Saturday, December 26, 2015

Hoppy Christmas - Part 3

So I’ve been a little lax in writing my reviews, it’s now boxing day and I feel as though I should do what I intended and finish writing. This is part 3 of my Hoppy Christmas calendar reveiw and it covers the 14th right through to the 24th of December. Please watch part 5, 6 & 7 of my unboxing videos on the links below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exhCXQgTtj0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8CChg_Diqg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx5eGpy7ux0



No.14 I Sea Santa - Brains - A dark brown beer, smells of spices and treacle with a hint of citrus.
No.15 Xmas Chaos - Anarchy Brew Co - A seasonal Christmas beer with a distinctly Christmasy flavour, rum, raisins and spices.
No.16 Earl Grey PA - Atlantic Brewery - A cloudy IPA with a citrus flavour and a hint of bergamot.
No.17 Calypso - Siren Craft Brew - A citrus heavy flavour with a bitter hoppy kick.
No.18 The Honey Ale - Hiver - A gorgoeus deep brown ale with honey sweetness and a slight hoppy bitterness.
No.19 Pils - Fourpure Brewing Co - A German pilsner style beer, floral smell with a crisp refreshing flavour.
No.20 London Pale Ale - Meantime Brewing - A traditional pale ale with a decent amount of bitterness and a citrus flavour.
No.21 Hix’s Darkside - The Unseen University Boathouse Brewery - A very smooth oatmeal stout, complex flavours with a decent amount of sweetness.
No.22 DOA IPA - Los Muertos Brewing - A hoppy IPA with plenty of bitterness and floral notes, just the right amount of sweetness to make it balanced.
No.23 Easy IPA - Flying Dow Brewery - A light, flasvoursome beer with a citrus taste and a light spicyness.
No.24 Red Nose Reinbeer - Cotleigh Brewery - A seasonal beer, deep copper coloured, richly flavoured with hints of chocolate and a toffee sweetness.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Hoppy Christmas - Part 2

We're now over halfway through December, Christmas is getting ever closer and this is part 2 of my Hoppy Christmas advent calendar. Part 2 covers the 7th through to the 13th of December, please watch parts 3 & 4 of my unboxing videos on the links below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMr7Y5XMsT8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iJsq86yG9Y

No.7 Talisman - Alechemy Brewing - A hazy pilsner style beer, plenty of flavour with a slight toffee sweetness.
No.8 Railway Porter - Five Points Brewing Co - A classic London style porter, smells of chocolate and coffee. Rich and flavoursome with a bitter sweet caramel edge.
No.9 Cwtch - Tiny Rebel Brewery - A traditional Welsh Red Ale, plenty of citrus flavour with a decent amount of hoppy bitterness.
No.10 Op & Top - Brouwerij De Molen - A cloudy English Bitter style ale. Caramel sweetness with citrus flavours followed by a floral hoppy bitterness.
No.11 Gentleman’s Wit - Camden Town Brewery - A Belgian style Witbier, has a distinct Earl Grey / bergamot orange flavour with a lemony sweetness.
No.12 Schiehallion - Harviestoun Brewery - A craft lager with a fruity, citrus smell. Tastes of grapefruit with a slight honey sweetness.
No.13 Dark Lager - Freedom Brewery - A craft lager reddish brown in colour, with a bitter sweet flavour like burnt toffee.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Advent Calendar - Part 2

Advent Calendar - Part 1

Hoppy Christmas - Part 1

It’s December, the Christmas count down has begun and that can only mean one thing… Advent Calendar! This year my lovely lady, has got me, possibly, the best Advent Calendar in the world ever! The Hoppy Christmas craft beer advent calendar by Ales By Mail (http://www.alesbymail.co.uk), 24 Christmas themed craft beers from every corner of the country. Over the next moth I will uploading weekly videos showing each beer as they come out of the box and posting a weekly blog post briefly describing and reviewing each beer.

