On a recent trip to London to collect more Camden Town Brewery beer (including a keg of their Pale Ale for our next ‘guest keg’ beer),  I also managed to convince Kernel brewer Evin to part with some bottles of this illusive nectar.

The first of his beer to grace our beer list will be the 6.8% India Pale Ale with Columbus & Summit Hops. Kernel beers are generally bottle conditioned, typical of their IPA’s and Pale ale it pours a slightly hazy deep amber colour with a frothy white head. There are definite citrus and tropical fruit aromas alongside some earthy pine notes.  First sip reveals a sticky malt sweetness with tropical fruit & piney citrus flavours, although it seems that almost as soon as they appear they are balanced by the more acidic grapefruit. This is a full bodied beer with a nicely balanced biscuit malt base and a long bitter finish.

This is not a beer for the feint hearted, it is big, bold and bitter and weighing in at 6.8% it’s not a session beer either.  This is a great beer to sip and savour or to enjoy with food.  Try it with our Chilli Chicken Sandwich or the Lamb, Rosemary & Chilli Burger.

On Sale Now!

Having constructed a small scale cold smoker out of my old school trunk for the purpose of making bacon, the chefs were now keen to experiment and have been smoking everything they can get their hands on (no I don’t mean banana skins & dried oregano) including some Local Wild Rabbit Saddles which they served with a Wild Mushroom & Tarragon Risotto and some Lardons of our Beer Cured Smoked Bacon. Unsurprisingly the dish was a fast seller as soon as it appeared on the specials. We also received some ‘cyber drooling’ after posting on Twitter & Facebook.  After taking orders from several customers throughout the evening, and getting stunning feedback, I could take it no more and ordered one for myself to enjoy at the end of service.

I delved in to my personal beer stash in the cellar in search of something that could handle the rich smokey & earthy flavours and help cut through the creamy risotto.  Usually a bit of a hoarder I was surprisingly quick to pick a beer I’ve only just added to the stash following a trip to Brighton and The Spotted Dog. I chose a 6.9% Galaxy India Pale Ale from Kernel Brewery, I’d not had this beer before, but Kernel IPA’s never disappoint and I thought it might just have the credentials for this dish, surely rabbit deserved a hoppy beer *gets coat*.

Firstly on to the food porn meal, Home Smoked Saddle of Local Rabbit with a Wild Mushroom & Tarragon Risotto and Our Own Beer Cured Smoked Bacon Lardons. Wow. You might think I’m biased, and I probably am, but this dish was truly stunning, beautifully executed and an absolute delight to eat.

I tentatively took the first sip of Kernel IPA to wash down a tender smokey piece of rabbit and was instantly disappointed. The fizz washed away the gentle smokiness of the rabbit leaving almost nothing behind.  A second sip and I thought about saving the beer until I had finished the meal so I could enjoy and appreciate this delightful brew fully. Then I had a taste of the mushroom risotto and was instantly transported to heaven.  The earthy, minerally malt backbone and grassy hops danced with the rich wild mushrooms & tarragon, the gentle fizz & piney citrus flavours cut through the creamy arborio rice leaving me eager for my next mouthful.  This time I popped some smoked bacon on to the fork with another heap of risotto, a sip of beer to cleanse the palate, a taste of food and another glug of Kernel, the sweet fruity foreground washing the saltiness away lifting the bacon to another level and yet still managing to tango with the wild mushrooms and tarragon.

The tender smoked rabbit was almost certainly the star of this dish, although sadly it didn’t see eye to eye with the kernel beer so I ate  the rabbit first, ignoring the beer completely and savoring every single bite. I left myself with a glass full of Galaxy IPA and plateful of Risotto and Bacon Lardons. I finished off the dish washing each mouthful down with a sip of this stunning beer only to be extremely disappointed as I emptied both my glass and my plate.

As a well know beer writer once said… FABPOW. Next time I think I’d like to try it with a Schlenkerla Rauch Weizen and perhaps the whole dish might make FABPOW status.

