So the lovely people at Fentimans sent us a lovely hamper of their botanical drinks and along with enjoying them we’ve also come up with a lovely non-alcoholic drink for you lot to help with dry January and also for those of you who just might fancy a non-alcoholic drink.
It all began in 1905 when Thomas Fentiman, an iron puddler from Cleakheaton, was approached by a fellow tradesman for a loan. A deal was struck and, as was the custom in those times, an Englishman’s word was his bond. All that was required was a handshake and some security – in this case a recipe of botanically brewed ginger beer. But the loan was never repaid and so Thomas Fentiman became the owner of a unique and rather original recipe for success. And so, an iron puddler called Thomas Fentiman, started producing botanically brewed ginger beer, which he sold door to door from handmade stone jars which are known as “Greyhens”. We love drinks which have a lovely story behind them. An independent, family owned and run business there is a lot of characters and many weird and wonderful stories can be told. The German Shepard icon on the bottle is “Fearless” and was Thomas’s dog, whom in won Cruft’s in 1934 and was forever more placed on the Fentimans Botanically Brewed bottles premium soft drinks bottles as Thomas’s pride and joy
Fentimans started out with Ginger Beer, sourcing their ginger from China and set about starting the process of botanical brewing in the pursuit of incredible flavour. Each drink is brewed for 7 days using a combination of infusion skilful blending and fermentation of natural ingredients and we produce all of our own flavours in-house from our very own ‘Flavourist’ Geraldine Coombes – 5 step process. There are no artificial, flavours, sweeteners, colours or preservatives – with the botanical brewing process, the outcome is a 3 dimensional depth of flavour/taste. It is this taste which both Mr E and I love! Next up we’ll show you how to make our raspberry and elderflower fizz. If you love mojitos then this is definitely for you!
Raspberry Elderflower fizz
Ingredients
1 bottle of Fentimans Wild English Elderflower
20 Raspberries
Handful of Mint leaves
Juice of 1 Lime
Brown sugar to coat rim of glass
Method
1. Muddle the mint leaves and lime juice in a glass jug with ice
2. Add the raspberries and muddle a little more
3. Add the elderflower juice and stir
4. Serve in tall sugar rimmed glasses and garnish with a mint leave.
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