Warwickshire Races Point to Point
May 2, 2012We shall be attending the races on Bank Holiday Monday after our usual Winslow Farmers market on Sunday. We are really hoping that the weather is better than last Saturday. We were blown all over the place at the Whitfield P2P and had our small tent destroyed in the wind. No tent until we get a new strong version so we will be operating out of the back of our van which will make us feel very Arthur Daley (for those who remember him!).
Gin Tasting at Oxford Wine Company 2nd May
May 2, 2012Al Wright is conducting a Gin tasting at the Botley Road branch of The Oxford Wine Company. Lots of Gin including our Foxdenton 48. I had a long chat with Al when I dropped off the Gin recently and it should be a great event for all those lucky enough to get there.
Tottering-by-Gently
April 19, 2012
Foxdenton Estate Company are pleased to announce that Lord and Lady Tottering have at last given their permission to sell a version of their own private stock of London Dry Gin and Lord Tottering’s own flask filler Sloe Gin.
Foxdenton have for many years been suppliers to Tottering Hall of a special distillation of London Dry Gin known in the company as Daffy’s Gin. Lady Tottering has a well known penchant for Gin and has always bought our export Gin at 45% ABV. This is a beautifully scented and long lasting gin that goes perfectly with tonic. Evenings at Tottering Hall always start with a G & T before dinner and now Foxdenton are at last able to offer other discerning drinkers the Tottering Sharpener. Made in London to a classic London Dry recipe this will make the perfect start to any evening.
At the same time Foxdenton have also been given permission to sell the Sloe Gin that they have been making for Lord Tottering’s shoot parties. Slightly drier and a little paler than some Sloe Gins this is the perfect pick me up for a cold winter’s day. What people may not be aware of is the famous Champagne cocktail made by Lord Tottering using this Sloe Gin. One part Sloe to three parts champagne Lord Tottering’s “Sloegasm” is a lovely way to drink Sloe Gin in the summer.
Finally Nick Radclyffe, the owner of Foxdenton Estate, is delighted that Daffy has agreed to let him use some of her recipes for the launch of Piri-Piri Ho-Ho. Nick’s father, Sandy, served under Daffy’s father in the Somaliland Gendarmerie in the 1940s and both of them have fond memories of the Mess Chilli Sherry called by their Somali Askaris “Piri-piri Ho-ho”. Like all Mess Chilli Sherries this is a perfect way to pep up stews and soups, whilst today’s cooks are using the wonderful flavours in stir-frys and Mexican dishes alike.
All of these are available either through the Tottering by Gently Website or directly from Foxdenton Estate at www.foxdentonestate.co.uk
Contact: Nick Radclyffe on 01280 824855 or at nick@foxdentonestate.co.uk
Flavour Map
April 18, 2012Here is a wonderful piece of research done by an MSc Graduate from Heriot Watt University who has been developing a flavour map for Gins. Click on the link below to open the research.
Note how distinctive the London Dry Gin style is compared to more recent distilled styles. When Bryce approached us I had thought that this was the best student spoof to get hold of free Gin but the work he has done is excellent and I am glad we decided to join this research.
Foxdenton 48 feedback Flavour Map
Weekend Ahead
March 23, 2012We will be at the Deddington Farmers market on Saturday and look forward to meeting lots of new customers. The 48 Gin went down really well last time we were there so I am bringing lots more stock this time. We will also have Sloe and Plum and Raspberry on sale.
Stories from the Major
March 6, 2012
President Roosevelt -Visiting the White House (1905)
It was during this trip across America that I received an invitation to visit President Roosevelt at the White House, Washington. He was greatly interested in the wonderful collection of moose and bears etc which I had brought back from a previous trip in Alaska. So enormous in size were these trophies that the American mammalogists and sportsmen hardly knew at that time that such animals existed on their own continent; and Teddy Roosevelt himself wanted to make an expedition into the country where I had hunted.
At that time he was a hard man to beat in getting over rough country, as I found to my cost. One day after lunch he said to me:” I want a bit of exercise in the country. Will you come for a walk?” Little knowing what I was in for, and being clad in light shoes and trousers, I foolishly agreed. We drove about seven or eight miles into the country, closely followed by armed detectives who were the President’s bodyguard, and who were certainly necessary from the fearless way Roosevelt went about looking for danger, even after his life had been attempted.
On arrival at our destination he dismissed his carriage and , pointing to the detectives, he said:” I hate those men following me everywhere, but we are going to walk home and I don’t think they can follow us.” In truth we set off at a brisk pace and, after pushing through a dense mass of underwood, and descending a rocky hill, we cam upon a river. Nothing daunted , the President plunged into it and waded across, the water being well above his knees. By this time we had completely lost sight of the detectives, and I was beginning to blow a bit though in hard condition.
