So, how was your Christmas? Mine was a little more white than I might have liked. You know that you are no longer a spring chicken when you look out the window at drifting snow and, instead of thinking ‘Yay! Snowballs/sledging/snowmen’, your first thought is ‘Uh oh, driving home is going to be a nightmare.’
Anyway, it was fab fun although it does feel as though I have eaten nothing but cake and meat for five days. Post-Christmas is the one time of the year when I actually crave vegetables.
Anyway, as I try to get match fit for Thursday’s shenanigans, I came across this timely story in The Telegraph about myrrh. Apparently the resin from the Middle East can help lower cholesterol; potentially useful if you have just broken your family’s record for eating the most pigs in a blanket at one sitting.
In the run-up to Christmas, I met Jo Stewart who runs Edinburgh’s Stewart Brewery with her husband Steven. Along with their usual range of brews, the Stewarts produced a couple of Christmas beers: the splendidly named Cauld Reekie and another called Three Wise Men.
The original idea for the Three Wise Men was to make it from Styrian goldings, frankincense and myrrh to mimick the gifts that the Biblical three wise men were said to have taken to the stable. It seemed like a great idea for a beer and one that could have plenty of marketing potential. Unfortunately, it fell at the first hurdle when Jo tried a little myrrh in a cup of tea and thought it vile.
There are no such problems with their St Giles, Embra and Edinburgh Gold beers which have recently become available in 330ml bottles.