I’ve been meaning to go to Belgium for years now and do a really good beer tour, but Amsterdam provided me with more than a little taster of what spending an afternoon drinking some of the worlds best beers could be like.
The first pub which we went to was called De Bekeerde Suster, which translates to ‘The Converted Sister’, this is because back in 1554 nuns started making ‘beer’ on the site of this pub so as not to let their male bretherin have all the fun.
There doesn’t appear to be a rum timeline anywhere on the net, or at least not a comprehensive one. All of this information has been colated from other websites and a couple of books, i’ve just put it in order with dates.
It would be pretty cool if this resource could grow, so if you have any interesting and relevant dates or facts in rums history drop a comment and i’ll include it. [...]
Just thought i’d share (the picture of) my signed bottle of Pampero Anniversario, scrawled on by none other than the master distiller of Pampero, Luis Figueroa.
It’s pretty cool because the bottle comes in a kind of suede sack, so I can drink the rum and replace the empty bottle with a new one, but still have the signature on the sack! [...]
Stephen Morrissey is the 2008 World Barista Champion, well done mate!
I remember chatting to Stephen at this years UKBC before he had competed in Ireland, we spoke about competition etc. and now he’s only gone and beat everyone! Great for Square Mile Coffee as well since he used coffee from the new roastery, roasted by none other than Anette Moldvaer who roasted the winning baristas (James Hoffmann) coffee last year!
Earlier I got a very excited phone call from Sarah, Hugo’s other half and the brains behind the WBC operation. Hugo came 10th overall which is a brilliant result and a credit to the UK and Cornwall. I sat down with a shot of his espresso blend earlier and I have to say: it’s a cracker! [...]
The 2008 World Barista Championship will be taking place at the SCAE Wonderful Coffee show in Copenhagen this week from 19-22nd June.
Representing Cornwall UK is Hugo, who I have trained with a lot in the past and I know his routine as well as anyone. I reckon Hugo’s strengths lie in (as well as great coffee) his personable charm and his ability to cope with the pressure well.Hugo is competing in the middle of the day on 19th. [...]