Weymouth Journal: Beer in Sausage, Rather Than Beer and Sausage

Periodically throughout the Olympics we will check in with Dennis Spurr, owner of the Fantastic Sausage Factory in Weymouth, a pretty town on the English coast where the sailing events are taking place. Mr. Spurr’s sausage business was a target of the Olympic branding authorities in 2007 after he put up a sign featuring the Olympic five-ring logo fashioned out of sausage links. He took it down on their demands, but replaced it with a sign featuring five squares made out of sausage links.
Q.

Sorry to call you so late. You must be tired. Still putting in long days?
A.

I went in this morning. I don’t know what time it was, silly o’clock it was, about four o’clock to make sausages because we sold so many yesterday and I was totally exhausted, so I came home at 3 and had a little nap.
Q.

Any new varieties of sausage?
A.

We’re playing around with a new one. We’re going to call it Beef and Piddle. Do you — I don’t know if Piddle means anything to Americans.
Q.

I’m afraid not.
A.

We try to make something quirky all the time. We’ve been playing around. There’s a beer that’s made in the Piddle Valley and it’s called Piddle Beer. So we’ve been making this beef sausage and we’ve been experimenting putting this Piddle Beer in. It’s just a quirky sausage with a bit of fun. So were going to call it Beef and Piddle because it’s got a bit of a ring to it.
Q.

How often do you try to introduce a new sausage?
A.

This time of year not that often because we don’t have the time but when we get the time, we try to do one every month. We try to do something that’s into what’s going on. We done one this year for Wimbledon, we done one it’s strawberries and cream.
Q.

Strawberries and cream sausage?
A.

We done that in the summer. It was our worst-selling sausage. But when I stood out in the front of the shop you could quite clearly see the strawberries in there. People were doing the taste and they were saying, “Oh, what’s that bit?” And you go, “That’s strawberries and cream.” And they went, “What? I actually don’t think it’s going to work.” But as soon as we were doing the tastings people were buying them.
Q.

They actually had strawberries and cream in them?
A.

Yeah. You could find the cream flavor, you could find the strawberry flavor and all the flavors worked together.
Q.

I have to be honest: everything I had at your store was really, really good, but from here it sounds like something I don’t want to eat.
A.

Oh, I understand. It’s funny how over the years things have changed. It all sounds a bit mad but it really does work. I mean people’s eating habits have changed. People are more adventurous now, although whenever I made strawberries and cream they weren’t buying, but as soon as they tasted it was, “Oh all right.” And I think they were taking it home — it was summertime and the barbecues and that. We sold loads of them when they tasted it.
Q.

I guess it might be good. They have cheese and apples in sausage.
A.

We’ve had them with bananas in before, maple syrup and banana.
Q.

Maple syrup and banana?
A.

That was called the Mountie, that one.