went for one of my favourites, Fullers London Porter, although I’d managed to get a glass of that at last year’s event.

As each different ale was brought back from the bar, it was tasted by various members of the group – a nice way to sample even more varieties. We had ales tasting of orange, grapefruit, ginger, chocolate, coffee, and my personal favourite Theakstons Old Peculier – sweet and dark with hints of apples and liquorice. I also had my first glass of Kuppers Kölsch on draught – a light German (Cologne) beer which reminded me of an unfizzy lager (can you tell I was slightly underwhelmed with that?) which isn’t strange as that’s kind of what it is.

So, in all a nice afternoon and evening, which started in Wagamama with spicy prawns and sticky rice (thanks for treating us to the food Chris & Helen) and finished in a quiet pub in St. Georges Street supping a glass of Adnams Old Ale.

It’s Curry Central in the Hall household today. I’m donning the chef’s hat again in an attempt to use all our balti dishes for a single meal!

We have a visitor coming down from Middlesbrough, so he’ll probably need warming up with a couple of chillified concoctions before sending him out to sample our local beer tonight!

On the menu: lamb rogan, chicken balti, dhal, saag aloo, mushroom bhaji, Bombay potato, Gujerati carrot and cabbage (that’s the missus’ speciality) and naan bread. Should keep everybody quiet for five minutes!