Popping down to Cork

Last weekend saw the annual winter cask beer festival hosted by Franciscan Well in Cork. I travelled down to judge the beers for the inaugural Beoir Cask award with some fellow Beoirites. More on that later. Cork is a fairly compact bi-rivered city, a lough away from the South Coast of Ireland. Until recently it could justifiably lay claim to being the beer capital of Ireland, with four brew-pubs alongside a larger Heineken establishment - but Dublin is now catching up. There are plenty of places to get your beer-on however, with numerous bars and offlicences for whistle-wetting activities. (John did a great write-up for the Beoir mag recently). On my last visit I didn't make it much beyond the festival environs; so decided to remedy that this time. 

My first stop was Market Lane, a reasonably priced gastro-pub come restaurant just a stones throw from the bus station. I tucked in to a belly-pork brioche with home-made fries and Aioli and plumped for the sample tray of four of their beers (€10, brewed next-door by Elbow Lane). All of their beers were competent, free from defects though all a bit under-egged, the lager the surprising pick of the bunch. 

 From there a short stroll took me to Rising Sons brewpub. This had only just opened this time last year; and brewer Shane kindly showed us around. On a Friday lunchtime it was rather quiet; so I had a chance to chat to barman Dave about how things were going (very-well) and a recommendation for somewhere to eat. With a number of seasonal beers available on tap I got my ticking-cap on; and was particularly pleased to find the son of their Belgian Ale (D'vil A Bit) on draught as Little D'Vil. Still quite pokey at 6.2% (v the originals 7.1%) with characteristic Chouffe floral yeast esters and a clean but hearty body to allow them to shine. 

 A quick nip round the corner to the well-stocked Bradley's off-licence before checking in to my hostel, the handily located Kinlay House, roughly midway betwixt two revered beer destinations, the Bierhaus and Abbot's Ale House. I'd gone for the saver value option of a shared dorm, but after gassing with the friendly staff about why I was in Cork was unexpectedly bumped up to ensuite FoC (much appreciated, thank-you) meaning I got a much better night's sleep than I'd anticipated. 

 After an afternoon trip to the festival, I visited the Friary, a short distance from the Well with a small but well-chosen selection of beer on draught and in bottle. I had a half of something (which I can't recall) and had a chat to the barkeep about the DJ set he had-on the next night. A quick visit to the Bierhaus and I was ready for bed. The Bierhaus has perhaps the widest selection on draught in Cork, well supplemented my a range of bottles (perhaps on the pricey side) and a very-well kept of cask (Trouble Brewing's Deception, dry hopped with mosaic on my visit) with a generous discount for Beoir members which I of course I availed of - well it would be rude not to! 

 Lunch on Saturday was perhaps the highlight of my trip. Rocking up at 11:30 I was a little early for food; so ravenous I dove across the road to the recently opened Harley's Coffee House for a salmon bagel and tasty espresso. Temporarily sated I was back across the street to Dave's recommendation from the previous day - White Rabbit BBQ. A long bar with seating to both sides; I chose to sit on a stool and get acquainted with the beer range and co-owner Steve. Coming up to their one year anniversary (they opened St Patrick's Day 2015) the business is doing a steady trade, growing by word-of-mouth without need for advertising. Steve has worked in hospitality for a number of years but wanted his own place. The location was scouted in advance, but not available right away, it finally became free just before Steve's wedding and luckily was still available on his return from honeymoon and everything flowed from there.
They offer a fairly simple menu with a selection of meats to have in a bap or on a tray with two sides. All priced at a recession-beating €7 for baps and €10 for the trays. I had ribs with coleslaw and BBQ beans - the meat just falling off the bones, a crunchy and zingy 'slaw and hearty, juicy beans all washed down with a selection of beers from Rising Sons, with Mi Dzza being particularly suitable plus a few guests.
Steve also stocks a good range of American whisky's with some decent ryes available too; so I finished up with a pickleback of rittenhouse 100 and a shot of their house made pickling liquor. As I was departing Steve brought me a bottle of their house BBQ sauce - made with the aforementioned Mi Dazza - definitely recommended. So impressed was I that a return visit for dinner was necessary and the pork-belly bap with tangy gherkins, spicey sauce and creamy slaw really ended the day nicely - make sure you pay Steve and team a visit if you're in the vicinity.

