The Wacky World of Brit Beverages

Vodka from cow’s milk, vodka with toffee, whisky from Wales, whisky from Sassicaia barrels, beers from ferrets and hobgoblins!

   That’s the wacky world of British beverages…

   Let’s meet them: 

   Black Cow Pure Milk Vodka. Creamy smooth, clear and delicious, from grass-grazed cows. Crystal clear, it’s made by separating the whey, then fermenting it into beer. 

   This is distilled and triple filtered. Voila! The vodka retails at $49.95 in LCBO stores. Black Cow Cheddar is available, too. Mootini, anyone?

   Fursty Ferret is named for the furry little creatures and their penchant for sipping this tawny amber ale inside the 7^th generation brewery. 

   Fursty is how they say parched down in Dorset! $3.65 a bottle in The Beer Store. Moreish and malty with a lovely roasted hazelnut, Seville orange, hops nuance and some elegance. 

   Thunder English Toffee + Vodka, said to originate from Val d’Isere in the Alps, it’s triple distilled grain vodka and a natural toffee syrup from cane sugar. Simple ingredients, subtle creamy toffee against ice-cold vodka. $23.95 375ml.

Importer Laura Higgins enters the spirit!

Toffee Cream or Cloud Nine

1 shot of Thunder Toffee + Vodka

1 shot of Irish Cream liqueur

2 scoops of vanilla or chocolate ice cream. 

Muddle and serve with ice cubes.

    Wine fans will fancy the Speyside malt Benromach that’s aged in Sassicaia barrels, a hundred bucks and half the price of the fine Tuscan red wine that first occupied the butts. Lovely smooth drop of malt with ethereal hints of dark berry fruits.

   Meanwhile, don’t get your leeks in a knot, there’s a whisky from Wales, too: Penderyn Legend, $62.60, finished in Bourbon and Madeira barrels, subtle apple/citrus and dried fruits. From the land of Merlin and Dylan Thomas and created on the foothills of the Brecon Beacons, don’t you know! Stills have been found in Wales dating back to the 4^th Century.

    Hobgoblin Gold beer comes from the Wychwood Brewery in Oxfordshire, Britain's biggest brewer of organic ales. The Gold has an infusion of wheat with the barley that gives a refreshing midweight beer with a hefty hop punch, $2.75 a 500ml can. The goblins haunt the nearby Wychwood Forest...