Food 'n' Drink |

A new report by a charity states that cheap drinks that are marketed in Welsh clubs and pubs may lead to the increase of serious health problems among patrons.

The Alcohol Concern survey took a close look at premises located in Wrexham, Newport, and Swansea and found that about half of all the pubs and clubs offer deals on their alcoholic drinks.

With deals that price spirits around £1 it will cost a woman £3 to drink double the recommended amount of alcohol daily and £4 for a man.  In order to combat the problem the charity has asked that bold measures be taken.

Titled ‘Counting the Cost’, the report included a survey of 43 clubs and pubs in three separate locations within Wales on a Friday back in November of 2009.  Out of those venues twelve were found to offer spirits for just one pound.

Some of the venues also offered two or three for one deals and/or pints that were prices as low as one pound.  In fact, at many the venues alcohol was found to be cheaper than soft drinks with only 12% of the venues offering patrons discounts on non-alcoholic drinks.

The charity noted that while the clubs can bring large benefits to cities and towns, the additional revenues must be balanced alongside the health implications of offering alcohol for such a small amount.

Their recommendation is that venues compete based on their atmosphere, facilities, and entertainment instead of who offers the best prices on drinks.

How do you buy wine? Bundled in with the weekly supermarket shop? Plucked from the off-license shelf? Making the vaguest of stabs in the dark as to what wine you are after, without really being sure? The average supermarket wine aisle might boast a huge number of wines, hailing from just about every corner of the globe, but without any context this wealth of options can easily prove to be more bewildering than helpful. Which of the represented regions delivers the finest type of each wine? What are the best wines to be served with specific dishes? Questions that might well be buzzing in your brain as you make your selection, but who is going to help you out with them? The guy filling the wine aisle shelves? Yeah, good luck with that.

For those seeking an interesting, informed alternative to this ritualistic fumble in the dark, then wine buying online or buying wine via mail order can offer some assistance. A website is able to offer supplementary information with each retailed wine, giving additional information about taste and the perfect culinary accompaniment. What is more, a website can be calibrated to your individual tastes. Simply take a few seconds to provide some information about your preferences, and the website can subsequently offer specific recommendations as to which wines might be to your liking. Whether your favourite tipple be the freshness and sweetness of a good white, the richness and intensity of a sublime red, or the rich, complex, yeasty flavour of champagne, the decision to buy wine online or mail order wine can help identify the perfect wine for you.

Wine clubs too can offer help in regard to learning more about how to judge wines, and make sure you get the best possible deal. A great blend of the educational and the social, membership of a wine club can not only help you explore the rich, but sometimes intimidating and complex, world of wine, it can bring social benefits too, as you meet and interact with others who are also keen to develop their passion for wine.

And there is one other very real, very pertinent advantage when you buy wine online or mail order wine – namely, cost. The price of the wine you pay for over the counter has been swollen by a number of elements which have precious little to do with the liquid in the bottle. Yes, the wine itself partly determines how much money you hand over at the till, but there are other assorted factors which help inflate the price-tag; from taxes, to duty, to the cost of marketing. By the time you are picking your chosen wine from the shelf, then it has in all likelihood passed through any number of hands – importers, wholesalers, the shops themselves – each one of which serving to ramp the cost that little bit further skyward.

The choice for winemakers is often between handing over their product for a relatively small sum to a massive retailer, or getting out there and hawking their wares themselves. But buying wine online establishes a new link of sale, retailing the finest independently-produced wines direct to the customer, and ensuring winemakers and consumers alike are given the best possible deal.

On Friday February 19th, the new Laithwaites flasghip store in the Vinopolis complex will open near Borough Market.  Customers are being invited to join staff from Laithwaites and Vinopolis, as well as stallholders from Borough Market, for a celebratory glass of champagne and an exciting evening wine tasting.

