London vegan news, reviews & events
This has just reached our house:
This chocolate coconut drink is currently available for £6 at Marks and Spencer stores.
That’s the good news. And the bad?
The drink is only seasonal so you need to get in there quickly before it all disappears.
Yay for inexpensive festive booze!
I was sent a gift this week that I suspect quite a few readers will love.
I reported a while back about the new vegan Baileys and how it is now available through Whole Foods Market stores in the UK.
Well, now you can get your hands on a bottle even if you can’t get along to one of those stores.
Online retailer The Goodness Project is currently selling a Christmas hamper that contains the vegan Baileys as the centrepiece.
The box contains a bottle of the drink, truffles, biscotti and chocolate.
The web retailer is also selling single bottles of the drink and you can order your own supply by clicking here.
Biff’s Jack Shack is a totally fab food company. Remember when I mentioned their burgers, wings and fries at the Camden Town Brewery residency they did?
Now they have a new kitchen residency at Haunt, an all-vegan bar and venue in the Stoke Newington area.
This residency is the first time they have been able to put together a full evening menu and they told me they are super excited by all of the new dishes they’ve been able to launch as a result.
And as well as their evening menu, they’re also going to be offering a ‘vegan AF’ brunch at the weekends, and a Sunday roast burger.
You need to follow Biff’s on Instagram to keep updated with all of their glorious food creations and also keep scrolling to see some of these beautiful food photos highlighting their Haunt menu (pics by Kim Burrows).
Eat ALL of this amazing food. Brownies with ice cream. Cheesecake. Poutine! Salads. Wings. Burgers.
Click here to see the location of Haunt thanks to Google Maps.
I’m not sure I know a more magical combination of two words than ‘vegan pub’.
A few readers have been getting in touch lately to let me know about a vegan pub in Liverpool, so I reached out to the owner of The Caledonia to get a bit of background information to share with you.
Here is what pub owner Laura King had to say:
I’m the licensee/owner of the pub and kitchen manager. I’m also on team vegan! I’ve had the pub seven and a half years and last summer I decided to close the kitchen for a year off. I decided that when we relaunched the menu would be vegan comfort/junk foods and that is how CVK was born.
I decided to make the whole pub vegan too, because, why not?! It seemed silly not to. Over this last summer our team has been busy working through everything we sell to ensure that our entire offer was vegan. We use a lot of local businesses, particularly for real ale and craft beers so we contacted all of them to see if they could accommodate us and most could! The response has been amazing and support from the community (vegan peeps & the pub’s regulars) has been overwhelming. I’m so pleased to be able to do something like this in Liverpool. We’re also incredibly dog friendly and currently we’re in the running for Dog Buddy’s “Dog Friendly Pub Awards”. We also have GF & Kids menus.
I adore this pub already and can’t wait to visit in the future.
You can see the full vegan food menu for The Caledonia on their website. See the exact location of the pub online thanks to Google Maps.
Now, let’s look at some food.
It has been a very long time coming, but the new Almande vegan drink by Baileys has arrived in the UK and is well worth the wait.
I was invited along to a product tasting session a few nights ago and was blown away by this drink. I think it is going to make a lot of vegans very happy in the UK.
I got chatting with the Baileys team at the event and threw down a challenge.
I said that I was so confident of my photo of their drink getting 1,000 likes on Instagram that I would bet on it.
If the post did get 1,000 likes, Baileys would have to send their team to Hackney Downs Vegan Market this Saturday (September 30, 2017) with bottles of Almande for free taste sampling.
Well, guess what.
The post got more than 1,000 likes in just under an hour!
You can get a free tasting of the new vegan Baileys Almande this Saturday at Hackney Downs Vegan Market. Get full market details here and RSVP to the Facebook event here.
A bet is a bet.
Almande is currently available to buy in Whole Foods Market stores around the UK. New retailers to be added soon.
Extra note: The tasting is for those 18+ and you might be asked for ID. Always drink responsibly.
Take a look at this SOLID beer list lined up for Manchester Vegan Beer Fest this Saturday and then buy a ticket for just £4 online (£8 on the door).
The selection is spread across keg, cask and can offerings. Start planning your drinking now. We will give you a tick sheet on the day to help you keep track.