Sunday 8th January 5-6pm
£5 per head (includes beer & nibbles)

It has been a great year for beer at The Thatchers, we started this blog for a start! Then we were crowned Colchester & North Essex CAMRA Pub of the Year 2011  securing our fourth consecutive year in the Good Beer Guide. We were also featured in Adrian Tierney-Jones’ book Great British Pubs and a got a review in the Daily Telegraph! We have held two Beer Festivals celebrating both the new wave of London breweries & new locally brewed ales.  We have also hosted two Beer & Food Matching & two Beer vs Wine & Food Matching evenings.  We are keen to make sure we keep up the pace for 2012 so have made a few New ‘Beer’ Resolutions…

1) We will continue to serve the best Real Ales we can get our hands on.  Adnams Bitter & Crouch Vale Brewers Gold will stay as permanent beers with ever changing Guests coming from outstanding microbreweries both locally and around the country.

2) We will endeavour to always offer a range of beers for everyones tastes, malty, hoppy, light, dark, just ask us for some help if you’re not sure what to go for, if it’s not a draft we might have something in a bottle…

3) We will remove Carlsberg from the bar and replace it with a monthly changing Guest Keg beer. From Brewdog Punk IPA or Calvors Dark to a Meantime, Hardknott, Black Isle or Camden Brewery beer, watch this space…

4) Our bottled beer selection has evolved to a carefully considered list of interesting and exciting beers with a great balance flavours & mix of styles. The list contains predominantly UK craft breweries.

5) We aim to use beer more in our cooking and to develop our Beer & Food matching even further.

6) I personally intend to get started on the Beer Academy courses with the eventual aim of becoming a qualified Beer Somelier, follow this blog to see how I get on…

So join us for a lazy Sunday afternoon on January 8th where we will be tasting our first Guest Keg beer Punk IPA from Brewdog, Adnams new 2.7% Sole Star and a selection from our new bottled craft beer list including some stunners from Camden Brewery.

Please book so we have an idea of numbers for nibbles.

According to CAMRA’s survey at GBBF, one in two pub goers would drink a 2.8% beer. My cynicism leads me to believe that they think they should drink a 2.8% beer and answered accordingly, but in reality would they actually choose it over a standard 3.7 – 4.5% beer? However, it has often been said that one of the great skills of English brewers is the knowledge & ability to produce such a wide variety of full flavoured beers at relatively low ABV’s compared to our European cousins who in particular usually produce beers around a minimum of 5% ABV. Is 2.8% pushing it too far though?  We have already seen Carling C2 (a 2% lager) almost completely disappear less than five years ago, although this was before the Government duty reduction, and admittedly it’s not exactly hand crafted…

I was extremely sceptical until our recent October Beer Festival where we had Norfolk Brewery Wolf’s low ABV offering Moonlight. It was the first to sell out. It is a pale golden ale and despite being under 3% it had bags of flavour, mostly from the hops, lovely citrus flavours and a little sweetness, admittedly it didn’t have much body, but it was a great thirst quencher and an ideal quaffing beer. We had some great feedback from the customers, and at roughly 1.6 units per pint, even two and a half pints should keep most people under the drink drive limit of 80mg of alcohol. Following that eye-opening experience, I still surprised myself when I got quite excited as a package containing a mini keg of Adnams new 2.7% Sole Star landed on the doorstep. Fergus has been doing a great job at Adnams producing some stunning beers over the last few years Solebay Celebratory, Innovation, Spindrift, American IPA and a cracking Mild to name but a few. It’s always a pleasure trying another one of his creations and with my new-found open-mindedness I was looking forward to trying this one too.

I have to say I wasn’t disappointed. It poured a clear rich amber with a frothy white head and looked extremely appealing.  The citrus aromas of the cascade & chinook hops were immediately apparent as was the classic Adnams Burtonised water. It reminded me immediately of Adnams Lighthouse (previously named ‘Champion Pale’). The bitterness hits the palate first with all those lovely floral citrus hops, then comes a gentle toffee sweetness from the malt and a lovely dry finish. Once again this beer is a touch light on body, but it is really to be expected. As a self-confessed hop head, there is definitely enough to keep me coming back for more in here.  If I were taking it easy then I’d be quite happy drinking a few pints of this. Would I prefer it to a stronger beer on another occasion? I’m not sure, but we’ll certainly be giving this beer a whirl at the Thatcher’s in the New Year, will you?

One of my favourite beers for Christmas Day is rather indulgent, Deus Brut Des Flanders, a beautiful Belgian Champagne Style Beer. It’s perfect with smoked salmon & scrambled eggs at breakfast.  A dusty golden colour with a gentle fizz, served in a champagne glass and shared with family & friends, but definitely not with orange juice!

