Arty Pints no.5



Photo - Ross Evans


A pint of Odessa at the Bunch of Grapes, with a tilt shift effect.

A beer taster's journey into the unkown

Something a bit different on the Commercial Room today, as our regular contributor Ian Owen reluctantly attends a wine tasting event.

It all began with a fairly innocuous question posed by The Brunette one evening in January: ‘Darling, I've got us tickets for a wine event in Cardiff, do you fancy it?’ Gulp! Grapes and wine could not be further removed from this beer lover’s comfort zone of dark malty ales, heavy stouts and smoke-peat infused whiskies. The culprit was a so-called ‘wine tasting’ evening at the St David's Hotel, hosted by Virgin Wines.

As the day approached I equipped myself with a range of flowery wine descriptions courtesy of the Sunday supplements, so not to come across as a complete novice you see. With strict instructions to wear the ‘nice jacket’, keep the scepticism at home, not to be miserable and under no-circumstances to use my fall-back wine appreciation phrase of ‘it’s nice – tastes like grapes’...I was ready.

We arrived sharply at 6pm and were cleared to enter by the Virgin employee following a quick skim of her iPad. It cost £10 each to get our names on the pixelated list for the event, which was scheduled to finish at 8:30pm. On entering we were presented with a menu detailing the 90 or so wines available to sample, the idea being that you'll like some of them enough to part cash for a case or four. Swiftly doing the maths, I calculated I should be aiming to try a new wine every two minutes or so, not wanting to miss out on anything, like! Perfectly achievable!

The conference room, hanging over the spectacular Cardiff Bay, had the unmistakable stench of middle class superiority, and my initial instinct was to recoil away from the cord jacketed and Boden dressed inhabitants, sheepishly following The Brunette as she confidently made her way to the first table (she being far more familiar with such ‘rah’ affairs!). Around the outer edge of the room were the tables filled with wine, with their smiling producers stood poised to pour and to ‘chit-chat’ about things like ‘bouquets’ and ‘volume’ and ‘legs’. In the centre was the designated mingling area, whilst a large table full of cheeses and their grinning producers stood proudly at one side of the room, samples available to help soak up the drink for those who had overindulged.

We quickly formulated a plan which would enable us to sip our way through all 90 bottles in the time available to us...or at least that was the intention. First we would tackle the whites (rationale mainly being that they were quickly swiggable and easier to down), followed by the reds…simple! However, to be honest we were so pissed by the time we got half way around the whites that the strategy quickly changed to a far more informal approach of ‘let’s try that wine – the producer looks friendly and he gives big pours’.

Photo - Ian Owen

Servings were generous and – joy of joys – there was not a spitter in the room! After a tentative first 45 minutes I began to feel a tad more confident, even indulging in a spot of uncharacteristic ‘small-talk’ with the experts at one point. I was especially taken with a typical no-nonsense Australian fella who instructed me, whilst I sipped a fruity chenin blanc and struggled to think of something intelligent to say, to ‘get it down your neck mate – there are three more to try on this table and you haven’t got all night!’ All in all, the producers were friendly and approachable, there was no pressure to say something of ground-breaking insight about the booze, and nobody disapproved of you if you held your glass up for another pour or asked a daft question. It quickly became clear that this was my type of wine tasting!

As a value for money event, this shin-dig really could not be faulted. I can say with 100% certainty that I drank greatly in excess of a tenner’s worth of wine. In any case, the entry fee is fully refundable against any purchases you do make on the night. At this price, I was genuinely surprised that the demographic for the event did not consist solely of cash-strapped alcoholics and students – they really are missing a trick!

At around 8:20 however the real fun started! The Brunette and I were sampling some Argentinian reds when the gent manning the table (a tanned, willowy cross between Kurt Cobain and Hugh Grant) leaned over and subtly informed us that he had to leave to catch his train back to London and we should ‘continue to help ourselves’. Sniffing a golden opportunity, we stood our ground at the deserted table and proceeded to brazenly pour ourselves ‘full to the brim’ glasses of the £30 a bottle plonk.

Approached by a young couple from Bridgend who rumbled us – we shared out the swag and made some new friends. As the room started to empty and other attendees were invited to move downstairs to fill out their order forms, the full extent of the situation gradually dawned on us; we had been left alone in a room with at least 50 opened bottles of fine wine, and nobody was asking us to leave! What is known in Valley’s speak as ‘a result’.

So - by 11:40 and accompanied by the two jolly cheese-makers and our new mates from Bridgend, it would be fair to say that we were all thoroughly slaughtered. So, we did what comes naturally to a Merthyr boy; we moved downstairs and went to the hotel bar...