Bad Seed Brewery
Ain’t Bright 5.0% ABV Collaboration with North Riding Brewery. New England Pale. Ultra hazy, juicy pale ale with soft mouth feel and tropical juice character from Citra, Mosaic and experimental BRU-1 hops
Dalliance 4.0% ABV Cascade hopped pale – fresh flavours of grapefruit, lychee & citrus from the hop that started the craft beer movement
Hefeweizen 5.1% Award winning German style wheat beer with notes of banana and clove. Light and refreshing
Jungle Juice 4.6% ABV Collaboration with Heavy Industry. New England Hopfenweisse. German wheat beer yeast meets a huge dry hop combo including El Dorado, Sorachi Ace, Ekuanot and Jarlingo. Plus just a touch of Lemon Peel to add to the tropical fruit salad
Pond Hopper 4.2% ABV Transatlantic Red Ale. Rich ruby malt base acts as a perfect backdrop for the firework display of English and American hops. Jester, Chinook & Cascade brings a wild tropical fruit flavour with a citrus & grapefruit aroma
Session IPA 4.0% ABV Easy drinking, full on hop flavour. Zythos, Jester & Chinook hops combine to give flavours of tropical fruit, citrus, grapefruit, lychee & pine
Brass Castle Brewery
Brass Lager 5.3% ABV A moreish malt-forward Vienna lager with a characteristic brass hue and aromas of caramel, toffee and lemon. Medium body with a minimal head. Smooth, fruity finish
Disruptor 7.4% ABV Hoppy and hazy New England style double IPA, complex and silky with strong hops
Helles Lager 4.4% ABV Refreshing Munich-style light lager. Winner of the SIBA UK National Champion Lager award 2017! Refreshing and crisp Helles with a medium-sweet finish. Aromas of toffee, grains and floral notes. GLUTEN FREE
Hopped Cider 6.0% ABV A hop-infused cider! The best of both worlds
Hoptical Illusion 4.3% ABV Mini-IPA with tropical hop flavours and a magical secret – it contains neither barley nor wheat malt! This beer is brewed with the African grain sorghum with aromas of pine, mango, pineapple and syrup. GLUTEN FREE
Sunshine IPA 5.7% ABV A North Yorks version of the fashionable US West Coast hop-forward IPA. Bitterness is balanced by malt sweetness in our IPA and dry-hopping rounds out the aroma. Multiple hop types in this one, to justify the ‘sunshine-in-a-glass’ claim.!! GLUTEN FREE
Vociferous Agreement 10% ABV a triple IPA brewed in collaboration with Wilde Childe Brewing. A dark amber body with a thick head. Fruity spiced orange flavour with a big hop finish
Orchards of Husthwaite Gold Cider 5.5% ABV Medium-dry, full-bodied cider GLUTEN FREE
Orchards of Husthwaite Galtres Katy 6.0% ABV Medium-sweet, single variety blush cider GLUTEN FREE
Brass Castle have also stocked the nightclub bar with a selection of vegan wines and soft drinks
Heavy Industry Brewing
77 4.9% ABV CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain 2016 Gold Medal winner (strong bitters category) – A big amber IPA style beer brewed with the finest pale and crystal malts dark – Seville marmalade is backed up by a piney, peppery bitterness
La Vie en Rose 4.0% ABV A Delicate Hibiscus sour with a mixed fermentation and berry notes.Dry Hopped
Le Boulet D’Or D’Amour 5.4% ABV A dry hopped fruity saison, pale refreshing and spicy
Moral Panic 8.2% ABV Double IPA Served through a hop rocket for even more Citra
Pigeon Toed Orange Peel 5.2% ABV A cloudy orange hefeweissen style beer brewed with the finest Pale and Wheat malts. Featuring Mandarina Bavaria hops. Notes of cloves, pears and pineapple underlay a big freshly squeezed orange taste
Twisted Barrel Ales
Beast of a Midlands Mild 3.5% ABV A traditional Midlands style mild made using a complex variety of malts to provide a rich, textured backbone that belies its minimal strength. The addition of vanilla pods provides a creamy finish and aroma
Detroit Sour City 4.0% ABV A thirst quenching, fruity sour beer. Kettle soured for a deliciously tart acidity, then dry hopped with Rakau and Equinox hops for a tropical citrus flavour
Raspberry Ripple Sour 3.5% ABV A base of Pilsner, Oats and Wheat, kettle soured with Lactobacillus Plantarum and fermented with 20kg of raspberry puree and vanilla pods, for a deliciously refreshing raspberry ripple ice cream like effect