If you’re not brave enough for beer at breakfast save the Deus for your Christmas Dinner. After a chat with Bernie, we agreed we would both opt for something darker with our roast, a mild or a porter, with some rich roasted malt flavours to bring out the chestnuts, stuffing  & roast meat. Opting for a local brew, I chose Red Fox Brewery’s Black Fox Porter with a lovely dry finish to cleanse your palate ensuring your ready for the next undoubtedly unnecessary mouthful.

Finally I picked the bottled version of Adnams Broadside, a dark brown ale with roasted malt and big fruity flavours. It’s a winner with Christmas pudding, the bitter hop finish is a great match with a cheeseboard and even if you don’t have room for either of those after dinner treats,  it’s perfect with your slippers in front of the fire.

I’ll be driving on Christmas day, so sadly, Deus for breakfast won’t be on the cards for me this year… what will you be drinking?

After celebrating our 5th birthday last week, I found out it was my locals 3rd birthday this week. It’s great to see other thriving pubs in the midst of this financial crisis, but what separates the successful pubs from the ever-growing list of closing ones?

It’s tough, and possibly unusual, for a publican to have a ‘local’ that isn’t his own pub. Firstly, just making the time to visit other establishments can be a problem, it’s also not considered the done thing for a landlord to be seen regularly trousered in his own, or any other pub, other publicans may be wary of ‘the competition‘ becoming too familiar, and surely a landlord usually tries to create a place that they would like to visit themselves, so why leave?

I love pubs, I love my pub, but I still love visiting other pubs. You are unlikely to find a journalist who doesn’t read or a butcher who doesn’t eat meat, so it stands to reason that a publican should enjoy visiting pubs. It seems natural to me that I would want what our regulars have, somewhere ‘everybody knows your name‘, somewhere to enjoy a quiet pint, or maybe some banter with good company, but most importantly, somewhere to relax, the latter often being difficult to achieve in your own hostelry.

The Mauldons Brewery Tap in Sudbury is my local, I started visiting shortly after it opened. There’s always a great selection of their own beer plus a good mix of guest ales from around the country. The beer’s always in good condition and with 7-10 ales to choose from at any time and you’re always welcome to ‘try before you buy’. They don’t do meals, but they do a superb filled roll with local ham and cheese or pies from the local butcher, if you’re lucky they’ll have their hot salt beef bap or Donna’s homemade scotch eggs on the boards. The Tap is open all day, so perfect for me to fit in a cheeky afternoon pint and a bite to eat with the usual rabble of 5 o’clock regulars. The Thatchers is closed during the afternoon in the week which allows me the time to frequent my local whilst also discouraging me from getting absolutely hoonered* before starting work in the evening!

There’s never any background music in The Tap, but there’s always a lovely atmosphere. The locals might be firing tales of escapades from the previous night or their working day across the bar. The brewery staff, and owners Steve and Alison who also use the pub, involve themselves in the lively conversations. Alison often sends nibbles round on a Friday early doors such as Phylis’ hot buttered cheese scones. The staff are friendly and attentive, remembering ‘the usual’ for those who have one, and even remembering old favourites for those of us who like particular guest beers. Just the other week I got a text** to inform me an unusual Darkstar beer was on that they knew I’d love to try. There is always something going on, regular beer festivals, a monthly breakfast club, live music, golf society, billiards tournaments, quiz nights and even the occasional curry night or wine tasting.

Is it the beer that makes the pub successful? The welcome or the personal service? Perhaps it’s the events or the extremely well priced nibbles? People always say the key to success is your staff. Not that I disagree, but I do believe the locals should also be recognised. Learning by example from the staff, good locals quickly follow suit, welcoming new customers and recommending drinks rather than the stereotypical ‘Are you local?‘ stare.

So what actually makes any pub successful? It could be one or all of the points above, and a whole raft of others to boot. Is there actually a formula for the perfect pub? In my opinion, thankfully there isn’t. It would make my job very dull, I know I’d miss the daily challenges of such an entrepreneurial trade, and we’d all miss the diversity and personality of our Great British Pubs. At the end of the day it’s the passion and belief in the identity and ethos of the pub. Lead by example from the owners, passed on to the staff and drip fed to the customers.  There are obviously some basics to get right first, but the rest is passion and a big welcoming smile!