Pre-festival on Saturday I also called in to Abbots and managed to snaffle a number of Irish beers I hadn't yet come across whilst coveting an excellent range of Belgian and other world beers (with De Struise a particular strength). I would return later to visit the upstairs bar, buzzing and banging with beers aplenty - my kind of joint. My weekend finishing with a delicious Wired oatmeal pale ale from Trouble - they're really nailing the pale n'hoppy at the moment. I unfortunately didn't make it to Cork's fourth brewpub, Cottonball, but will try to remedy that on my next visit.

So what of the festival itself? As with last year it was sedate during the afternoon, growing busier later on. A range of 30-odd beers were seen over the weekend, with 28 available for the judging. Aside from a few ill-conceived ideas the majority of brews were solid, with some excellent contenders. Unfortunately (as is sometimes the case at these events) a number of beers were (to borrow a phrase from Tandleman) flat as a witch's tit, either through over-venting or under-priming. Also, by the saturday some of the beers were getting a little tired, having been tapped for three days and many casks near empty.
These criticisms aside we pushed through with the judging and four category winners emerged victorious:

Best Lager - Yellow Belly Rosehip Schwartz

Best "Pale" - West Cork Roaring Ruby

Best Stout - Blacks Worlds End

Best Speciality - Otterbank Pine Needle Berlinner Weisse (since named "The Vikings are Coming")

These went through to best in show, with Roaring Ruby emerging victorious with World's End a close second and the berlinner rounding the rankings out in third place. Well done to all involved! Personally I'm not a fan of Irish Red Ales but this one was a particularly good example of the style and fully deserved its award. The Worlds end was far too sweet for my palate - perhaps a product of lack of carbonation but the berlinner was fantastic, perhaps one of the best I've had of the style.

It was a great weekend, Cork has a lot to offer; but always good to combine with a beer festival. The next event is the Easter Fest, which should be on 25th-26th March, take a dander down there!

New Beer and Curry

Perhaps the most anticipated UK beer release this year was Magic Rock's Unhuman Cannonball Triple IPA, which sold out in its entirety in less than a few hours. It seems most of the bottles have been snaffled by bloggers and tickers. I luckily managed to get hold of a bottle from Ales By Mail and decided to indulge in a spot of beer and food pairing.But first, the beer.

As you can see the label is lovingly screen printed onto the bottle and surprisingly (given its 12% strength) its a 660ml bomber. I had no trouble polishing off the entire bottle by myself though.

The beer pours super hazy mid amber with a pillowy head. Strong resinous pine on the nose, robust malt sweetness and rasping bitterness, juicy tropical fruits, tart citrus, some warming booze. On warming passion fruit comes over to the fore on the nose and distinctive watermelon notes in flavour. Perfect carbonation and medium body.

I went for the classic India Pale combination of curry, a vegetable rogan josh to be precise, with plenty of added corriander. The medium spicing really played off the hops to bring some tropical fruit flavours to the fore and the corriander seemed to help bring the bitterness to a more managable level. Tasted great with the lime pickle too! Curry and IPA are a much-touted pairing for a reason.

If you missed out, its set to be an annual release so watch out for announcements next year! A fantastic first release of a super-strong IPA from the Magic Rock guys then, catapulting to second-place marginally behind Odell and Thornbridge's Pondhopper and tied for second with Moor's JJJ IPA. Estimable company indeed.

Magic Rock

@MagicRockBrewCo

A New Beer Festival (With cheese!)

Just a quick one today to let everyone know of a cheese and beer festival to be held at the Strongroom in Shoreditch next week (5th -9th June). As you're all tired of hearing by now, cheese is another love of mine alongside beer and if I were based in London I'd certainly aim to be there. (I was asked to help out, but didn't have enough time to make it happen!)

 There sounds to be a good range of cheeses available plus a great selection of 65 beers from 22 breweries, (see below for more details) including some that only opened this year! There's a few festival one-off specials too for the tickers amongst you. And for those of you who don't fancy beer, fear not as ciders are available.

There are also tutored cheese and beer pairing sessions, something which is close to my heart. You can book in advance here, which I'd advise doing as they're sure to be popular considering the lineup of experts and beers.

