One Sunday afternoon back in February, James and myself took a train out to Winchester to spend the afternoon sampling ciders and stuffing our faces with pizza at The Stable with a bunch of other Hampshire blogging buds. I mean, is there any better way to spend your Sunday afternoon?! Before you get smart with that rhetorical question and answer it, let me stop you and declare: no, there is not.
The afternoon was not only designed for drinking and eating as much as our stomaches could handle, but to learn about the production and traditions around the ever popular apple based alcoholic beverage that so many of us enjoy. The event was inspired by the traditional Wassail celebrations, which falls around this time of year. If you're not familiar with wassailing (don't worry, I didn't have a bloody clue what it was), it is a pagan originated tradition which involves dressing up, painting your face, donning flower crowns 'pon your head followed by singing and dancing around your town's apples trees in the hope you awaken the trees and ward away evil spirits to ensure a good harvest. All in all, it sounds like my kinda party. Unfortunately there was no singing, dancing or warding off unwanted spirits involved on that particular Sunday afternoon.
After a welcoming mulled cider each, we were introduced to Tim Wale of Tutts Clump Cider, an independent cider company that is stocked at The Stable and he was on hand to talk us through the ins-and-outs of cider creation whilst guiding us through the ever important tasting session. There were just so many different ciders that for even someone like me, who does like to tipple on the odd occasion, it was pretty hard to keep up with!
Before #TheStableWassail afternoon, I knew absolutely sod all about cider other than it's darn delicious and I can drink gallons of the stuff over the festival period, so it was a rather inspiring and educational afternoon. It was particularly interesting to hear that most bottled ciders you purchase in the supermarket are actually up to 70% water, whilst more authentic ciders will only use pure juice. It's certainly made me think twice before buying those vibrant coloured, fruity ciders you find dominating supermarket shelves.
After a welcoming mulled cider each, we were introduced to Tim Wale of Tutts Clump Cider, an independent cider company that is stocked at The Stable and he was on hand to talk us through the ins-and-outs of cider creation whilst guiding us through the ever important tasting session. There were just so many different ciders that for even someone like me, who does like to tipple on the odd occasion, it was pretty hard to keep up with!
Before #TheStableWassail afternoon, I knew absolutely sod all about cider other than it's darn delicious and I can drink gallons of the stuff over the festival period, so it was a rather inspiring and educational afternoon. It was particularly interesting to hear that most bottled ciders you purchase in the supermarket are actually up to 70% water, whilst more authentic ciders will only use pure juice. It's certainly made me think twice before buying those vibrant coloured, fruity ciders you find dominating supermarket shelves.
After our cider education, it was time for pizza. I had never eaten at The Stable before, despite one having recently opened local to me in Southampton. The staff brought out an endless stream of almost every pizza on the menu for us to taste. Before I knew it I had a mountain of pizza slices stacked high in front of me; it was an absolute joy, I tell you!
A huge thank you goes to The Stable in Winchester for having us that afternoon and thank you to the lovely Lana for organising the event.
Oh golly golly gosh! Those pizzas look incredible! x
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So,that's today's willpower in serious jeopardy...all I want now is pizza!
ReplyDeleteYou wouldnt usually get me looking twice at pizza, but your photos are so good, I now want pizza x
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