http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2008/oct/03/gordon.ramsay.television.beerBeer with Gordon Ramsay
Why would someone who knows so much about food prefer the cheap flavour of Budweiser over decent beverages?
In my last post I pooh-poohed the notion that beer was central to a pub. Following a wave of perplexed emails from fellow members of the British Guild of Beer Writers, and a stern telling off from my beerophile mother I am now going to revel in the wonder that is beer. Maybe not a necessity in pubs but something that should undoubtedly be much more central in our everyday lives (behold how a university education enables a person to hold complex and conflicting views …).
Earlier this year, I had the unenviable task of trying to convince Gordon Ramsay - who is a self-confessed beer cynic and only drinks Becks or Budweiser - that beer was every bit as good as wine. The whole thing was for The F-Word, but please don't think I'm name-dropping. You almost certainly didn't see it – the night I was on I'm told viewing figures dropped from about 3m to 1m. Will Beckett, ladies and gentlemen, pure prime time dynamite.
Anyway, the task was simple: pick my top 20-odd beers to showcase the best available. What I wanted to show Chef was the incredible range of flavour in beer. A range more far reaching, dare I say, than any other drink on God's green earth. While it may not be the cornerstone of the 50,000+ pubs in this country anymore, there's no doubt in my mind that if we all started drinking better beer (and more of it, naturally) we, and the pub industry, would all be much better off.
Here's the list, which is admittedly a bit British-centric:
Beer tasting
Origin
Brewer
Brew
Style
England Meantime Brewery Meantime India Pale Ale Pale ale
England Meantime Brewery Meantime London Porter Porter
England O'Hanlons Brewery Thomas Hardy Ale Barley wine
England Samuel Smith Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout Stout
England Samuel Smith Sam Smith Pure Brewed Lager Lager
England Thornbridge Brewery Thornbridge Jaipur Ale
England Timothy Taylor Taylors Landlord 50cl Ale
Scotland Brew Dog Paradox Ale
Scotland Heather Ales Ebulum – Elderberry Ale
Scotland Heather Ales Fraoch Heather Ale Ale
Scotland Innis & Gunn I&G Oak Aged Beer Ale
United States Anchor Anchor Steam Beer Ale
United States Brooklyn Brooklyn Double Chocolate Stout Stout
United States Sierra Nevada Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Pale ale
Germany Aecht Schlenkerla Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen Smoked
Germany Paulaner Paulaner Ocktoberfest Lager
Germany Weihenstephaner Weihenstephaner Hefe Weis Wheat
Belgium Alken-Maes Morte Subite Kriek Fruit lambic
Belgium Moorgaat Duvel Ale
Belgium Orval Orval Trappist
Belgium Rodenbach Rodenbach Ale
Australia Cooper's Brewery Coopers Sparkling Ale Ale
Japan Asahi Brewery Asahi Kuro Nama Lager
Mexico Modelo Negra Modelo Lager
What did I leave out? I'm conscious that in the end it wasn't a real success (it all ended with Ramsay spitting most of the beers out, half throwing up and wrinkling his face (yes, even more) in disgust at the hoppy horror of it all) and I think I know why but I'd love to have your thoughts …
