Rhonda Bracey: At Random

It’s been a hectic week workwise, so I’m only now getting around to blogging about the long weekend just gone. I did the Japanese Meshwork workshop on the Saturday, then I had the craft group afternoon up at the estate on Sunday afternoon where Bobbie taught two of us some patchwork piecing basics. This was good—it’s been 20+ years since I did any patchwork/quilting classes, so while I do this hobby for my own enjoyment, I really don’t know the best practices I should be following. We started work on a ‘Blankets of Love‘ quilt each.

On Monday, we took a drive on a big loop along Channybearup Rd (south of Manjimup), around the back of Pemberton, and back through to the Southwest Highway. Channybearup Rd was interesting—I’d heard that Manjimup grew a lot of the state’s avocados but had never seen an avocado tree on any of our trips down that way. That’s ‘cos they were hiding out along Channybearup Rd! Thousands of avocado trees, from brand new ones to well-established ones. And some vineyards thrown in too.

We stopped in at Knights Distillery. I’d heard good things about the liqueurs they were producing there, and I’m pleased to say that my information source was absolutely correct! We tasted some FABULOUS liqueurs, and even bought some of our favourites. It would have been easy to buy one of each, though the bank manager might not have been happy with that!

The ones we purchased were Arabian Knights (cream liqueur with chocolate and Turkish Delight flavours), Frosty Knight (chocolate mint cream liqueur), Mid Knight (coffee liqueur), and Regal Knight (the house specialty). We also bought some home-made chocolates, filled with various liqueurs, and scoffed off all eight of them after dinner that night!

So, how do you do a liqueur tasting when you’re driving out and about? They had these tiniest little shot glasses that probably held not much more than a thimble full. And the guy behind the counter pours a tiny amount, enough to come maybe 5 mm up the side of these little glasses. So you get the taste without too much alcohol. He did say, however, not to drive after eating six of the chocolates as that equivalent to one standard drink! The minimum alcohol content of the liqueurs is 20%, with the Regal Knight and the schnapps varieties at 37%.