P.S – We diligently spent the evening compiling thorough tasting notes and reviews of each and every wine we tried. I would love to share these with you, telling you in detail about the grapes, the vintage and the vineyard and making recommendation, but it turned out that I left them in one of the hotel toilets...

Ian Owen was born in Merthyr Tydfil and currently lives in Cardiff. He spends his leisure time training for marathons, cultivating his taste for fine ales, whiskies and wines, climbing mountains, watching sports, organising his next holidays and trying his very best to not fall off his bike. Ian is an avid and knowledgeable supporter of live music and attends a variety of concerts and festivals in Wales, the UK and around the globe.

Troublette

This is a Belgian style wheat beer by La Caracole brewery, from Falmingoul. It is not sickly sweet and weighty as many of the current wheat beers on the market, and it is all the better for this.

The snail represents the Namur region of Belgium.
Photo - Paul Evans

This is an unfiltered beer which re-ferments in the bottle, consequently it is naturally carbonated.  The beer is an attractive, cloudy dark gold in colour when poured, with a white spritzy head, and has a buoyant citrus fruit aroma.

Photo - Paul Evans

The initial taste is also of citrus fruits, which becomes more tangy and parfumy, and then leads to a hoppy bitterness.  This is a lively beer, full of verve, which leaves a satisfyingly moreish, bitter-dry aftertaste.

This is one of the best wheat beers around.

Appearance: 8
Aroma: 8
Taste: 8

Overall: 24/30

Great pub views no.2

Photo - Paul Evans

The Plough and Harrow, Monknash.

Combined harvest

This is a pale ale by Bateman's Brewery, Lincolnshire.  it's 4.7% and made with a mixture of barley, oats, wheat and rye.

Photo - Paul Evans

It's amber in colour with a clean, frothy white head.  The aroma is garden-fresh, like harvested grains, and sweet summer fruits.

Photo - Paul Evans

It is sweet and malty to taste, there are notes of caramel, and juicy summer fruits - particularly strawberry and blackberry.

This is a good summer beer, with a great fresh aroma and taste.

Appearance: 7

Aroma: 7

Taste: 7

Overall: 21/30

Dirty little secret pt.2

In part 2 of Ross Evans' travels up the West Coast of America, we get a taste of craft brewing in Portland and Seattle.

Back on the AmTrak after some time in California, I was heading up the Pacific Northwest to that much fabled home of American craft ales that is Portland, Oregon. Although I arrived in Oregon at the wrong time of year for the main Oregon Beer Festival which takes place on the last full weekend in July, I did go to the local brewers weeks at breweries such as the Bridgeport Brewery, Deschutes Brewery and Rogues. Portland, whilst being slightly larger in size to Cardiff, has more microbreweries - or Craft Brewers, as they prefer to call them Stateside - than you can shake the proverbial stick at! Portland sits in a basin at the confluence of two major rivers and is surrounded by wooded hills – which are more often than not surrounded by mist, which in the winter gives it a perfect drinking atmosphere.

A tasting tray of Bridgeport beers
Photo - Ross Evans

For all the breweries and good beers sampled in Portland it is a bit hard to pick out a single one, so I have decided to pick one for sheer novelty value from the Rogue Brewery: The Bacon Maple Ale (ABV 6.9%). Yes, you read correctly. Rogue Brewery collaborated with Voodoo Doughnut (a doughnut company that produces bacon & maple syrup flavoured pastries) to produce a surprisingly good bacon and Maple syrup flavoured brown ale – well, I liked it anyway. The brown ale has been brewed with a ‘baker’s dozen’ (13) ingredients. Amazingly it smells, and tastes, like bacon with after tones of maple syrup. A truly unique beer and extremely quirky, this will not appeal to all and admittedly it was towards the end of my tasting tour that I happened across it, but I enjoyed it.

The infamous bacon beer!

Further along the AmTrak route I rocked up in Seattle after a short stint in Vancouver, BC. Following several episodes of Fraiser I’m not sure just what I was expecting from Seattle. Statistically one of the wettest places in the Continental US, I suppose it was only fitting that the complete time I was there it was beautiful and sunny! The beer, as was becoming the norm by this stage for the Pacific coast of the US, was great. Granted, you could still order the less than entertaining Bud, Miller and Coors, but ask a local and an enrichment of the taste buds awaits. The brewery whose festival I choose to highlight is the Epic Ales Brewery - the name says it all really. Epic brewery, epic beer, epic bar. The brewery itself is a little bit outside the CBD, South of the Train Station (in what is locally known as SoDo – South of Downtown) but only a stone’s throw away from both of the gigantic Seattle stadiums. The tasting room at the brewery itself is quite small but packed with flavour - just like the ales. The bar, although small, is modelled after a ship, the bow of which ‘crashes’ through to the next room. Teaming up with a local chefs they also provide ‘epic’ meals, served in what is called the “Gastropod”.

