Following on from my last blog I have completed two more extremely large actions needed for the wedding.  Groom suit, done! Wedding breakfast menu, done!

Onto the next phase, which is chose a honeymoon destination, any ideas is always a help.  We are looking at Sorento, if anyone knows of a similar style location, please let me know.

I have left it in the capable hands of our travel agent to come up with the dream specifications.  Warm weather, luxury hotel, romantic night time views, places to visit and good food.  Surely this can’t be to much of an ask?

So I leave you with a challenge this week, will anyone come up with my perfect honeymoon destination?

I look forward to your replies.

So it is coming close to the big day I thought I would give you a run down of the duties left to complete.

With less than 4 and a half months to go the list should be pretty small, but you would be wrong, it’s amazing just how many things you need to do to get married these days.  Don’t worry the big things have been done i.e. the venue, photographer,  bridesmaid dresses and of course the brides dress have been completed.  Although I have know idea what the dress is like.  Very exciting and I can’t wait to see it as Helen walk down the aisle (hopefully).

So what’s left to do:

Suits, honeymoon, cake, invites, menu and favours.

It starts this Saturday when myself, the best man and the two users embark on a mission to find our suits.  I have had clear orders on what colours to go for, surely between the 4 of us this shouldn’t be to hard, but it will depend on how close the shops are to the pubs.

I will feedback to you next week.

As we are currently looking into the dangers of CO2 in Microbreweries I arranged a visit to one of our newest local Microbreweries in Leeming Bar.  Rough Draft Breweries.  Jonathan has recently got into the Microbrewery game and he has been brewing since July 2011.

It was excellent to see how passionate and excited Jonathan was about what he was creating and different flavours of beer he could muster up.

It was certainly a good learning session for me as knew little of the making of beer, although I don’t I will try it.

I have included a link to some of the pictures we took whilst visiting.  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjyzUMMU

This was pointed out to me the other day.  Very amusing and a slight reference to beer.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePenNZ#p/u/0/XKFNBAjkA-o

Once you watch this one, I can guarantee you will watch more.

Well I have had a little break from “Around the World in 80 Beers”.  However I have been planing my Italian honeymoon this week and it has already got me thinking of sitting back looking over the bay of Naples with the sun on my face with my beautiful Fiancée (soon to be wife) relaxing next to me with cold glass of lager in hand. Aaarrhhhhh!

So up for discussion this week is the Italian beverages.

As we know wine is still the favourite of the Italian liquid diet, but beer is becoming more popular.  The well known brands like Peroni and Moretti are certainly fighting there case and the trend is going with them.

They are pulling the punches and getting up there with the seductive wines of Italy.  I’m looking forward to what other home beers they have to offer.  This will be my second visit to Sorrento, but I was to busy trying too buy as many replica football kits I could find, to impress the lads back home and keep up with my Championship Manager Italia conquest. What a game that was! Buying every top player you could, but only being able to play three none Italian players.  What a challenge. I might see if I can buy it again, but this could put an end to my marriage before it has even started.

So now I have gone off in another direction and got far to excited about the old champ manager, I believe I should leave it there. Please fell free to comment about champ manager and the joys it brought you.

I will report on my beer findings and please let me know if you have any recommendations.

Just look at the quality!

Would you believe it? Well you better as it is true.

Well it is according to the Discovery Channel.

Beer was responsible for the birth and development of human civilization, and is the “greatest invention of all.” It outlines how the agriculture revolution was started because of the need to make beer, which led to many inventions such as the plow, the wheel, and irrigation. Cities were built in an effort to produce more beer for the growing number of people who craved it. Other lesser known inventions were math, which needed to be mastered by farmers as their fields grew and needed to be quantified, as well as written language, which was vital to keep records of the expanding beer trade. The documentary goes on to demonstrate that every invention, innovation, and milestone of human history was, at the core, because of the human love for beer.

