Sandringham Beers Queen’s Jubilee By @SpectreUK

It's the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. After 70 years of service she has reigned longer than any other monarch in the UK. I was bought a boxset of Sandringham Beers a little while back and thought I'd save them for this occasion.

Norfolk brewed these two Sandringham Beers were produced from crops grown on the Sandringham Estate. The Sandringham Estate Is a wildlife reserve with pheasants, hares, owls and other species living in the surrounding forest and farmland. Barsham Brewery created Best Bitter and Golden IPA using Organic Laureate Spring Barley. Cold filtered three different hops were used in the brewing of both beers.

Golden IPA is 5% in volume and was deep golden in colour. There was a fine herbal hop aroma on opening the bottle followed by sweet malted barley. On taste this Golden India Pale Ale had a biscuit sweetness to start with from the malted barley, followed closely by a bite of herbal hops and then pale malt into the aftertaste. This rather flavoursome ale went very well indeed with my Harry Ramsden's fish fingers and chips. I'd certainly recommend it.

Friday Bank Holiday seemed like a good day for a MacDonalds takeaway. So I decided to have a Triple Cheese Burger with extra bacon, and fries on the side. This rather posh Best Bitter is 4.3% in volume. It seemed like overkill on a burger meal, but burger, chips and beer usually goes well together. On opening the bottle there was a strong toasted bread aroma of sweet malted barley. This light brown bitter has sweet caramel flavoured malts running right through it, with a mild herbal bitterness from the added hops in the midst of all those sumptuous malts. Gorgeous. Perfect with a burger an chips or just a bag of pork scratchings or Ready Salted crisps. Yum.

So, congratulations Queenie, and I hope you have quite a few more years under your belt.

Collection of Corgis - Milk Chocolate (Marks and Spencer) By @Cinabar

Today marks 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II being on the throne, which is an epic achievement. What better way to celebrate than eating some milk chocolate corgis in her name. Corgis are the queen’s favourite breed of dog, she has several, and they have become symbolic of her here in the UK.

This Milk Chocolate Collection of Corgis from Marks and Spencers looked like something nice to have with a hot drink while watching some of the celebrations on the TV. I have to admit I was impressed with the detail in the designs on these chocolates. I loved that one of the corgis even had a Union Jack.

In terms of flavour, these are just smooth milk chocolate blocks, they are a good quality chocolate with nicely defined cocoa flavour and just the right level of sweetness. I do like a themed novelty chocolate so I think these hit the mark for the jubilee celebrations. They brought a smile and were lovely with a hot chocolate, so they did their job perfectly. Hope everyone is enjoying the extra days off?

Lovely Jubilee! Tea and Muffins with the Queen ('s 70th celebrations) by @NLi10

Happy free Bank Holiday to Englanders - let us celebrate the Queen being The Queen for 70 years.  It's longer than any of us will get to (or have to) do anything! Considering most people get to retire at 65 years of age, doing the actual job for longer than that puts us to shame.  My waving hand would be in agony by now!

Lots of products have been released to coincide with the Jubilee - most deciding that Corgi's should be eaten rather than effigies of her maj.  The lovely people at the best normal tea company PG Tips wisely put them on the box.  I'd have quite liked a commemorative plastic toy like the olden days but times have changed.

Maybe there will be tea cards inside?!

Nope - just some clip art corgis.  And the calorific information.

Deep down though it's just proper, hardworking PG sourced from abroad to fill a gap in the British market, like the Royal Family themselves!

I ended up in Serenity Cafe today (Bearwood Highstreet - fairly basic but good grub) and they had decorations on the tables!

I had an English Muffin to celebrate (with tea - but harder to photo that in a crowded restaurant) - bacon and egg.  It's what The Queen would have wanted.

Long may she reign over us, unless she's bored and wants to let Charlie have a go - that'd be cool too.  I think the Royal's are excellent for tourism, and as the Medieval equivalent of reality TV stars are pretty good at encouraging people to visit the UK and spend money (and emigrate here with all their lovely foods to stuff and find).

So I don't begrudge her a weekend party after all the lovely things we've got in return, but I'm still not watching any of it deliberately.

