Dry January anyone? Knowing my limits, I’ll pass. Also, like any other fad, my particular
individualist nature prevents me from joining in. Furthermore, people doing ‘dry
January’ tend to remind me of joggers in the rain. The same look of bitterness
and resentment. Nevertheless, I admire anyone with the willpower to do it. Hats
off. “Chapeau” as they say in France. I need to build myself up slowly to such
an undertaking. As for jogging, well perhaps in another life.
So, despite my inability to make my
body a temple, I’m trying to stick to beer at the moment and there’s such a
plethora now that beer has become trendy, that it’s rather fun discovering. I
can’t pretend to take it all too seriously, beer will never have the same interest
or fascination as say wine does for me. I love beer but the technicalities,
well I’ll leave that to the hipsters and beer producers.
Craft beers are all the rage of
course. IPA’s, American Pale Ales, White ones, Dark ones etc. but I’ve noticed
some more Pilsners are appearing again too on the high street, perhaps in a
need to remind us how good, good Pilsner is. I’ve written about Furstenberg in
the past, the Bavarian Black Forest Pilsner. Another is Paulaner, also
Bavarian, from Munich. Münchner Hell, they call it. I have no idea what that
means, but the unfortunate misnomer shouldn’t put you off. This beer is a close
to heaven as you can get. Clearly the principle of good ingredients, passion,
knowledge and skill make all the difference. You can taste the “craft”. Pure, clean and flavoursome to a degree,
couldn’t tell you what flavours, I don’t really care, my guess would be citrusy
but utterly divine and good value from Majestic too. Drink this and you may
never be able to drink a can or bottle of mass produced lager again.
Pilsner is about refreshment, palate cleansing, thirst quenching and/or
as an aperitif. The ales are more complex, more intense, more hoppy and more
flavoursome. Therefore, more suited to food, if you’re bothered or trying to
avoid wine. I still drink them on their own but they’ll complement curries; Indian,
Thai, Malaysian etc., Mexican, Tapas, Burgers, lots of various things. But this
isn’t a food blog. Good beer doesn’t really need an accompaniment I don’t
think.
Two others I discovered are Tribute Cornish Pale Ale and St. Peters
Golden Ale from Suffolk. Both superb and both easy to find. Cornwall produces a
few decent beers these days. Tribute like many is family owned with the
history, the tradition and of course the excellent and local natural
ingredients. Get all those in place and you’ve got a superb beer. Plenty of
flavour but not too intense or hoppy as some pale ales can be. Highly
recommended. Not too alcoholic either only 4.2 % so a more modern style. The
high alcohol element of pale ales was traditionally a necessity to keep them
fresh on the long sea journey but that’s no longer an issue.
St. Peter’s is more old school in style and in terms of the bottle, a
delightful old fashioned type of design and without the hoppyness of the pale
ales. A rich amber colour, relatively strong flavour but fresh too on the
palate. For me, all beer, needs to have the element of refreshment, otherwise
what’s the point, even in Britain in winter. The delicate freshness
counterbalances the richness of the flavour. The water is drawn from deep wells
in deepest Suffolk and the purity as with the Pilsner comes through. They’ve
been doing it for 700 years so they obviously know their onions. A nice
traditional feel but with a lightness that suits our modern sensitive palates.
Nicely done.
So, if you’re avoiding dry January, check these lads out, you won’t
regret it.
