Shepherd Neame Celebrates Movember With A Hare-Raising Toast

Words and Photography by Matthew Brown, Luiz Hara & Bearded Robin

To celebrate the start of Movember - an annual event dedicated to improving men’s health - The London Foodie was invited to the Dickensian Old Doctor Butler’s Head pub in the City of London, for a preparatory shave, and the chance to try a food-and-beer pairing menu organised by Britain’s oldest brewer, Shepherd Neame.

Before the Movember-themed meal - featuring everything from razor clams and hare pie - had even begun, I was whisked into the barber’s chair for a cut-throat shave by the talented Paul Dos Reis of the Genco Male Grooming. Thankfully, this terrifying experience was accompanied by a cold glass of Spitfire Gold - the new star of the Shepherd Neame empire.

Spitfire Gold was launched early this year, 25 years after the original Spitfire was first brewed in memory of The Battle of Britain. True to its name, this really is a vibrantly golden beer. From that amber complexion comes a malty butterscotch aroma, and sweet citrus notes balanced by astringent pine.

This rounded and satisfying beer was so good that it was served again with the first course, a jar of “shaved courgette and goatee cheese parcels”. Though they were served from a pickle jar, the parcels were delicate, with the sweet juice softening the sourness of the goat’s cheese and making for a filling but moreish starter.

They were followed by a course of ‘razor clams and angel hair pasta’, and another beer from the Shepherd Neame portfolio: a Whitstable Bay Pale Ale. Pale Ales are popular for their light body and citrus aromas, and this light, grassy variety is one of the best of the bunch, and fortunately it is easy to find in supermarkets! True to their seaside origins, Shepherd Neame paired the Pale Ale with razor clams so thick and plump that it was impossible to believe that they’d made it all the way to the City of London so fresh.

Things became altogether much heavier with main course and dessert, a ‘hare and Spitfire ale pie’ followed by a ‘sticky stubble pudding’. These were great versions of pub classics, and I highly recommend hare instead of beef for a richer ale pie. These heavy dishes needed a strong match, and we opted for the Shepherd Neame Master Brew, a mid-brown bitter with a darker colour and weightier scents of toffee.

Shepherd Neame proved the diversity of their selection, finding a beer pairing for everything from razor clams to toffee pudding. Look out for Spitfire Gold and Whitstable Bay Pale Ale at the supermarket, and if you’re inspired by their punning menu you can even visit their website to design and suggest your own beer.

India Pale Ale - The Belgian Connection?

Words & Photography by Greg Klerkx and Luiz Hara

Beer is seemingly everywhere on London’s fine dining scene these days. It’s no longer odd for a Michelin-starred sommelier to recommend a fruit-infused brew instead of, say, a Muscat to finish, or even to hear the more heretical suggestion of a witbier to start. Craft brewpubs abound, growlers are the new must-have foodie toy, and everyone and their beer-making mother is trying to hop (no pun intended) onto the beery bandwagon.

Uber-hip Belgian brand Vedett has been a fixture on the discerning beer drinker’s scene for longer than most, though many Londoners may only have encountered Vedett’s squat, cheerily-coloured bottles with their moules et frites at the local Belgo. Until now, Vedett, a self-described ‘cult’ brand in the larger Duvel group, has made only two beers and made them very nicely indeed: a hop-tastic, aromatic and eminently drinkable Extra Blond and a lightly fizzy, almost candied Extra White. So far, so Belgian.

This month, the laid-back label is taking a much bigger leap into the fray with the launch of Vedett Extra Ordinary IPA. IPA beers aren’t unknown in Belgium, though they are a fairly recent development and tend to be bolder, darker and punchier in flavour and alcohol content – Vedett’s is a hefty 5.5% – than English IPAs. They most closely resemble American IPAs and often use American hop varieties, as does Vedett’s.

Vedett offered a chance to sample its new IPA and other beers at Cinnamon Kitchen, the suit-and-tie branch of Vivek Singh’s very successful Indian restaurant empire. The intent was to show off great beer and great food, but also to demonstrate the versatility of beer as a stand-alone food beverage – suitable not just as a novelty against one course, but fully capable of carrying a sophisticated four-course menu.

The Vedett Extra Ordinary IPA featured twice during our meal, initially with a some rather delicious canapés that showed Cinnamon Kitchen to very good advantage. Particularly delicious was baked tilapia with Bengali mustard and sweet pepper coulis, which managed the difficult feat of packing a huge flavour punch whilst not steamrolling the delicate tilapia. Potato and green pea cakes with tomato chutney were also lovely: robust and zingy, moist and crispy in the right proportion.

As for the IPA, it was absolutely delicious: not as overwhelmingly hoppy as some IPAs, yet still firm and treacly, dark gold in colour and eminently drinkable. Though the Vedett representatives on hand were somewhat modest about their entry into the crowded IPA field, they should feel very confident. This one deserves to be a hit.

The evening’s other beer-food pairings also worked a treat. Vedett’s workhorse Extra White provided a gently fruity, slightly lemony complement to Tandoori salmon with dill & mustard, served with a wasabi-infused green pea relish.

The smoother, somewhat more elegant Vedett Extra Blond held up nicely against a Chargrilled chicken with yoghurt & coriander, and also went well with a rich, kicky black lentil daal served with naan bread between courses.