So there you go, proof that if we didn’t have beer, we wouldn’t have anything. Well done to that man who pushed through every limit to make sure the world survived.

http://listverse.com/2012/02/03/10-interesting-facts-about-beer-and-wine/

You will also find some some interesting facts about beer.

Today I thought I would focus on the new trend of the moment “Boutique Beers”.

Now some of these beers/lagers have been around for a few years now, but they have suddenly turned into the cool chic drinks to have in your hand on a night out down the local.

There are a few regular names, which you have probably tried, Sam Miguel, Hoegaarden, but there are a few newer or not so well known names like Modelo and Kasteel. These beers are normally of high strength, which is needed as the price is normally high for the amount you get, but well worth a try.

Here is a good picture taken with a challenge set. Try as many different ones as you can and decide which one is the best. Sounds like fun. I think its always worth trying a beer twice, just to make sure you still don’t like it.

If you want to keep up with the times and keep your street cred at the highest point, you could start by standing in the corner of the bar with one of these in your hand.

Enjoy!

A little bit different to my usual blog, but this was pointed out to me and I thought it would be a nice read for a Monday.

The English compound noun cellar door (especially in its British pronunciation of /sɛləˈdɔə/) is commonly used as an example of a word or phrase which is beautiful in terms of phonaesthetics (sound) with no regard for semantics (meaning).^[1] It has been variously presented either as merely one beautiful instance of many, or as the most beautiful in the English language; either as the author’s personal choice, that of an eminent scholar’s, or of a foreigner who does not speak the language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellar_door

The cellar door like the one picture above has always been intreging to me, what is really under those doors, what lives down there? I think this could be down to a list of scary movies I have watched over the years, but they are a opening to a whole world of imagination and mystery. Then again it just could be a good place to store, your wines and beers.

Well we are now in the month of December, would you believe it?

It’s self indulgent time, pies, to much to drink, to much to eat and time to hide the scales, until the New Years resolution of losing weight comes into play. We’ll all do it, but hey, why not enjoy yourself.

I have already told myself, what’s the point in watching what I eat and drink. It’s Christmas.

Last night I watched “It’s A Wonderful Life” for the first time. What a lovely film, I was snuggled up on the sofa with my fiancé and our little dog Daisy, and you couldn’t help but smile as it came to an end. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a must for the festive season.

I’m really getting into the Christmas spirit now and the Christmas tree will be chosen and up on Friday. Woo-Hoo

So onto beers, this one I’m going to leave up to you. There will be many choices of jolly beers, wines and eggnog. I’m going to see what the local supermarkets have to offer and the ones that catch my eye are the ones I will be sampling this month. I will report on my findings.

A short blog with not much about beers this time, but I promise it will be more informational next time.

Enjoy your parties, surely there will be some great stories to come.

Well this is more like around the pub in one night.

It was time for our annual lads weekend away, so we decided to choose a lovely little village called Dunstan on the Northumbria coast. It is a miles walk from the Famous Craster Kippers and a 3.5 mile walk from Dunstanburgh Castle. It really is a beautiful spot, where I spent a lot of my childhood.

This was also the opportunity for myself, my best man and my two ushers to get together, also known as the Gud lads. I’m sure such stories as, falling over fences, which weren’t there, crab fishing where there are no crabs, walking to Dunstanburgh Castle convinced we were being followed by creatures unknown to humans and hiding from helicopters behind a rock, will fall on all the open ears on my wedding day.

Anyway onto the beer. I’m always one to try a local beer and to my luck they had three local cask ale beers.

Secret Kingdom 4.3% Deep amber colour with a good head, nice and fruity aroma, fully bitter taste.

Farne Island 4.0% Amber coloured bitter, perfectly blended malt and hopes, which makes this a well-rounded balanced and refreshing. Brewed at the Hadrian & Border Brewery.

Newburn 4.1% is a dark golden coloured beer with a hoppy taste.

All three were cracking beers and I would highly recommend a visit to The Cottage Inn. It’s welcoming and has a great choice of beers and food.

I hope you all enjoy.

Matt