Saison From Another Place 5.5% ABV a Belgian farmhouse ale, brewed with dried elderflower & peppercorns for a floral, spicy flavour that blends with the characteristics of the funky Belgian yeast
Tongo 6.0% ABV A Rakau hop stand provides a delicious nectarine flavour that pairs delightfully with the fruity, peppery characteristics of the saison yeast. Made in collaboration with Blackjack Brewery in Manchester and The Wolf Pub in Birmingham
Wake Up Juicy 8.0% ABV The worlds of Belgian Tripel and modern DIPA collide. We’ve taken our immensely popular Tripel recipe and hopped it to DIPA levels with an intoxicating blend of Mosaic, Denali and Equinox hops
There will also be an amazing selection of food offerings thanks to V Rev Vegan Diner, Mother May I, Sgaia Vegan Meats, The Vegan Food Pod and Moodley Manor.
Swansea. Your time has come.
The Last Resort is a contemporary drinking venue that is rapidly becoming the number one place where vegans and vegan-friendly people like to socialise in Swansea.
Carl from The Last Resort (located at 207 High Street) got in touch to let me know that the bar serves about a dozen craft beers on tap (all vegan) and that their food menu currently consists of the following:
The bar is super proud to serve up fairly monstrous portions and I’ve been hearing amazing reviews from their regulars.
You can follow The Last Resort on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Yay for vegan boozing in Swansea!
If you haven’t visited Glasgow lately, you are seriously missing out on a vibrant vegan food scene. If you are a Glaswegian, you don’t need any convincing about how good you’ve got it.
To take an already fabulous situation and make it better, the kitchen of Mono Cafe Bar has created an outstanding outdoor BBQ menu and an indoor bar menu for Glasgow Vegan Beer Fest this Sunday (August 27, 2017).
If you can’t make it along this weekend, marvel at the food line up anyway and find a date in the near future to visit this legendary food, drink and live music venue.
Here’s the Mono menu for Sunday:
BBQ
Handheld/street food menu at the inside bar
I’m actually giggling and clapping my hands at that incredible menu.
On top of this there will also be food stands by Kind Crusts (selling donuts), Cool Jerk Vegan Pies and Red Rosa’s Specialist Cakery.
You can buy cheap online tickets for Glasgow Vegan Beer Fest online now for just £4 plus small booking fee. If we have space on the day, tickets on the door will be £7.
The 2nd annual Glasgow Vegan Beer Fest is fast approaching so it makes sense that I tell you about the massive beer list that has been compiled by Williams Bros for the event.
There are cask beers, keg beers ad one hell of a can/bottle line up. We even have a handful of gluten free beers and ciders. Add to that wine, cocktails, a glorious food line up and all-day karaoke and I think it’s safe to say we are in for a fabulous day.
Tickets to the event are just £4 plus tiny booking fee if you book online in advance or £7 on the door if we have space. Book now.
Here is the beer!
CASK
CIDER
KEG
PACKAGED
Now, that is a more-than-decent beer list.
Book your tickets now and RSVP on the Facebook event page.
Do you know about the much-loved vegan eatery and bar on Brick Lane called Mooshies?
If you don’t, my guess is that you will become familiar with the place in a hurry once I tell you about the new cheese sticks and ice cream being served.
Umm…. those cheese sticks, though!
Mooshies is bringing you all this fabulous food stuff PLUS a completely vegan bar with beer, wine and cocktails. How fantastic is it that you can go out for vegan cheese sticks, vegan burgers, ice cream and vegan prosecco all in one place?
Get over to the Mooshies website to check out the full menu including awesome burger line ups and watch for future movie screening sessions. Yes, film screenings at a vegan burger bar! Mooshies don’t intend on messing you about. They mean business.
Follow Mooshies on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