Obviously being in trendy Shoreditch there's plenty of decent food and music too, but the main event is obviously the cheese and beer.

The festival opens from 5pm Wednesday, see here for further details. If you do head along, let me know how it goes and highlights and I'll certainly aim to make it along in 2014!

Strongroom Bar & Kitchen
120 Curtain Road
Shoreditch
EC2A 3SQ

@StrongRoomBar
Facebook

The Beers!

BARNET

Barnet (2013)
Pepper Porter
Porter 5%
Palamino
Pale 4%

PORTOBELLO

Ladbroke Grove (2013)
Star
Bitter 4.3%
American Pale Ale
APA 5%

BRUPOND

Leyton (2013)
Sweet Bee Honey’d Wheat
Wheat beer 4.5%
Tip Top Hop
Pale 6.0%

CLARENCE & FREDERICK BREWING CO.

Croydon (2013)
Strong Mild
Mild 4.1%
Golden Ale
Golden 3.8%

WEIRD BEARD

Hanwell (2013)
Black Perle
Coffee milk stout 4.5%
Marina Trench
American Pale Ale 5.3%
Hit The Lights
IPA 5.8%

CRATE

Hackney Wick (2012)
Crooked Stout
Stout 4.6%
Golden Ale dry hopped with Motueka (one-off)
Golden Ale 3.8%

HACKNEY

Hackney (2012)
Golden Ale
Golden 4%
Best Bitter
Best Bitter 4.4%
American Pale Ale
Pale 4.5%
New Zealand Pale Ale
Pale 4.5%

ADVENTURE

Chessington (2012)
East
IPA 6.6%
West
Porter 5.8%

BOTANIST

Kew (2012)
Gone Pacific
Golden Ale (4.2%)
Kew Green
Wheat Beer 4.8%
Humulus Lupulus
Pale Ale 3.8%

EAST LONDON BREWING CO.

(Clapton 2011)
Foundation (dry-hopped with Pacific Jade– exclusive to festival)
Amber/ Best Bitter 4.2%
Quadrant
Oatmeal Stout 5.8%
Jamboree
Golden Ale 4.8%
Orchid (new!)
Vanilla Dark Mild 3.6%

BY THE HORNS

Wandsworth (2011)
Double Diamond Geezer
Red Ale 5.5%
Lambeth Walk
Porter 5.1%

LONDON BREWING CO.

(Highgate 2011)
Highrise
Pale 3.9%
Blood orange IPA
IPA
Ginger Ale
Ginger Ale

LONDON FIELDS

London Fields (2011)
Weiss Monkeys
Wheat beer/IPA 5.5%
Shoreditch Triangle
APA 6%
Black Path Porter
Porter 4.2%
Hackney Hopster
Pale ale 4.2%

MONCADA

Notting Hill (2011)
Notting Hill Ruby Rye
Ruby Ale 5.2%
Notting Hill Bitter
English Bitter 3.8%
Notting Hill Amber
Amber Ale 4.7%

A HEAD IN A HAT

Herne Hill (2010)
Tommy
IPA 4.2%
Trilby
XX Mild 4.0%
G ‘n’ T
Golden Ale (made with botanicals from City of London distillery) 4.3%
Camembeer
Full-bodied Golden Ale made for cheese – exclusive to the festival 4.4%

WINDSOR & ETON

Windsor (2010)
Park Life
Bitter 3.2%
Kohimoor
Classic IPA 5.5%
Conqeuror
Black IPA 5%
Guardsman
Best Bitter 4.2%

REDEMPTION

Tottenham (2010)
Trinity
Light Ale 3.0%
Hotspur
Amber Ale 4.5%
Big Chief
IPA 5.5%
Pale Ale
Pale Ale 3.8%
Urban Dusk
Dark Ale 4.6%

HA’PENNY

Ilford (2008)
London Stone
Amber Ale 4.5%
London Particular
Ruby Beer 4%

SAMBROOK’S

Battersea (2008)
Wandle
Best Bitter 3.8%
Powerhouse Porter
Porter 4.9%

BREW WHARF

Borough (2005)
Cranberry Common
Steam Beer 4.3%
Imperial Jack (collaboration with 21st Amendment Brewery, San Fran)
Imperial Bitter 7.2%

TWICKENHAM FINE ALES

Twickenham (2004)
Pale Beauty
Wheat 4.7%
Hornet
Pale Ale 4.4%
Naked Ladies
Golden Ale 4.4%

FULLERS

Chiswick (1845)
Golden Pride
Strong Golden Ale 8.5%
London Porter
Porter 5.4%
Summer Ale
Blonde 3.9%
Wild River
APA 4.5%
ESB
Extra Special Bitter 5.5%

Dining at the White House

by Peter Griffin

No, not that one, this one!

