During our road-trip around the Welsh coast in August 2009 we spent a day playing petanque and crazy golf at the Mumbles in Swansea.
While we were there the strange Big Apple building near the pier caught our eye.
From our seaside travels archive
Looking through our photo archives I found this snap of it in a bit of a state. Apparently it had been hit by a vehicle just days prior to our visit!
Looking online it appears that the kiosk was granted listed building status last year.
The Big Apple kiosk was created in the 1930s as part of a promotional campaign for the Cidertone cider brand and at one time others could be found at seaside locations around the UK.
Unfortunately the Big Apple at the Mumbles is the last one standing.
A return is planned
We haven't been to Swansea since, but it is on our revisit list as there's a new crazy golf venue in the town.
We love visiting Wales and the Welsh coast and can't wait until the coronavirus pandemic is over so we can return.
There's a lot of debate as to which is the smallest pub in Britain/the UK/the planet. On our travels we've been to The Signal Box Inn at the end of the Cleethorpes Light Railway in Lincolnshire (the smallest pub on the planet) and more recently to the Lakeside Inn at Southport (the smallest pub in Britain).
Well, to add to the mix there's a very very very tiny pub in Stockport's Market Hall - The Corner Bar.
Emily and a visiting Simon Hall at a very small bar indeed. It was well stocked with draught and bottled beer and cider
Five gluten free beers on sale in Whole Foods Market in London.
While recently in the West End I popped into the Piccadilly branch of Whole Foods Market to take a look at the gluten free products available and my eye was taken by the five different gluten free beers, ales and lagers on the shelf in the beer department.
The range of gluten free beers, ales and lagers on sale in Whole Foods Market Piccadilly - Daas Blond, Celia, Mongozo, St Peter's Brewery G-Free and Dark G-Free
Check out the links below for more information on the gluten free beers, as well as my blog post about the gluten free beverages I've drunk over the years.
Visiting the 30th Annual Luton Beer & Cider Festival.
Since visiting our first Beer Festival in October 2011 (as advised to and accompanied by fellow Minigolfer and hangover expert Kevin 'Don't call me Max' Moseley) we've since been to the Luton Beer & Cider Festival, as well as keeping our eyes out for good gluten free beers, lagers & ales, and cider - with the Cider Tap at Euston in London a favourite haunt of our.
The Luton Beer & Cider Festival is held at the Hightown Sports Centre!
Last year we decided to visit the Luton Beer & Cider Festival after hearing from the Beds & Mid Herts Coeliac Group that there would be bottled gluten free beer available at the event. It's nice to have the choice and I had a bottle of the Blonde ale as well as a fair few 'thirds' of cider and perry.
Another half of Hardings Cider almost finished...
This year we visited the 30th edition of the Luton Beer & Cider Festival, that was once again held at the Hightown Sports & Arts Centre in Luton. This year there were three gluten free beers available, alongside dozens of cask beers, a large selection of bottled foreign beers, wines and a good selection of cider and perry.
It was nice to see posters and leaflets about Gluten Free beer on display at the festival
As a big fan of cider there were plenty to choose from, with twelve ciders, one apple/pear mix and eight perries. Emily was also pleased to see her favourite "Apples & Pears" available. This is made by Millwhites in Hemel Hempstead. And our friend Simon 'Oscar' Hall was very pleased with his 'sampling' of many pints of incredibly dark and think real ale!
Coming from even closer to home is the excellent brew made by Hardings Cider. Having read about the only cider made in Luton in the Autumn 2012 newsletter from the South Bedfordshire branch of CAMRA I purchased a few pints of the medium and sweet cider and very nice they were too. They'll certainly be on the menu for the upcoming BBQ season!
The Hardings Cider was proving popular on the night and the particular edition was the Hardings 3 County Bounty. I sampled a half of it, along with some thirds and halves of the Ross-on-Wye Alpaca Perry(!), the interesting Dunton medium and the Millwhites Rioja Finish.
A great evening out and as a bonus I've got some bottles of Green's Gluten Free Blond & Brown Ale to have tonight. Along with a bag of Awfully Posh's Pork Crackling. Lovely stuff.
Green's Gluten Free Brown Ale and a bottle of Blond too
Dominoes, Table Skittles and Gluten Free Beer at the Luton Beer & Cider Festival.
On Friday 17th February we headed to the 29th Luton Beer & Cider Festival at the High Town Sports & Arts Centre in Luton.
The souvenir glass from the Beer Fest and a hand of my Dominoes
Ahead of the event I’d been informed by the Beds & Mid Herts Coeliac Group that there would be four Gluten Free Beers on offer (in amongst the many beers, ciders and perries)! I'd also spoken to one of the organisers, who is a Coeliac, and found out the beers would be available on the foreign beers stand.
