Vegetarian Wine?

I was a vegetarian for years and I know that so many food items contain some sort of animal product (or bi-product). It's almost impossible to remain mainstream and still be true to a strictly vegetarian diet and don't even get me started on vegan diets! But wine? Really?

According to this article, you may be wrecking your veggie ways by drinking wine. Where will the madness end? Turns out that some charcoals used are made with animal bones. Yuck. Read the article from the Times Standard here and see if you look at your innocuous glass of wine the same way again!

Musical Chianti by Sting

It's really a message in a bottle when Sting grows and makes his own organic brand of Chianti and then donates a percentage of the proceeds to charities. He's produing 30,000 bottles of Chianti a year from his 300-hectare estate in Tuscany. Sting said that his concern for the environment, which initially took the form of a campaign to save the Amazon rainforest, had spread to the defence of rural Tuscany. "I always use traditional methods – no pesticides," he said. He bought the vineyards and woods adjoining his villa grounds in 2002, and employs 15 estate workers as well as seasonal labour.

A percentage of all profits from the sales goes to the environmental causes the couple support, such as the Soil Association, which promotes organic food and farming in Britain, and the Rainforest Foundation, which they helped to found in 1989.

Read more here at Times Online.

Music to Drink To

This is not about alcohol, unless you're a big proponent of unwinding at the end of the day, glass of wine in your hand, fire roaring, music wrapping you up in comfort and inspiration. If you're in the mood, James Hubler's music completely fits the bill with a beautiful acoustic style. Take a few minutes to listen in and you'll become a fan. Here's a quick link to James Hubler's music. Enjoy!

World's Biggest Pint

OK, a pint of beer is technically a measurement so it would be impossible to have one pint be larger than another. However, Timisoara, the second largest city in Romania, has snatched the world record for the largest pint of beer from Malaysia. The record was broken during August and the pint is currently on view in the city’s famous beer factory.

In European measurement standards, here are the stats (I'm not converting them for you - just know that it's big): "The world record-breaking ‘pint’ weighs in at almost 3 tonnes and cost over 35,000 Euros to produce, although half of this cost had been covered by generous sponsorship. The giant beer mug holds 11 thousand litres – that is almost 20 thousand pints of beer. The ‘pint’ is over 6 meters tall, double the size of the previous record, and the container is made of stainless steel."

For the rest of this article,please check out Strangford Lough Brewing Company's Fan page on Facebook here.

Opening Wine with a Shoe

Seriously - opening a wine bottle with a shoe... so worth posting. Thanks to @Vinocations for posting the link on Twitter!