O What a Beautiful Pint

I'm sorry to have been missing so much recently, Taste of London (which was a fantastic success) absorbed all my time over the past couple of weeks and then I've been playing catch-up.

Okay, I also went fly fishing for the first time on Tuesday with my lovely dad, and I even caught two 1.5lb beauties! Dinner last night was fabulous!

But anyway, my main reasons for this post are on a Welsh theme, which is O, so delicious - I think you probably know where I'm going with this.

Yes, my Otley beer was sampled and I'm thrilled to say that it was everything I'd hoped it would be - full of aromatic lime and lemon notes from the botanicals of kaffir lime, lime skins and lemon grass - as well as the glorious Sorachi Ace hops - and with just the right spicy undercurrent to offset the sweetness provided by galangal.

I was so pleased with it I must have hugged everyone at the brewery nearly to death at least twice when I tasted it!

For those of you who have been guessing it's called thai-bO and I'm delighted to say that Otley is coming to lovebeer@borough* on Saturday July 10 and you will be able to sample at the Meet the Brewer event then!

Usual deal, £15 a ticket and the sessions are at 1pm & 3.30pm, tickets available from the Rake or by calling 020 7378 9461 from 3pm today.

*lovebeer@borough is my tasting business in Borough Market, therefore this post represents something in which I have a financial interest

This Could Have Big Ramifications...

I apologise in advance to Cooking Lager who may be waking up to this potential disaster story for cheap booze which reports a licensee could be successful in challenging the fitness of some supermarkets in his area to hold licences due to their pricing policies on commodity alcohol brands.

I will be keeping close tabs on this - and yes I know it's a different licensing system but it's still bound to have a knock-on effect to the rest of the UK if publican Jeff Ellis is successful.

Next Time I Whinge About...

the overly macho marketing of beer in the UK, just remind me that at least I don't live in Brazil and didn't have to put up with Paris Hilton having some faux foreplay with a can of cold beer before the ad got banned.

As my mother always says, you can have all the money in the world but you can't buy class...

Devilishly Good Lamb Dish

Oh my God! What's the ball of burning gas in the sky?! In case you didn't guess I've just seen the sun for the first time in quite a while and am ridiculously over-excited by this fact, it also means that my cooking is about to change and there'll be less long, slow cook and more fresh, lighter recipes for you to experiment with.

Anyway, before that happens thought I'd share my lamb dinner recipe from the weekend with you as I'm travelleing - it was so yummy and so perfect for when it was grey that it really cheered me up!

I tend to try not to eat out of season or from too far away but I have to confess I had a huge yen for a leg of lamb for Sunday lunch and, as it's NZ lamb and I don't find it the tastiest in comparison to British (oh god, what have I said?!), I really like to slow-cook this joint for  a bit of difference every so often.

Now, I do confess to owning a ridiculously expensive & very large tagine which is perfect for this job, but a deep roasting dish and a lot foil will do the trick just as nicely I'm sure - and do make your dauphinoise from scratch, they are waaaay better than the shop bought variety and it really isn't difficult. just buy a cheap mandoline or even use the wide cutter on a four-sided cheese grater for the potatoes and you're 75% of the way there!

I chose the Satan Gold because it's got a really strong spicy note to it that didn't dissapate with the cooking, which I was really, really impressed with.

Devilishly Delicious Lamb & dauphinoise - serve with piles of steamed Swiss Chard good old-fashioned greens!
For lamb:
Leg of lamb
1 pint of stock or water
Onion
Bunch of rosemary
Bunch of thyme
2 bay leaves
Four large garlic cloves
Good whack of seasoning
Bottle of Satan Gold or other strong golden ale (Duvel would do it as well I guess)

1. Season and brown off your lamb on the hob but in the tray you're going to put it in the oven in
2. Deglaze pan with water/stock
3. Roughly chop and throw in onion, lightly crush garlic cloves, throw in skin & all and join it with the herbs
4. Pour the beer over the lamb, seal up tightly and put in a 220 oven for one hour and then turn down to 160 for three-four hours, depending on size of leg - it's done when the meat just pulls away at the slightest touch
5. Leave to rest sealed up for at least an hour

Dauphinoise (serves 4 easily)
450ml double cream
200ml milk
4 garlic cloves
1.5 kilo floury potatoes like Maris Piper/King Edward
Seasoning

1. Finely chop your garlic cloves
2. Put the milk & cream in a pan, season well and add the garlic
3. Bring to boil and immediately turn off heat and leave to stand for 20 minutes
4. Mandoline or very finely slice potatoes and put in a dish wide enough that they are only two-three layers deep
5. Once creamy mix has steeped, pour all over, turning the potatoes over so the garlic gets everywhere and then put in the oven once your lamb has been taken out to rest
6. Will take between 45-1 hour to cook, keep an eye on it, when it's brown on top & crispy around the edges (not burnt though) it's going to be luscious!

New Leaf

My good friend and colleague Adrian Tierney-Jones has just informed me that Granville has just been bought by Creemore Springs which, in turn, is owned by Molson Coors.

HOWEVER, it is apparent that the mega-brewer takes a very hands-off approach to Creemore and is planning to be similarly distant with Granville. They've got a track record with leaving White Shield intact in the UK, and the fact that they are investing in an existing craft brewery rather than trying to create a 'fake' craft brewing brand like some of its rivals, is something I find more genuine.