The four GF beers available were from Green's and were the Bottle Conditioned Re-fermented Blonde, Brown and Dark Ales & Greens Discovery. I chose a bottle of the Blonde Beer and would definitely buy it again. It was excellent that the Beer Festival had chosen to include Gluten Free beers on the roster too. I'm a big fan of Cider and Perry, but it's nice to go to a Beer Fest and actually have the choice to buy a Beer if I want to.
The four Gluten Free Beers available. There were plenty of posters around the venue advertising the beers, along with a factsheet explaining what Coeliac Disease is.
In amongst the drinking me and Emily played some Dominoes in a best-of-3, 5 & 7 series to decide the Luton Drink Club Dominoes Champion.
A Dominoes game in 'action'
The main hall at the Beer Fest housed a vast array of ales and was where the four Gluten Free beers were being sold.
Me with a Gluten Free Ale and another 'third' of strong Cider!
The hall also housed the CAMRA stand where they had two Pub Games available to play – Shove Ha’penny and Table Skittles!
The Table Skittles at the CAMRA stand
The Shove Ha'penny Board
Me lining up a swing on the Table Skittles
An excellent evening with lots of different drinks to try. Roll on the 30th Luton Beer & Cider Festival!
Ahead of the upcoming 2011 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships a bunch of Minigolfers, some of whom will be competing in the tournament, faced-off in The Weymouth Preliminaries Rock Paper Scissors Contest at the Weymouth Annual Octoberfest Beer Festival.
The tournament saw five competitors square-off in 'best-of-3' matches. The results and order of play were a little hazy, possibly due to the effects of the environment that the contest took place in!
Firstly, a 'random' draw was held to see who would face who in Round One, and then battle commenced...
Results:
- Oliver 'The Machine' Florence lost to Richard 'The Rock' Gottfried 1-2
- Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried beat Paul 'The Terminator' Jones 2-1
- Kevin 'Alex Kidd' Moseley - bye to Round Two
- Oliver 'The Machine' Florence lost to Paul 'The Terminator' Jones 1-2 in a 'Best Loser Match'
- Paul 'The Terminator' Jones lost to Kevin 'Alex Kidd' Moseley* 1-2
(* Kevin 'Alex Kidd' Moseley was given a 'Public Warning' for playing an illegal throw of 'Sausage' in the first game)
- Richard 'The Rock' Gottfried beat Kevin 'Alex Kidd' Moseley 2-1 in the 'Final' - see below for footage
Details of Gluten Free Ale, Beer and Lager that I've 'sampled' since being diagnosed as a Coeliac *hic*
Having had two bottles of Mongozo Gluten Free Pilsener bought for me I thought I'd give a run down of the other Gluten Free Ales, Beers and Lagers I've tried since being a Coeliac (as people 'Intolerant to Gluten' can't drink 'normal' Beer/Lager).
Enjoying a Redbridge Beer at The Yardhouse in Las Vegas in 2010
I must admit that I do like all of them, they all taste like 'the real thing'. Reading reviews in Crossed Grain magazine some people in 'taste tests' rated some more highly than others, but I can't say I'd avoid any of them. I do have a particular favourite in Redbridge Beer, but that's only available in the US.
I was a big fan of all types of lager, beer and ale before I was diagnosed as a Coeliac, so it is nice to know there are brewers out there providing for Coeliac customers.
Here's a list and links of those I've tried to date:
- Hambleton’s Gluten Free Ale (GFA) and Gluten Free Lager (GFL) - I've tried both.
- Green's Gluten Free Beers - I've tried both their of their new Premium Golden Ale and the Premium Pils. Previously I've tried a few of their other beers, including Pioneer and Trailblazer. Green's do have a wide-range, further details below.
I found out via twitter that the Orange Tree Pub in Baldock, Herts can cater for Coeliacs, with both food and drink, as they also serve Gluten Free beer and lager.
Enjoying a bottle of gluten free beer
In November 2014 the excellent GFree Radio Show had a gluten free drinks special and I was a guest on the show to discuss alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. You can listen to the show at 'GFree Radio episode 80: Our #GF drinks special'.
Non-Gluten Free, but Beer (and Minigolf) related Blog Posts:
.jpg "The range of gluten free beers, ales and lagers on sale in Whole Foods Market Piccadilly - Daas Blond, Celia, Mongozo, St Peter's Brewery G-Free and Dark G-Free")
.jpg "The other fridge contained bottles of Mongozo, Celia and St Peter's Dark G-Free gluten free beer")
.jpg "The Luton Beer & Cider Festival is held at the Hightown Sports Centre!")
.jpg "Another half of Hardings Cider almost finished...")
.jpg "It was nice to see posters and leaflets about Gluten Free beer on display at the festival")
.jpg "Green's Gluten Free Brown Ale and a bottle of Blond too")
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.JPG "Coeliac Richard Gottfried enjoying a Redbridge Beer at The Yardhouse in Las Vegas in 2010")
