The return of Snifter: Murray's mints, the G-word and swimming to pubs

Murray’s mint condition

Having recently seen the news that Judy Murray has managed to land herself a tasty little gig as ‘chief foliage officer’ for Pimm’s following a Twitter rant about excessive mint in her drink, I sense an opportunity.

I can only assume that Mrs Murray is now awash with Pimm’s and merrily quaffing away while her son has been making his latest bid for tennis glory.
So, following Murray’s suit,

I’m now off to Twitter to complain about the lack of alcohol in Carlsberg’s 0.5% beer during the World Cup – this surely can’t go wrong, can it?!

Hold back the river

I’m all for pubs organising events to drum up custom, but I can’t help raising an eyebrow at the latest wheeze from Brakspear.

It’s Club to Pub swim across the Thames not only sounds far too much like hard work, but I can’t help thinking it has a fundamental flaw.

Swimming across the Thames at any time of year sounds a frosty prospect, but I have yet to see the pub company come up with a sensible suggestion to avoid getting water in your pint during the swim.

Gee, that tastes familiar

There is only one problem with being an Irish brewery and launching into the UK – don’t mention the G-word.

I had a private bet with myself: how long into a press launch for new Irish craft brewery Brú until some whingeing journalist mentioned Diageo’s all-conquering brew.

All was good on arrival. We were handed some superb red ales and IPAs. But then a collection of glasses filled with dark liquid and a creamy white top was delivered on a tray.

It looked like the G-word, it smelt like the G-word. Surely it was the G-word.

It was smoky and rich and bloody marvellous. A man with an outstanding beard (grown specifically to become a craft brewer, having previously been
a microbiologist) had the smile of the Cheshire Cat as we supped the drinks.

Then one informed hack told the brewer: “Bit like (the G-word) isn’t it?”

Cue awkward silence.

The heat is on

I see that Shepherd Neame has teamed up with the Kent fire chief to launch a new anti-drink-cooking drive.

Now, I’m slightly surprised that this hasn’t been underwritten by the Kent branch of the local kebab shop association. After all, if its not a good idea to fry up a bacon sandwich while sozzled, what other option is there than an inedible bit of cardboard filled with dubious meat.

Does Sheps have shares in the local takeaways? I call conspiracy!

On the other hand, drunk-cooking never seemed a problem for Keith Floyd, but then I guess there was always a camera crew around to extinguish him – or offer him a kebab.