Jubilee Muffin (Costa) By @Cinabar

We are in a three-day week celebrating the Jubilee, and this means we have Jubilee treats in the shop. I felt this was a good excuse to treat myself to one of Costa’s Jubilee Muffins, all wrapped up in a Union Jack paper case. How very British. The muffin also looks rather regal with a chocolate crown on top. I couldn’t wait to tuck in.

The flavour of Costa’s Jubilee Muffin is similar to a Victoria sponge, with a vanilla base, buttercream and jam filling. I started by tasting some of the buttercream and it was sweet, rich and super creamy. It was such a good flavour, but a small portion of topping. The gold crown is milk chocolate which was nice too. The sponge under was fluffy with lots of sweet vanilla running through it. The raspberry jam was a nice fruity blast to help contrast the creamier flavours and it worked like a treat, much like it does on a Victoria Sponge. These new Costa’s Jubilee Muffins are based on a classic, and I really will miss them when they are gone. Definitely something worth picking up this week, if just to celebrate the extra bank holiday and long weekend.

Tyrrells: Red, White and Blue Crisps [@Tyrrells] [By @Cinabar]

As we are in the middle of a lovely long Jubilee weekend, I couldn’t resist giving these rather special crisps from Tyrrells a try. The flavour may be ready salted, but it is the potatoes that make this bag so special, have you ever seen anything so pretty? There are no artificial colours, but the potatoes are a rather British red, white and blue. I just love the idea, and they are so attractive that they need pouring out to be fully appreciated.
The crisps tasted amazing too. The white ones tasted and looked like regular ready salted crisps, with a very traditional rich potato flavour. The blue crisps are deep in colour almost navy blue. These blue ones have a nice woody, almost earthy tone. They are by no means as strong as beetroot, but they are certainly distinct and have a similar but mild taste. The red ones are the brightest in the bag and look amazing. Their flavour was actually a little sweet, which worked nicely with the salt.
These crisps have a fab British touch, but also let you appreciate the different varieties of potato that are available, but seem to be a bit forgotten. These are well worth a purchase as it was nice to be able to pick out the different tastes of the potatoes, and really appreciate a thoroughly British product!

By Cinabar

Jubilee Delights & Penguin Musings [By @NLi10]

The above is pretty much what the UK's stores look like this week. Same products, new flag based packaging. Our Queen has been doing her job for 60 years, and shows no signs of wanting to stop - which is pretty impressive as your average person complains that the retirement age should be 60 - and she is 86. This does call for a nice party, but it's hard to combine traditional English values with new product launches so the bunting manufacturers and the box designers have been busier than the R&D people.

The above were very nice mini Victoria Sponges actually, not perfect as it's not fresh cream, but correctly using Raspberry and not over sugaring the mixture. Good call Mr. Kipling - I'm growing to like the direction you are taking with the new recipes.

I had a quick look around to see exactly what products have been floating around since the original coronation that I already wanted to talk about and realised that McVitties Penguin was born in 1932, predating even United Biscuits themselves by 14 years according to the Wikipedia (which was when the inventor of the Penguin and McVitties joined forces). I bought some Penguins a few months back to see if they had changed much since they were the only chocolate bar my Grandparents used to buy for us some 20 years ago. They have not - but I have.

(pic source)

Long gone are the days when I'd P-P-P-Pick up a penguin (the old advert slogans are still the best), and now I drift to Oreos and things with 'new' on the box. The interesting thing is - a Penguin is essentially a milk-chocolate Oreo covered in more milk-chocolate. Is my love for Oreos just a rekindling of my love for the classic Penguin, but in a darker biscuit? Heck - why haven't McVitties released a upgraded Gentoo Penguin with a higher cocoa content and maybe even dark chocolate? A quick google search reveals nothing similar to this.

In Australia they have the Tim-Tam which is essentially a Penguin for warmer climes, and it's possible they have gotten more experimental with that. In the 80 years of Penguin someone must have spotted the link to the Oreo and tried the switch - surely!