I think it's got to be wait and see, they've proved they can do it both here and in Canada already, so here's hoping that it's only good news for this brewery and its fans.

Thanks for the heads up ATJ!

Celebrate Burn's Night with Whisky Beers!

After all the stress of the penultimate test match coming to a draw I thought I ought to do some work, so please find below the latest info on the next Meet the Brewer at lovebeer@borough.

Award-winning Scottish brewery Harviestoun, based in Alva at the foot of the rolling Ochil Hills, is renowned all over the world for its immensely drinkable beers and now you can meet head brewer Stuart Cail for an early Burn’s Night celebration in London this January 23, with a range of the brewery’s beers and a wee something to nibble on after in the form of the ‘chieftain o' the puddin-race’, Haggis, with tatties & neeps.

Always renowned for its innovation, the brewery is widely acknowledged to have produced one of the first blonde beers, in the shape of Bitter & Twisted, which helped kick-start the rediscovery of the delights of real ale by lager drinkers, and is still leading the charge on exciting beers to this day.

More recently beer (and whisky) lovers on both sides of the Atlantic have warmly received the various versions of the brewery’s complex and esoteric delight Ola Dubh. The name Ola Dubh means Black Oil, and is a gloriously dark, rich thick 8%ABV beer aged in different Highland Park Whisky casks.

The beer comes in 12, 16, 18, 30 and 40-year-old versions* and is ideal as a digestif or paired with strong cheeses like Stinking Bishop or Époisses (*the years refer to the age of the whisky casks the beer is aged in).

The tasting will also include Ptarmigan cask ale, the seasonal brew Haggis Hunter and a comparative tasting of the brewery’s award-winning Schiehallion in both cask and bottle format, much to the delight of co-proprietor of Tickets are just £15 and there are currently two tasting events scheduled, on Saturday January 23 at 1pm and 3.30pm, but tickets are already in demand by word of mouth alone, so more announcements may follow.

Tickets are available from Utobeer or the Rake (14 Winchester Walk, Borough Market, London, SE1 9AG) by emailing melissa@love-beer.co.uk or calling 020 7378 9461.

*this post is for my beer tasting business*

BEER BITES BACK AT BOROUGH

lovebeer@borough and top Scottish beer producer BrewDog have joined forces for a day of tastings on November 29 to herald the start of BrewDog week at the Rake bar and sister market stall Utobeer.

Beers will include such incredible concoctions as Zephyr - a 13% India Pale Ale (IPA) that has been in a grain whisky cask for 18 months with 30kgs of fresh strawberries - and the specially name Rake Raspberry Imperial Stout created from a 10% imperial stout aged in a Smokehead whisky cask with 25kgs of fresh raspberries.

But, don’t be scared, we’ll only be serving them in sensible tasting measures – alongside a selection of other BrewDog beers such as the much-loved Punk IPA, Hop Rocker, The Physics and Rip Tide.

Tickets are 30 quid and available from the Rake and Utobeer on Borough Market or by emailing me melissa@love-beer.co.uk

This post promotes a tasting at lovebeer@borough, which I am a partner in.

Aussie Rules

Well, I apologise for the gaps in posts - I've been mad busy and should actually be doing some work now, but seeing as it's about 7.30pm I've opted for grabbing a cold one instead!

The lovely Karl at Pierhead sent me some Boag's St George today and, I have to say, it's not a bad lager at all!

A little Tasmanian devil of a beer it's got a nice balance of sweet and bitter and made with local Tasmanian malt; unfortunately I don't know what the hops are but I hazard they might be Pride of Ringwood, they've got that character.

It's a real palette teaser. I've been so intent on working, up until now obviously, that I hadn't realised I was in the least bit hungry, yet this has sparked my mouth into life.

Unfortunately I'm also aware that, despite normally being a bit of an amateur cook, I've got sweet FA in the house with which to rustle up anything decent and my recent undertaking to lose more weight before venturing in front of the TV cameras again is sitting heavy on my conscience, so take out doesn't seem like an option - bugger!

So, another out of the ordinary lager - always a good find in my book because, to be honest, when I'm working and having a cheeky beer I don't want something too exciting because I'll only get distracted!

Try it with a beef rendang - it'll rock...

...now where did I put that pizza menu?!

Hooray for Open-Minded Editors

A beer piece, in Sainsbury's Magazine - surely not I hear you cry! Isn't that one for 'the ladies'?

But hats off to Sue Robinson (the editor), she was an instant convert to the beer cause after falling in love with a Meantime Porter and Valharona chocolate dessert match at a lunch I worked on for the English Beef & Lamb Executive and decided to commission the piece as a result of experiencing the amazing qualities of different beers first hand - so thanks for being so open-minded Sue (and for ignoring Ian Botham's continued attempts to feed you wine instead!).

My point behind this post is that too often we beer nerds think that telling people what they want to drink is the way to convert them to the beer cause, but I disagree.

The key for me is education and passion on the subject of beer, not patronisation or fundamentalist attitudes.

For example: I held a tasting last night at the Printer's Devil in Fetter Lane, London for a group of lawyers and their clients at which there was one woman and one man who both said they never drink beer at the beginning of the evening.

By going right back to basics about how alcohol is made, how beer was discovered, dispelling myths about some mainstream brands containing chemicals and giving a bit of a story behind some of the beers, the original beer-avoiders left swearing to experiment more - what more can you ask?