Landship Beer (@dbcales - Bovington @TankMuseum) [BY @SpectreUK]

Some people have favourite places they go to think, relax, study, or just contemplate their navel. This can often be a place of beauty far away from anyone else, such as the countryside, canal or river bank or a quiet beach to hear the soft lapping of waves on sand and pebbles. Apparently I finally found my favourite place in the entire world (I'm fairly well travelled, across Europe anyway). It's not a sandy beach or a lake in the middle of no where. In fact it's a ruddy great tank museum in Bovington. Here I got to see all manner of tanks and armoured vehicles spanning from the very first Little Willy (no, really) to the modern day Challenger II. Unfortunately I didn't spend enough time there, even though we visited twice in one week! So I'll have to drag Cinabar kicking and screaming back there again so I can wonder around and hug huge metal behemoths! Oh... Lovely tanks!

Anyway, on the way out from the second visit Cinabar treated me to this Landship ale, which had been brewed just up the road from there by the Dorset Brewing Company in Dorchester. It was brewed with pale and crystal barley malt, mount hood and challenger (yes, like the tanks that are dotted around the area) hops. The brewery has their own spring water and the ale is fermented with their own strain of yeast. 4.2% in volume and served in a 500ml bottle, this golden pale ale had a nutty almond smell on opening with a decent nod to the pale malt and yeast. This ale had a clean bitter nutty taste with a citrus kick in the bitterness from the hops. Unlike many strong pale ales, this ale had a subtleness to the flavour and didn't bash me around the tastebuds demanding I eat sausages and gravy! This had a real craft ale flavour befitting of my favourite place. A grand old ale from a relatively new brewer who knows what they're about. It had fortitude, strength of character like the huge Mark V tank it's named after. I'll definitely pick up another of these next time I visit.

By Spectre

Pastinos - Tomato and Sweet Basil - Pasta Crisps (Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

When I first heard about these new crisps I have to admit to not really thinking they would work. You see although I mentioned crisps, these are actually made out of pasta, the bag proudly states 100% pasta too. I immediately pictured some overly crunchy, hard if you like, bits of pasta, and the thought wasn't exactly appetising.
New is new though and once I saw them in the supermarket I found them jumping to get into the basket. I picked this tomato and basil flavour as Pastinos are Italian based and this sounded like the best themed variety for that.
We decided to share them at lunch and they were poured out into bowls. They looked like penne pasta tubes, seasoned with a reddish brown sprinkle. Now the first thing you notice when you bite in is that the texture is actually amazing. They are crunchy, but somehow light and fluffy too. They completely nailed the texture, I don’t know what I had been worried about. The seasoning was spot on as well, sweet tomato, but a lovely savoury herby aftertaste from the basil. The flavour added to the Italian feel and I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed them, so much so I’m going to buy the other flavours next time I’m at Waitrose!

By Cinabar

SunRipe Fruit Snack [by @NLi10]

I'm on my healthy eating kick still, so as part of the meal deal in the hospital I picked this up instead of crisps.

It doesn't look too bad really.

It's 75% apple and 25% grape!

What this actually translates to is 6 slices of apple and 5 grapes. For a pound. This feels really mean, even compared to the hospitals own fruit salad boxes for £1.50 you get more than double that.

I'm not sure why these healthy snacks that come preprepared are such bad value compared to crisps and chocolate bars - maybe we've just been conditioned to expect different amounts of these things. I can get a decent sized box of blueberries for a pound from Tesco, or a nice salad. 

I guess the added washing and preparation adds up and the moral here is to take a fruit knife to work and to wash your own!

Walkers Bring Me Back Lamb & Mint Flavour Crisps [By @SpectreUK]

Walkers Lamb & Mint is one of the stranger sounding “Bring me Back” range of crisps, but I do remember them from when I was a youngster (some time ago) as I did get to eat a few packs in amongst the less adventurous Salt & Vinegar, Ready Salted and Cheese & Onion flavours my mom used to buy from the supermarket. As soon as Cinabar showed me all the different packs sent from Walkers I must admit to a little overexcitement and had to nab this packet. There was a strong lamb smell from the crisps with a hint of mint upon opening the packet. On munching the crisps the mint is subtle all the way through the flavour that literally bursts with lamb. I can understand why it would be subtle as the mint may distract from the lovely lamb flavour, rather than the nod and doffed hat towards it with an elegant complement. This was just as an unusual flavour way back when as it is today. I’d definitely recommend it as a flavour that needs to be brought back.

By Spectre

Cadbury Milk Tray - Now With New Chocolates [By @Cinabar]

I’d like to start this post with a big happy birthday to Milk Tray. It has been 100 years since Milk Tray first appeared on the shelves. Although I’m not that old, I do have fond memories of Milk Tray over the years, always having them in the house at Christmas time and of course the iconic “All because the lady loves” adverts.
When Cadbury got in touch and asked if I’d like to try the new relaunched edition, I had to say yes. When the box arrived I I was very impressed by the design. The packaging has had a bit of a reboot and looks more modern, but still keeps the Milk Tray theme.
Once the box was open my very frst comment was, “Where's the Turkish Delight?”. Its gone, it is one of my favourite Milk Tray chocolates so I wasn’t too pleased. Trying to focus on the more positive things I spent a few minutes scanning the chocolates for the new ones. There are three:

Truffle Heart
I’m going to be honest this didn’t sound like the most exciting new addition to the range. It is just a chocolate truffle in a chocolate shell. It is nice and sweet and creamy, and does exactly what it sets out to do. It is a good chocolate, just not one that stands out for being different.

Salted Caramel Charm
Okay this chocolate was an obvious choice. There has always been a solid caramel in Milk Tray, and this chocolate replaces that. It is still is the firm caramel but now has a touch of salt, which is very much on trend. To be honest hard sticky toffees aren’t my thing, but I have to admit the salty nature of this one did impress me. The salt was stronger than expected but combined with the sweet rich caramel taste, it was a lovely addition.

Apple Crunch
Of all the new flavours this one caught my attention the most. It is a white chocolate apple flavoured truffle, with a cinnamon crunch encased in milk chocolate. I’m sure regular readers will know my love of cinnamon, so I was keen to tuck in. The apple taste wasn’t too strong, just providing a little fruitiness, and the gentle spice added a lovely warm hint to the flavour. My only issue was the crunchy nature of the chocolate as it was just a bit a bit too crunchy.

Have you tried the new flavours? Which is your favourite?

By Cinabar