Beer Tasting at Belfast Beer Fest

Earlier in the week I posted about my weekend working at Belfast Beer Festival 2011 and promised a later post about the tutored tasting sessions. Well here it is!

It was organised by branch chairman Phil Hernberg and jointly hosted with Rab Cowan from across the water (in that there Scotland) with tidbits of interest interjected by my good self. The beer lineup had to be tweaked slightly each day as casks ran out or others came into condition. The basic lineup was as follows:

Phil in full flow whilst Adrian and Rab discuss in the background

Lager

Mild

Bitter

Wheat beer

Speciality

Best Bitter

Porter

Stout

 Lager: we started off with Williams Ceildah but later switched to using Ossett Silver King. Its a shame we had no Schiehallion but the lagers we did have were nice enough. The assembled tasters were asked if they knew the difference between lager and "ale" amd some did know of the yeast differences. People said that they would have preferred it a few degrees colder. Alas the logistics which make it nigh on impossible for coolers. We have to resort to the "wet tea-towel" method.

Mild: B&T Black Dragon Mild was used first, then Ilkley Black, one of my own favourites. This one found a lot of favour with the female participants. Described as a beer that can range in colour and strength and named for its usually* low hopping rate. I suggested that it would pear well with good carby dishes as would be consumed by those after a hard day down t'mines.

mmm this mild has chocolate

Bitter: We had some good examples of bitter's on in the festival but in the end settled for O'hanlons firefly as it was well balanced between malt and hops and for its good mid-brown colour halfway between the lager and mild. Highlighted that the UK is great at making flavourful "session" beers.

Weisse: Little Valley Hebden's wheat: This is a bit of an odd one, uses a german weisse yeast but has corriander seed and lemon peel added. It has the wheatbeer haziness which alowed us to talk about other forms of haze/cloudiness to look out for in a beer.

Witbier: Hilden Barney's Brew. This was a real marmite beer. For some people it was the standout, for others only a sip was tried before declaring it foul. Spicy beers are just not some people's cup of tea.

Golden Ale: We switched best bitter for a golden ale when the dark star American Pale Ale ran out on the second day and the speciality beer became a witbier. Then hophead ran out and we had to use Oakleaf hole hearted. Talked about how American hop varieties had become more prolific in English brewing and how Golden Ale as a style is a fairly recent invention.

Porter: Did my best to dispel porter myths but I can't promise that some didn't get through when I was out of the room. We used Elland 1872 porter for a while but as it overpowered the stouts switched it for Coachhouse blunderbus [sic] old porter, which claims an "authentic" recipe. It certainly contrasted well to the stout.

Tasters start to feel it after 8 thirds

Stout: Talked about how not much separates stout and porter as styles these days, with stronger and lower ABV versions of both. We used Acorn Gorlovka stout so I was able to recount the tale of the rise of Imperial Russian Stouts, Baltic Porters and the recent great Baltic Adventure. There were inevitable comparisons to the ubiquitous black stuff from down south, but hopefully peopel's eyes were opened to the range of different stouts available.

The sessions finished with a final chance to ask questions and the three of us offering suggestions for what beers to try next. Was slightly embarassed when one tasting session gave a round of applause but it felt good to be appreciated.

I was pleased that the majority of sessions were oversubscribed (though this made my job a nightmare with only one hour between sessions trying to get 120 glasses and 8 jugs through the potwash and cool enough in time for the next session!). There was also a good mix of old and young, male and female, 2 Catalans and 2 Japanese visitors. Some people were pretty knowledgable and others just starting out in their beery journeys. I was surprised to meet a few peopel who had also travelled to the festival from Cookstown and hope to taste some beers with them later in the year.

I enjoyed helping out with the tasting sessions, maybe I'll be allowed to do one by myself next year, I reckon cheese** and beer would go down well as a talk ;)

*See R.Pattinsons research.

**Any Excuse eh?

MMMMMMMM CHEESE

I've just got back from a cheese-packed day at Cheese School in The Ethicurean and Barley Wood Walled Garden near Bristol. It was put together by Fiona Beckett and Jess Trethowan and comprised a number of cheese themed sessions.Upon arriving we made our way through the spacious gardens to the cider barn field, where 30 places had been laid out in a vintage tent. After a lovely fresh cup of coffee it was on to introductions, then it was a time to try some cheese, after all that's why we were all there!

The vintage mess tent decorated by Toast, lovely colours.

 

 

 

 

The first session gave us a chance to hear from a selection of cheese makers about their history and their craft and, perhaps most importantly, getting a chance to try some of them. First up was Todd Trethowan and his brother Maugan who tell us the three main tenets of good cheese are unpasteurised milk, animal rennet and being handmade.

Carephilly, GWR, Old Demdike and Stichelton

 We're given a chance to try Gorwydd Caerphilly first. A crumbly creamy centre with thin mushroomy breakdown and a composty rind. They also experiment with a salt-brine washed rind cheese, Gorwydd Washed Rind (GWR) a pungent and gooey masterpiece that has recently won an award in the British Cheese Awards.

Old Demdike, a washed curd sheeps cheese is up next and we meet Tim Homewood, the cheese-maker. It has a similar scent to a gouda but much sweeter due to the use of sheep's milk. Closer to human milk its apparently easier to digest.

Joe Schnieder is up last but certainly not least with the wonderful stitchelton an unpasteurised Stilton style cheese (he's not allowed to call it stilton however as its PDO specifies pasteurised milk!) A salty and sweet fruity and creamy blue cheese, less acidic than some stilton and very quickly consumed. I made copious notes but all you need to know that if you haven't yet tried this cheese you should seek it out.

The next session is on designing a cheeseboard. We get a talk on how to put cheeses together, storage tips and  some ideas for novel cheese boards and plates. Fiona got all artistic with some sycamore leaves and we try a selection of breads from Tom Herbet from Hobbs House Bakery as well as hearing about his recipe for the ultimate cheese toasty, which leaves everyone salivating for more cheese. I don't very often host dinner parties but I certainly have plenty of ideas for cheese courses now!

Just before lunch is one of the sessions I was most looking forward to the wine vs beer "smack-down" which I will blog about later in the week as it serves a post of its own.

Piping hot Beetroot Soup

 Lunch is next, prepared fresh for everyone by the Ethicurean. We get a vivid red beetroot soup with goats curd and fresh bread. Mains is a fresh salad straight from the garden with Old Demdike, fresh pear and honey roasted walnut. Later in the afternoon with have a succulent toffee apple cheesecake made with apples grown in the Ethicurean's own orchard.

After lunch we were presented with a selection of English and French cheeses for a comparison of how technique can give completely different cheeses for a similar recipe. French cheeses are warmed to a greater extent when setting and thus are a bit more rubbery and fruity in texture than their English equivalents. My favourite of the bunch is Tunworth, a Hampshire Camembert-style cheese with earthy mushroom flavours

The we headed out into the cider barn, still fresh with the smell of ripe apples, for a demonstration of cheese making from Tim and Angela. We see two methods, both with rennet set and lactic set. Its surprisingly easy and hope to get hold of some cheese cloth to have a go myself some day soon. To finish the day we get to try some local ciders and some of the apples fresh from the orchard. We also get a good sized piece of stinking bishop, a Dorset cheese washed with perry.

Unfortunately my taxi turns up before I can try the single-varietal ciders. It'd been a cheese-filled day and I would have liked to have stayed for more but I got plenty packed in and feel I know more about cheese now, which should help me to write my monthly pairing blogs with a bit more knowledge.