Something that neither of us had ever done was experience a tasting menu; so I picked a likely suspect from the NZ Cuisine awards and we rocked up there for dinner after visiting the Wellington Museum of City and Sea.

The tasting menu has ten dishes, and there's an optional wine pairing for $85 more. Of course I chose to accompany mine with beer and Daisy had a couple of cocktails. There was an okay selection of styles from local brewers, though nowhere near as extensive as the wine list.

To start I chose Mussel Inn Captain Cooker, a manuka beer whose sweet and savoury flavours i thought would pair well with the amuse bouche, a chicken liver parfait macaroon. The texture of the dish was perfect and the herbal manuka notes in the beer paired well to the chicken liver.

The sweeter oatcake and caramel flavours worked well with the next course, which brought a smile to the face. Arriving in a terracota flour pot with a "soil" of rye crumbs and very fresh lemony goats cheese was a freshly transplanted radish from their rooftop garden. A great simple starter.

  

Dish number three was octopus sushi with a crayfish roll and konbu. Three Boys Wheat chosen here which turned out to be a wit, rather than weisse I was perhaps expecting. Slightly too much clove in the finish to be a really good match. Whilst I like the branding of three boys, I found their beers to fall in the fair to middling category, which meant I didn't go out of my way to try any of their others.

The dish itself was very pretty with edible flowers, again taken from the rooftop garden, though not enough crayfish to really get a taste of it. The flavours all melded well and the dish would be good as a full sized starter.

Another fish course after that and another local specialty, whitebait. This suited the beer choice more, but i still think a weisse would have been better, especially with the hollandaise and asparagus.

After another amusing dish, a palate cleansing apricot sorbet shaped like soap we were brought a duck dish which I paired with Tutara's porter. 

This was a tasty dish and the pairing worked well. Tuatara also impressed with their Ardennes Belgian strong ale the previous day and I feel like i should have tried their larger format pale ales that I spotted in regional wines. I only had limited carrying capacity however!

 

The porter gives chocolate, red berries and caramel on the nose. Fairly dry with smoky malt and same flavours as aroma and this brought out more meatiness from the duck and intensified the sauces. Still not a fan of hoisin though!

A lamb dish followed this which was particularly tasty, the berry flavours in the beer being intensified, certainly a good pairing. I particularly liked the pea puree and dehydrated pea. this would probably be my choice for main course if just eating the regular 3-course menu.

 

Moving onto dessert I chose to finish on a cocktail as none of the beers sounded like they would pair quite as well. The first dessert was perhaps the most disappointing dish however. We were served a perfectly competent creme caramel thatwas justa bit dull after all the fantastic preceding courses.

Another favourite was the 9th dish, chocolate canelloni with different textures of raspberry. I'm a big fan of raspberries but couldn't help but yearn for a good frambozen or kriek to pair with it.

 

We finished with a selection of petit fours and an espresso. The passion fruit marshmallows were particularly tasty.

It was a good experience of a tasting menu and use of local speciality ingredients. I particularly likedthe fact they had a rooftop garden, but would have liked a slightly longer beer list! Nevertheless the fact that they had anything outside of the usual mass produced lager selection was a positive in itself.

We'd certainly try a tasting menu again in the future if we were feeling flush with cash!

Brooklyn Local

Today its the turn of a few bottles bought a year ago and secreted in my old landlord's larder - that's one way to prevent premature drinking!

Brooklyn Brewery's "big bottles" are bottle conditioned 750ml and as such are designed to pair well with food. Today its the two Brooklyn Local beers up for review. Both are "big" in more ways than one, weighing in at 9%ABV each.

