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!! Winner of the $70 Castle Glen Products Draw !!
Craig Hillhouse
Craig is the winner of our July 2010 Subscriber's Contest Draw! Very shortly, he will receive his selection of $70 worth of Castle Glen Products. Best of luck to all of our subscribers for next month's draw!
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| Honey Brandy Liqueur (35% alc/vol) |
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A 'Royal' Mix of Drambuie and Benedictine Flavours
How did this wonderful winter warming liqueur come about? Well, Cedric loves both Drambuie and Benedictine and he wanted to drink a liqueur that reflected them both. And Cedric being Cedric of course didn't want to make two liqueurs, so he combined the taste of both.
That is how the now famous Honey Brandy liqueur was born. Just how did it end up with a name like Honey Brandy? A customer of course! They loved the product and thought it tasted just like honey and brandy. The name stuck and now the rest is history.
The History of Drambuie
Drambuie is a whisky-based liqueur, sweetened with heather honey and flavored with a variety of herbs and spices. Because the recipe is a closely guarded secret, the exact ingredients are unknown, but aficionados have suggested saffron, anise, and nutmeg, among others.
The Drambuie Legend
The story of Drambuie is said to begin with Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Bonnie Prince Charlie went to Scotland in 1745 to raise an army, prepared to fight to regain the throne of England. His unsuccessful rebellion was crushed at the Battle of Culloden, but the Prince escaped to Scotland.
The Prince had a bounty on his head, but was sheltered by his ally, Captain John Mackinnon. It is said that in gratitude, Bonnie Prince Charlie gave Mackinnon the prized recipe to his own personal liqueur.
Benedictine Liqueur
Benedictine Liqueur is made of herbs, roots and sugar with a Cognac base. Originally used to revive tired Benedictine monks beginning in 1510, the term D.O.M. found on the label stands for Deo Optimo Maximo which translates to "to God, most good, most great" reminds us of the liqueur's origins.
A Truly 'Royal' Liqueur
Honey Brandy Liqueur is a rich smooth liqueur, just perfect served on ice or drink straight after a meal on a winter's night.
In fact there is no Honey and no Brandy in Castle Glen's Honey Brandy Liqueur. What is in it - well that's a closely guarded secret!
For July we have created a Honey Brandy Liqueur Special. We have paired Honey Brandy Liqueur with Knights Delight Liqueur and White Heaven (White Chocolate Creme)! Why not try our truly naughty, Royal Rascal Shooter or the truly divine Courtly Lady Cocktail. Maybe you could even be more daring and try our French Toast with a 'Royal' Twist, our featured food recipe.
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| Castle Glen Liqueur Fudge Story |
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How is Castle Glen Fudge different from other home and commercially produced Fudge?
We can sum it up in two words! REAL INGREDIENTS! This may seem to be a very simple answer. When it comes to making products at Castle Glen, the success is achieved by going back to the basics using traditional methods and using REAL INGREDIENTS.
It is not a secret at Castle Glen. We tell our customers everyday that we use real Chocolate, White, Milk and/or Dark chocolate, sourced from a family run chocolatier business in Melbourne. Condensed Milk is made by Castle Glen using the very best full cream milk powder sourced from New Zealand. Famous Bundaberg Sugar is a necessary component and then the very special ingredients that makes Castle Glen Fudge different from every other fudge in the world - Castle Glen Liqueurs.
Inspired by our wonderful liqueurs we thought it fitting to create fudge that incorporated the wonderful rich flavours of our liqueurs, creating a taste sensation not able to be purchased anywhere else.
REAL INGREDIENTS I hear you all say. What else would you use? Well you may, or may not, be surprised to hear that much of the fudge on the market, yes all of those homemade fudge you see under the sneeze bar, where the owner tells you they made it themselves, and they may have, very likely from a powdered mix in their trusty fudge cooker. The main ingredient in fudge today is a little known ingredient called 'Corn Syrup'. And one thing I can say about Corn Syrup is that it is BAD for you - in fact very bad for you - to be avoided at all costs. Corn Syrup is a product that is making its way into many products on the market. It was originally the domain of the USA, however, we notice it is making its way into Australia at alarming rates and can be found in many products today. Speak to any cardiologist and he/she will tell you do not touch corn syrup or any products made from corn syrup.
