Brewers

Beer & Food Pairings – Careful Now

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Twitter polls are fun – it seems Sunday’s are the time for beer related ones and other that the regular #hopinions that Beer O’Clock show pods loving fires out on God’s day there was one and a subsequent blog piece by the former Ale Bastard now more journalistically savvily named Yes Ale

The poll was about whether beer and food pairings were possibly going to become common place in, what I suspect was certain places.  I was adament it wouldn’t be the case, in fact I’d go as far to say it probably won’t ever be but it was actually his blog that reminded me that after a random day drinking around Manchester centre, myself and a group of acquaintences had ended up at the Red’s BBQ place and I had noted that most of thier meals came with beer suggestions, all of which were ultimately ignored, by everyone at the table.

I like food, I like it a lot.

I like beer, I like it a lot.

The two together – nope.

This is merely a personal and actual physical thing where on my palate both things are ruined rather than complemented and it isn’t a case of not finding the right pairings because for some odd reason, probably to do with the occasion and general vibe, constant eating at a beer festival is easy, a sit-down meal with a side of beers, far from it.

The closest I thought a good pairing would be considered menu worthy was a sorachi ace beer (I forget which one, it isn’t important) with a meat dish with sriracha chili sauce and that is about as well to do as it gets.  Give me pub snacks with my pint, or stodgey festival fodder and you’re laughing but that is me chosing what I want to eat with the beer I’ve chosen, what I don’t want is for the beer to be chosen for me.

I noted  when last at the Alphabet/Grub Brewery Tap that happens most Saturdays in Manchester that they suggest food to go with the beers.  Convieniently each beer goes with a food from each food stall and of course they are only suggestions, there is no compulsion but sometimes nothing beats a pint of bitter with those odd packets of Ploughmans.

The wineification of beer won’t happen but I fully expect quite a few people to make quite a bit of money out of people before most realise they’ve been conned into a taste of a lifestyle that their pay day loans won’t support.

One finally thought, with so many beers desperately trying to be more like food and be as far away from beer as possible, why bother pairing it, just keep on guzzling down murk bombs stuffed with lactose and fruit juices and save money by buying a few packets of Cheese Moments.

 

Thanks for reading.

Day 9 – #12BeersofXmas 2016

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Day 9 – #12BeersofXmas 2016

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Brewery – BlackJack Beers

Location – Manchester

The Drink: Ace of Spades

ABV: 10% – 330mL

Style: Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

Additional info: I drank this yesterday and don’t have the bottle.

What I do remember is that this bottle says it is BlackJack’s strongest beer to date and boy is it good.

Pouring obsidian black with a frothy and well retained brown-tinged-cream head it is well carbonated but has a silky mouth feel.  It drinks big, strong and boozy which I prefer and has the slight hint of cherries in the taste and in the aroma, but it is all about the power of the alcohol and the usual stout notes (coffee, liquorice, etc) that make this an excellent fireside drink.

This post was due on the 28th of December 2016, the one year anniversary of the death of Lemmy Kilmister – who died in 2015 (and not 2016 as the mawkish and quite frankly shit Sgt. Pepper death cover incorrectly groups him on).

Also dedicated to Philthy Animal Taylor, Motorhead’s original drummer who also died in 2015.

Brought to you by…well it was going to be Overkill but I’ve head this in my head all week…

 

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Day 8 – #12BeersofXmas 2016

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Day 8 – #12BeersofXmas 2016

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Brewery – HawksHead Brewery

Location – Staveley, Cumbria (historically, Westmorland)

The Drink: Tonka

ABV: 8.5% – 330ml

Style: Imperial Porter

Additional info: Pale Ale, Crystal, Chocolate & Vienna Malts – Oats.  Cascade, Bramling Cross & Jester hops.  Tonka beans, cacao nibs and vanilla.

Earlier this year I toddled off to the Hawkshead brewery for their annual beer festival and it was a hell of a treat.  One of those rare days where all the transport works and links up and you get a seat on every journey.  You walk in the right direction each time, the scenery around the place is fantastic and the beer and company isn’t half bad too (especially when its, accidentally, Mark from Runaway and Jay nee Quantum).

Tonka I have had before on keg and it was very, very good then, so lets see how the bottled version stands up…

Pouring a thick black with a long last, off-cream-white head the smell is a very subtle dark chocolate.

Lusciously thick and obesely-bodied in the mouth with light carbonation and a smooth nature its taste is dark chocolate, cherries and a slight nuttiness, think liquefied black forest gateaux only less sweet, a more boozy mature version.

Hawkshead are another of those consistently good brewers, able to blend old and new styles seamlessly but seem to drift under the radar and yet are ever present, in short they let the beer do the talking because, well that is how it should be and its all beer needs.

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Day 7 – #12BeersofXmas

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Day 7 – #12BeersofXmas 2016

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Brewery – The Spell Factory

Location – Burnley, Lancashire.

The Drink: Spell One

ABV: 7.0% – 330ml

Style: E.S.B

Additional info: Triple Hops of Citra, Cascade and Centennial.  Triple Malts of Maris Otter, Munich and Rye.