I was once told about a small pub co. who took over a nearby pub. The directors were overheard during a strategy meeting discussing implementing aspects of the ‘Thatchers Business Model’. Whilst flattered, it proved to me that they didn’t understand that it is the ‘Thatchers Personality’ that makes people come back to us, not our ‘Business Model’.

Congratulations to The Tap on 3 great years and thank you to all the people who make me want to come back to my local time after time. Happy Birthday!

* hoonered: For a full list of adjectives referring to the state of inebriation read Pete Brown’s Book ‘Man Walks into a Pub‘

** as I write this blog another friendly text just arrived from Bar Supervisor Sarah to tell me Adnams Pale Ale is on the bar, might have to pop in later today

One of the main attractions of the Thatchers Arms was the Free of Tie lease.  It’s no secret that I love beer, I love trying different beers, I love selling beer to happy customers and I wanted to be able to sell any beer I chose, which I now do…  Sadly a couple of years ago, after about 200 or so, I lost track of exactly how many different beers we’d served, although, as a self-confessed beer geek, I could probably remember what they all looked and tasted like if prompted.

After a little research this morning, our till records revealed that we have sold just shy of 100,000 pints of Real Ale since opening the doors in 2006. Adnams Bitter has been in permanent residence since day one and our first guest beer Crouch Vale Brewers Gold was so popular it’s hasn’t ever left the bar! Together they account for over half of our Real Ale sales to date.  These two exceptional beers have helped us to gain people’s trust. Our guest beers are often from small microbreweries that our customers may not have even heard of, but the consistent quality of our two permanent ales gives people the confidence to try something different. We strive to have the best beers we can get hold of, choosing beers through reputation and not price. We serve lots of East Anglian beers, but also search out beers from the new wave of craft brewers across the UK. Our Guest ales today are Greenjack Albion Mild, Bristol Beer Factory Sunrise & Hardknott Continuum, and we’ve got Magic Rock, Mauldons & Nethergate beers coming soon as well as a 2009 vintage Adnams Tally Ho for December. We’ve also just found out ex Nethergate brewer Tom Knox is opening the Colchester Brewery just 2 miles down the road, look out for their beers coming soon!

Our devotion to beer was kindly recognised by our local CAMRA branch who awarded us the Colchester & North Essex Pub of the Year award 2011. We have been featured in the ‘Good Beer Guide‘ for 4 years running as well as Adrian Tierney-Jones recent  CAMRA book ‘Great British Pubs‘. I even penned my first paid article on beer this month (for a trade publication released in December).

But what does 100,000 pints of ale look like? Well, it depends on your point of reference. According to beer-pages.com it’s roughly the daily output from Adnams Brewery. According to the BBC we drink 50 times that amount of Guinness on St Patrick’s Day in the UK alone. To me 100,000 pints is a milestone which represents a lot of hard work, fun, devotion and the loyalty of our staff and locals who have drunk it and helped to make the Thatchers what it is in five short years. A hearty thank you and a great big ‘Cheers!’ goes out to all of our staff past and present. Happy Birthday us.

Tim asked if we could keep things light-hearted and make the evening a charity event if the hosts gave their time for free.  Keen to raise as much as possible for their chosen charities, Amnesty International if Tim won & Help for Heroes if Adrian won, we set about getting as much of the evening sponsored as possible. Adnams kindly offered their support, as did the online retailer Slurp. Because all of the wines and beers had been kindly donated by these two companies it meant a massive chunk of the £30 ticket price could go to charity. Follow the links from the menu below to cellarandkitchen.adnams.co.uk or slurp.co.uk & slurpbeer.com to purchase any of the evenings chosen drinks to sample yourself (apologies if some of them are currently out of stock, that would be our fault!) .  We also managed to get much of the menu subsidised by John Colemans Butchers, Direct Seafoods, Bookers & our newest supplier The Fair Game Meat company who all generously supported the event with a mixture of free and cost price food for the menu.

