Past Events

2009

October - Eurostar trip to Ghent

12 club members repeated the format of last years successful long weekend to Bruges and this year spent time in the centre of Ghent.  We enjoyed lots of typical and delicious Belgian food including ribs, seafood, casseroles, crepes, coffee and chocolates plus many varieties of beer, wine and Genevers (gin based liqueurs).  We spent our sightseeing time enjoying the cobbled streets and historical buildings, viewing the ancient castle, ringing the bells (accidentally!) in the Clock tower, visiting the the Design museum and marvelling at the Van Eyck triptich in the Cathedral - The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb which was painted in the 15th Century.  A most successful and enjoyable trip made all the better because we had fantastic sunshine the whole time.

October 14th - Christmas and special occasion beers from Belgium

The club welcomed back Clive for his annual presentation on a different aspect of Belgian beers (this was his 10th visit!)  We started off with a couple of porter style beers and then moved on to a few vintage reserve beers before finishing off with a most unusual beer made from a similar method to champagne.  All were on the sweeter side and were very well received even by those of us who 'dont like beer'!

To accompany the beers we had an amazing selection of cold meats, cheese, bread, belgian mustard (which tends to be served in Belgium with cheese and salami to accompany beer) and belgian chocolates - far too much for a wednesday evening when we have all just finished dinner but, nevertheless, we polished it all off!

September 9th - Kent Food and Drink

Researched and presented by Malcolm and Greta who have an ongoing interest in this part of the country.  We sampled 3 white wines, 2 light reds, a dessert wine and a special reserve cider which was more like an apple brandy. 

September - Downley Gardening Club Beer making competition

Using a special bitter recipe from Dusty a handful of members made beers over the summer and entered these for judging in this competition.  Rather embarrassingly the category was won by Alan who had not been happy with his beer from this year and so entered last years beer - shows the benefit of aging even for beers!  Hopefully the other bitters made this year will also improve with a bit more aging.

 

June 10th - Italian Wines from Verona region

Prepared by Steve Morton on a recent visit.  We tasted 7 wines including a sparkling wine and all were much enjoyed (usually there are one or two less popular ones but not here!). 

For a bit of fun Steve suggested that we should all wear something with an italian theme and much hilarity was caused by this.  He came as the man from Dolmio (the pasta sauce!), Lindsay came as Pavarotti, and we also had a Tour de France Italian cyclist, a neopolitan icecream, a couple of Italian footballers, and an ancient roman.  Others came in holiday teeshirts from Italy, appropriate hats, or dressed according to the colours of the flag - good effort for a Wednesday evening!

He also arranged a lighthearted quiz on Italy covering such subjects as how much pasta they eat in a year, how much wine they drink, how many countries border Italy etc.  The prize (a jar of Dolmio sauce!) was won by the Homers.

Snacks for this evening included home made pizzas, dough balls, and cheeses.  Thanks to the contributors.

May 13th - Pudding and matched beers

Organised by Alan and Claire Baker with beer selection by Keith Knight and (Dusty) Peter Miller.  Yummy puddings made by Glynis, Miriam, Janice, Lindsay, Claire, Violet, Julian, Bronwen, and Beverley

We started with Leffe Blond matched with Fruit Salad and moved on to Chocolate and Cherry Roulade matched with Lindemans Kriek (a Lambic beer with cherries).  Both beers paired exceptionally well with their beers - the first being worth remembering for the summer barbecue season; the cherry beer being the overall favourite match (but possibly not a beer you would choose to drink much of without a cherry pudding!)

Next we had a Beer Granita (sorbet!) which Claire felt was an acquired taste.  Although we only had a small sample each it went down very well indeed matched with Worthingtons White Shield IPA.

Our 4th pudding, Treacle Tart was accompanied perfectly by Batemans Victory Ale as the hoppy flavour is followed by a syrupy mid-palate.

Manns Brown Ale was chosen to complement the very rich Dark Chocolate Truffle Torte as it has a sweet toffee & fruit aroma with hints of coffee and roasted grain.

Finally we had Christmas pudding to an old family recipe matched beautifully with Bodgers Barley Wine.

