Mid-week tipple: a seasonal ginger porter and a semi-fortified wine

Ginger Porter, Rascals Brewing Company

We all know that Enid Blyton’s Famous Five drank lashings and of ginger beer to wash down massive quantities of sandwiches on their many intrepid expeditions into the countryside. Except they didn’t; apparently there is no such quote in any of the many Famous Five books. It didn’t stop The Comic Strip Presents….using it in their parody Five go Mad in Dorset. I’m not sure if Rascals Brewing Company had this in mind when they created a ginger porter, but then Julian, Dick, Anne and George were aged between eleven and thirteen and unlikely to indulge in underage drinking.

This was the first beer ever brewed by Emma Devlin and Cathal O’Donoghuee, the team that make up Rascals. They intend making it an annual winter seasonal, available until early March, or until it runs out.  This year it is available in very smart tactile cans for the first time.  The Rascals ginger porter is refreshing and very drinkable, medium-bodied with a nice kick of ginger on the finish

Baturrica Tarragona Reserva 2010

Forty million bottles of wine are produced in Tarragona every year; that is a lot of wine. In times past, this part of Catalonia was famous for two things; a sweetish semi-fortified wine that was known as poor man’s Port; and for selling large quantities of bulk wine to the French, who then blended it and packaged it as vin de table. These days, a lot goes towards Cava, the Spanish sparkling wine. Otherwise I suspect Lidl must buy up a substantial part of the production.

I rarely go this cheap for a bottle of wine, but the Baturrica has soft, sweet, juicy crowd-pleasing red fruits and no rough edges. For €6.99, you cannot ask for more. If you prefer softer, spicier wines then try the Baturrica Gran Reserva (€7.99) from the same part of the world.