I travelled to Slovenia this year invited by winery Puklavec & Friends to sample the wine and food of this much underrated wine producing country. My first 24 hours were spent on the Istrian coast near the town of Portoroz. We stayed at the beautiful Kempinski Palace Hotel, sampled wines from Vina Koper, Tilia Estate and ate at Solni Svet. More to come…
Now twas some months ago that I trotted along to North London to see my pals at Camden Town Brewing for the launch of their new American style Hell(e)s Lager.
The Camden Town beers were flowing, the boys were taking the good folk on Brewery tours, Big Apple Hot Dogs were sizzling and staunching the hunger pains in real NYC style and there was a real party atmosphere about the place.
This episode I am back at my favorite local the Stormbird in Camberwell to taste the wonderfully fresh moreish “Half Bore” Session Ale from Hunter’s Brewery in Devon and the sensuous savoury citrusy “Inedit” Wheat Beer, which is the lovechild of the famed El Bulli chef Ferran Adria in collaboration with Spain’s mighty Estrella Damm Brewery. To chuck into the mix I brought along some Mr Trotters Pork Crackling which is another collaboration albeit not as headline grabbing of Rupert Ponsonby & Tom Parker Bowles. Very posh scratchings indeed.
Decided on the hoof to shoot this video in the cold outide St Pancras Station with my good pal & fellow presenter Christina Pickard. We matched La Chouffe Blonde Beer from the Ardennes in France with some kick ass award winning cheese by the Gligora Dairy from the Island of Pag in Dalmatia, Croatia. Was great fun and the beer I thought paired very nicely with complex and rich cheeses.
My 1st visit to the lovely southern French wine region Le Pic St Loup in the Languedoc.
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I travelled to the Hotel du Vin in Cambridge for a Masterclass with French/Croatian Winemaker Dimitri Brecevic. I am a huge fan of his Piquentum wines from Buzet in Istria. We then paired them with award wining cheese from the Gligora dairy on the island of Pag in Dalmatia.
I was invited to attend this very special beer book launch & dinner at The Draft House last month. Very fun evening with some tasty grub and got to meet beer writer extraordinaire Garrett Oliver and Masterchef winner 2010 Tim Anderson. Result!
The Thatchers Arms in Mount Bures in Essex held a Beer Vs Wine Charity dinner where Beer went head to head with Wine to see which matched best with the 5 course menu. Representing Beer was famed journalist Adrian Tierney-Jones whose charity was Help for Heros and Wine’s Ambassador was the prolific Tim Atkin MW whose charity was Amnesty International. It was a superb evening of food drink and much fun.
This years awards banquet was held at the London Riverside Park Plaza Hotel where Ben McFarland was honoured by the guild as this year’s top beer writer. The evening was hosted by Tim Hampson & last year’s winner Simon Jenkins. It was a wonderful evening with good food great beer and even better company.
Nathan tries a Kings Thorn Pinot Gris and The Crossings Pinot Noir both from New Zealand. He then sees how well they go with Haddock and Chips