FABPOW: Beetroot Soup and St Stefanus Blonde

@beersiveknown  Food and Beer Pairing of the Week (another Mark Dredge Creation)

 A few months ago a group of bloggers were invited for an all expenses trip to the Brouwerij Van Steenberge in Belgium for the the UK relaunch of their beer. Badged as St Stefanus (@StStefanus) instead of Augustijn the artwork and bottle underwent a redesign. Upon their return they received a glass and two bottles of beer through the post, as did some other bloggers who didn't attend. A whole host of reviews left me salivating to try it; so I cheekily asked if they had any sample packs left. A few weeks later and I'm sat with the package on my coffee table.

The bottle shows the
expected flavour changes over time

As others have mentioned its well put together, a snazzy box replete with carboard holder for two bottles of beer and an attractive stemmed glass. Theres also some beer mats and a bit of the info behind the beer. The bottle as you can see is stylish, with info about how the flavour profile changes over time and a colourful cap. All the bottles are aged for three months before release, so my bottle dated november 2011 is 6months old on tasting. I'll keep the second for another six to see how it changes.

Glorious golden beer with thick head
and attractive glass.

The beer pours an attractive ever so slightly hazy blonde with half inch dense white head that lingers. Slightly dusty with banana esters on the nose it's highly carbonated and full of fruity yeast notes. Fairly sweet without being cloying as some can and a good robust body. It finishes with a spicy earthy bitterness.

Its a long lasting finish and a sipping beer, despite the alcohol being hidden. A very enjoyable beer, its reminded me that I need to get back to Belgian beers this year after a few years off. I'd be keen to try some of the rest of their range, especially if I can find them to drink at home.

Beetroot soup with beer bread

Its still cold so I was after a soup again. I had a great beetroot soup starter on cheese school so decided to try it out myself. The fact that I found some reduced fresh beetroot at the shops sealed the deal. I looked up a recipe online and added some English goats cheese instead of feta plus a good pinch of chilli flakes. (Caution: grating beetroot leads to purple hands!) Served with home made beer bread its great on its own but with the spicy fruitiness of the beer the sweet and earthy flavours of the beetroot and sweet oven-roasted tomatoes. Those sweet goaty flavours with a hint of pepper are really allowed to shine through too, the carbonation scrubbing the tongue to refresh the palate.

A glance at the ever-reliable Brewmaster's table suggests that I'm not the first to pair a Belgian with beetroto, though actually it appears wheat beers are a more common choice. I can certainly see that working with this dish too, as goats cheese and wheat beer (especially weiss) goes very nicely together too.

Other beers to try: Bristol beer Factory Weisse, Thornbridge Weisse Versa, Schneider Weisse, Duvel, Piraat.

Beer Alphabet G: Hardknott Granite

Resplendent in Hardknott glass

This is a beer that's been sat in my cupboard for a while, waiting for an excuse to #OpenIt.

Its an interesting drop. Very boozy indeed and akin to liquid Christmas cake. I like it, though perhaps a 330ml bottle would have been more appropriate! The 2011 vintage was bottled a few weeks ago, look out for it!

It pours deep ruby brown, with little in the way of carbonation or head formation. Damsons and sultanas and some marscapone cheese, plenty of booze too!Slightly marmitey yeast finish with a lot of alcohol warmth. Perhaps a hint of beetroot in the earthy after-taste! Certainly one for drinking at the end of the evening, perhaps with some decent unpasteurised milk cheddar such as Keen's and some oatcakes, wish I had some!

Naked Islands and other romantic notions

Beer is seeing a resurgence all over the globe, with decent breweries cropping up in the most unexpected of places. One such place is in Norway, where NogneO have carved out a niche for themselves producing "over twenty styles of beer". After spending the best part of a year reading about the brewers I finally came across their beers in stock in Ales by Mail and shortly later Drinkstore.

I ordered everything they had, so ended up with 15 to review,
which I'll split over a couple of posts.

First up with the lowest ABV (4.5%) is the Bitter. Modelled on that classic English style and hopped with Goldings, its nice enough and probably works well as a session bitter in its home market, but having to pay import prices its just a bit disappointing. Typical goldings nose, perhaps a bit paler than a typical bitter with plenty of bitterness in the finish.

A Christmas duo next then Underlig Jul and God Jul - respectively Peculiar Christmas and Good Christmas. The former was consumed on a train between York and Edinburgh and is your fairly typical spiced Yuletide beer. Pepper noticeable on the nose and into the body where it is joined by cardamom at first with roast malt and ginger following on in behind.

The God Jul is a different kettle of fish. Much darker and weighing in at a hefty 8.5% (the previous being a lowly 6.5%...) the change in strength isn't really noticable. Darkest brown with a fluffy tan head, treacle nose. Quite a lot of marmitey yeast umamai too. Fairly sweet with a rich maltiness but not cloying or alcoholic for its ABV, with just the hint of tropical fruit from those centennial hops. A true winter warmer.

A Belgian spiced beer style, Wit, is next up. Its remarkably haze free for one with so much wheat and a nose of Floridian orange groves. The citrus carries on into the body with just the barest suggestions of coriander and a pervasive but subtle TCP which is perhaps contributed by the yeast. Certainly an interesting take on the style.