Cinnamon Kitchen’s shining moment of the evening came with its main course, an absolutely gorgeous Chargrilled lamb fillet with mint & onion sauce that was succulent and perfectly spiced, the lamb falling apart on the fork (and very quickly disappearing from the plate.) If the intention of the lamb course was again to show the Extra Ordinary IPA to good effect, it worked: the IPA was just as compelling here as it was at the beginning of the evening.

We finished with Shrikhand cheesecake, ginger & fennel seed crumble and glasses of iced Liefmans Fruitesse, a refreshing cherry-and-berry-infused beer that is a favourite at The LondonFoodie Supper Club. By that point in the evening, the point had been proved: the beer revolution in fine dining is here to stay, and justly so.

Duvel & Le Gavroche – Beer and Food Pairing Made in Heaven!

Much as I love wine at meal times (or anytime, come to think of it), sometimes I crave for a long drink with my food. We all know that there are some foods that will go better with beer - pizza, burgers and spicy curries or deep-fried treats are some that spring to mind. I really love good quality beer, but admit to never really considering it as a serious alternative to wine for a gourmet meal.

So it was with great curiosity that I recently accepted an invitation to a Duvel Beer Dinner at Le Gavroche. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the food was outstandingly good, but it was the pairing of the four excellent dishes we enjoyed with a selection of Duvel beers that has given me pause for thought.

Interestingly, the principles of beer and food pairing are somewhat similar to those that apply to wine. For example, in wine and food pairing, it is a common misconception that fish and white meat will always go with white wines and red meats with red wines. In fact, the trick is not to focus on colour but rather consider the weight or body of the dishes and wines.

Similarly, in beer matching, one of the basic principles is “matching strength with strength”. This means that milder dishes will normally go best with delicate beers whilst strongly flavoured foods require more weighty beers. The weight of the beer relates not only to its alcoholic strength, but also to the degree of malt character, bitterness from hops, sweetness and richness.

Take our first pairing at Le Gavroche for example – a lovely seared pepper tuna with ginger, chilli and a zingy soy dressing, served with a glass of Liefmans Cuvee Brut 6%. The Liefmans is a deep red fruit beer matured with cherries, which has a rich and refreshing flavour. With sweet and sour undertones, it interacted really well with the pepper and ginger in the tuna. I found it a perfect match that complemented without overpowering the meaty tuna, one of the best pairings of the evening.

Another important consideration is the “interaction” of certain qualities between the food and beer being paired, for example, characteristics like sweetness, bitterness and spice, and how these interact with each other. Taking account of these relationships will help to ensure a balanced pairing, with neither partner throwing the match out of sync.

Our next pairing was a good illustration of this. A perfectly roasted cod with a rich mustard butter sauce was served with a glass of Vedett Extra White 4.7%. A wheat beer, this had a delicious, refreshing and surprisingly crisp taste perfect for a fish dish.

An orange and lemon zing cut through the richness of the butter while the gentle bitterness from the unfiltered yeast balanced the mustard heat of the sauce. This beer could also make an excellent partner to fish terrines, mussels, prawns and even roast chicken.

“Finding harmonies” between food and beer pairings is also key. Combinations often work best when they share some common flavour or aroma elements as we discovered in our next pairing. Racks of pork and cheeks were braised in Duvel beer, making the meat yieldingly tender, sweet and flavoursome. Perhaps logically, the pork was served with the beer in which it had been cooked, a classic Belgian golden ale – Duvel 8.5%.

Smooth, lively and almost creamy on the palate, with grapefruit and vanilla notes, Duvel has plenty of body and flavour and can happily fill the shoes of a fuller bodied red wine. Its high alcohol content gives a weight and mild bitterness that was the perfect match for the sweetness of the slow braised pork.

For dessert, a Guinness cake with coffee cream and chocolate and malt ice cream was served with a glass or two of LiefmansFruitesse 4.2%. Served over ice, this fresh tasting beer is generously sweet with flavours of red fruits like cherries, raspberries and strawberries which complemented well the chocolate and Guinness elements in this dessert.

The most unusual of the beers, and probably my favourite of the evening, was Chateau d’Ychouffe 9% (Anno 2013) which was served with our petits fours. The beer is macerated on the skin of sultana grapes which impart a sweetness and wine-like quality I have never come across in a beer. This had enough weight and concentration to go with the delectable selection of nougat, chocolate truffles and macarons and rounded off the evening splendidly.

If you would like to take your Belgian beer and food pairing appreciation to yet another level, one last thing to consider is choosing the correct glass for the type of beer. George Riedel, the Austrian manufacturer famous for his range of wine glasses by grape varietal, has now turned his attention to beer glasses introducing three different designs – a flavour-concentrating Pilsner glass, a wheat beer glass and a wide-necked lager glass. For more information about these, visit the Spiegelau website here (http://www.spiegelau.com).

A fascinating experience that has opened up a whole new world of food and beer matching possibilities, I look forward to developing this further and bringing it to my day to day and supper club dining experiences.

Most of these beers can be found at Waitrose (http://www.waitrose.co.uk)

For more information on the range of Belgian beers featured, visit:

Duvel – http://www.duvel.com/en-gb

Vedett – http://www.vedett.com

Liefmans – http://www.liefmans.be/en