What an interesting and informative night we all had at the Wine Club tour of the Mildura Brewery. The head brewer (brewboy Steven!) took us through a tasting of his beers, including the Trophy winning Sun Light in the luxurious theatre bar. We then followed him into the brewery to taste various barleys, sniff amazing hops and be shown the workings of a real working brewery. A great night out was had by everyone, and boy is my next homebrew going to be the best ever!!

That’s what we like to see, Head Brewer pouring us the beers!!

Voyager to Mildara

Sunday 19th June we will be boarding the River Queen Voyager for a long leisurely, luxury cruise through Lock 11 to Mildara for a BBQ and tastings of their extensive range.

Those of you who were lucky enough to get on the slow boat to Trentham last year will know what a good time we had and probably won’t want to miss this trip. I’ll be donning the Chefs hat to cook lunch so I can promise no greasy chops or rissoles!

Get a group together and book now; tickets are great value at $35ph all inclusive.

Bookings can be made via email, phone (50189403) or personally.

Payment can be cash or card and have to be paid by 10th June. Don’t delay!

Tasting

What a blockbuster of a tasting we had last Friday with the lure of French Champagne giving us one of our biggest attendances to date. The Froggy Fizz was very well received with most us sticking out our glasses for an extra taste!

Of course we can’t forget the classy Charles Cimicky wines, the Butterfly Ridge Spatlese which kept the beginners happy and the lovely Grolsch beer to cleanse the palate. Quite an array of tastes and of course lots of discussion, and that’s what its all about, wines ability to create a conversation makes it the great social lubricator.

The winner of our weekly tasting prize was Robin Lloyd, congrats mate, pop in anytime to pick up your magnum of Jacobs Creek Bubbly.

A couple of regulars at tastings

This Week...

Southern Secret

This new player from the Riverland has four wines on offer, Cab Sav, Shiraz, Petit Verdot and Chardonnay, to taste and assess this week . So come and join the Friday fun with us between 4.30 and 7pm.

New Cleanskin

We’ve got a new nudie bottle in store, it’s a terrific blend of 2001 Limestone coast Cab Sav and McLaren Vale Shiraz, its drinking beautifully now and at only $10.95 ( I’m sure that if it was labelled it would have to retail for over $18!) and we have it on taste in store all week, so you can check it out for yourself.

Zilzie Special

We have secured a heap of old label Petit Verdot and Sangiovese from Zilzie (by old label I mean the excellent 2002 Vintage). The last time I tasted these wines they were retailing at $11.75 and I loved them; now at only $5.95 they’re an absolute bargain. You read that right dear members, only $5.95 for a terrific local wine. Of course we have limited stocks so get in quick, even grab a case at only $64.25, and here modelling the wine is the shops glamour puss, Chris.

Heineken Freebie

If you buy a six pack of Heineken beer we will throw in a lovely brushed metal Heineken embossed stubbie holder. We all agreed that this is the best giveaway we have had in the liquor dept for a long time, so don’t miss out @ only $ 16.50 for a six pack of lovely imported beer.

 

Food

Real Chicken noodle Soup

Often called a soul food and for a very good reason, making a real chicken soup from scratch is easy and rewarding.

Chicken stock

2 chicken frames roasted

2 onions chopped roughly

4 sticks celery chopped roughly

4 cloves garlic banged with your hand to crack them

1 large carrot chopped roughly

bay leaf, cracked pepper

Vetta short cut angel hair pasta

Take the veg and throw them into a large pot with a splash of oil and sauté them till lightly golden, then put in the chook frames, bay leaf and cover with water. Bring it all to simmer, no higher, and let it simmer happily for about two hours.

Strain this all through a colander into another pot, let it sit and drain for a while to get all of that precious liquid out.

Then you can put it back onto the heat and adjust the seasoning, be it salt and pepper or some stock powder- it’s your taste.

Now when you have it back up to a medium heat throw in about 200g of the pasta in and let it cook till the pastas done. Seriously good comfort food and so simple. I hope you make this at least once this winter.

Specials

Queen Adelaide range 2 for $10

Wolf Blass Red label range $9.97

Brown Brothers Everton range $9.97

Great Western Varieties $5.97

St Agnes Brandy $22.97

Black Douglas Scotch $23.97

Carlton Draught stubbies $33.97

Tooheys Red stubbies $23.97

Kaiser Stuhl casks 2 for $20

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Well that’s it for another week, we hope to catch up with you in store sometime soon.

Don’t forget its five o’clock somewhere