We first heard about the issues with Corn Syrup watching Oprah. Dr O, Oprah's on-show cardiologist, does not have one good thing to say about corn syrup. In fact he says do not use it full stop. Eating corn syrup products is a heart attack waiting to happen. There have been studies carried out with mice and corn syrup. They fed one group of mice sugar and another group of mice ate corn syrup. The mice that ate the sugar just got fat. The mice that had the corn syrup actually blew up. Now if that doesn't get your attention - nothing will!
Truly Desirable Fudge!
Making fudge is tricky indeed, but wonderful when you have mastered the art. The desirable quality characteristics for fudge are:
Appearance - Chocolate colour, not muddy or gray.
Consistency - Firm, not soft or syrupy, not hard, brittle, or crumbly.
Texture - Smooth, not grainy, not lumpy.
Flavor - Well-blended chocolate, not too sweet, not too strong.
We can honestly say that Castle Glen Fudge is truly desirable fudge!
Cooking Castle Glen Fudge - Our Purpose Made Fudge Cooker
These ingredients are cooked up in our purpose built fudge cooker, sourced all the way from the USA. Fudge cooking is a delicate and difficult art to master. It takes patience to make the real thing - that creamy, rich, silky melt in your mouth feeling. There is nothing worse than eating what can only be described as sandy fudge (crystallized sugar). In the early days of making fudge we made it in a frying pan. Yes you heard right, a frying pan. Cedric was cooking up a storm in the frying pan and doing not too bad a job of it either. Some of you may remember and have tasted our early fudge making efforts, some great and some not so good. We realized that in order to achieve consistency in results and to meet the growing demands from our loyal customers we would need to get a fudge cooker.
And that was easier said than done. After much scouring the internet and finding so many franchises wanting to sell me their powder mixes and tiny fudge cookers and plenty of second hand options in Britain for cookers and cutters and hefty prices, we eventually found a company in Melbourne (interesting all great chocolate things come out of Melbourne!) who helped us source our fantastic fudge cooker. Mind you it didn't come cheap. It is a stainless steel vessel with computerized heating unit and water cooling jacket, paddles and blades for folding and aerating the chocolate mixture, truly state of the art.
Having gotten into increased production with our brand new fudge cooker, it became obvious very soon that we would need to move from hand cutting, with a very big all purpose knife, to a fudge cutting machine. We needed to save Cedric's back from the difficult task of cutting the blocks of fudge and we needed to find a solution sooner rather than later. Our trusty Melbourne Chocolate Machine company put us onto a little company in New Zealand who had just the machine we were looking for. After much discussion we purchased our fudge cutting machine. It slices and chops the fudge with precision, ready for the hand wrapping in the very pretty foils we currently use.
The future of Castle Glen fudge is a wrapping machine, yep we are (well Cedric is!!) still hand wrapping thousands of fudge for our Cellar Door, Montville and Mt Tamborine Shops. The wrapping machine has been sourced and we are finalizing the wrapping material. Shortly the fudge wrapping machine will be winging its way across the seas to the Castle. We will keep you posted on its arrival.
Come to our unique Cellar Door or the Montville and/or Mt Tamborine Cellar Doors to sample our Liqueur Fudge. We have plenty of wonderful Liqueur Fudge varieties for you to try including:
Queensland Delight (Rum, Chocolate and Coffee), Whiskello (Whisky Caramel), Musk Stick, Coffee Creme, Mint, Rum & Raisin, Cherry Choc, White Cherry, Lemoncello Creme, Pecan & Hazelnut, Pistachio, Passionfruit, Banana, Jelly Bean, Lavender, Coconut, Lime & Bitters, Liquorice, Jaffa and Ginger just to name a few.
Maybe you could Purchase a Liqueur Fudge as the perfect accompaniment to your favourite liqueur.
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| Castle Glen Liqueurs News |
Ooray Plum Liqueur
Ooray Fermented Plum Liqueur - commonly called the Davidson Plum.
A collaboration between Castle Glen Australia and Aura Gold Farm, the Ooray Fermented Plum Liqueur is made from an Australian native plum with MASSIVE levels of antioxidants. Truly a top shelf product that is GOOD FOR YOU!
So exciting is the news on the Ooray Fermented Plum Liqueur - it has been chosen as a Finalist in the Food Magazine's 2010 Food Challenge Awards. See our story on the Castle Glen Australia website at:
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| News from Castle Glen Vineyard |
New Releases for July
We have finally released the following new wines this month:
2009 Merlot (Oaked)
2009 Cabernet Sauvignon - Unoaked
2009 Montepulciano (Strange Wine)
Montepulciano - A type of wine grape and a type of red wine from the region of east-central Italy. It is typically a fruity dry wine with soft tannins and is consumed young. This is a 'light-wooded' rich red wine. Castle Glen is one of only three growers of Montepulciano in Australia.
