Foodie brews
Now that the breweries are waking up to the fact that they can sell their beers as serious partners for food - latest figures show that 18% of beer is now consumed with a meal (Mintel) - the publicity stunts are coming in thick and fast. Interbrew held a shindig at its head office in London recently to highlight the benefits of food and beer matching, and now it is Holsten's turn - or, rather, that of its speciality brew, Duckstein.
Duckstein is a relative newcomer to these shores. Though it was developed in Germany more than 12 years ago, it arrived in Britain only two years ago - but there hasn't really been much done in the way of selling it until now. It has listings in Tesco and Safeway and is picking up pace in the on-trade - Punch has gone with it, as has Unique. "We're aiming it at individual outlets," explains brand manager Craig Haller.
It's a top-fermented lager, or "altbier", that follows a 500-year-old recipe using Harz mountain water, dark malt, Hallertau hops and selected yeast cultures, matured in beech-wood chips. It has a copper-gold colour, a nutty malt aroma and a mellow, hoppy, bittersweet taste, and the folks at Holsten reckon it's the perfect partner to a whole range of foods. They claim that it cuts through fat, oil and salt, "allowing the true food flavours to be appreciated", that it cools the heat of hot spices, and that it prevents bloating (it has low carbonation). It's also why we're gathered in famous London gastropub the Eagle on a hot summer's afternoon.
The Eagle has only just started to sell Duckstein. Beer accounts for half of all drink sales at the Farringdon Road venue, the best seller, rather unimaginatively, being Red Stripe. However, Eagle chefs Tom Norrington-Davies and Ruth Quinlan have seen interest pick up in their premium bottled beers - and, as most of the Eagle's customers come to eat, this means that half of them are washing down their food with beer.
Like Hoegaarden, Leffe and Löwenbräu, Duckstein supplies the pub with free glassware, shaped to show off the beer's aroma and taste to best effect - which always goes down well with an image-conscious crowd. And it helps that the Eagle's food is gutsy, with a solid base in Iberia, where beer is regularly consumed with food. But which style of beer suits the Eagle's food best? To find out, Holsten gamely pitched Duckstein against competitors Beck's, Cobra and Hoegaarden, trying them all with four beer-friendly Eagle dishes.
First up was the humble roast potato - though the Eagle slathers its version in duck fat, salt and pepper. The Duckstein did, indeed, slice through the fat, even enhancing the fat's sweetness, and leaving the other beers in the shadow (Hoegaarden was overwhelmed, Cobra lost its edge, and Beck's came over all bitter).
Next came a stunning feta and peach salad with chopped, peeled tomatoes, dressed with roasted, crushed cumin seed, oil and vinegar (the Eagle's reconstructed ploughman's, courtesy of Claudia Roden's Middle Eastern Cookery). Once again, the Duckstein proved itself, bringing out the cumin a treat - Hoegaarden fared well, while Cobra turned bitter and Beck's went metallic.
A pork recheado was next. This Portuguese speciality crops up regularly in Goa, with a marinade made of a bevy of spices, including cinnamon, chilli, cloves, cardamom and smoked paprika. Quinlan and company usually cook the meat slowly in beer. This time, Cobra took top marks (it does pride itself on its affinity with curry), but Duckstein wasn't far behind, while the Beck's and Hoegaarden floundered helplessly.
Finally, there was a bitter chocolate mousse with raspberries. Yes, a revelation - beer and chocolate do go together. This made a rousing, and solo, encore for Duckstein. The beer actually injected a creaminess into the mousse (made with chocolate, eggs, butter, coffee and vodka). If Norrington-Davies had his way, he would serve every portion of mousse with a small glass of Duckstein because, as he says: "Anyone who enjoys coffee with chocolate will be aware that two bitter tastes go well together."
