Snow is Falling!

Okay not quite, its not even July yet but I've already started thinking about the festive season. My 1^st, (really 3^rd) brew has just been primed and ready for bottling, and now I'm preparing to clean out my fermentation vessel. The thing is, I don’t like seeing it sit there empty so this is where I am at.

A couple of years ago I hosted a “orphans” Christmas dinner for a small party at my gaff, I cooked everything from scratch and people brought their own booze, the ladies brought brightly coloured pre mixed cocktails, and the boys all brought whatever big brand lager was on offer. Everyone at that dinner complimented me on a dinner party well planned, before it descended into beer pong and a bar crawl round my local town.

 This year my work schedule has allowed me to plan something similar, but, I want to go a step further and brew a beer for the occasion. I reckon if I get it started by the middle of June, it will have aged sufficiently by the middle of December.

Which beer? That's the question that has been haunting my every waking moment since I made the decision. In my time working with the Wine Company, I was often asked to help pair wines with food, and I had two simple rules; 1) Compliment. The flavour of the wine should be of a similar style to the meal you are cooking, the wine shouldn’t over power the meal, and vice versa. 2) Contrast. An alternative method was to take the flavours in the meal, and contrast them with a wine, which in certain circumstances can enhance the experience of both the wine and the meal. For Christmas dinner, I recommend a young New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The dry flavour compliments the dry Turkey meat, yet the acidity means the fruit flavours are not over powered by the strong flavour of the traditional Christmas Vegetables.

The Christmas dinner is mostly oven cooked, and a lot of the characteristic flavours associated with Christmas come from the caramelisation of the sugars and fats in the oven. Your roast potatoes come out a lovely golden brown colour, if you oven bake your stuffing it comes out with a nice dark, but not burnt, crust

at the top (at least that’s what I told my guests) or any other vegetable which is roasted in the oven will have the very extremities a golden or darker brown colour. And the main event? The turkey goes in a cold pink and pale bird with goosebumps all over it, not very appetising, yet it comes out a perfect golden, with a crisp skin and succulent flesh, my mouth is literally watering as I imagine this.

And yet I could be describing any number of Ales that come from the darker malts used to create amber or dark coloured beer. Over the next week I hope to sample some darker ales as I try to decide which style will be served with my Christmas dinner this year. Keep an eye on my twitter machine as the, I'm sure heavily anticipated, announcement of the winner will be made there!

Until next time, stop thinking about Christmas, get out, fire up the Barbecue and eat some red meat, and drink some chilled craft beers with your feet up!