Beers & Wines donated by Adnams, Slurp & Slurp Beer

It took a while to arrange a date suitable for everybody but we finally settled on October 28th 2011, the start of British Pub Week. The event drew a lot of attention particularly with our fellow tweeters. Beer Writer Des De Moor was first to book alongside Dave & Ann instigators & owners of Hardknott Brewery,  Video Blogger Nathan Nolan, a gaggle of Adnams representatives Delyth, Harriet & Head Brewer Fergus and Journalists from the Publicans Morning Advertiser & The On Trade Preview to name a few! Many of our faithful locals also attended and one member of staff booked the night off especially. In all, an incredibly diverse guest list of just over 50 people sat down for the five course meal meaning a total profit of £1060 for the winning charity.

After a short introduction, I handed over to Tim & Adrian to talk the diners through the pairings with each course. They both talked passionately about their chosen beverage, keeping things amicable with a few jokes and anecdotes.  Sadly I wasn’t taking notes and can’t remember any of the tales, except that if you’re in Chile and you want Merlot you have to ask for Merlot Merlot or you’ll end up with Carmenere! Guests were allowed to vote for both beverages if they thought they worked equally well. The evenings events were also reported on live on twitter under the hashtag #beervswine by many in attendance, and a few who weren’t, (view an analysis of all the tweets by archivist.com) with Guardian Journalist Fiona Beckett tweeting to nearly 9000 followers “Follow @ThatchersArms Twitter stream for next couple of hours for epic battle btw @ATJbeer and @Timatkin“.

Photo courtesy of http://www.ontrade.co.uk

So here’s how it all worked out…

First Course:
Carpaccio of Venison Loin & Beetroot with Port & Mustard Vinaigrette
(V Carpaccio of Beetroot with Port & Mustard Vinaigrette)
Beer: Duchesse de Bourgogne 6.2% (slurpbeer.com £2.45 33cl)
An oak aged Flanders Red Ale from Brouwerij Verhaeghe in Vichte, Belgium
Wine: 2008 Casa Rivas Carmenere Gran Reserva 14.5% (Adnams.co.uk £12.99 75cl)
A lost bordeaux grape now native to Chile, Maipo Valley
The sourness of the beer paired perfectly with the acidic dressing and the big spicy wine complimented the rich venison. However it was a landslide victory for beer 41:20

Photo courtesy of http://www.ontrade.co.uk

Second Course:
Home Smoked Mackerel Fillet with Pickled Samphire & Lemon Dressing
(V Smoked Ribbons of Aubergine, Pepper & Courgette w Pickled Samphire & Lemon Dressing)
Beer: Adnams Explorer 5.0% (Adnams.co.uk £13.50 12x500ml)
Fruity, citrus hops with a biscuity malt backbone
Wine: 2010 Telmo Rodriguez Gaba do Xil 13.5% (Adnams.co.uk £9.50 75cl)
Hugely refreshing, aromas of honey & apple peel, Valdeorras, Spain
The citrus flavours in the beer worked well with the pickled samphire & lemon, but there wasn’t quite enough malt to stand up to the smoked fish.  The wine did a stunning job of lifting the smoky flavours and cutting through the acidity. A 21:30 equaliser for wine.

Photo courtesy of http://www.ontrade.co.uk

Third Course
Delicate Sri Lankan Red Chicken Curry with Cardamom Rice & Poppadums (medium)
(V Vegetable Curry as above)
Beer: Schneider Weiss Original 5.4% (slurpbeer.com £2.60 50cl)
Amber Wheat beer brewed since 1872 in Kelheim, Germany
Wine: 2008 Cape Barren Estate Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvedre 15% (Adnams.co.uk £13.50 75cl)
Delicate to start opening up to a butch Oz red from the McLaren Vale, South Australia
The beer cleansed the palate after each sip but for a delicate curry, those who like it hot much preferred the red wine which enhanced the spice in the dish. Only a narrow win for beer at 32:24.

Photo courtesy of http://www.ontrade.co.uk/

Fourth Course:
Lemon Tart with Raspberry Coulis
Beer: Adnams Solebay (Adnams.co.uk £10 750ml – Currently out of stock, back soon!)
Champagne Style beer with pilsner malt & Nelson Sauvin hops & lavender
Wine: 2009 Fontanafredda Moscato d’Asti (slurp.co.uk £9.85 50cl)
Medium bodied sweet dessert wine from the Piemonte region of Italy
The lovely citrus flavours of this stunning beer worked wonderfully with the lemon tart, but the sharp raspberry coulis hindered things a little.  In contrast the only wine that was weaker than beer all evening was a delicate lightly sparkling 5.5% cousin of Asti Spumanti. The summery elderflower flavours sealed a 14:39 win for wine leaving it all to play for on the last course!

