March 2011

‘Beer’

March 29, 2011 by Paul Morris

I haven’t quite worked out the stigma of saying “I like beer” or “I’m a beer geek” to people not in the know. The former gives the impression you’re at least a high functioning alcoholic. But worse than that given what most people think of as ‘beer’ they probably think I spend my free time propping up the bar at my local Wetherspoons drinking them dry of Stella, or Ruddles County (eeeew). And “beer geek” is always difficult to explain. If you say “I’m into wine” or “I’m a wine geek” it’s instantly acceptable even though the types, style and geography of wine is far more prohibitive than beer. And when you try and explain why beer is awesome and how it’s more interesting than wine they look at you like as you’re about to grow horns or start spouting as bollocks about “winning” and “tiger blood”.

So how do you do explain it? Do you mention it and gloss over the details, or do you just stay quiet?

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IPA Is Dead Dinner at the Dean Swift

March 3, 2011 by Paul Morris

Glyn’s already beaten me to blogging about last night’s IPA Is Dead at the Dean Swift but to be fair I’ve been up to my neck in building super computers for developers, dying telephone systems and a (somewhat) unexpected trip to The Rake this evening.

As you may have gathered from my rant post t’other day beer and food matching is a bit passion of mine. Good beer = win. Good food = win. Together = fantastic. So the BrewDog IPA Is Dead dinner totally ticked all the right boxes.

If you haven’t been there the Dean Swift is a relatively new/reopened pub amongst the converted warehouse spaces in Shad Thames, just behind Tower Bridge. The beer range is really good – three interesting cask ales, usually one from Dark Star, standard fayre on keg mixed with BrewDog and a couple of interesting foreign choices, including a beer brewed for them by Huyghe, and the fridges are full of great beers – particularly a large number of beers from the Kernel brewery. I went to the Draft House round the corner beforehand and the Dean Swift proves that good beer needn’t cost the earth by being a reasonably priced pub (there are some lessons to be learnt Draft House). The Dean Swift does some legendary food too. It’s become a regular haunt on Sundays for the quiz and I look forward to the food all day Sunday so I’ve been looking forward to the IPA Is Dead dinner for the last couple of weeks.

The theme was BrewDog IPAs – the four limited edition IPA Is Dead, new Punk IPA (aka Punk X) and Hardcore IPA (aka TesCore). Tom from BrewDog talked us through the beers and a bit of history of the brewery. It wasn’t the first time I’ve heard the Mother Theresa anecdote and I suspect it won’t be the last. But the banter was all good fun and added to the experience.

I won’t go into great detail about the beer and food matches, Glyn’s done that but the highlights were of the beers were the Sorachi Ace, which I’d had the night before in bottle and is quite different – it’s a bit minty with a hint of green tea. It’s an amazing Japanese hop I hope to see it used (compatently) in more beers in the future. I’d say that match was my favourite too and really inventive. My least favourite was the Nelson Sauvin, not to say it was bad/not good but of the IPA Is Dead range I think it’s the *least awesome*. That said the match was spot on with a lamb tangine. I wasn’t entirely convinced by the cheese and Hardcore IPA pairing but seeing as I love cheese and Hardcore IPA independently so I’ll forgive them that.

So yeah, a really fun night. The food was great, the beer was great, the pub was laid out fantastically and the staff were amazing. I look forward to more of the same.

The Matchings

Punk IPA w/ seared scallops califlower veloute

IPA Is Dead Citra w/ chicken roulade with wild boar, apple & pistachio marsala wine jus

IPA Is Dead Bramling X w/ braised wild english rabbit & caramalised pear

IPA Is Dead Nelson Sauvin w/ spicy lamb tangine

IPA Is Dead Sorachi Ace w/ Kaffir lime & lemongrass panacotta and ginger & lemongrass green tea jelly

Hardcore IPA w/ Neals yard dairy British (Scottish) cheeses (inc. Stichelton) and oat biscuits

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Categories: Beer & Food!, Beers, Food • No Comments »

“The curse of the gastropub”

March 1, 2011 by Paul Morris

I read this article today by Roger Protz called Gastropubs Hog The Limelight and got teh rage. I have a lot of respect for Roger Protz but he does seem to be increasingly becoming one of the CAMRA Old Guard – the type who think pubs should be smoke-filled barely lit, barely furnished, surly-staffed “this is a local pub for local people. There’s nothing for you here” kinda joints. I got teh rage a couple of years ago when the MD of Marston’s described CAMRA members as “beardie weirdies, sandal-clad, whisker-stroking stormtroopers”. At the time I thought it was uncalled for but the more festivals I go to with the great unwashed, the people who sweat whilst standing up and the people who moan and bitch at the number of young people at festivals the more I think there’s no smoke without fire. That and what I read in “What’s Brewing” and “London Drinker” make me think that the Old Guard are outdated and holding CAMRA back from campaigning on what actually matters.

But, diatribe aside and back to this article, I could envisage a more solid argument against the rise of gastropubs but Protz’s falls flat on it’s face for several reasons. Firstly he attacks pure gastropubs. They’re not all like The Eagle, where even I walked out after seeing the menu as it was “too fancy” for what I was in the mood for (but I am Northern and sometimes I just want normal pub grub). And the line blurs, I mean, is The Cask a gastropub? The Gun on the Isle of Dogs? Both really great pubs that happen to do good food. To dismiss any pub that makes an effort with it’s food as “detestable” is shameful. Good food and good beer go together really well, especially when the establishment has made an effort to match them, which shouldn’t be ignored just because you don’t like fancy pubs.

Secondly, using wanky journalists as a beating stick against gastropubs strikes me as showing a really weak hand. So what if they just drank wine and got the facts wrong. I’ve been to the Pot Kiln in Berkshire, it’s a fantastic pub, one that I’ve had an amazing lunch and some great pints at. You should attack the pub itself, not the people who’ve written about it.

In all I don’t really understand why Roger Protz hates gastropubs as it wasn’t terribly obvious from his anecdote-riddled article but in a time when pubs are closing they’re getting people through the doors, boosting business and raising the awareness of real ale, and isn’t that a good thing?

Categories: Pubs, Rantage • No Comments »