Regular readers will know that the FM’s are oft wont to slip across to New England for a whole host of reasons including but not limited to the Manchester Firing Line Range & the Kittery Trading Post. Over a number of trips the itinerary has become honed pretty much to perfection: arrive in Boston early afternoon & go hire the biggest most gas guzzling SUV we can get our hands on, then head north on Route 1 until a combination of the time difference & the effects of the in-flight refreshments overtakes us. This is normally about the time we reach Freeport, Maine. As destinations go it is pretty good because no matter how hard we try, because of the time difference, we are both wide awake the next day at about 5 am which is in good time to get down to LL Beans 24 hour store.

The previous evening, prior to collapsing, we normally head down to Gritty McDuff’s for a spot of supper & a little drinkie-poos. Gritty’s does pretty decent food & good beer: beer brewed on site, in a traditional manner using excellent ingredients – all the makings of a decent pint. Least it would be if they then didn’t proceed to ruin it by carbonating the damn stuff. By all that is good & holy, who the hell puts CO2 in proper beer. Fizz is something for girls drinks – it has no place in an honest beer. It turns a pint of finest foaming into something akin to shandy.

So, I see that once again, as we approach the festive season, we have being trying to send it relief supplies but …

A Christmas beer brewed in Oxfordshire has been banned in parts of the United States because it has a picture of Father Christmas on the label. Officials in the state of New York told English brewers Ridgeway Brewing that the image on bottles of Santa's Butt could encourage under-age drinking.

The beer, a 6% winter porter, is brewed in South Stoke for the US market. The ban was challenged by the beer's American importer and lifted, but has now been imposed in the state of Maine … This is not the first time that Ridgeway Brewing has fallen foul of state authorities in the US. Last Christmas two of its beers - Seriously Bad Elf and Warm Welcome - were banned in Connecticut on the same grounds

Good to see that Nanny’s American relations are keeping themselves busy. Enjoy the Carbon Dioxide chaps; you cant say we didn’t try