March, 2011

So what is it about beer and its flavours that makes it so much fun with food? TV journalist and broadcaster Marverine Cole, is swapping her Sky News anchor chair to join forces with craft brewer Purity and Birmingham's Malmaison to share some ale-related secrets on 29 March at the femALE Appreciation Society.

With 20 years in broadcasting, Marverine’s alter ego, the Beer Beauty, arrived on the scene last Autumn. Her most recent hook-up with Warwickshire-based Purity was somewhat disrupted when arch-imbibers Oz Clarke and Hugh Dennis gatecrashed a tasting she was running at its brewery while researching their Raise the Bar BBC series – you may have seen Marverine sharing her thoughts when it aired back in January.

DrinkBritain.com’s latest Producer of the Week, Bolney Wine Estate, is one of the few in the UK to specialise in red wine – and with some success. With over half the estate planted with red varietals, head winemaker Samantha Linter says they spotted a gap in the market for a lighter red.

“There’s a demand for  less alcoholic fruitier reds that is not being met hugely by other countries,” she says. We’ve worked really hard on making a red to match the UK palate and it’s paying off.”