The celebration continues on Saturday February 20th when Laithwaites, the UK’s largest independent wine merchant, is offering customers the unique chance to walk away with a bottle of the finest wine for just £5.  From 10am – 10pm, Laithwaites will offer 500 ‘mystery’ bottles for sale, all for £5 each. Highlights include Lafite, Haut-Brion, Mouton and mixed in amongst the bottles, all worth over £5, will be other established classics and New World discoveries.  There will only be 500 bottles so with thousands expected to try their luck come early to avoid disappointment.

As well as picking up their mystery bottle, customers will also be able to taste a selection of wines from Laithwaites comprehensive range, at one of the world’s longest wine tasting tables in the 5,000sq ft store.

Opening of the Laithwaites Store – February 19th 4pm onwards

Wine Lucky Dip – February 20th 10am – 10pm

The store is situated at No.1 Bank End, London SE1 9BU.

For further information visit www.laithwaites.co.uk

Keep opened bottles of wine fresh with Kilner’s new Vacufresh wine stopper. Featuring a clever vacuum pump system that removes air in the bottle, the Vacufresh stopper slows down the oxidisation process, ensuring that your wine will stay fresh for longer.

The Vacufresh wine stopper is compact, easy to store and really simple to use. Just place the bottle of wine on a sturdy flat surface then firmly push the Vacufresh stopper onto the bottle and pump several times until you feel resistance, which means that the remaining air in the bottle has been removed. Then lock in place for long lasting fresher tasting wine without the waste!

The Vacufresh wine stopper retails from just £6.99.

Santa Teresa 1796, the ultra Premium aged rum, produced by the oldest Venezuelan rum distiller, Ron Santa Teresa, will be presented to some of the world’s top musicians at the 2010 Annual GRAMMY Awards to be held in Los Angeles.

Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, Green Day and Pink are among the top artists who will be participatig at the Awards and as usual each will be receiving an ‘official talent gift bag’ which will include various luxury items such as In addition to Santa Teresa 1796, the official talent gift bags will include a myriad of luxury items: the bag itself from Victorinox Travel Gear, a Yucycle (the new human-powered vehicle), skin and hair treatments, online shopping cards, spa treatments, sport clubs memberships, gourmet chocolates, headsets and other extravagances, as well as a bottle of Santa Teresa 1796 rum.

Santa Teresa 1796 was launched in 1996 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Hacienda Santa Teresa, and it is the only rum that is totally aged through the ancient Solera method, for centuries the secret of Spain’s sherry and brandy producers, which gives this rum its balanced body and the perfect ageing roundness that makes Santa Teresa 1796 distinctive and inimitable.

The first Ron de Venezuela brand, Ron Santa Teresa, is  an independent Venezuelan family business, employing more than 400 people and known for its community projects, including ‘Project Alcatraz’. This inspiring community initiative gives violent gang members an alternative life to prison. It gives offenders the opportunity to rehabilitate in a program that includes intensive labour, education, work-studies, rugby training, psychological assistance and community service, with the objective of reinserting in to society.

Part 3 of the series is all about cappuccino.  Did you know that coffee is the second most traded item in the world after oil!

If you missed them, watch part 1 and part 2 – these are very interesting videos.

Fructose, which is a common sugar substitute found in soft drinks and food items is thought to possibly play a role in the growing number of children with diabetes as well as obesity.

Researchers at the University of California performed a study in which 17 volunteers were put on a diet that included a large amount of fructose.  After just ten weeks those who consumed the fructose had fat cells around their major organs, heart, and liver.

On the other hand, the other group of volunteers who made up the control was not allowed fructose in their diet and did not have any growth in fact cells.

Weight gain did not seem to be an issue as both groups gained the same amount.

Children are considered to be at higher risk from fructose consumption due to the fact that they will eat the sweetened products in abundance.

Leader of the study, a molecular biologist named Kimber Stanhope, said that this is the first study that shows a connection between heart disease and diabetes and fructose consumption.