Following on from the spiced beers, we have a few that are spicy and a Belgian style that has become more popular in recent years - saison:  one regular and one "India" Saison. The first is fairly typical in colour for a saison. It has all the things I enjoy on the nose, complex, some horse blanket, a hint of lactic acid. In the taste there's the unmistakable EKG but they soon fade into the background and the yeast strain is allowed to work its magic of pineapple esters and dry spiciness. The second is a collaboration with the Aussie Brewers Bridge Road. From the moment the bottle is opened the enticing peachy aroma of galaxy wafts up to your nasal passages. It pours a darker amber than the regular saison and retains its head for a good while. There's also the mango associated with citra, which must come from Stella, a hop I have very little experience of. Immediately lighter in body and at once heavy due to increased malt bill. The tropical fruits are there too but at the same time plenty of bitterness. The fruity hops repeat in the finish with the sweetness of fruit salad jacks...remember them? Underneath that is the same earthy spicy yeast in the regular saison. It perhaps loses some of its saison drinkability but an interesting beer all the same.

From spice to smoke and travelling South-East through Europe we get to Bamberg, home of the Rauchbier style. The beer in question? Holy Smoke, winner of a home-brew competition. Looking at the ingredient list its not a true rauchbeer as it uses peated malt rather than beech-smoked. It has the complex nose of an imperial stout with roasted and lactic notes. In the mouth its thick and slightly peppery before the  rich smokiness comes through. None of the harsh phenol of your Laphroaig here, this is much more akin to Bunnahabhain, playfully smoky but plenty of other stuff to tantalise the palate, tobacco, cola, liquorice. Its very drinkable for its ABV (6%) and my favourite of the range so far.

Next week I'll cover the remainder of the beers that I picked up!

Chocoholic?

I had managed to amass a sizable collection of chocolate beers; so when the Hotel Chocolat monthly selection box arrived through the mail an idea for a blog post was born: Chocolate beer and chocolate pairing! I was aided by a fellow chocolate lover in this tasting session; so there's some comments from her too.

Top of the Chocs

 Young's Double Chocolate Stout(5.2%)

Pours dark black-brown with thin grey-beige head with aromas of cocoa powder, candi sugar and a hint of rum. Medium bodied with prickly carbonation and a fairly abrupt roasted barley finish and bittersweet aftertaste. For one that scores so highly on ratebeer we were a little disappointed with this one. Pairing this with a caramel macchiato brought out some of the roast malt flavours and chocolate.

Marble Chocolate (5.5%)

A beer that highlights the need to taste the beer before attempting a pairing. The fruity notes in this beer meant that we picked the fruity chocolates from the selection for pairing purposes. Ruby black, fluffy off-white head. Hedgerow fruit nose and  blackcurrant flavour (I thought I was tasting Bramling cross, but ex-brewer Col informed me its 100% Goldings, must be the malt bill then!) with a hint of compost. Long roast barley finish. Sprightly carbonation. Not much sign of chocolate but a great beer nonetheless.Was paired with a summer berry chocolate and also mango sorbet in white chocolate which drew out the fruity flavours.

Saltaire Triple Chocaholic (4.8%)

A triple chocolate attack in the form of chocolate malt, chocolate syrup and real chocolate make this one a bit of a chocobomb. Dark beer with fluffy beige head. Chocolate beige head. Chocolatey to the extreme, aroma, taste and finish. Not sickly, but we decided to pair this with any chocs may have caused death by chocolate!. Another opinion of the beer can be found here.

College Green Molly's Chocolate Stout (4.3%)
Garnet red-brown with minimal head. Noticeable legs for a beer at 4.3 unusual. Hint of beech-smoke then rich roast barley on the nose. Robust body with bitter coffee, dark chocolate and burnt toast. Finishes with a not unpleasant coffee astringency. This would pair well with a  high cocoa chocolate or contrast with something sweet and fruity.

Brentwood Chockwork Orange (6.5%)

Milk chocolate nose with lactose and crystal malt in the body. Roasted malt finish. This was paired with an orange and schnapps truffle, which brought out the orange flavour to great effect.

Robinson Chocolate Tom (in M&S regalia) (6%):

Surprisingly light amber in colour, bitter with sweet and dusty malt chocolate with an initial thin bitterness followed by a sweet chocolate and biscuit malt and lengthy sweet/ toasty finish.This was paired with a castello blue in wholemeal bread roll.



Bonus chocolate beer reviews:
(I rated these earlier in the year and thought you might want to know about them)

Bristol beer factory Chocolate stout (5%): produced for the "12 stouts of Christmas" selection, we were lucky enough to get it on cask at Factoberfest. Pitch black with a chocolate malt nose with spicy rasins with cocoa powder and a hint of peppermint. Very deceptive for its 5% with a chalky dry yet sweet finish.Very much looking forward to this in the bottle!

Southern Tier Choklat (11%): A luxurious thick black beer with nose of oatmeal, chocolate fondant and cocoa powder. Sweet up front with rich chocolate and slightly chalky roast barley. Medium bodied with noticeable but alcohol but it complements the flavours rather than hinders.One for sharing though!