No.1 Figgy Pudding - Hardknott Brewery - Dark, strong and very seasonal. It smells like Christmas, it tastes like Christmas, it’s basically everything you could ever want in Christmas beer.
No.2 Silures - The Celt Experience - A Pale unfiltered ale. Cloudy with a malty sweetness and a fruity, almost citrusy, edge.
No.3 Bledlows Silence - The Unseen University Boathouse Brewery - A Classic IPA. Smells of pine trees, earthy with a citrus edge. Tastes almost exactly as it smells with a gentle lingering bitterness.
No.4 Chocolate Lager - Hogs Back Brewery - Smells and tastes almost exactly as you’d expect it to, as soon as you open the bottle you’re hit by chocolate. The first mouthful tastes like a good lager, after that it gets progressively more chocolatey.
No.5 Sundown - Hawkshead Brewery - A Well hopped red beer. It smells almost citrusy with a slight sweetness to it. Tastes hoppy but with a fruity edge that curbs the bitterness.
No.6 Cwrw-istmas Beacons - Brecon Brewing - Pale chestnut coloured ale brewed with yuletide fruits and spices. It smells of Christmas, rich and warming with a hint of dried fruit. It has a deceptively hoppy taste with a bitter edge.

The videos of me unboxing the first 6 beers can be found on my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/Grymourn/videos

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Big Bushy Beard

Hello guys This week is a little bit special for, as of 2 days ago my beard was 1 year old so I now officially have a yeard. I’ve had a beard of one form or another for the last 10 years, usually I keep it fairly short and quite neat and tidy, occasionally changing styles and trying different looks. That is until last year when I took part in Decembeard to help raise funds for beating bowel cancer. I decided that instead of shave my beard off and grow it back for a month, I would keep my existing beard and not shave or trim or do anything other than wash and brush my beard for the whole month. At the time I had a beard that was a couple of inches long at the chin and tapered down to about 5mm long where my beard meets my hair, with my cheeks and lower neck completely clean shaven. It got to the last weekend of October and I did my usual weekend routine, I shaved my cheeks and neck then trimmed my beard to keep its length and shape nice and even. After I’d finished I dropped my razor in the bin intending on not shaving again until after Decembeard was over. Come January I knew that I had to keep my beard so I gave up shaving completely, it’s now exactly one year later and not once in the last 12 months has a razor touched my face. Apart from the occasional trim, to keep the moustache out of my mouth and stop the side burns from getting too bushy, I have have been growing this beard for an entire year and I feel that is something to be proud of.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Beard Love

That moment when you look up, lock gazes with another bearded man and you both do the nod of approval… Pure hirsute glory.

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Great Food & Drink Festival - Newstead Abbey

For anyone who knows me, even remotely, it’s obvious that I really love food. What is not quite so obvious is that I’m a big fan of locally sourced food, few things excite me more than coming across great quality produce on my own door step. Bearing this in mind I recently attended a local food festival, held at Newstead Abbey, showcasing local producers in the Nottinghamshire area.

I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting much, however when I arrived I was delighted to see a plethora of small stalls with everything from speciality pickles to locally produced biltong, I was even more delighted to see that a good portion of these stalls were providing samples for people to taste. I spent the first hour or so nosing around the stalls, talking to the stall holders and trying every sample possible. I was literally like a child in a sweet shop, I was getting genuinely excited and was loving every second of it.

Having tried a few of the goods on offer, and talked to most of the stall holders, a few stalls had began to stand out in my mind. I decided to head back to these stalls for a second visit, with the intentions of making purchases. First things first, having whetted my appetite on the various samples, my stomach was now rumbling so I headed over to Hartland Pies and picked up a scotch egg and a bag of homemade pork scratchings. Second on my list was the Funky Nut Co to pick up a variety pack of their amazing nut butters. This was followed by some incredible wild boar and venison sausages and 3 massive doughnuts.

By this point it was now almost 12 o-clock so we headed over to the main tent to catch one of the live demonstrations. When the demonstration had finished it seemed liked the perfect time for lunch so I headed over to Cook Caribe for my very first try of Caribbean food. I had rice and peas with curried mutton and it was amazing, I loved it and can’t wait for the opportunity to try it again.

After lunch we took a walk around the grounds of Newstead Abbey before heading into the building itself to explore and see some of the exhibits inside. Newstead Abbey is a truly fascinating place with a lot of history attached to it, the fact that access to the abbey grounds and the buildings was included in the ticket price of the festival made it truly excellent value for money.