So a happy Jubilee to all Brits in the UK and beyond, enjoy the new snacks that we keep finding, but don't forget those that have been around for the 60 years that the Queen has.

By NLi10

Jubilee Stout (Westmorland Service Station) [By @SpectreUK]

The Kirkby Lonsdale Brewery was founded by four local ale drinkers in 2009. The name of this dark brown, almost black stout came from the Jubilee Field, which is next to Devil’s Bridge (pictured on the front of the bottle), in the Lake District. The field was given to the public to commemorate the Queen’s coronation in 1953, along with a couple of wrought iron gates made by a local blacksmith.

On opening the bottle there was a heavy malt and chocolate smell mixed with a hint of liquorice, all of which reminded me of black treacle. On tasting there was a deep bitter, yet surprisingly smooth malt flavour that was luxuriously balanced with chocolate, followed by mid-tones of roasted barley and finished by a bitter sweet liquorice flavour. The aftertaste consisted of dark chocolate mixed with bitter malt balanced by the hint of liquorice. The sheer lavishness of this muscular stout is perfect for toasting in the Jubilee, but don’t forget a good wedge of chocolate, some suitable bunting, good company and just a little flag waving. Happy Jubilee to everyone and especially to the Queen. ;-)

By Spectre

M&S Coronation Chicken Crisps (@MarksandSpencer) [By @Cinabar]

If you are brand trying to design a crisp flavour for the Royal Jubilee, you can’t get anything more perfect than Coronation Chicken. Firstly it has a royal history and name, as it was one of the dishes served in 1953 at the actual coronation. Fascinating fact; Elizabeth actually became queen in 1952, but she followed the tradition of allowing at least one year’s mourning before having the celebration of a coronation, so it took place the following year. Anyway, mild curry is also one of the favourite flavours of the British public, so this variety really is win win.
This is a big bag of crisps, and would certainly be perfect for sharing in a bowl for a Royal Jubilee gathering. The crisps are surprisingly crunchy and quite thickly cut. I liked the texture, even though some were a bit sharp, the crunch was quite satisfying and made them feel like quality crisps.
The flavour was nicely balanced too. It recreated both the creamy taste and mild curry flavour of Coronation Chicken perfectly. There was a nice hit of curry powder, without much heat. Cumin seemed to be the dominant taste, giving a full bodied flavour, without being overpowering. The flavour then mellowed and had an almost mayonnaise like creamy finish. The lack of chilli spice means that these are a good crisp for sharing, as they aren’t too strong to put anyone off.
We thoroughly enjoyed the bag, and it would be perfect at a Jubilee street party or indeed just munching in a bowl with friends and watching the celebrations on the TV.

By Cinabar

Prestat – Diamond Jubilee Chocolate Bar (Selfridges) [By @Cinabar]

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Prestat chocolates are one of the chocolatiers who are perfect to create a Jubilee bar. I suspect that many companies will give it a go, but Prestat actually hold a royal warrant, so already have regal connections.
Their Jubilee bar consists of milk chocolate mixed with roasted almonds and sea salt. I do like the combination of chocolate and nuts so was keen to give it a try. Inside the bar were six large pieces of chocolate, all smartly embossed with the brand name, a spiral design and a reminder that the company started way back in 1902!
The milk chocolate is silky smooth in texture and melted very easily on the tongue. It is a soft milk chocolate, and managed to combine a lovely creamy backdrop with a good strong cocoa taste. I loved the rich cocoa tones, the essence of the bar was quite a punchy cocoa, mellowed by plenty of dairy tones. The salt was also a neat addition to the chocolate. The strength of it varied with every bite, from a nice background hint to really quite strong. This made it a playful bar, and the dynamic taste made it really quite moreish. With the chocolate and the salt there was quite a bit going on with the flavour already. This sadly overpowered the almonds a little. Having said that their taste was still present, just very much in the sideline, but their texture did give the bar a satisfying crunch. This may not be the ideal bar for someone looking for a chocolate and nut fix, but what it does deliver is a really lively mix of salt and cocoa, and is one of the first salt and chocolate bars that I would actively seek out and buy again.

By Cinabar