Photo courtesy of http://www.ontrade.co.uk/

Fifth Course:
Handmade Dark Chocolate Petit Fours
Beer: Harviestoun Ola Dubh 12yo 8.0% (slurpbeer.com £3.60 50cl)
Dark Scottish Ale aged in Highland Park Whisky casks
Wine: Lustau San Emilion PX (slurp.co.uk £16.40 75cl)
Award winning dark, sweet, rich sherry from the Jerez region of Spain
The luxurious,  rich, sweet sherry was a little too cloying for some with the chocolates, and the alcohol flavours in this exquisite beer were a touch too far for others. After a re-count due to confusion & light hearted allegations of cheating it was a dead heat at 28:28! 

Photo courtesy of http://www.ontrade.co.uk/

So clearly beer is, at the very least, equally as good with food as wine. Tim & Adrian shook on the affable outcome raising £530 each for their chosen charities. Perhaps now it’s time for Saturday Kitchen and the rest of the media to give equal coverage to our home grown beverage beer as they do to wine. 

Other blogs on the evening:
Ann Wedgwood @HardknottAnn
Dave Bailey @HardknottDave
Adrian Tierney-Jones @ATJBeer
Many thanks for the amazing video blog from @MrDrinknEat

“It was as natural as eating and, to me, as necessary. I would not have thought of eating a meal without drinking a beer.” - Ernest Hemingway

“If food is the body of good living, wine is its soul.” – Clifton Fadiman

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Which is the best match for your meal, beer or wine? At the Thatchers Arms, Mount Bures, we are hosting a Beer vs Wine & Food matching evening to find out. We are lucky enough to have Saturday Kitchen’s Tim Atkin & Beer Writers Adrian Tierney Jones & Melissa Cole to help us decide over a five course menu. Each of the courses will be served with a wine and a beer. The experts will talk us through their choices and leave it to the guests to decide.

The five courses costing £30 including beer & wine are kindly supported by Adnams & Slurp.co.uk with the food being supported by Direct Seafoods & John Colemans Butchers, All of the proceeds will be going to the charity of the winners choice. The five course Set Menu will be prepared by the Chefs at The Thatchers Arms and includes Venison Carpaccio, Home Smoked Mackerel, Sri Lankan Curry, Lemon Tart & Petit Fours. Vegetarian alternatives are available on request.

If Beer wins the diners vote then Help for Heroes will be collecting the profits, and if Wine wins the hearts of our foodies then Amnesty International will be winning the cash!

The evening is taking place after speculation on Twitter instigated by Dave Bailey & Neil Bowness that the very British product beer doesn’t get a fair share of TV coverage on shows like Saturday Kitchen. Wine is always matched with food when sometimes beer can do just as good or an even better job of pairing with the flavours in foods. Tim leapt to the defence of wine on Twitter agreeing to help host the evening convinced that wine is more often than not a much better partner to food. Adrian & Melissa, beer aficionados, both with books on the subject are keen to help beer receive it’s fair share of media coverage and will be choosing the beers to pair with the menu.

There are limited spaces available for the event, booking is essential.

Contact The Thatchers on 01787 227460 to book your seat.

Seven Beers for Seven Courses

The theme to this years Beer Festival has been ‘new’ East Anglian beers, all first brewed in the last 12 months. We’ve lucked out with some stunning beers, albeit that the range of styles hasn’t been as broad as we’d have liked, many are golden and highly hopped as has been the trend for 2011.  I was keen to make sure that we didn’t just match different gold hoppy beers with each of the seven courses, so I did also look to our bottled beer selection for inspiration.

If you like the look of this menu and would like to get involved in one of our food matching evenings, we have a Beer vs Wine & Food Matching evening on Friday October 28th. Saturday Morning Kitchens Tim Atkin & Beer writers Adrian Tierney-Jones & Melissa Cole will be hosting and pairing a wine & a beer with each course, who wins? YOU DECIDE! The evenings proceeds will all go to the charity of the winners choice, tickets are £30 and bookings are essential.

