Demijohn News - April 2011
Our News:  
What a lot of tastings events we have done since I last wrote, about 15! But there is one that stands out from the crowd, a fabulous Tasting Evening I ran for Slow Food North Yorkshire in our York shop on 29th March, a charming bunch of foodies. Demijohn has been fortunate to have a close link with the Slow Food movement ever since our humble beginnings in Edinburgh in 2004. At that time, Slow Food was new to the UK, but as luck would have it some of its keenest followers banded together as a Convivia in Edinburgh under the command of John Tiller and demanded to see us in action. Slow Food's ethos is that all food should be good, clean and fair. Slow Food Edinburgh liked what it saw in Demijohn's revolutionary approach to food and drink retailing and we were awarded our first of many Slow Food Recommendations in 2004. Our pursuit of excellence in quality, sourcing locally, a focus on understanding the provenance of our products and creating a co-operative basis for buying at a fair price was very much in line with Carlo Petrini's, Slow Food's Italian founder, beating heart. We wanted to know who made our products, where and how they were made and with what. As a result of recent vocal campaigners such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall we are all now much more aware of how important this all is, but strangely there are still only a few of us in the food business actually practising what we preach. I feel fortunate to have run one of the first Slow Food events in the UK in Edinburgh and then to run another 6 years later in North Yorkshire. I can see that the heart of Slow Food is still beating strongly and its clear message on food is more valid now that it was even in 2004. If you are a foodie, then I would urge you to join Slow Food UK wherever you are. Not only will you learn more about food and drink, but you will meet some wonderful people and have a lot of healthy fun! Click to find out how to book your own Tasting Event.

Event News
Our event calendar for 2011 is filling up fast and we hope to meet you at least somewhere along the way. Here is a quick summary of our events up to the end of September:
Dales Festival of Food & Drink - Leyburn, North Yorkshire (30 Apr to 2 May)
ABF The Soldiers' Charity Spring Fair - Hovingham (18 & 19 May)
Yorkshire Game Fair - Harewood House, N. Yorks (29 & 30 May)
BBC Good Food Summer Show - Stand F476 - Birmingham NEC (15-29 Jun)
Scottish Game Conservancy Fair - Osprey Row - Scone Palace, Perth (1-3 Jul)
CLA Game Fair - Food Village - Blenheim Palace, Oxford (22-24 Jul)
Huddersfield Food & Drink Festival - Huddersfield (11-14 Aug)
York Food & Drink Festival - York (23-25 Sept)
Kibble Palace Christmas Fair - Glasgow Botanical Gardens (27 & 28 Sept)

There are of course many more events than this in 2011, so watch out in future newsletters for updates.

Product News - The Hunt for a Cask of Bladnoch
Finding new and obscure products is never easy, but is always good fun. The Hunt for a Cask of Bladnoch is a short story about my pursuit of 20 year old Bladnoch Single Malt Whisky over the last three and half years! Click here to read the full story.

Next Month in The Demijohn News.... 
Sun shine on rainy days, the start of the salad fest!



          

        Angus Ferguson
        Managing Director