Local 1 is a strong golden Belgian ale (think Tripel) Golden coloured, with plenty of carbonation and cork popped. Fruity yeast esters on nose, banana, lively carbonation, sweet, strong malt and boozy finish with a touch of pepper. It works particularly well with St Vernier cheese from Waitrose, but any soft rinded cheese will do just as well.

Local 2 is a dark dubbel-style ale, again made with the Brooklyn Belgian yeast and refermented with champagne yeast. It makes use of wild-flower honey to give a richer texture and flavour. Another lively bottle, the cork shot across the room! The beer stayed put though. Opaque ruby with plum on the nose. Rich fruit, milk chocolate and robust malt body in this one.Works rather well with Keen's mature cheddar, but not quite so well with taleggio despite washed rind cheese being recommended as a match.

As with the Goose Island vintage range, these are decent beers, but you can get the Belgian classics for much cheaper in the UK. I'd not buy either again but happily drink them if offered.

Follow Brooklyn Brewery on twitter

FABPOW: Mushroom stroganoff and cider

FABPOW=Food& Beer Pairing. I guess that this is really a FACPOW!

Not all food and drink pairings have to be planned out meticulously in advance. Nor do they have to be haute cuisine or use an uber rare/ expensive drink for pairing. Some of the best can be spur of the moment things.

I had a load of mushrooms I'd bought reduced last weekend that needed using; so decided to make stroganoff. This needs something sweet and fruity to help bring out the flavours, which is often wine but I plumped for cider. The cider section in Asda is in sorry shape, not even sporting the likes of Weston's, so ubiquitous on the main land but rarely seen outside of Wetherspoon over here. What I did pick up was a 750ml bottle from McCann's, a Northern Ireland producer, which I must have previously overlooked due to its proximity to Magners and Stella Cidre on the shelf. I used about 250ml in the dish, leaving the best part of a pint as a chef's perk.

It pours a slightly hazy light gold, almost perry coloured with a steady stream of fine bubbles. The nose is sweet mushy golden delicious apples, with richer bramley's underneath and a touch of old straw. 

Fairly sweet in the mouth, certainly a high proportion of eating apples in the mix, but with just enough tannin at the back of the palate to be medium rather than sweet in category. Gentle carbonation and a dry finish leaves you going for more. Not bad for just over £2! 

The stroganoff is fairly simple to make. Fry an onion and clove of garlic in butter until translucent, then reduce heat and sweat down ~400g mushrooms for 10mins. I used a mix of chestnut, portobello and baby button plus dried oyster, shiitake  and porcini to give a good depth of flavour and mix of textures. Remove the lid from the pan and allow the mushroom juices to evaporate, then add 250ml cider or wine, simmering for two minutes. Add a tub of crème fraiche and 1/2 tbs of cornflour made up in 2tbs water*,  stirring well until thickened. Serve with rice and sprinkle with parsley/ chives if you so desire. Simple!

It pairs perfectly with the stroganoff. You'd expect it to make a decent fist of it,what with it being used in the dish but I think it brings more to it than that (certainly a better pairing than wine and stroganoff). The earthy, umami in the mushrooms provides a contrast to the sweet, fresh apples, riffing off each other. The carbonation and alcohol content cut through the crème fraiche, refreshing the palate and the rich sauce is perfectly complemented by the dry, slightly tannic finish to the cider. Such a simple pairing but a classic. 

*I used the liquid from rehydrating my dried mushrooms for extra richness.

Punk in Belfast

An unassuming backstreet location

It seems that the Brewer's House was not the only new pub to open in the province at the end of 2011. As recommended by Ciaran, landlord of the aforementioned, a friend and myself went to investigate Hudson's Bar (@hudsonbar) in Smithfields, Belfast.

Unable to recall the name we gave Ciaran a bell and he confirmed the name. Not one that had previously appeared on our radar.

"Whisky, Ales & Disco"

Its not exactly the busy end of Belfast, dominated by "adult" shops and bric-a-brac. The bar itself is on the site of a former gay club on first site Hudson's seems like many other Northern Irish bars. Gleaming fixtures and fittings, large frontage and door staff. The similarities end there however as once you get over the threshold you sense something different afoot.