If an event like this comes to your local area I strongly urge you to attend as you will find a real range of local shops and producers that you may never have known existed, these people have a true passion and a genuine talent for what they do and deserve our custom and deserve to be celebrated.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

August 2015 - Adventures In Scotland

It’s August and that means its summer and that means it’s the six week holidays for Kelly. After spending a few days in Scotland over the Easter period, and having had an amazing time, we decided to visit again for this years summer holidays. We booked a week in a small cottage in the middle of the Scottish countryside at the heart of the Dumfries and Galloway region. To say that the place was more or less idyllic, with the exception of the beds, would sum it up perfectly. A small two storey cottage with shower room, small kitchen area, dining area, TV on the ground floor and small bedroom on the first floor, it suited our needs perfectly.

Being fairly regular visitors to the Dumfries and Galloway area we have visited a fair number of places on more than one occasion, this time we made a conscious effort to look for and visit places that we haven’t seen before. It really paid off, the whole holiday felt like an adventure and it made me fall even more deeply in love with Scotland and the Scottish countryside. The one thing that really completes the whole experience for me is being able to share it with my wonderful partner. Her love and support makes everything I do just that much better, I really can’t imagine my life without her.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Beards, Beards, Beards...

Whilst I am not new to the world of beards, having had a beard of one form or another for the past 10 years or so, I am fairly new to the world of specialised beard care products. My interest in beard care products really started over Christmas, my partner bought me a Men Rock Beardy Beloved set as a present, it came in a small black gift box containing oakmoss beard shampoo and conditioner, sandlewood moustache wax and a moustache comb.

Having never waxed my moustache before I tried the shampoo first, when you open the lid of the bottle the first thing that hits you is the fragrance, an earthy woodland smell that I absolutely love. When used the shampoo creates a lovely rich lather and leaves the beard feeling clean and soft, the fragrance lasts for about an hour afterwards before fading. The conditioner is best used in conjunction with the shampoo, however it also works nicely on its own.

The conditioner should be applied to a freshly washed, towel dried beard, only a small amount is required and applied by gently massaging through the beard hair without scrubbing. When used correctly it leaves your beard feeling soft and manageable and smelling absolutely amazing, apply too much however and your beard starts to feel a little greasy. After using the conditioner regularly for a couple of weeks I noticed that my beard looked and felt like it was in really good condition, no split ends, a lot less tangling and much easier to brush and style.

Having always kept my moustache neatly trimmed I had to leave it grow out for a few weeks before it was long enough for me to style with the wax, after a about a month had passed I attempted my first handlebar. The wax is quite stiff so requires a little warming before application, taking a peppercorn size ball of the wax on the end of your finger and allowing it to come up to body temperature will usually soften it enough to apply. Apply it sparingly and evenly through your moustache allows you to curl it into a nice handlebar, the wax has a reasonable hold and if untouched will last for most of the day. Unfortunately the wax is quite susceptible to liquid so care must be taken whilst drinking or the moustache will lose hold and droop. The sandlewood fragrance of the wax is subtle but lasts for a fairly long time, leaving your moustache looking and smelling beautifully manly.

The comb included in the set is a nice extra but isn’t really robust enough for use on a full beard, however is perfectly adequate for a moustache and the teeth are wide enough apart that tangling is not an issue.

Overall I’m impressed with this set and feel it is an excellent introduction into beards and beard care products, it really does make an excellent gift that any hirsute gent would be thrilled to receive.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

A Scottish Easter 2015

So Easter has now been and gone, it’s back to normality and back to work. Over the Easter period I made use of the bank holidays to get a few days off to spend with Kell, we decided to take the opportunity to have a few days away together in Scotland. We both love Scotland, we love the rugged scenery, we love the peace and quiet, we love the history, we love the amazing places to eat and we love the people (or in my case the fact that there’s nowhere near as many of them). The thing we love most is the fact that it allows us to see Kell’s grandparents, because they live so far away from us Kell doesn’t get to see them as often as she’d like and spending time with them always makes her happy.

Normally when we visit we stay with Kell’s grandparents who are always more than welcoming, this time however we were staying in a small hotel owned by a local family friend. As it turned out the hotel had not been operating as an actual hotel for some considerable time, the owners had shut it while they refurbished, meaning that we would be the only people staying in this large 3 storey, spooky, old grey stone building. To make things even spookier because of the refurbishments most of the rooms were completely empty so we were staying in one of the few rooms that had yet to be started. The room itself was large, with high ceilings and a very large old sash window, it could have been a really gorgeous room, unfortunately it looked like it had been badly decorated in the 1970s and had remained completely untouched since. Literally everything in the room was dark brown and despite having a large window, letting in plenty of natural light, the room always looked dark and felt quite oppressive. Needless to say our first night there was terrifying and generally horrendous, neither of us slept a wink, the following morning I moved a few things around and forced the old window open which thankfully lifted the atmosphere in the room.

