Shopping smarter…  DRINKS

If you're on the lookout for a cool summer tipple that doesn't cost the earth, why not support the growing UK wine industry – and reduce transport miles – by trying wines from:

 

 

 

If beer's your bevvy of choice, sample the heavenly hops from St Peter's Brewery (above). They brew real ales with local East Anglian malts and British hops and with water drawn from below St. Peter’s Hall. St. Peter's Organic Best Bitter was Champion Beer at the 2005 Worcester CAMRA Beer Festival.

Freedom Beer (makers of the award-winning Freedom Organic Lager) is available at trendy watering holes around the country, such as the Vibe Bar in Brick Lane, the National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe and The Flea Pit, where we popped in recently for a friend's 40th and found a fab range of organic and microbrewed tipples.

 

Cider's my top tipple. Try the refreshing Westons Organic Cider (left) or traditional brews from Pennard (below, right). In addition to organic ale, Samuel Smith also makes organic cider, and the UK has many small breweries cooking up all-natural apple-tising ciders. A Lot Of Organics carries several brands, so you can perform your own tantalising taste test.

 

For a carbon-neutral cocktail (with all organic and/or fair-trade ingredients) visit London hotspot Ember in Farringdon.  

 

If nothing but a G&T will help you keep your cool this summer, make sure you stock up on Juniper Green's Organic London Dry Gin (left).

 

Want to be the hostess with the mostest?
Then you simply must purchase a built-in, state-of-the-art, multi-temperature wine cooler.

 

When I was a lass, a wine cooler was a neon-coloured, sickly-sweet drink, but now it's a mini-fridge being touted as 'essential' for the modern kitchen.

 

You say you're not familiar with this appliance? They're everywhere – even Boots is selling them online. They're popping up in all the homes magazines too – the drool factor and repeated mantra to 'buy buy buy' are a vital part of creating demand.

 

There we were, happily going about with our lives, not realising that at our next party we'd be a laughing stock if we didn't have 52 bottles chilled to optimum temperature. Yes, that's 52 – some models hold even more. You wonder if you really need that much tipple on tap? Pah! You never know when friends might pop round and make it Pimm's o'clock.

The ad for one of these power poachers states proudly, "Show off your collection in style..." And here we come to the heart of the matter. It's all about showing off, like the ubiquitous restaurant-sized cookers which fill today's 'luxury' kitchens, and which somehow manage to keep that newfangled gleam (perhaps it's because the microwave's working overtime, cranking out the ready meals.)

 

These wine chillers aren't just an instantly regretted impulse buy either – I've just spotted one for a cool £2749. Empower yourself by resisting the temptation to acquire yet another superfluous appliance (and the associated credit card bills). Have I mentioned the garlic roaster a relative was given one Christmas – definitely essential, and who could resist the attractive, garlic-shaped design, which you'll surely want cluttering up your countertop 365 days a year. Straight into the cupboard with that and all the other 'must-haves' in department store showrooms.

 

I realise I'm not as discerning as many wine buffs – so long as it's white and cold, I'm usually content. And like most folks, I don't own a serious wine collection, therefore have no need for perfect climate-controlled conditions for my plonk.

 

If you actually do, why not invest instead in this lower-carbon solution: the Spiral Cellar. Hidden under a trap door, it can keep up to 1,600 bottles in ideal conditions using the earth's natural insulation plus a (power-free) air-flow system to maintain its constant temperature.