OUT AND ABOUT | BREW-DENELL BEER AND ALE FESTIVAL

(Apologies for the not even HALF decent pictures as my D-SLR is in for repair).

Last weekend saw the second Brew-denell Beer and Ale Festival grace one of my favourite haunts the Brudenell Social Club.

 Brew-denell is an independent beer and ale festival celebrating the joy of craft brewing.

 This year also featured live music (which I sadly missed) and food from local independents, including the new Leeds pop up The Grub and Grog Shop by the talented Jim Hirst and Dan Scalington (one's definitely to look out for this year).

With an array of regional, UK and worldwide ales available on cask and keg it was quite easy to get lost in all the tantalising descriptions.

For my grog, I opted for Kirkstall Brewery's Dissolution IPA and Siren Craft Brew's Soundwave IPA.

A sneaky taste of a few others in the deciding process were also approved of, including The Kernel's Pale Ale and Thornbridge Brewery's Jaipur IPA.

For my grub, I had the pleasure of diving into one of the last stews left from Made By Jim.

Before me appeared a beautiful bowl of beetroot, chickpea and tamarind stew, accompanied by Leeds Bread Co-op Sourdough. A dish rich in colour and packed full of fresh and complimenting flavours.

Yet another fantastic event celebrating independent food and drink in Leeds.

I look forward to next year.

REVIEW | FRIENDS OF HAM

Upon entering you are greeted by a busy bustling upstairs bar and will notice upon peering at the counter that you are instantly spoilt for choice.

 A fabulous selection of craft beers and ales from all round with several local breweries featuring on tap.

Not only does this place serve ham… (although the ham is pretty darn good!), they serve a fantastic selection of charcuterie, cheeses, breads, scotch eggs, nibbles etc.

 I happily munched my way through what I can say was a rather impeccably handmade scotch egg (complete with salad and spicy wholegrain mustard) and a half pint of cornichons whilst gazing upon a Wensleydale Blue cheeseboard (complete with olive oil drizzled bread and fresh olives) at a friend opposite.

As well as the upstairs bar there is a downstairs area (complete with board games and even a shuffleboard!) where you are greeted with long-end tables, the kind you can fit a good sized party around or at least feel unawkwardly obliged to talk to the group who perches next to you.

The staff (and their impressive confidence/passion/knowledge) were great. On both occasions I went to purchase beer I was helped  to choose the beer to suit me. I found myself provided with several tastings before even purchasing. I started off with the record store day special by the local West Yorkshire Revolutions Brewing Company, followed by the Amaro IPA.

I really enjoyed the passion and service of the staff, it really does make a difference in my book. Being a student and in my final year it is not ideal to go partying every night, but ideally it’s nice to know after a hard week of uni work and library study that I can spend what’s left of my student loan in the company of good friends with good beer and good food on offer. I’d much rather push my pennies towards this than a full on night out... but maybe that's the fact that being in my twenty-somethings is kicking in.

A friend of ham is a friend of mine. I will definitely be back. 

RECIPE | GIN-GIN MULE

This drink will requench your thirsts for days like these when the British sun decides to show its face!

And there's also just the simple fact that drinking/eating pretty much anything (other than jam, obvs) from a jam jar is just INSTANT ADDED COOL.

To make a GIN-GIN MULE you will need:

3oz Gin (AKA double measure)

A drench of lime juice

Lots of crushed ice

As much ginger beer as you like...

* Also lovely with some fresh mint leaves but alas our mint plant has died. R.I.P.

REVIEW | JEREMIAH WEED ROOT BREW

Jeremiah Weed are newcomers to the UK brew scene. Currently available are two different brews: Root Brew (brewed with a hint of ginger) and the Sour Mash Brew (brewed with a hint of bourbon).

I saw a review of their brews online and was desperate to get my hands on a bottle. Luckily enough, the local Waitrose was stocking the stuff and we snapped up a bottle of the Root Brew.

Served chilled over ice (how sophisticated) this was a DELICIOUS drink.

I am a BIG fan of the various ginger and root beers available at the moment but this one really tops them all.

It is much less acidic/sweet/artificial tasting than Crabbies Ginger Beer (my previous favourite), with a nice refreshing and natural tang.

 WARNING: This stuff is a little TOO drinkable. 

RECIPE | HAZELNUT HOT CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM FLOATS

One of my favourite things to have in the evening before bed is a nice frothy mug of hot chocolate.

The other evening, myself and David had a crazy idea to make hot chocolate ice cream floats!

For the HAZELNUT HOT CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM FLOATS you will need:

Your favourite mug.

1 serving of your hot chocolate of choice (we used Options Belgian Hot Chocolate).

Milk (we used Alpro Hazelnut Milk).

Good quality vanilla ice cream.

Make the hot chocolate as per instructions and then froth it up in the microwave (be careful to make sure it doesn't froth too much and cause a chocolatey volcanic eruption!).

Add a good few glugs of milk and stir.

The hazelnut milk complemented the hot chocolate so well. 

Add a generous scoop or two of ice cream and DEVOUR your frothy indulgent concoction!