After our first night there we discovered a benefit to staying in the hotel, the hotels kitchens where closed and having no facilities in our room to make breakfast, this meant we would have to walk into town to find somewhere to eat. In town we found a lovely little café which boasted of being the runner up in the “Best Scottish Breakfast Awards” and in all honesty I can see why it came so close to winning, the food was excellent. I can’t remember having eaten a better cooked breakfast, good quality local produce cooked perfectly with a little Scottish twist, I heartily recommend the Glaisnock Café to anyone visiting the Wigtown area. With a lovely breakfast inside us we were ready to face the day so Kell and I set out to visit a few of the local sites. We started by taking a walk round the book shops in Wigtown, where we picked up a few interesting books, before moving on to visit Gate House Of Fleet, the mill on the fleet and the book shop inside it. The book shop in the mill is a real curiosity and such an interesting place to spend a bit of time, everywhere you turn you are confronted by a wall of books of all different subjects and ages, you could almost get lost amongst the chaos and can literally spend hours browsing, often times coming away with nothing but a sense of bewilderment at what you’ve just seen.

We spent the remainder of the morning visiting a few small villages and doing a bit of general site seeing before returning to Gatehouse for lunch in the Galloway Lodge, a lovely little restaurant with a nice atmosphere and a fair amount of character. I ordered a BLT sandwich which came with handmade local bread and local free range bacon, once again the food was excellent. Simple food prepared well using great quality local products, it really doesn’t get a lot better than that in my opinion. Our few days in Scotland were shaping up to be a bit of an unexpected food adventure.

That afternoon we headed back to Wigtown to drop off our purchases and spend the evening with Kells grandma and granddad before returning to our hotel for the night. Thankfully the second night was a much more comfortable affair, largely thanks to the fact that we had left the window and doors open allowing the dust and stale atmosphere in the room to dissipate.

The following morning we awoke bright and early with the intension of enjoying the unseasonably nice weather and visiting the coast. After paying a brief visit to Kells grandparents we headed out along the old coast road to visit Port Patrick, along the way we came across a large expanse of beach in the middle of nowhere with literally no one on it. Pulling over onto the grass verge we walked down onto the sand and spent some time taking photos, walking, skipping stones and paddling in the sea. During this time we saw only one other group of people and they had seen our car and pulled up behind it to do exactly the same as we were, had we been in any other part of the country on a day like that, in the school holidays the beach would have been full of people. It was beautiful, peaceful and tranquil, a perfect moment in time. After an hour or so on the beach we decided to move on and make our way into Port Patrick.

Port Patrick is a lovely little fishing village nestled between two sets of very steep rugged cliffs, as you come through the winding roads onto the main street you can see that this was once a thriving working place, the tightly packed squat stone houses speak of tough winters and hardworking people. Even though it is now mainly the tourist trade that keeps the place alive there are still several working fishing boats in the harbour and still money to be made in the fishing industry. After a walk through the village and investigating the local shops we settled down at a local pub for a drink, soaking up the local atmosphere and enjoying the coastal air. Being a little after lunch time and both of us becoming aware that we hadn’t eaten yet we decided to have lunch at the pub, expecting the standard pub grub I ordered fish and chips for myself and a bowl of chips with onion rings for Kell. When the food arrived we were very pleasantly surprised to see that all the food was obviously freshly made and prepared and cooked from scratch on site. The chips were chunky and rustic, cooked with their skins on and had obviously been double friend. The fish was fresh, flaky and pleasantly moist in a crispy breadcrumb and herb crust with just a hint of lemon. The onion rings were plentiful and coated in a very light beer batter that had just a slight bitterness to it, contrasting with the sweetness of the fried onions perfectly. Washing it down with a pint of a local pale ale, I couldn’t have asked for a better lunch by the sea. Having had our fill of food and drink we walked down to the harbour to take a few photos and sit on a rocky outcrop looking out to sea.