Free music

Maybe the fact that its packed full of people and the night is yet young. Or perhaps its the acoustic guitar playing something other than Irish folk-songs. Or perhaps its the Brewdog beer on draught. Yes, you heard correctly, Keg Brewdog beer in Belfast! Punk IPA and 5AM saint to be precise. A chat with the landlord reveals he is a Brewdog shareholder and wanted to be able to drink it on draught in his native country.

Fresh Brewdog

Okay; so its not the cheapest of pints (£4.20 each) but compared to the £3.90 asking price in the Crown and the John Hewitt for Belfast Ale it is worth more. There's a range of bottled beers and Williams Bros Fraoch, also on keg, plus the regular macrobrands and a big whiskey selection.

The food menu seems reasonably priced with big portions, though having already eaten the sampling of the edible delights will have to await a future trip. There's a further two floors that play host to DJ sessions and live bands at various times, but the ground floor bar is the main attraction. Its great to see a healthy mix of young and old, male and female, singles and couples.

I like the fact that they're trying something different and it certainly seems to be working. The Hudson isn't going to remain hidden for long.

In other news I finally visited the Garrick as recommended by a number of bloggers, turns out it was right next to Boojum (my usual burrito destination) all along. D'oh!

A Real Brewer's House?

Donaghmore is a tiny village in the back roads of County Tyrone, albeit one with a beery past as is evinced by Brewery-themed road names. In keeping with this heritage, the Brewer's House hopes to open an on site microbrewery in the near future to offer their customers something unique and decidedly local.

Opened by Ciaran and Vicki McCausland last autumn, I've only just managed to venture the nine miles to investigate (something about not having a car...). On arrival I received a warm welcome from the pre-warned Ciaran, who was calling any entering Englishmen Steve in anticipation of my arrival*. After a quick perusal of the bar I ordered the sole cask offering, Whitewater Belfast Ale. Its not one I'd been keen on before but on this occasion it positively shone, bettering even those available at brewery-owned venues. A good session-strength brown bitter that I could happily have had two or three of had I been in for a drinking session.

Proper glassware too!

As it was we had been drawn by the tasty sounding grub, and after a natter with Ciaran we seated ourselves and perused the menus, accompanied by a couple of beers from the bottle range kindly opened by Ciaran. Although the range may not be the most exotic, its certainly light-years ahead of what's available in the rest of County Tyrone and the majority of Northern Ireland, with the likes of Brewdog, Goose Island, Anchor and Brooklyn available. Add to that Erdinger Weiss and Whitewater copperhead on keg and you won't go wanting for beer. The menu also features some locally produced cider from MacIvor's (new to me!), wines, whiskys and cocktails for those who are not beerily inclined.

A "small" steak

I opted for breaded goats cheese with beetroot puree, pea risotto and chocolate cheesecake to finish. The food arrived promptly, piping hot and in good-sized portions. The plates were returned to the kitchen squeaky clean, which is testament to the quality of the food. My dining companions opted for steak and Thai curry, each met with delight and a selection of desserts all looked the part. A wine and food pairing evening on the 30th looks set to be a great night, with head chef David Kennedy excelling himself with a mouthwatering array of dishes. Rumours of a similar beery event in the future certainly excited me.

Wooden bar and whisky selection

Three hours on a sunny afternoon passed swiftly by in the charming atmosphere, though we weren't hurried at all, despite trade being relatively brisk. Its been tastefully decorated throughout, with real wood floors, stained glass windows and local photos adorn the walls. Fear not though as there are still plenty of seats for those just popping in for a beer or three, stools at the bar and high tables downstairs with a mezzanine seating area too.

And what of this microbrewery? Ciaran attended a brewing course in Sunderland last year and plans to brew some 100litre scale pilot batches this year. In keeping with providing what the regulars want, the beers will be handed out as free samples. If all goes well a 5 barrel brew plant will be installed in 2013, making it the first microbrewery in County Tyrone.

 We could certainly do with more pubs like this in Northern Ireland and I for one will be returning soon!

The Brewer's house can be found on Facebook here and Twitter here.

*Well, at least one anyway.

Update: Congratulations to the Brewer's House for winning the best Gastropub in Co.Tyrone in the Irish Restaurant awards. To have achieved this so soon after opening is good work indeed!

