Friars Blog

31/07/2018
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The Rise And Rise Of Craft Beer

If you’d said the initials “IPA” to a barman 10 years ago, he might well have looked at you blankly as IPA in general, was a niche market. Since 2010, however, things have changed. Craft beer pubs are everywhere and their success has forced existing pubs to up their game. Bar staff now are positively evangelical about beer. Spearheading this revival is IPA – not weedy old Greene King – but beers of 5-7% packed with hops and flavour. So what is IPA? The initials stand for India pale ale. It... Read More

20/07/2018

What Is No Added Sugar Chocolate?

We are seeing an increase demand for no added sugar or sugar free chocolate, but what actually is it? There are some misconceptions in regards to the belief that it is zero sugar chocolate. This is not the case as there are small amounts of naturally occurring sugars in cocoa. How it maintains that beautiful sweet chocolate flavour but with less sugar, is the use of sweeteners maltitol and steviol glycosides.   The plant Stevia rebaudiana has been used for more than 1,500 years in South America and is 300... Read More

03/07/2018

5 Gifts For Teachers (That they actually want)

It takes a special person to be a teacher, so when term ends it’s always nice to give them a little thank you gift. One of our team members here at Friars HQ has been married to a teacher for the last 12 years. Their words of wisdom are that ‘you just can’t go wrong with chocolate’. We may be a little biased but it seem like fantastic advise to us! Coffee Collection Teachers are well know for having a liking for coffee (and chocolate) so here is the perfect... Read More

22/06/2018
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Teaming Up With The Lakes Distillery

The Lakes Distillery opened in December 2014 on its idyllic rural site near Bassenthwaite. They produce their own fabulous Lakes malt, Lakes gin and Lakes vodka all on one site. Using water that flows from Sprinkling Tarn, through Keswick, Bassenthwaite past the distillery and then onto the Irish sea. The distillery is based at a refurbished model farm. The main barn houses the mash house and still house, with unique stills carefully designed to produce the spirits on a small artisan scale. An old cattle shed has been converted into... Read More

21/06/2018

The Lake District Pound

The Lake District Pound (LD£) is our region’s new local currency – designed to celebrate everything you love about this place, and help keep our region special.   We will be accepting the Lake District pound in our shops when it launches. £1, £5, £10 and £20 Lake District notes will be exchanged one for one with sterling, but can only be spent in participating businesses that are locally owned, trade locally and were either founded in, or unique to the area. Lake District Pounds can be spent, respent, or... Read More

07/06/2018
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Father’s Day Gift Guide 2018

We see this day as an opportunity to spoil the men in our lives (whether they deserve it or not!). It’s all too common for our dads to refuse a gift or say that they’re happy with anything, so we’ve created our Father’s Day gift guide to help you all out. We love that there’s a day carved out just for the leading men in our lives and we want to show them just how much we love them. This year we’ve included gifts for every type of dad. From... Read More

13/05/2018
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Win 100 Chocolates of Your Choice

This is quite possibly our greatest competition ever! We are giving you the chance to win 100 chocolates of your choice from our taster collection. Will you choose our new brownie chocolate? Or maybe our kirsch soaked dark chocolate cherry liqueurs. Perhaps two of every flavour…the possibilities are endless! It’s FREE and easy to enter all you need to do is CLICK HERE and subscribe to our newsletter. With new data protection laws in place later this month, we need your permission to stay in touch in a way that... Read More

04/05/2018
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It’s A Gin Thing

It is believed that 47 million bottle of gin were bought in 2017 in the UK. We have contributed a little to that with our best selling gin truffles. The white chocolate truffle gets rave reviews as the mellower chocolate allows the gins floral notes to come through more strongly. Following this success we are now launching our very own gin sweets. Which really are fabulous ‘little circles of joy’ was what one of our team members called them! We have had a fantastic response to our prosecco sweets that... Read More

16/04/2018
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Our New Goldkenn Swiss Liqueur Chocolate

We are proud to go into partnership Swiss chocolate maker Goldkenn and now stock eight of their premium liqueur bars. Goldkenn is a leading luxury Swiss chocolate confectioner, renowned for its traditional chocolate-making expertise and beautifully packaging. As precious as gold, Goldkenn chocolates carry the prestigious Swiss made label, the ultimate mark of Swiss quality. Goldkenn was founded in Geneva (Switzerland), on the shores of Lake Geneva, in 1980, and has been based in Le Locle (Switzerland) since 2011, a UNESCO world heritage city known throughout the world for its... Read More

04/04/2018
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Pink Prosecco Truffles & Gin Sweets

Now that Easter is over it surely means it’s summer! And whilst everyone has been busy eating a wide array of chocolate bunnies, eggs and hot cross buns; here at Friars HQ we have been planning to make it an extra tasty Summer. Chocolate dinosaurs, train sets and pirate ships are coming to jazz up our kids range. By they way…our pirate ship comes with a chocolate treasure chest and parrot! What’s not to love. With the hot weather just around the corner (I’m sure it will happen) we will... Read More