Chicken Lickin'

Today we celebrated our first sales of the season, a small box of new-season Blakeney Red Perry, delivered yesterday evening to our local pub the Red Lion, Middleton. We're also celebrating this blog slipping to 60th in the WIKIO Wine & Beer Blog listings... Hmm! That's 60th out of 65!... Ok, let's focus on the perry...

Fittingly, we're marking this auspicious day by opening a bottle of our rare-as-hens-teeth 2008 Blakeney Red Perry. It's very good too, and just goes to show that a well-made perry, bottled with tender loving care, has all the characteristics to mature and improve in the bottle for upwards of 18 months. We love perry.

It's been a perry kind of day. When it came to deciding how we would cook this Sunday's Free-Range Chicken (Ingredients listing: 100% Chicken... Why?), perry was top of the list of possibilities. If you've never tried Pot Roast Chicken with Celery, Onion, Carrot, (lots of ) Garlic and Thyme, and half a bottle of the finest perry you can lay your hands on, you really should. Two and a half hours at 170C is just enough time for beer and a natter down the local, and you'll return to a kitchen steamed-up with aromatic chickeny goodness. The juices made the most delicious gravy we've had in a very long time, and of course the whole Sunday Lunch caboodle was washed down with more of the same light, floral perry. Yowzah!

So, in conclusion. Rockingham Forest Blakeney Red Perry, available now at the Red Lion Middleton, coming soon to the Leicester CAMRA Beer Festival, bloody good on its own or with Chicken.