Mayan apocalypse looms large for this Friday!

Bad enough that the Christmas shopping is still not done, some people are preparing for the end of the world later this week …!

Some New Age spiritualists are convinced that this Friday – 21^st December 2012 – will be the “doomsday” as foretold by the Mayan Calendar.

The precise manner of Armageddon remains vague, ranging from a catastrophic celestial collision between Earth and the mythical planet Nibiru (also known as Planet X), a disastrous crash with a comet, or the annihilation of civilisation by a giant solar storm.

But it’s the Mayan Calendar that is featuring here. Their calendar, the so-called long count cycle has a 5,126 year cycle. The Mayan Calendar is divided into bak’tuns – 144,000 day cycles. And the last cycle on the calendar is fast approaching …

Some people are already preparing. From Italy come reports of a lawyer who plans to ride out Armageddon in a bunker built under his villa.

In parts of Russia, the shelves were emptied of fuel, matches, sugar and candles, supposedly in anticipation of something worse than winter in Russia.

The French government’s sect watchdog ‘Miviludes’ has an eye on the idyllic mountain village of Bugarach … in case doomsday cults arrive, after word got around it will be the only place left standing.

But for every person who takes the predictions seriously, many more find it harmless fun. And for some it’s seen as a business opportunity. Dedicated websites flog dried food, gas masks and other cheerless items.

Brewers have also chipped in with a range of apocalypse-themed beers.

I know it’s only Tuesday, but Friday is not far away … Cheers to that!

Raise a glass to the great Christmas Pud!

Christmas pudding was made for … Christmas!

And, of course, it is the only seasonal food that is alcoholic!

The allure of the Christmas pudding is quite extraordinary … few foods have such iconic power as that brandy-soaked, fruit-filled, deliciously dense concoction … which is the set alight and carried to the table with such ceremony!

It was Charles Dickens who captured the familiar scene in a Christmas Carol (1843) where he describes the pudding thus: “Like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a- quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight (adorned) with Christmas holly stuck in the top”

But what’s really intriguing is that the Christmas pudding is considered so important that, even though we eat it only once a year … it has its own national day – Stir-Up Sunday!

Stir –Up Sunday

This is the traditional day when families gather round the kitchen table to stir the Christmas pudding mixture. It falls four or five weeks before Christmas Day, on the last Sunday before the season of Advent.

A long time ago Christmas pud was actually porridge … with fruit and alcohol (of course)!

In Henry V111’s time the King went a-hunting, and, hungry, he was fed at a woodcutter’s cottage – and was served “plum pottage”. He liked it so much; he got the royal cooks to make it!

In the next century Oliver Cromwell, the Puritan, banned it … which showed that it must be good stuff.

And it was in the Victorian era that despite being utter prudes, the Victorians made the pud the centre of their Xmas table …. Hooray for the Victorians….

In fact, let’s raise a glass to the Pud!

Will we have a White Christmas this year?

As we are now officially in the first of the ‘winter months’ the weather becomes increasingly talked about … in particular many wonder whether we will have a white Christmas this year…

 

For many of us snow is synonymous with Christmas.

Christmas cards, songs and movies all portray a white Christmas.

But, what makes a white Christmas?

For many people, a White Christmas means a complete covering of snow falling between midnight and midday on 25^th December
 

However, the definition used most widely – notably by those placing and taking bets, is for a single snowflake (perhaps among a mixed shower of rain and snow) to be observed falling on the 24 hours of 25 December at a specific location.

White Christmases were more frequent in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, even more so before the change of calendar in 1752 which effectively brought Christmas day back by 12 days. However, despite climate change, the natural variability of the weather will not stop cold, snowy winters happening this year or indeed in the future!

 When did we last have a white Christmas?

Surprisingly, the last white Christmas was as recent as Christmas 2010.

It was extremely unusual, as mot only was there snow on the ground at 83% of Met Office stations (the highest number ever recorded) but snow or sleet also fell at 19% of the stations.

As for this year, who knows?

And many of our customers will probably be more pre-occupied with whether to have ‘White’ or ‘Red’ this Christmas?!

TEA … the best drink of the day!

As our regular customers will tell you ….

“There’s nothing like a cup of tea that is made up of Barley, Hops, Water and Yeast!”

However, no matter how you make the pun on TEA (Traditional English Ale) it’s difficult to believe that this most acceptable local beer would ever make its way on to the breakfast table!

TEA is one of our regular resident beers, supplied by Farnham’s local Hogs Back Brewery based in Tongham.

 The brew has a 4.2% ABV and is a top selling award winning bitter.

When poured it has a pleasant looking deep caramel/ auburn colour and produces an initial bubbly white head which rapidly disappears to nothing…. And that’s not just as a result of the speed that you drink it!

In various on-line forums, TEA is always highly rated, here’s an extract form one that recently caught my attention …

“The nose offers up plenty of lightly roasted English pale and crystal malts with hints of caramel, vanilla and bread … and the hops have an earthy, leafy, herbal whiff to them. A very ‘basic’ bouquet: malt and hops without much else of note…”

Which is all well and good, but I think the Hogs back Brewery website summarises better with the following:

·         See: Copper, Amber

·         Smell: Berries, Orange Zest

·         Taste: Light Fruity and Sweet

TEA is without doubt a popular choice here at the Shepherd & Flock, not least because it is a refreshing hoppy and well balanced beer.

So, how would you describe TEA? Is it our best beer? Be good to hear from you ….