We had about 32 attendees so had one or two extra portions for each dessert but not a scrap remained to offer to the Downley Day Committee that were also meeting in the hall!  Hardly surprising as all these puddings were home made by our talented bunch of members and reminded us just how lucky we are to have such a range of talents and willing volunteers!  Charles also brought along some of his own excellent IPA which was shared amongst the more-than-willing suppers. 

Apr 8th - Starlight discovery social!

Our 'new-look' village store has an astonishing variety of beers and wines to complement their excellent fresh fruit and vegetable selection so we decided to run a social evening with informal tastings of 6 of their beers and 6 of their wines.  Opinions were as follows:

Turkish Efes Pilsner - surprisingly good

Old Bob (Ridleys) Strong ale 5.1% - everyones favourite

Bishops Tipple (Wadsworths) 5.5% - as good  as always

Brakspears Triple -good but ridiculously strong at 7.2%

Stinger beer (HFW's  River Cottage with Hall and Woodhouse)  - also good but a little sweeter

Harvester (Hall & Woodhouse) - very good for a low alcohol beer 2.5%

Wines were less successful!  We tried to choose brands not available everywhere with mixed results.  We did notice however that Starlights everyday  brand  prices are very comparable with standard prices at the Supermarkets. (eg Hardys, Oxford Landing, Banrock Station, Turning Leaf etc)

The £2.99 chianti  and rose 'specials'  were, in our opinion, not worth bothering with.  Apparantly they are selling well in Downley but we  didnt find W&B members appreciated their subtleties!  Similarly, the Turkish wine was tolerable but nothing special.  The Chilean Carmanere however was very popular as was the Oxford Landing Viognier (both around £5-£6).  Fleurie was fine but more expensive.

With various snacks and a wonderful fruit salad an enjoyable  evening was had by all and the opportunity for a good natter was appreciated. 

Mar 11th - Member presentation on South African Wines

An appreciation of South Africa as a wine region with a little historical  perspective.  Plus information on the wines and wineries selected to illustrate the talk.  We tasted a nice variety of  grapes and types of wine (2 white, 1 sweet wine, 3 red and  1 brandy) - with suitable snacks including corn  chips, biltong  and cheeses.  Cost £5.  

Feb 11th - Speaker from Uxbridge Wine Soc on Fine Chocolate and Dessert wines

We started with a raspberry lambic fruit beer from Belgium, followed this with a rich red wine and moved through very different Dessert wines from California, Greece, Spain and Australia.  All of these were specifically recommended for complementing chocolate desserts. 

The chocolates to accompany started with an 'ordinary' supermarket chocolate from Green and Blacks.  We then moved on to coinnousseur chocolates from single plantations which demonstrated the qualities of Trintario, Criollo, and Forestero cocoa bean blends.

We learnt how and where cocoa beans are grown, harvested and processed and what factors contribute to the different qualities and types of chocolate products - and indeed what a labour intensive process it is!  Many of us found another 'delicious' pudding wine to keep an eye out for but, whilst the chocolates were delicious few of us could tell the subtle differences apart - more practice required!

Jan 14th - Member presentation on Ciders and Apple drinks

We started with a Mulled Warm Cider drink followed by a number of blended and single varietal Ciders from France and England - still and sparkling.  The evening concluded with tastings of Calvados and Apple brandy.

Snacks included home made bread, cheeses, and Iceland party food!

We learnt how cider is made and the differences between some French and English cider-making methods.

 2008

  • 13th Feb  - German Feuerzangenbowle (Flaming Punch).  Tradition social drinking event from Bavaria

  • 12th Mar - Speaker on Chilean wines from Beaconsfield specialists - The Real Wine Company

  • 9th  Apr - Dessert Wines and Puddings organised by members

  • 14th May - Japanese specialist drinks - Sake, Rice wine, liqueurs and other surprises as researched by a travelling member

  • 11th Jun - Beer making workshop

  • 12th Jul - Summer Social BBQ

  • 13th Aug - Pub meeting at Le De Spencer

  • 10th Sep - Presentation from Organic Wines Ltd

  • 26th - 29th  Sep - Trip to Bruges

  • 8th Oct - Speaker from Majestic on Sparkling wine and Champagnes

  • 10th Oct - Anniversary Dinner  - Hit or Miss, Penn Street

  • 12th Nov - AGM followed by presentation on Belgian Trappist Beers

  • 10th Dec - Christmas Meal