O no, not the Germans again!

Everyone knows England vs Germany, world cup knockout stage = tension. For those who remember 1970 then 1990 (the Aurthur suddenly notes a chilling pattern, 1970, 1990 now its 2010... could defeat confirm some kind curse that every 20 years we get knocked out by the Germans?) best not to think like that now. For myself this tension was eased by the distraction of my birthday yesterday, which involved some good presents and a quality meal out with family and friends at The Keelman/Big Lamp brewery accompanied by the lovely beer selection available. As the only brewery restaurant I know in the North East its food, beers and service are pretty good. Here we had some lovely pints of Keelman Brown and Summerhill stout before gannin yem for a special elite select cheeseboard featuring some classic French and Northumberland cheeses accompanied by La Trappe Quadrupel. I love Belgian Quadrupels, and rarely get hold of them. This one happens to reside from Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven of the Netherlands, the only official Trappist brewery situated outside Belgium. I found it quite odd for a Quadrupel to be a mid amber in colour and it drinks quite easily for its 10% abv with peachy toffyish notes on the back of upfront carbonation. Not a massive amount of depth to it for the style but still very enjoyable and a little easy going (it is Dutch).  

I did, for this particular session avoided any German beers, not that I don't like them. Many dislike the Germans for beating us at football but I find it hard to dislike any nation that makes good beer. That's why for this world cup I have been backing any nation that makes great beer (except Germany), England, Netherlands, USA (until yesterday) are my favourites (England being top of that list). But whether we win or lose I'm sure we'll give it a good go.

Another interesting present I got this year was a book about George Best, in tribute to that certain grandmother I have that worries that my obsession with alcoholic beverages could lead me 'down George Best's road'. At least now I can read about old 'George Best's road', and accompany my reading pleasures with my new bottle of 8 year old Dun Leire single malt Irish whiskey. Classic.

 'ah, this should ease some pre match tension'

Video beer reviews, pointless or educational?.

Most of us have seen them. You know the video of some bloke pouring out a beer, talking for a while about the brewery, swilling it around in the glass before taking a good 120 seconds describing the aroma before taking a sip. Up come the adjectives and moments of silence pondering over what other adjectives to use.
Those who remember when Sausage had an independent blog will remember all the venomous hatred he used to spit at the video beer reviewer. But there are still plenty of them about, and I'm not saying I'm against them but the question is are they really worth it? I mean if you really want to find out a beer you could always read about it on Beer Advocate, Rate Beer or similar sites. But maybe sometimes it might be nice to get a more personal account from a blogger you like of a particular newly released beer.

Take for example my dog Troy, he loves reading Mark Dredge's posts. Here he watches Mark's review of Brew Dog's Tactical Nuclear Penguin. See the intrigue on little Troy's face, proof that video beer reviews can be deeply fascinating.



Obviously a good review. And there is little doubt that at the time Mark had taken his camp bed up to Scotland with the purpose of getting the front of the queue by the Brew Dog bottling line. From this position as soon as the first bottle is capped he can grab it, get a flight back to Kent (or some kind of beer reviewing studio), scurry for the video camera, and post a video beer review online before anyone else can touch the stuff. That's dedication for you.

But this doesn't answer the question. Obviously video beer reviews can be done well, but can also be done badly. I find the likes of Mark and Zak Avery do good video reviews, but it could be just me being biased because they a\re amongst my favourite bloggers. But I have found with the not so good ones, there seems to be a certain amount of time (usually between 20 and 60 seconds) it takes for you to stop watching. The likes of Zak keep things moving at a fast pace, maybe even adding a bit of home cooking in for visual variation, and afterwards you often want to hunt out the beer being reviewed. I don't know about anybody else but I know where myself and Troy's thoughts lie with video beer reviews.

The big night, July 14th, official beer & cheese evening

Like the poster? A little traditional but good enough to serve its purpose.

By god I have been so  cheesed out recently. Every week another cheese, another set of beers. It seems beer and cheese pairing has become not only a weekend activity but through the week I've been drinking and munching as well. My research is almost complete now. The pairings almost set, each one like a track on a live set list ready to rock the world of the audience. I have never done a beer seminar before, but I have talked to people about beer for great lengths of time and done public speaking in my university days. Learning about cheese has also been fun. But there's still that unnerving afterthought of failure. What if no one turns up? What if I have to change the pairings in the last week?

But if glory is had the rewards are strong. To put it simply were thinking of turning this into a monthly event, each month having a different theme. Each month we will focus on ether different beer styles with different foods or different beers from different countries. Without giving too much away that's kind of the idea. If it works.

Brasserie Ellezelloise Hercule Stout with Cave aged Gruyere

Now I have never tried pairing Gruyere with beer before but I thought this 9% Belgian Imperial Stout from the cellar/reserved beer cupboard would be a good place to start. The cheese; nutty, salty, grainy and dry with a kind of muscular sweetness. The beer; full of malt substance with big typical imperial stout roast grain notes.  Rich fruit and chocolate are in abundance. Then you have that touch of Belgian funk from the yeast moving things to a new level. A great pairing picking off good harmonies. Think dry bitter, grainy, earthy, salty and malt sweetness combined into one. If you have you ever seen the film Freddy vs Jason? Well imagine Freddy and Jason on the same team. Dark hardcore imperial stout with a touch of eccentricity meets dry robust cheese. That's what this is all about. Totally brutal.

Alright Jason mate? Fancy some cheese an beer?

Interview with the Wench

Doesn't look like much of a Wench to me

This week I will be featured on the beer blogger interview series by Ashley Routson AKA The Beer Wench. In the beer blogging world this is the equivalent of being on Parkinson. Except with better questions and you don't in have to sit opposite an old bloke in front of a studio audience. I would boast about being a 'chosen one' more but it appears a couple of other UK bloggers have been featured. Apparently this particular bloggers ambition is to become the female equivalent of our lord Michael Jackson beer hunter....

Two words,

That rules.