A food and beer dinner.

I like to try beer and food combos out, but they tend to be spontaneous, selecting a beer from the cupboard based on what I'm cooking. This time I decided I would decide what I'm cooking based on what beers I wanted to drink. I tried to arrange it so that the beers would go with two courses each then used my girlfriend as the guinea pig. They seemed to all go down okay so here's the details:

Vegetarian ceviche

Starter:Vegetarian ceviche...

Regular ceviche is a seafood salad originating in Mexico, so I found a vegetarian recipe using hearts of palm to look like octopus. And I don't have a martini glass so made use of my St Stefanus Glass.  

...paired with Lindemans Cuvee Rene

Garrett Oliver suggests gueuze with regular ceviche (that's how I found out about the dish) and it certainly works well here. The lime juice accentuates the gueuze sourness which acts as a great palate refresher. I'm now eating fish again so will certainly try the more authentic seafood version, which I reckon will make an even better match.

Goats cheese bruschetta with rocket and balsamic tomatoes

2nd Course: goats cheese bruschetta...

I already know geueze works well with goats cheese, those bretty funky barnyard flavours pick up on that capyric acid in the cheese to give you full on farmyard, but the lactic acid in the beer also helps to bring out those hidden citrus depths.  

If you're not a fan of the gueuze then try a hefeweisse or (as I chose) a biere de garde.

...paired with 3 Monts Biere de Flandres

I had a disappointing experience with Jenilain ambree but glad I didn't give up the style as a lost cause because this was a superb beer. The slight wild yeasts again accentuate the goatiness but the herbal sage and slightly peppery flavours in the beer work well with both the cheese and salad. Last but not least the all important carbonation helps to cleanse the greasy cheese from the palate between mouthfuls.

Fruity salmon and tasty veg.

Main Course: Cider Poached Salmon...

Having bought a fillet of salmon and at a loss of how too cook it I turned to my Traditional Beer and Cider recipes book. I found this recipe and it works well with a simple tomato sauce, roast new potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli.

...paired with Thatcher's Somerset Vintage Cider. 

The the unused cider is an obvious pairing choice, accentuating those fruity flavours in the salmon and with enough sweetness to counter the acidity of the tomatoes.

 The 3 Monts didn't hold up quite so well, 

but was by no means a poor partner for the food.

Now with Minieggs

 Dessert: Key Lime Pie...

A dessert I've long enjoyed but never attempted to make until now. I was surprised at how simple the recipe was, the hardest part is waiting for it to set!

Melt 100g of butter and mix in 250g of crushed digestive biscuits. Spread into a 20cm loose bottomed tin, shaping the edges to 4cm. Chill in the fridge for 30mins. Combine the zest and juice of five limes with a carton of double cream and condensed milk and leave for a few hours to set. Simples.

Purple hued.

...paired with Shot in the Dark Blackberry lambic

This was the only sensible choice really, a nice fruity lambic to contrast the lime sharpness and condensed milk sweetness of the dessert. This is my second and final bottle of the beer and its drinking even better than a few months ago. blackberry, sweet cream, sour lambic, tart citrus - its a great match and probably my favourite of the lot.

If you've not tried food and beer pairing at home then give it a go and why not try converting a few sceptical wine drinkers whilst you're at it?!

FABPOW Chili and Leikeim Steinbier

There has been some talk recently on steinbier; so when I spotted a bottle of it in my local(ish) off licence I picked it up. 

I decided to pair it with some chili and guacamole. I'm vegetarian and the recipe is vegan, but if you're a real carnivore you can always add some frying steak/mice after the onion has been softened.

Recipe

For the Chili 
1 large onion 
3x cloves of Garlic 
3-5 tins pulses (your choice) 
1 tin chopped tomatoes 
Chili (fresh or powder form) 
Optional 
Bell Pepper 
Tomato Puree 
Smoked Paprika 
Marmite

Fry the onion until transparent. Add the smoked paprika and mix well. Drain and rinse the pulses and add to pan along with chopped tomatoes. Add tomato puree and water as necesarry to adjust consistency. Generous squirt of marmite to get that umami and vitamin B in your meal. Add the chilis and bell peppers and wait until softened. It tastes better if left out overnight to absorb the flavours. 

