Hosted by the Campaign for Real Ale, is encouraging its expected 55,000 visitors to match the real ales they try with different foods, as part of a new campaign to get more people matching beer with their meals.
The majority of pubs and restaurants in Britain continue to promote wine with food but with over 8,000 different real ales brewed by more than 1,000British breweries, there is a huge range of flavours to match just about any dish. From classic matches like Curry with a strong and hoppy India Pale Ale to more unusual combos like sausages paired with a Bacon and Chocolate Porter.
This is something that has been done in Belgium for many many years. And now on the Queen’s Mud Patch to show real ale can be matched with a huge variety of foods as well as pub snacks, the Great British Beer Festival is hosting the first ever ‘Nuts & Beer’ Tutored Tasting Session on Thursday (15 August). Beer Sommelier Jane Peyton and American Pistachio Growers will show visitors how they can match different beer styles with American pistachio nuts with flavourings including teriyaki, garlic and thyme.
Jane Peyton said, “We want pubs to introduce beer matches to their food menu as this will encourage new people to try real ale and also help differentiate them from other food outlets. Real ale is back in fashion and’Beer and Food’ matching has become more popular in a number of British pubs in recent years, but it is still wine that dominates as an accompaniment on most pub food menus. We hope by raising the profile of matching Beer and Food at the Great British Beer Festival in London next week it will encourage thousands of beer lovers to start spreading the word to their friends and local pubs allacross Britain”.
Real ales come in a variety of styles that include Golden Ales, Milds, Bitters, Porters, Barley Wines, IPAs and Stouts so there is plenty of scope to find the ideal beer to match your favourite foods. With this in mind the Great British Beer Festival programme will include informative pages explaining which different foods at the festival match different beer styles.
Alongside the festival programme CAMRA will also be promoting their Beer and Food Matching Guide, which gives visitors to the Great British BeerFestival examples of beers to try alongside foods available at the event. These include:
• Sausages paired with “A Pork-a-lypse” by Brains Brewery. Making its debut at GBBF, try this Double Chocolate and Bacon porter alongside a sausage for a double pork hit.
• Curry paired with “Big Job” by St Austell, the bigger brother to the popular ‘Proper Job’ IPA, this is a powerfully flavoured beer that’s more than up to the job of matching a spicy curry.
• Chocolate paired with a Belgian cherry beer like “3 Fonteinin Kriek”. This traditional Belgian ‘Kriek’ has a great sweet and sour character that’s surprisingly good with chocolate.
CAMRA’s Chief Executive, Mike Benner said, “There are a number of pubs that are doing some fantastic things with matching beers and food, but we would like to see more add beer on the menus as well as wine so consumers can make an informed choice. A lot of people nowadays like to choose pubs and restaurants that serve locally grown food and we hope pubs will follow suitoffering local brewed beers to match. The Great British Beer Festival is the ideal place to start with such a range of beers and food available at the event.”
The Great British Beer Festival runs at London’s Olympia from the 13th to the 17th of August, featuring over 800 real ales, ciders, perries and international beers. For more information, or to download the food matching guide, visit www.gbbf.org.uk.
Also read on this site: Beer and Food Matching Guide for CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival!
