Drink News

Drink News Jake’s Bar and The Still Room Reopens

Call Lane hotspot reopens with a special new copper pot still and their home-flavoured distillates and liqueurs

It was only last month we were telling you excitedly that Leelex – the local company behind Call Lane venues Neon Cactus, Oportoand Jake’s, as well as the Hummingbird in Chapel Allerton and Portobello Starin London – had launched their own gin and set up a distillery above their London bar.

In the next exciting instalment of Leelex news, it’s clear they haven’t forgotten about their bars up in Leeds. Call Lane regulars will have spotted that Jake’s Bar & Grill has been closed ever since their big new year’s eve party. Was it trashed beyond…

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Drink News Dortmunder Union Pils

A new old German pilsner comes to Leeds

Despite seeming to be a pretty new pilsner to us lot in Leeds, Dortmunder Union Pils has a long history – and has certainly been available in our city in the past.

The beer hasn’t been spotted in Leeds for some years, but has recently tip-toed back into the city, appearing behind the bars at five of Arc Inspirations’ venues. Obviously, when a new beer appears in Leeds, we feel duty bound to give it a try; so we did.

Dortmunder Union Pils is a pilsner, as the name suggests, and comes in at 5% abv, landing it comfortably in…

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Drink News Portobello Road Gin No.171

The folks behind Leeds bars Jake's, Oporto, Neon Cactus & Hummingbird have made their very own gin in their London bar, Portobello Star

We like it when Loiners become successful, or do something noteworthy – even if they’re not actually doing it in Leeds anymore. Like many of our best bands and artists, some of Leeds’ most talented minds when it comes to bars and booze are now based in London. We don’t take it personally though.

Chances are loads of Leeds folk will have been to a Leelex owned bar – they own a ‘holy trinity’ of Call Lane venues, Neon Cactus, Oporto and Jake’s, as well as the Hummingbird in Chapel Allerton, and (and this is what we’re…

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Drink News Beer Cocktails at North Bar

Who'd've thought it, mixing beer with other drinks can have better results than snakebite and black...

"Sometimes people are just a bit freaked out by it," says North Bar‘s Mark Cooke as he mixes up six special beer cocktails on a Thursday afternoon. And you can see why. The phrase "beer cocktails" somehow sounds wrong. Mixing beer with other spirits and flavours just isn’t something you do, unless you’re driving and fancy a shandy, don’t like the taste of beer and want a lager and lime or on your rugby team night out and want a snakebite and black.

But then, as North Bar have long proved, there’s more to beer that fizzy, cold flavourless…

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Drink News Ilkley Brewery's MJ Artisan Ales

The West Yorkshire brewery launch a new range of keg beers

For a brewery which has an interrupted history that goes back over 100 years, Ilkley Brewery are refreshingly modern in their outlook. While the current brewery was set up in 2009, the new brewery’s predecessor Ilkley Brewery and Aerated Water Company, was founded in 1873 and was one of the largest breweries in Yorkshire before being taken over by Hammond’s Bradford Brewery Co in 1923.

The current brewery may only have been up-and-running for two years, but they’re already well established with real ale drinkers in Yorkshire and beyond. A number of their beers have claimed awards at the Society…

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Drink News Einstök Brewery

New craft beers come to the UK, brewed just 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle

We knew that craft beer was a huge growth area at the moment; it feels like every week a new British craft brewery starts making beers crammed with hops or a new, exciting US beer gets imported to us thankful Brits. Thanks to the likes of Sierra Nevada and BrewDog, there are loads of quality beers around these days.

What we didn’t realise was that the rise of craft beer had spread all the way to the Arctic Circle. Well, it hasn’t quite reached there, but it got 60 miles south of it to the Icelandic fishing port of Akureyri.

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Drink News Diplomatico Ambassador

A very special rum with a top-of-the-range price

As a brand, Diplomatico has slowly been creeping into prominence, getting stocked by the best drinks retailers and gracing the back bars of some of the finest drinking dens in Leeds.

Diplomatico’s rums are all aged and come from Venezuela, where they’re made in both column stills and old copper pot stills from a wash of molasses and sugarcane honey. They’re crafted in the same distillery (Destilerias Unidas) as popular worldwide rums Pampero and Cacique, but the Diplomatico rums are very much at the prestige end of their creations.

A flagship brand for Destilerias Unidas, Diplomatico represents, they say, "the…

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Drink News Jumbo Records' 40th Birthday Beer Launch

To celebrate Jumbo Records' anniversary, a local brewer has crafted a special birthday beer – available on 22nd October

As we’ve mentioned before, Leeds’ excellent record store Jumbo Records is all set to celebrate its 40^th birthday on 22^nd October.

To mark such a huge milestone, they’re having a special instore gig on the day, with sets from soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae, atmospheric folk sextet Lanterns On The Lake, Yorkshire bluegrass singer-songwriter Serious Sam Barrett and folk-pop quintet Ellen & The Escapades. There will also be a special mix CD put together by Leeds-based record company Leaf Label, and a series of competitions and giveaways.

However, live music isn’t the only way they’re…

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Drink News Pop-up Bar Announced for Leeds International Film Festival

North Bar and Kirkstall Brewery team up to make a temporary bar in Leeds Town Hall

Thirsty film-goers at Leeds International Film Festival should be licking their lips in anticipation of the special temporary pop-up bar that will be supplying them with drinks at the Leeds Town Hall for the duration of the festival.

The Town Hall’s foyer – not usually a place for you to find quality drinks – will be home to a special pop-up bar from the city centre’s North Bar, local brewers Kirkstall Brewery and superb Californian brewery Sierra Nevada.

The plan is that the bar – which will feature a large outdoor seating space located behind the…

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Drink News The Bitter Truth – Pimento Dram

Gerry's assistant manager Jake tells us all about this intriguing spiced liqueur

"This is basically drinkable aftershave – but in a nice way," says Jake, the assistant manager of Gerry’s Wines & Spirits in Leeds. But don’t let his comment put you off. He’s showing us a drink called The Bitter Truth – Pimento Dram, a spiced not-quite-rum liqueur. "Basically all it is, is a Jamaican rum, pimento and sugar. And that’s it. It’s really interesting; I did a spiced rum masterclass a while back and this is one of the most interesting ones we had. It’s not a full strength rum because it’s only 22.5% and should be 37.5%…

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