I generally swear off the chains (All Bar One, for instance) but I go to any Wetherspoons I have never been into before so I decided to suck it up on my way to the grocery shop Sunday and give the Yates’s a shot, or rather to get a shot in the Yates’s.  Nice house, [...]

How many pickers does it take to change a light bulb? Five.  One to change it and four to shake their heads and mumble, “that ain’t the way Earl woulda done it.” Here’s an obit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9172830/Country-singer-Earl-Scruggs-dies-aged-88.html I’m going some place like THIS to mourn and drink some whiskey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZp0UjL_Xhs    

I can’t help myself but every time I see an off-brand bourbon over here I give it a go.  The guy at the newstand/offy/post office that sold it to me said that it is similar to Jack Daniels.  Told him, ‘I sure hope not;’ unfortunately it is even worse than that…like JD not even bourbon [...]

Follow-up:  Reported this public health menace to the Trading Standards office in Swindon before Christmas and they finally asked for details on 11 January (almost three weeks later).  Nearly another week passed before they checked it out and said that they could find none on the shelf and that the proprietor, who seems quite cozy [...]

The run home required a stop for beverages and my sense of direction dictated that the stop was at Lidl…shit. However, there on the shelf was the 28-year-old malt that my single malt guru tipped me off to (with not a small amount of snarkiness less-than-subtly salting the ‘advice’); I could not resist, despite my [...]

Cassoulet Step 1: Duck Confit Cassoulet is my favourite winter dish, but it is supposed to be rustic, poor-people’s food and made from leftovers (which is why there are so many and widely varying recipes for it). A batch of cassoulet made from all the starting ingredients fresh from the grocer sets you back a [...]

I have never heard of any of these, but Lidl was the last grocer at the end of the run .  Thanksgiving restock would have to entail these weird beverage choices: For bourbon, Western Gold: Western Gold tastes a bit like Clarke’s and like Clarke’s is imported exclusively into Germany.  Not bad, but don’t seek it [...]

When I packed for the run I loaded my flask with bourbon in the event that one of the pubs on my loop were, sadly, shuttered.  This didn’t happen, happily, but upon leaving the third one of the day I was incapable of reading my map and missed a cross-road that would have foreshortened the [...]

After work I fancied a bit of bourbon and the Aldi in Swindon (where I can get some of that delicious Clarkes Bourbon) is not far from the Rat Trap, so the shopping trip got combined with pub reconnaissance.  Well done, me!  The Trap is a real gem. I went in via the large lounge [...]

I was going to swing by Aldi for some of that fine Clarke’s bourbon but I got lost during the run and opted to shortcut back to the house.  Luckily, I passed the Sainsbury’s at the Brunel Centre and figured, what the hell, the house brand isn’t so bad.  They don’t always stock the bourbon, [...]