Mountain Ash
Use attributes for filter ! | |
Weather | 8°C, Wind SE at 6 km/h, 99% Humidity |
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Hotels | View hotels |
Local time | Saturday 10:42 |
Dialling code | 01443 |
Ceremonial county | Mid Glamorgan |
Welsh assembly | Cynon Valley |
Date of Reg. | |
Date of Upd. | |
ID | 2150603 |
About Mountain Ash
Mountain Ash is a town in the Cynon Valley, within the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. At the 2001 census, Mountain Ash had a population of 7,039 increasing to 7,374 at the 2011 Census.
London: Welsh miner's neon signs still illuminating Soho
... Richard Bracey, from Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taff, worked down the Tredegar mines in the 1940s...
Rugby World Cup: Wales fans confident as Argentina game nears
... " Ryan from Mountain Ash, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, was more cautious...
Cost of living: Patients refuse sick notes over lost pay worry - GPs
... Dr Hawthorne, a GP in Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said that " quite often, when it s clear that somebody needs some time off, they won t take it"...
Dog that killed boy in Caerphilly was not an illegal breed
... BBC Wales was told the dog had been kept at a home in Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf, until two days prior to the attack...
Caerphilly dog attack: Woman, 28, is arrested by police
... They were a 34-year-old from Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and a 19-year-old, from Caerphilly...
Mead in Scotland: Reviving an ancient drink
... Most of my adjuncts are native species, such as Mountain Ash berries or hawthorn berries, because I am really interested in the history and archaeology of Britain...
Conker tree on Europe extinction list
... The report found: Species highlighted include the horse chestnut, which is declining across Europe, and most of almost 200 trees in the family that includes the rowan and Mountain Ash...
Mead in Scotland: Reviving an ancient drink
A long-lost tradition of making mead has been revived in the Perthshire hills
High in The Hills above Pitlochry in Perthshire a former soldier has embarked on a new mission to revive an ancient Scottish drink.
Mead, which is made from fermented Honey , was much loved by Celtic tribes and Viking warriors.
But, over The Last few centuries it has largely disappeared with beer, wine and whisky knocking it off its pedestal.
However, Christopher Mullin has now restarted mead brewing in Scotland and is recreating recipes dating back thousands of years using archaeological evidence.
His army career as an intelligence officer took him to numerous military headquarters around The World , but after retiring from The Armed forces he has now Set Up his own base, The Rookery , in a converted stable building amid The Hills and forests of Glen Brerachan.
Christopher Mullin foraging for ingredients of the drink The foraging can turn into a Family OutingChristopher 's interest in mead stems back to his time studying Gaelic at the University of Aberdeen when he learned about it and other early literary works from across the British Isles .
There was one other key reason for its appeal - Honey .
, he said: "The Process I use is not unlike making wine as I ferment the sugars in water but my sugar source is Honey . That's absolutely sacrosanct. It must be Honey .
"I don't add white sugar. I don't add Anything Else as a fermentable. "
He added: "Honey is almost like a magic potion. It's an amazing product to work with. It's malleable, it lasts forever, you can get different varieties of flavour, it's resistant to infection and it is anti-bacterial.
"One of the things I Am really proud of is I don't use any chemicals in my production process. I don't use fining agents but more importantly I don't use sulphates or preservatives because Honey itself is a preservative. It's just a wonderful thing to work with. "
The Vikings were fond of the odd tipple or two of meadMuch of the Honey used is sourced from an apiary just a few miles down The Road from The Rookery . The location of The Business also makes it an ideal location for foraging for other key ingredients.
"I add adjuncts which is a brewing term for things to give the mead additional flavour," said Christopher .
"Most of these come off The Hill that we brew on. Most of my adjuncts are native species, such as Mountain Ash berries or hawthorn berries, because I Am really interested in the history and archaeology of Britain.
"Most of what I do either was definitely done by our ancestors or probably done by them. The Evidence I use goes back 4,500 thousand years and people have been around here for a good 10,000 years before that. I gather things our ancestors were out picking at similar times of year to me to make similar products. "
Foraged berries and other ingredients for making meadIn The Rookery a new concoction with its origins in The Bronze Age is currently brewing. It is based on archaeological evidence of mead production gathered from the Machrie Moor standing stone site on The Isle of Arran.
Christopher said: "It is a Honey and grain and flour brew which is what most of those really old brews were. I have brought together two of my hobbies - making booze and archaeology.
"Sometimes it is an interpretation so I Am getting close to what was maybe being made thousands of years ago. But this one, which should be getting released next year, is as close as possible. It is not an interpretation it is practically a Reconstruction . "
Christopher Mullin is making mead from a Bronze Age recipeMead was the drink of choice for The Elite for the early people of the British Isles , but by the Middle Ages imported wine from The Mediterranean had become more common.
However, Christopher said The Real decline in mead's popularity can be linked with changes in the way beer was produced, which vastly increased its Shelf Life .
He said: "The Big Game changer for mead is the introduction of hops. Once hops comes in beer lasts longer. It now becomes a commercially viable product made by men rather than women at home.
"Beer becomes cheaper so you can now get drunk on a penny instead of a shilling. And economics takes over.
"So mead falls by the wayside and becomes a niche historical curiosity. And that takes us to the modern day where you have got in the UK probably about five or six of us making properly made meads and I Am the only one in Scotland. I Am the Scottish mead industry right now. "
And Christopher said it is something that is definitely worth bringing back.
He said: "The flavours that are possible are just legion. From dry and herbal through wine like and sharp. Through fruity through complex through focused through sweet. It's just a great thing to be experiment with and play with.
"It's great in cooking too. Where you can use beer, wine, sherry you can use meads. The Best bit though is you get to taste The Past . "
pitlochry, archaeology, isle of arran, food
Source of news: bbc.com