Epic Ales of Seattle

And so to top off my meander up the Pacific Northwest Coast of the United States, it pains me to have to pick only one beer from Seattle. So I won’t, I’ll have two. The Epic Ale, Fuj (ABV Unknown - sorry lost my tasting notes) is my first: a malty ale with Scottish peat-smoked black and white peppercorns, very bitter at first. I sampled some of the Fuj that had been aged by a year, and whilst it still had hints of strong bitterness it was much nicer than when freshly brewed. Not everyone likes this, and all I can think of when hearing this is that they should have let it age! Aging a beer is quite new on me. However, with this beer I would say it’s a must. The last - and by no means least - of my Seattle ales is the Scotch style Pike Kilt Lifter Ruby Ale (ABV 6.5, OG 1.064 & IBU 27) from the Pike Brewery close to the waterfront of Seattle, and a close neighbour of the city’s famous Market and the World’s first Starbucks. Whilst being quite touristy the bar front offers a nice drinking environment to enjoy a fine selection of ales. The ‘Kilt Lifter’ is much closer to a traditional British ruby ale than ‘hoppy’ American brews, perhaps due to having been brewed with English ale yeast? It has many layers and was a nice reminder of home for me - well worth a taste.

The author with a tray of Rogue beers
Photo - Ross Evans

So, to sum up, the Craft beers of the US would to me be a task too complex, but it is fair to say it surprised the hell out of me to find so many good beers across the pond, perhaps best explained by a conversation I had with one brewer when I quipped “I’m really surprised, you know? You guys haven’t got a good reputation for having good beers!” his response was “that’s exactly what we think about you Brits!” Touché, I suppose. Too often the bigger, lesser-tasting beers hog the limelight, backed by their multinational owners leaving the better beers to be sought out - perhaps that’s how we want it!?

PS. None of the beers I came across Stateside were cask conditioned, they were all carbonised or bottle conditioned. And you  know what?! I liked it!

Ross Evans is a valleys expat relocated to Cardiff for political, cultural, leisure and drinking pursuits. Big food, Cider, Beer and Pub aficionado with a love of local provenance and strong branding. 

Cooking with beer pt.2

The weather is freezing again, but never fear, the Commercial Room can help warm you up with a recipe for a quick stew.

If you haven't got 3 or 4 hours to cook your perfect stew, then this 'quick' recipe will have you eating a delicious beery stew in under an hour and a half.

For 2 generous servings you will need:

• Diced stewing steak
• 1 small swede
• 3 medium carrots
• 1 parsnip
• 1 medium leek
• 1 white onion
• 1 red onion
• 5 new potatoes (cut in half)
• Salt & pepper
• Worcester sauce
• 1 tsp plain flour
• Beef stock cube
• 1 bottle of Coles Family Brewery 'Cwrw Blasus'
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp herbs de Provence
• 1/2 pint of boiling water
• 1 oz butter



Photo - Paul Evans

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Method:

1. Dice the vegetables into small pieces & set aside.
2. Add the butter to a large saucepan and melt over a medium heat.
3. Add the beef, turn the heat to high and fry until the meat begins to brown.
4. Splash in some Worcester sauce, season the meat with salt & pepper and stir well.
5. Crumble in the stock cube, add the herbs and flour and stir until the meat is well coated.
6. Pour in the bottle of beer, add the sugar and bring to the boil.
7. Add the vegetables and the boiling water, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour until the vegetables are soft and the meat is tender.
8. Ladle into deep bowls and serve with a crusty roll. 
9. Enjoy!



Photo - Paul Evans

Sierra Nevada pale ale

This was my first introduction to 'proper' American beer and it definitely started a love affair.  I vividly remember ordering a pint at the Drummond in Guildford, and being amazed at the orange colour and full on flavour.

Photo - Paul Evans

As stated, it is a beautiful looking beer with a lovely hoppy, fruity aroma. The taste is fresh and bitter, very biting, which is incredibly moreish.

This beer is now widely available at most supermarkets - and is creeping into many pubs on tap - so the casual beer drinker has no excuse not to try it.

Appearance: 9
Aroma: 8
Taste: 8

Overall: 25/30

Arty pints, no.4



Photo - Paul Evans


A pint of RCH Pitchfork at the Plough and Harrow, Monknash.