Today, Friday, 2 June, has an incredible special happening at the Village Square SUPERSPAR!

SUPERSPAR Friday and Saturday Specials

SPAR Long Life Milk (six x 1 litre), Bokomo Weet-Bix 900g and SPAR Assorted Yogurt 1 kg make up the special, and the deal is limited to a maximum of three per customer while stocks last. Buy all three and get an R57 discount!

Details below:

Unbelievable Price

If that’s not enough, Saturday sees a one-day sale on Hennessy’s Very Special Cognac. At R499, this also has a limit of 3 per customer while stocks last. 

Details below:

Landskroon Wine

Finally, TOPS is running a competition with Landskroon wine. Buy any Landskroon Red Wine and stand to win a Landskroon branded wooden crate to the value of R1000! details below

 

… And Now For Some Fruit Beers.

Internet searches can lead to fascinating discoveries: – such as the nugget of information about the song Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. It was originally written for and recorded by Nina Simone in 1964. But then it was subsequently covered by The Animals and by disco artists Santa Esmeralda in 1977, then again in 1985 by Elvis Costello. As a result, it actually ranks at 322 of Rolling Stonemagazine’s 500 Best Hits of All Time!

What’s the point of this in a beer article? Well, it appears that fruit beers – and the use of fruit in beers – is very much misunderstood. But, craft brewers being the curious and convention-challenging folks that they are, some experimentation with fruit is taking place in this sector and producing some interesting results.

The origins of using fruit in beer could be clearer. Some historical evidence suggests that in China, a few thousand years ago, an alcoholic beverage was brewed with rice, honey, hawthorn berries and grapes. A school of thought argues that the ancient Egyptians brewed beer using pomegranates and dates. Early American settlers, many Dutch and German, brought their traditions with them. Still, in those days, they used readily available pumpkins to supply the malty, rich flavours to their brews.

The Belgians, brewing powerhouses that they are, are officially credited with introducing cherries to make kriek beer and raspberries for framboise lambic beer. That apparently happened around the 1930s. So what are lambic beers is the next logical question. According to beer literature, lambic beers are unique because they are “a slightly sour wheat beer style made in and around Brussels”. Or, as Wikipedia succinctly states it: “lambic beers, originating in the Zenne valley in Belgium, may be refermented with cherries to make kriek, or fermented with raspberries to make framboise.” It adds that Flemish old brown beers undergo a multiple stage fermentation. After the first fermentation of the wort, sugar is added, and the beer is refermented in wooden casks. “Fruit beer can be made from them using fruit instead of sugar.”

Beer enthusiasts worldwide agree that fruit beers get a bad rap simply because it’s an open-ended category. 

The most popular ingredients for fruit beers are citrus fruits – orange, lime and lemon. Still, there are some brewers adding grapefruit nowadays as well. Berries are the next most obvious, with raspberries and cherries favoured and generally made in a sweeter style. Although they can be sweet, too, peaches and plums have more acidity than those berries, making the resultant fruit beers fresher than their berry counterparts.

For some brewers, no holds are barred – notably in America, where mad brewers have used banana, watermelon, strawberry and even prickly pear.

While many of these are quirky, small-volume products, it doesn’t mean the category should be overlooked – or misunderstood.

Full Story HERE