Back to our Beer Festival, here’s the menu and how things went…

First Course: Carrot & Beetroot Borscht with Pilsner Urquell
The rich malt flavours in Pilsner Urquell pair perfectly with sweet beetroot and the bitter saaz hops clear the palate after each sip making this rich soup ever so slightly more delicate. Although our version of the soup was vegetarian, traditionally it would contain bacon and the Pilsner Urquell would come into it’s element here also pairing beautifully with the caramelised meat.

Second Course: Chorizo Scotch Quails Egg
with Crouch Vale Cluster
Hops and  spice go together like Butter & Jam, which is why Curry and IPA are frequently matched together.  With chorizo some malt is also needed to compliment the pork and the golden fried breadcrumbs, so Cluster, with a full flavoured thirst quenching biscuity malt and clean fruity hops came together perfectly with the spice. This beer was in great condition with a little bit of carbonation helping to cut through the runny quails egg yolk.

Third Course: Diver Caught Scallop with Smoked Norfolk Dapple wrapped in Smoked Bacon with Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier
The Rauchbier is a German smoked marzen,  dark brown with a rich smoked malt base; this isn’t  a delicate beer, it’s a Juggernaut of flavour.  It’s not for everybody, what I’d call a ‘marmite beer’, you either love it or hate it! Usually I would pair this with a rich wintery venison & smoked bacon stew, but I wanted to try something different.  The light carbonation in this beer helps cut through the fatty smoked cheese & the rich coral sauce, the meaty smoked malt matching perfectly with the smoked bacon and the background fruity & orangey notes bringing out the flavour of the scallop.

Fourth Course: Crouch Vale Yakima Gold Sorbet with… you guessed it…
After such a strong flavoured beer we decided a palate cleanser was in order.  This sorbet starts with a sweet sugary flavour along with the fruity hops notes.  The rest of the hop flavour in the beer soon takes over and the bitterness rushes over your tongue refreshing your palate.  We served this with the cask version of Yakima Gold, not especially as a considered pairing, but to demonstrate where the flavours in the sorbet stem from.  In actual fact the match was terrible, the beer was too light and didn’t have enough malt to stand up to the initial sweetness, the sorbet however was fantastic.

Fifth Course: Lamb Chilli & Mint Burger with Erdinger Dunkel
The second of our bottle beers for this menu.  Dunkel is a dark wheat beer, generally dunkel aren’t as rich as British dark beers, they are more akin to continental dark lagers, quite light, hoppy & gently carbonated, but still with roasted malt & chocolate flavours. The fizz is key here cutting through the fat in the burger while the caramel malt become almost one the grilled meat.  The higher alcohol content (5.6%) helps wash the spice from the palate (the peppery heat in a chilli is soluble in alcohol) while the mint in the burger & the roasted malt in the beer cool & refresh. A show of hands revealed this as the favourite match of the evening.

Sixth Course: Autumn Berry & Vanilla Cheesecake
with Mauldons Blackberry Porter
I’ve matched stout and cheesecake before with great success. The dry finish cuts through rich creaminess of a fresh cheesecake.  The roasted chocolate & malt flavours cut through the sweetness ensuring the dessert doesn’t become to cloying. So usually a dark beer is matched because it contrasts to the dessert, in this case I was going for a compliment of flavours.  The sweetness of blackberries in the beer married really well with the autumn fruits, there was still a bit of dryness on the finish, definitely a match for those with a sweet tooth!

Seventh Course: Homemade Dark Chocolate Petit Fours with Adnams Tally Ho 2009*
Probably not the beer I would choose if this was just about the chocolates, but this is a really special beer. Brewed in July 2009 and cellared since then, I wanted to show it off!  The initial alcohol flavours in this 7.2% barley wine have slowly mellowed over the months in the cask and the sweet roasted chocolate and malt flavours have been accentuated.  This actually made a great match with the bittersweet flavours in the dark chocolate which sidled up nicely to the dark roasted malts in the beer.

My favourite match for a strong dark ale is Blue Cheese, so as a little treat we also brought some Norfolk Binham Blue Cheese out to try with our Tally Ho.  Opinions were split between the chocolate and cheese matches, but nobody was in disagreement that this aged Barley Wine was the beer of night!

*Ok so this wasn’t a new brew for 2011, but it is the first time this vintage has been drunk this year at The Thatchers, and besides, if you can’t spoil yourself at a beer festival, when can you?