First World Problems Beer (Sainsburys) By @SpectreUK

As you can see from the photographs of this 'First World Problems' beer that this lady is having car trouble. No Taxis available followed by the awkward silence and meaningless conversation that can arise from cadging a lift from a work colleague. I'm experiencing something of the same problem too. Well, car trouble rather than having to beg for a lift from a workmate. My seventeen year old car seems to have naturally come to the end of its life. I say 'naturally', because whilst I've not been driving it due to being on crutches for so long after an operation on my knee, the Autumn and Winter dampness has got into the electrics. My car is in the garage at the moment awaiting a verdict from a specialist car electrician, but the outlook right now does not look good…

Why am I telling you this? Well, I'm going to miss the old guy and its playing on mind. There's been good times and bad times over the years and my faithful reliable car has always taken us to them and brought us back again. If you're a regular reader or someone just stopping by, I appreciate your company at this time and any other time of course.

So, First World Problems is a Belgian India Pale Ale (IPA), produced by Stewart Brewing. At 6.2% volume it may help to drown some sorrows a little. I noted that the ingredients state that this IPA contains Barley, wheat, oats and rye. So is this a predominately malted barley beer; a red spicy rye beer; or a traditional Belgian wheat beer? There's only one way to find out, I guess… On opening the bottle there was a jumble of aromas. The malted barley comes first falling over a stack of spicy rye and then the wheat merges with some herbal hops. The one thing I couldn't really detect from these aromas was the pale malt. I'm sure it's there otherwise how could it be an IPA?

On taste the pale malt is much more in your face, which is good, because that's what I was hoping for. The rye has turned this ale a darker brownish tone and with no small amount of spice once my palate has got used to the pale malt. There is wheat and perhaps a little oats just before and merging with the light bitterness from the herbal hops and then into the aftertaste. This is a really tasty craft IPA, and a little warming with the spice from the rye, which is ideal for this time of year for chasing away some of that dampness, which… and I'll try not to swear… has messed up my poor old car!

Lion Breakfast Cereal Bar (Poundland) by @Cinabar

First there was the Lion Chocolate Bar, then there was the Lion Breakfast Cereal and now we have the obvious natural progression the Lion Breakfast Cereal Bar. From Lion Bar straight to cereal bar would be a bit weird but since the breakfast cereal got released this seems quite normal. I found these in Poundland by the way, which is always home to some interesting new items and this wasn’t the only new breakfast cereal bars I purchased. More on that next week.
So these Lion Breakfast Cereal Bars look like they have compressed the Lion breakfast cereal together and semi coat the bar in a milk coating. I gave it a try and was impressed by the caramel flavour, this is the taste that stood out and it was sweet and creamy all at once. The chocolate flavour was milder, but added enough to the bar to give it a rich feeling. The texture was neither crisp and crunchy or too soft, but it didn’t quite feel as satisfying as I had hoped. The Lion chocolate bar is such a substantial thing I think I had hoped some of that would have come through in this version, but this was just simply easy to eat. I did like the flavour though, it was pleasingly sweet.
I’m not sure I can really tell you that if you like Lion Chocolate Bars that you will love these, they have an interpretation of the flavour but are quite a different product really. I think if you like the Lion breakfast cereal you should find these a good portable version. I find them handy to take to work and have with a morning coffee.

Vegan sausages are the new rock & roll - even in sandwiches (@NLi10)

Well seeing as our review of the Greggs vegan sausage roll was so popular (it's good - you should read it) I decided to do something I'd not been brave enough to try yet - review the vegan version of the sausage sandwich that the hospital I work at sells.

I have the non vegan version (All Day Breakfast) quite often - mainly because I like egg and bacon sandwiches - but I'd never quite made it to this one.  Note I also had a nice wafer chocolate thing and a Pepsi too (shh... sugar is contraband).

It's not just sausage and bread though, this new manafacturer of hospital food is actually pretty good.  This one has some kind of red sauce and some leaves in it too.  Along with the healthier (and more ethically pleasing) vegan sausage this lettuce and onion chutney mix produces a very good flavour combo.  Frankly the quality of vegan sausages in general these days is probably higher than that of the meat ones.  The ones here are so 'sausagy' that I'll have to check my next all day breakfast sandwich to make sure they didn't just switch those over to vegan too.  And frankly I'd be ok with that - as long as they leave the bacon as is...

So another victory for the vegans, this is cheaper than the meat sandwiches and probably a little more exciting.  I know that this range has some very veggie sandwiches in it that I've only had once or twice so maybe this summer I'll branch out and try them again.

Simmons Pork Crackling (Asda) By @SpectreUK

I have heard said that the best pork crackling is produced in the West Midlands. As I've lived in the West Midlands all my life I've found it a rare occurrence not to like a bag of pork crackling with my beer in a pub, or a large bag or two small bags poured out into a bowl and eaten with my lunch after a good turn at the gym. I also like to dip pork crackling into apple sauce, as apple sauce and pork go very well together. I'm not sure how G. Simmons & Sons' Pork Crackling, from Walsall, has eluded me until now, but these little 20g blue bags contain some of the best pork crackling I have had the pleasure to eat.

Pork Crackling are seasoned fried pork rinds. It states on the packet that they are "only suitable for people with strong healthy teeth." I wouldn't like to tempt fate here, as a few months ago a broke a tooth on a rather hard pork scratching, but these Pork Crackling are some of the easiest pork rinds I've eaten. Yes, they have a good crunch to them, but they almost immediately melt in my mouth. It must have something to do with the frying. They are lusciously salty and super porky tasty. I probably should have written about them a few weeks back, as they have now taken over as my regular brand of pork crackling in the house. So no more broken teeth… well, fingers crossed anyway!

Information on the packet;
There are 6 x 20g packets in a pack. Per 100g there are 701 calories, with 62.9g of fat, less than 0.1g of sugar, and 0.815g of salt. Ingredients included; pork rinds, salt, flavour enhancer E621, and hydrolysed vegetable protein.

Raspberry Coca Cola Zero Sugar (Asda) By @Cinabar

There was a time, and I only mean a couple of years ago, when the only way to get a new flavour of Coca Cola was to go into Five Guys and play with their drinks machine. If you haven’t tried it, it basically has a huge mix of drinks and then an array of extra flavours you can add in and experiment with. The burgers are pretty good too!
See: https://www.foodstufffinds.co.uk/2015/04/burger-fries-and-diet-orange-coke.html
Coca Cola have been good to us though in more recent times, we even had a seasonal Cinnamon Coke for Christmas which was a first. The new year has seen the launch of this new Raspberry Coca Cola Zero which is sugar free. The vast majority of the new flavours of Coke have been in the Diet or Zero format presumably down to the sugar tax.
This drink did not disappoint, the flavour was remarkably well balanced with the cola taste. Raspberry is zingy and fresh and combined with Cola both enhanced each other. I loved the fruity twist. I found myself enjoying this drink more than a previous favourite of Cherry Coke, which is my go to flavour. The slightly sharper berry taste was magic, and I absolutely loved tit. I know it is new for the New Year but frankly I hope Raspberry Coca Cola Zero Sugar stays around for some time, its fresh and tangy and my favourite Coke to date.