For the Guacamole

2xAvacados

1xshallot

1 large tomato

1 tbs lime juice

half x jalapeno

bunch fresh corriander

Fairly simple this one, roughly chop the ingredients then blend with a hand-blender. Season to taste.

I like to make this in bulk and used 6 tins of beans this time around. The key is to vary the size and colours of the beans for more interest in the bowl and a variety of flavours and textures. My favourites include kidney beans, butter beans, flagolets and black beans but any can work well. You can of course use dried beans, but that takes some forward planning as they need to soak overnight and require longer cooking.

I don't really have any traditional German glasses for the beer so went with my Tui glass instead. How does the beer taste? It pours hazy amber with peachy and sweet caramel nose. Fairly light bodied for its ABV with spritzy carbonation, a fairly faint maltiness with a little acridity in the finish which I guess comes from the steins.

Withe the chili those smoky notes work well with the smoked paprika and the fruity flavours accentuate the fresh chilis. Overall it has a cooling effect on the palate akin to sour cream, one for those who can't bear the intensified heat of chilis when hop-forward IPAs are bought to bear.

Leikeim website here (if you can speak German)

Inside a Megamaltings

The tower Maltings at Shobnall

Last Monday I had the chance to visit a UK maltings as part of the British Guild of Beer Writers Ingredients Seminar. You can read my thoughts of the day here. I thought I'd look at the production of malt in a little more detail.

Molson Coors is a global megabrewer. In the UK they produce carling, grolsch and william worthingtons' among other brands at three different facilities (Burton, Tadcaster and Alton, Hampshire). This massive amount of beer requires a massive amount of malt and its all produced in Burton on Trent. 

At this facility its just barley that is malted, but in fact it is possible to malt any number of different grains including wheat, oats and rye. The malting process aims to turn the complex starch molecules into smaller chain sugars that the yeast can then turn into those all important ingredients - alcohol and carbon dioxide.

 

Originally there were three maltings in Burton, though one had been mothballed due to declining volumes and is currently being developed as part of an £85 million redevelopment of the Burton Brewery site. This leaves two remaining maltins which together form the Shobnall Road site. There is an older tower maltings (visited by a #Twissup) dating back almost 30 years to when it was still decked out in Bass regalia and also what's known as the Redler plant, a younger, increased efficiency system. We got the opportuinty to have a look around the latter of these two.

Steeping vessels.

Working in the cement industry it was inevitable that I was going to find comparisons on an industrial site of this size to the areas I am familiar in, but I hadn't expected the plant to be manufactured by the same company! (Redler) Digging deeper there really are a lot of similarities with the grain being offloaded into storage silos prior to being transferred by conveyor, mixing with water, undergoing pretreatment and being kilned before storage into silos and distributed by road around the UK. In fact the only major difference is cement is produced by a continuous process and malt in batches.

Germinating Barley

The grain is first steeped to activate the enzymes then allowed to germinate in warmed vessels for a few days. It is then "deculmed"; which basically means the little rootlets and shoots which formed during germination are removed leaving just the malted grain. It is then kilned for a length of time dependent on the required colour (from pale lager malt through to darker ale malts on this plant) and then placed in silos. The Redler plant has four germination vessels and two kilns, allowing for 1600 tonnes to be in production at any given time with a turnaround time of about five days. 

Destined to become Carling?

In a year the plant makes an astounding million tonnes of malt a year (at 82% utilisation currently). The malt is used by Molson Coorrs throughout the UK but is also produced under contract for other brewers including Marstons and also Chivas whisky distillery! The site also has its own well for steeping the water, which cuts down on water pressure elsewhere and the output from the steeping process is essential for the local treatment works in providing the biological material needed by the waste water treatment bacteria. Indeed, without it the works would not be able to deal with other waste water streams.

We learnt a lot about malt at the ingredients symposium the following day, but rather than trying to summarise it here, I'll leave it to my readers to discover for themselves the joys of malt, either  in its production process or more likely, as part of a pint of beer.

I'd love to tour a traditional floor maltings and indeed those who had been were a little disappointed by the lack of tactile sensations at this massive site. However being a big science geek I enjoyed this just as much. Would love to try malting some barley myself one day.