Pours a wonderful deep orange with a quickly dissipating white head. The aroma is of any typical lightly malted bitter with a sweet almost sticky twang.

Mouth feel is light and well rounded, smooth with a nice sweet but slightly bitter after taste.  This is very much a beer of balance and precision and I first had this at one of my favourite pubs The Pendle Witch in Atherton (pronounced a-theeer-tun) and I’d highly recommend a visit there if you fancy getting away from tawdry city centre boozers.

If you’ve not heard of the brewery before, that is because it was supposed to be an off-shoot of Moorhouse’s (much like the other bigger family breweries have started their own, slightly more craft, side projects) but this appears to be the only drink they produced.

If it is the only one then it remains a corker.

This post was brought to you by…

 

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Day 6 – #12BeersofXmas

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Day 6 – #12BeersofXmas 2016

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Brewery – Beer Nouveau

Location – Greater Manchester, Lancashire via Peterborough, Cambridgeshire (historically Northamptonshire).

The Drink: Big DIPA

ABV: 10.9% – 330ml

Style: Double IPA – Barley Wine Hybrid

Additional info:

Galena & Challenger hops; Maris Otter, Lager, Wheat and Crystal malts. 35 IBU, suitable for vegans.

Pouring a lovely deep orangey-red with a quickly dissipating clear white head.  The aroma is smokey, boozy, hoppy and burnt sugars.

Light on the tongue with very little aftertaste, this is a very, very dangerous high ABV beer whose taste gives you no warnings whatsoever.  The taste is light citrus, smoke and hoppy.

I personally can’t get passed the colour though, it just looks fantastic.

I think all of this beer was bottled but what you do need to do is get down to their brewey tap.  Unit 75 on North Western Street/Temperance Street, you’ll be greeted by a fine range of cask and keg beers plus generally a beer served from the wood.  Wines and ciders are also available and Meads too.  Plus snacks the fire to keep you warm, that is if you don’t work up enough of a sweat playing the Wii games.

Merry Christmas to all and thank you to Steve.

This post was brought to you by Weezer – a band I like but don’t actually have any of their albums in any format.

Thanks for reading.

Day 5 – #12BeersofXmas

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Day 5 – #12BeersofXmas 2016

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Brewery – Weird Beard Brew Co.

Location – Trumpers Way, that there London.

The Drink: Dead By Dawn

ABV: 5.6% – 330mL

Style: Cherry Breakfast Stout

Additional info:

Batch: 0370, Bottled: 10/10/2016.  Brewed in Partnership with HasBean Coffee, label art by Nicolo Maioli.

Take one of the brewers that one of my Golden Pints for this year’s best overseas brewers, mix in a bit of cherry, a bit of coffee and reference one of my favourite films of all time and what am I not going to like about this beer.

It opens with a psssttt and pours a silky brown leaving an off-cream, well retained head.  Smelling and tasting of coffee, cherry and a good hint of malts and hops this is exactly how adjuncts should work with a beer – to complement and enhance the style and Dead by Dawn does it in spades.

Its one of those beers when a 500mL bottle would be more welcome, exceedingly sessionable despite the strengh, at its core is a damn fine stout, with the additional flavourings sending it even higher in my estimations.

Now I’m repeating myself but the beer is well worth repeating.

This is also a day late so apologies.

 

This post was brought to you by Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Smmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaashed Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccccccccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeee by Cannibal Corpse…

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Day 4 – #12BeersofXmas

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Day 4 – #12BeersofXmas 2016

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Brewery – Quantum Brewery

Location – Formerly Stockport, Greater Manchester, Cheshire.

The Drink: Coconut and Passionfruit Porter

ABV: 6.0% – 330ml

Style: Porter

Additional info:

Magnum hops; Pale, Cara, Melanoidin, Munich, Oats, Chocolate & roasted barley malts, US05 yeast.

Quantum  Brewery is dead, long live Quantum Brewery.

The only Q brewery in my brewers list announced their ending in late 2016 with the head brewer wanting to actually brew rather than run a business – a common lament amongst many micro-brewers that are basically one man bands.

krause

The beer itself opens with little carbonation and a frothy cream-brown head that quickly disapates.  For me the coconut is absent in both smell and taste but the passionfruit is represented large.  The aroma is all acidic fruits, the taste more or less the same, so for me, not a porter in the slightest but it drinks well, with a smooth mouthfeel and a nice bitter aftertaste that doesn’t outstay its welcome.  Not one for the purists but then again that never seemed to be Quantum’s M.O.

Quantum were one of the first breweries to follow me on Twitter and have had as entertaining online presence as their beers have been non-standard and never afraid to experiment or be massively out there.  Their beers have always been a gamble, the more simpler beers working well, the experiments more hit than miss but what is brewing if you can’t push the boat out.

Jay goes off to brew with the fanboy behemoth that is Cloudwater and that is something that everyone gains from and can only bring good things to all involved, so all the best for the future to everyone in 2017 and beyond.

Done, done, on to the next one…

This post was brought to you by, well it would be too obvious to make another Foo Fighters reference, plus I’ve not listened to them for ages, no this post was written to Kyuss and the mighty Gardenia…

Thanks for reading.