Sometime around mid-afternoon we decided to head back and spend the evening with Kells grandparents before retiring for our last night in the hotel of horrors, which by now was actually starting to feel quite homely. The following morning, after allowing ourselves a little bit of a lie in we packed up our bags and carried them down to the car, ready to take over to Kells grandparents, where we would be spending our fourth and final night in Scotland. We spent the remainder of the morning helping Kells granddad setup his new broadband router and moving a few bits and bobs of furniture before taking her grandma and granddad out to lunch at the Glaisnock Café. Far from being a one hit wonder the lunch time menu at the café has a reasonable amount of variety with a few daily specials thrown in for good measure. I chose a steak and ale pie with vegetables while Kell had a burger and chips, once again we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. My steak and ale pie was rustic and homely with a light puff pastry lid and large chunks of tender steak in a rich flavoursome gravy. The veg was simple, lightly steamed peas and carrots that still had a little crunch and texture to them, which for me is extremely important, I hate mushy veg. Kells burger was hand pressed in a soft bun with a very fresh looking salad, once again the chips were obviously hand cut and cooked until just lightly brown giving them a pleasant crunch and a slight sweetness. The thing that really lifted Kells meal was the homemade chilli chutney, sweet and flavoursome with just the right amount of heat so as not to be over powering. We finished the meal off with a slice of the homemade cake of the day which was a chocolate and peanut butter cake and that too was excellent.

That afternoon Kells granddad took us out so see some local beauty spots, driving right out into the middle of nowhere he took us up to visit Bruces Stone. All I can say was it was definitely worth the drive, Bruces Stone overlooks a beautiful sweeping woodland valley with a river running through the middle. The view is truly awe inspiring and absolutely breath taking, very rarely have I been to such a beautiful place. By the time we got back to Kells grandparents house it was already getting dark so we decided it would be a good time to settle in for the evening and watch some TV before heading to bed.

The next morning was our last day in Scotland so we decided to spend it with Kells grandparents, after a fairly relaxed morning we said our goodbyes and left a little before lunch time. On the drive home we took a minor detour along the Gretna Tourist Route and took in some of the amazing coastal scenery along the Solway Firth. Scotland is a truly amazing place to visit with some stunning countryside and beautiful woodlands, we love it there and we hope we can visit it for many, many years to come.

Friday, April 10, 2015

5th Anniversary

My partner and I have officially been together for five years, five of the best and by far the happiest years of my life.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

MCM Comic Con March 2015

Last weekend I attended my third MCM Comic Con at the NEC in Birmingham and it was absolutely awesome, every year the sheer number of people who pass through the event astounds me. Before my first covention I genuinely had no idea that comics and geek culture in general has such a huge following in the UK, I find it very exciting to see so many people sharing my love of all things geeky.

The highlight of this years convention for me was getting to meet Warwick Davis and his wife, I have grown up watching Warwick and have been a fan of his for as long as I can remember. Normally I find meeting people I’m a fan of to be quite a disappointing prospect, people are very rarely what you expect them to be and in many cases actually come across as quite rude and arrogant. Warwick however was very appreciative of the people coming to see him, very polite and tried his best to make time for everyone. Very rarely have I felt as at ease meeting someone I don’t know as I did meeting Warwick and that really put a smile on my face, my partner was literally giddy with excitement after meeting him. But what really lifted the experience for me was meeting his wife, who is a bit of a celebrity in her own right having appeared in several TV roles as well as in the film Willow, I have never come across a person who seemed so genuinely happy to be sat at a table meeting and greeting people before. Her enthusiasm and happiness to interact with the people she met was amazing and went a long way towards making the whole experience so pleasurable, I actually wish we had asked her to sign our picture along side Warwick.

MCM Comic Con is always an awesome weekend for me and I hope that I get to visit many more if them in the future.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

As of March this year my partner and I will have been together for 5 years. 5 years seems like a very long time, yet to me it feels like barely the blink of an eye since the first time I met her. When I look back the thing that really hits me is that, despite my memory being truly terrible, I can barely even remember the beginning of this week, I remember the day we met in vivid detail like it literally just happened. Its fair to say that in our time together we’ve had our ups and downs, as all relationships do, with that said the last 5 years have been some of the best and happiest years of my life. I can’t imagine my life without her in it.