After another five or six miles of this kind of work we emerged on to a decent road. Fortunately it was now getting dusk, and I don’t think any of the people we passed recognised either their President, or the tattered and torn Englishman who accompanied him back to Washington. But this trip cost me a suit of clothes, ad gave me a great opinion of the physical capabilities of a man who, to the day of his death, remained one of my friends.
(From the Autobiography of Teddy Roosevelt - We liked Rock Creek for these walks because we could do so much scrambling along the cliffs; there was almost as much climbing when we walked down the Potomac to Washington from the Virginia end of the Chain Bridge. I would occasionally take some big-game friend from abroad, Selous or St. George Littledale or Captain Radclyffe or Paul Niedicke, on these walks.)
Polo at Hickstead, Frosts Garden Centre and Winslow Farmers Market
March 2, 2012This weekend is full and should be fun. Ian Carter is flying the flag for us at the England vs USA Polo Match at Hickstead on Saturday where we are not only selling our gin but also supplying prizes.
Also on Saturday Piers will be manning a stall at the Frosts Garden Centre in Woburn Sands supporting their Market Garden Event- supplying proof of what you can do with plums and raspberries etc.
On Sunday we will as usual be at the Winslow Farmers Market and we should have not only our Sloe but also some of our Winslow Plum Gin
British Shooting Show
February 27, 2012A great weekend was had by all – realistically that should read all the men who love shooting. The great thing about the show is that everyone who comes has come just for the guns and equipment and is in a buying mood. We sold out of fruit gins on the first day and had to do an emergency re-stock on Sunday. We managed to sell all the Plum gin that we had from the shoot season as well as any Damson we had. It’s lucky that we have lots more on the go. This was the last year for this show to be at Newark and the development of this show over the last three years has been excellent. Let’s hope next year will be as successful for everyone.
Winslow Farmers Market
February 3, 2012We will be at the Winslow Farmers Market this Sunday, ice and reported snow allowing. I may even have some of our new electronic hand-warmers for sale, if I don’t have them inside my jacket all day! The usual Winslow Plum Gin and sloe Gin on sale. See all you brave people there.
Stories from the Major
February 3, 2012James Grant:
Now of all the men I ever met there is one who stands out by himself as a raconteur and a sportsman of the finest quality. Unfortunately most of his yarns would not, I fear, pass the Press Censor. This man was my old friend Major James Grant , of Glengrant, Rothes. He was the owner of the distillery which made, and still makes, the finest whisky in the world; and to all his friends he was known as Glen , or Glengrant. He was the greatest exponent of the spey cast with a rod on Speyside,and, although only a little man, he could fish all day with forty yards of line out of his reel, and many times I have measured it to see if it was possible. It was a sight to see him fishing, and even the professional ghillies from the other banks would sit down and watch him in admiration.
His hospitality was unbounded, and, as he kept one of the finest cellars in Scotland, I have seen many hectic nights at Glengrant when some of his old sporting pals with hard heads, like Walter Gordon Cumming, used to join us and spend a few days there for sport, etc. He though nothing of drinking a bottle of whisky in a day’s fishing, just to keep the cold out, when we were wading deep in the ice covered waters of the Spey in March. When he was eighty, and still going strong, I asked him to what he attributed his great vitality, and his reply was, “Man, because I never drank bad whisky in my life but only Glengrant- when I could get it.”
I shall never forget the first time I paid him a visit at Glengrant, some thirty years ago. (This would be some time in the early 1900s) He was alone in the house, and on my first day he insisted on taking me a drive up Speyside to lunch with Sir George Macpherson Grant at Ballindalloch. Glen had then just got a motor-car, and in this we set out to see the objects of interest on Speyside. The chauffeur’s name was Gray, and we had not gone far before he was told to stop the car and we got out. Pointing to a hill some distance off, Glengrant said:”Man, do you see yon hill? There’s where I killed my first stag when I was ten years old” and turning to the river he added:”Yon pool is where I caught my first salmon” At the next stop we got out and looked at a fine pool, and he said:” Man, there’s where Willie Menzies and I killed twelve salmon before lunch, and then we went up in our waders and shot twenty brace of grouse on yon brae.”
After going anothe mile or two he shouted at the driver “Sto, Gray! Stop man.” and out we got again. It was obvious that we were to see something of importance here. At last he pointed to a dark spot far up on the the hillside and said:” Can you see yon dark spot on the hill? Well that’s the finest spring in Speyside, and there, man, I’ve drunk many a thousand dram of Glengrant,” – and I believed him.
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