Fortified Wines: No new releases this month.
The 2005 Merlot is drinking well - a soft delicate fortified wine.
1998 Muscat aged in a Bourbon Barrel - this is the last barrel of this 12 year old luscious fortified wine. Sweet lovers of bourbon are loving this one!
Remember Castle Glen has the oldest and largest collection of fortified wines grown and made on the Granite Belt.
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| Beer News |
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Wine Beers Available
New Release next month. You will just have to wait and see. If you haven't already tried our wine beers, come and try them at the Cellar Door, Montville and Mt Tamborine Cellar Doors.
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| Cellar Door News |
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Stanthorpe, Crisp and Cold
Well it is sunny and freezing cold here in Stanthorpe. Overnight temperatures down to a chilly -1 to -6 degrees (which DOES NOT agree very well with visiting webmasters). We have just had Xmas in July Weekend on the Granite Belt and the Cellar Door has been very busy. Thank you to all who have visited us in this wonderful time of the year. If you are coming to the Granite Belt in the next few months, you will still need to bring your winter woollies, coat, scarf, gloves and boots to get the most out of the Granite Belt. We are flat out bottling and Cedric is flat out fudge making to keep the stocks up for the Cellar Door and Shops.
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| Montville News |
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Buskers Still in Town
Buskers have been such a hit in Montville on Saturdays that they are continuing on. Come along and support them. Take some time out to have a cup of coffee and cake or lunch at the many local cafes. Of course you are also very welcome to come along to our Montville Cellar Door to sample our latest wines, fortified wines and sparkling wines along with our famous liqueurs.
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| Mt. Tamborine News |
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Fabulous Weather on the Mountain
Tamborine Mountain is a beautiful lush mountain plateau in the Gold Coast Hinterland, only an hour drive from Brisbane or Surfers Paradise. It is home to the first ever National Park in Queensland and a secret hideaway for Australia's city dwellers seeking a weekend getaway or a week long holiday. There is a range of markets that operate at various locations around the mountain on Sunday mornings. There is Christmas in July activities and the Annual exhibition by the Tamborine Mountain Weavers begins on 17th July and runs till the end of the month. With beautiful days of sunshine and cooler nights why not relax after a day of activity with a nice bottle of Castle Glen Fortified wine or Liqueur from our fabulous Cellar Door at 154 - 172 Main Western Road North Tamborine (opposite the Rotary Lookout).
It is a fabulous time of year to go to Mt Tamborine. The azaleas, camelias and rhododendrons are in full bloom now. Take some time out to visit the local gardens as well as call in on Leigh at our delightful Cellar Door, Main Western Road, North Tamborine, opposite the lookout.
Cheers (and bottoms up),
Cedric and Carol-Anne Millar
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French Toast with a 'Royal' Twist
Just the ticket for a Special Sunday Morning Breakfast!
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Large piece of Cinnamon Bread (can use normal bread)
5 Large Eggs
3 Egg Yolks
190g Castor Sugar
750ml Milk
5 dessert spoons of Castle Glen Honey Brandy Liqueur
1 tsp Castle Glen Cinnamon Liqueur - or powdered Cinnamon
½ tsp grated Nutmeg
125g melted butter
Icing sugar
Method:
Prepare the day before cooking. Butter two ovenproof dishes. Cut 8 slices of bread. Put four slices in each dish. Beat the whole eggs and the yolks in a big bowl. Add the milk gradually, the Honey Brandy and Cinnamon Liqueurs, sugar and the grated nutmeg.
Spread the mixture evenly over the bread. Cover with a sheet of foil and leave in the fridge overnight. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (160 degrees fanforced). Butter the bread with the melted butter. Cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the cream has gone golden. Sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.
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Just remember. If you are going to Drink,
Drink Healthy, Drink Castle Glen!
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July Special
Honey Brandy Liqueur Special
- 1 x 700ml Honey Brandy Liqueur
- 1 x 50ml Knights Delight Liqueur - FREE
- 1 x 50ml White Heaven Liqueur (White Chocolate Creme) - FREE
Website & Cellar Door Price $50.00
Order Now
Save $14.00
Shop Price - $55.00
Save $16.00!
All prices include GST
Prices do not include
Postage & Packing
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JOIN US ON FACEBOOK!
We've taken the plunge and have finally set up our own page at Facebook. Share us with your friends!
Castle Glen @ Facebook
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