Friday 7 December 2012

Dinner with India Pale Ales and Pete Brown

It's my own fault. I saw the IBD were putting on a six course meal, a different beer and wine included for each course, for only a tenner a head. An excellently economical way to give the lovely Lisa a treat I thought. It was an enjoyable evening, but unfortunately it seems to have given Lisa expensive tastes.

I came in from work last week to see her face beaming up at me. "I booked us tickets for Pete Brown's IPA dinner" she said. "Shit, that's going to cost" I thought, "What an excellent idea Darling" I said. Sadly it seems the days when I could take her our for a night down 'Spoons are behind us.

So on Monday we headed up to the Meantime Old Brewery at Greenwich. No boat trip this time as it was bleedin' cold and it's easy to get the train from Waterloo East. The place had the look of a craft beer bar:  wooden floors, bare brick, loads of keg fonts. It was certainly craft beer prices too, but on the plus side I did spot the two hand pumps before I ordered. I had a pint of Darkstar Hophead (3.8% ABV) and the lovely Lisa had half of keg Meantime stout (4.5% ABV). The Hophead was as good as ever, but the keg stout was cold, thin and fizzy. What do people see in craft keg? I suspect to do it right you need to make a totally over the top imbalanced beer and then knock enough flavour out of it by kegging to make it drinkable. Perhaps she should have gone for an Imperial stout.

The entertainment for the evening started with us being seated in rows and handed a small glass of Worthington White Shield. Now it being brewed in a big brewery in Burton I think it's the best it's been in years. Still not as good as it was when I were a lad, but at least the dark days of sweet brown gloopery seem behind it.



There was an introductory talk from Rod of Meantime, not that he introduced himself. Why I don't know but I guess it made sense to him. Then it was Pete Brown to talk about IPA. He knows a thing or two about this subject and has a reassuring Pattersonian view on beer styles. A couple more examples of the wide variation of India Pale Ales were distributed to lubricate the talk, but it was slightly disturbing to peer into a murky glass and see the staff had no idea about pouring bottle conditioned beer.



The food started with a scallop in a shell, which came sealed round the edges with pastry and sat on a pile of rock salt. We were warned not to eat the salt though I was a bit unsure about the pastry sticking the shell together. But as I'd paid for it I picked it off with my fingers and ate it. The scallop itself was perfectly edible, which was a bit of a relief as I'd feared something whelk like could be lurking inside the shell. The IPA to go with it was a grapefruity one from the Meanitme Old Brewery.

Next course was a chicken and mushroom thing with two tiny slivers of truffle on top. Oh yes, me, eating truffles - how posh is that? The beer to match it was La Chouffe Houblon, apparently a Belgian IPA but it tasted like Duvel to me.



Lamb cooked two ways followed, one way made it go pink and one way made it go brown. I preferred the brown to the pink. Though don't take that out of context. Jaipur went with this dish. I was trying to work out if the beers cut, complemented or contrasted with the food but wasn't really getting it.



Then we were on to the pudding course, which we weren't really keen on. Meantime Old Brewery Jasmine IPA was the beer, which the lovely Lisa thought smelled of sick, whereas I only found it unpleasant. When the pudding arrived looking like sick Lisa though this must be that beer and food matching thing, but in fact the weird curry ice cream and Jasmine IPA cancelled each other out and became more bearable together.

Three cheeses followed, with three matching beers, in small glasses varying in size according to the price. The only real pairing I got that night was the Fuller's Vintage and a goats cheese (which was actually the wrong match), as it's a cracking beer and it took away the unpleasant goaty taste of the cheese.

Having now now been to a couple of beer and food pairing events I can say it's mostly bollocks, but still good fun. So I think of it as like going on a foreign holiday and dabbling in a different culture, knowing I'll soon be back home to normality.

13 comments:

  1. 'What do people see in craft keg?'

    After paying the best part of £3 for a half of Flying Dog Pearl Necklace recently, I asked myself exactly the same question.

    It was exactly the same as the Meantime Stout - cold, thin and fizzy. Had about as much flavour as Guiness Extra Cold.

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  2. It was on keg, obviously :)

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  3. it's a cracking beer and it took away the unpleasant goaty taste of the cheese.

    Have you thought of taking up restaurant reviewing?

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    1. I did hear that Michael Winner has retired...

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  4. Thin. cold and fizzy- that pretty much sums up my experience with US craft beers 10 or so years ago.

    The trick was to stir some of the gas out and let them come up a few degrees, then they were full-flavoured. It needs patience though.

    Ooh, stranded in the land of cold bloody boring Pils, I feel a blog post on my own coming on... (-:

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  5. I suspect to do it right you need to make a totally over the top imbalanced beer and then knock enough flavour out of it by kegging to make it drinkable

    Every 'craft keg' I've tasted has struck me as thin, fizzy, reasonably pleasant-tasting, totally undemanding and knock-it-back drinkable - even the 6 and 7 percenters. (Some of them got a bit more interesting as they warmed up, but most didn't.) Better than a bad cask beer, and certainly better than non-craft keg, but... Beats me.

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    1. If even the strong ones taste thin and fizzy there really is no hope as far as I'm concerned. Maybe if you're used to drinking bog standard lager it's not as off putting?

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  6. Bryan - I do that, but it doesn't always work. It did wonders for BD Zeitgeist, but sometimes it makes no difference or even makes things worse - one beer I tried it with seemed to respond by releasing all its gas and aroma in one go, leaving me holding a flat beer smelling of old books.

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    1. Blimey! OK, it's not a perfect solution - that would actually require the staff to learn how to look after beer, even keg beer. Which I guess is a completely unrealistic expectation...

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  7. So long as you got a bit of hows your father at the end of the evening, the price is the price.

    I mean with the lovely Lisa, not Pete Brown.

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  8. Having read your post, Ed I'm rather glad I didn't blow 50 quid on this somewhat pretentious evening. (I had seriously been toying with going along.) You don't say much about Pete Brown's talk, but then if one has read his book on IPA, I don't suppose he had much new to say.

    All in all the Institute of Brewing & Distilling's dinner sounded a much better option. Does one have to be am member to go along?

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    1. I did enjoy the evening but it wasn't cheap. IBD events are better value, but then membership isn't cheap. Meetings are quite open though, but I think you're meant to have an industry connection at least.

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