Hope & JJ Cale

On the eve of the Trump inauguration I sat in Franklin Square in Hobart on a drizzly but warmish Friday evening.  It had been a long week of work and an afternoon of soul sapping meetings.  I was eating satay from the Thai Street Cafe food van and drinking Charles Oates Apple Spirit distilled from Willie Smith's cider listening to duo Halfway to Forth.  That day in Melbourne five people were killed by some lunatic in a car hellbent on destruction and it seemed easier to give up hope that we could ever live in a world full of joy.   But tonight listening to the rootsy "Halfway to Forth" and consuming good food and drink, a man smiled at me as he walked past and a little girl danced on the stairs.   When people got up to dance to a song which featured a kazoo solo I knew that there were places where the hope for something new, something simple, something wonderful still thrived. There's nothing like a little JJ Cale to bring you back.

If you get the opportunity to hear Halfway to Forth then make the effort.  I bought their CD and it is fantastic.  I recommend to anyone who likes simple bluesy folk music that you go to their website and purchase it.

From Halfway to Forth website

Halfway to Forth are brother Dan & Kyle Lizotte.  Their music is honest and rootsy, with folk, country and blues shades.  These boys attend both schools, Old and New, and stick to writing what they know.  You'll hear more than a little foot stompin', banjo pluckin' and bottle neck slidin'.

 

I drank the Charles Oates Apple Spirit in a cocktail with freshly pressed new season granny smith and bitter toffee.  It was marvellous.  The apple juice was pressed while I waited and the cocktail was perfect for the occasion.

From Charles Oates Distillery Facebook page

Charles Oates was a contradiction, a convict turned respected business man and upstanding member of the community.  Perhaps most of all he is best remember for his pioneering nature and it is in ode to this we have made a Tasmanian version of the amazing French beverage of Calvados

Distilling Willie Smith's cider with our Tasmanian built Charentais alembic still that is still used today to produce Calvados in Normandy.  The sill was first developed in the early 16th Century in the Cognac region of France.

This weekend just gone I also had the opportunity to consume a Pagan Cherry Cider.  It was rather nice, somewhat like a beefed up blackcurrant juice.  Highly recommended.  It was great with my scotch fillet with pepper sauce.

From Pagan Cider website

Uniquely Tasmanian, our Cerise is a purely Pagan innovation: a bewitching blend of rich dark cherry juice (from plump cherries grown in the orchard beside the cellar door) and dry apple cider.

A lush blend of 40% cherry juice and 60% dry apple cider, with a spicy perfumed nose and claret/burgundy hues.  The palate hums with dark cherries and plums with rich Christmas fruit cake notes.