The Aperitif Guy

A few weeks ago, I participated in the inaugural Harrogate Beer Week. Forty events celebrating local breweries, hospitality outlets and drinkers were scattered across the town in the space of a single week. Some events were tastings, some tours, some talks and some pure entertainment. All were focused on Harrogate's thriving beer scene. It was a great opportunity to get to know the brewers who make our beer and the stories behind those brews.  Harrogate punches well above its weight in the beer world. It's a smallish town in the north of England, with a population of around 75,000, and yet it sustains five breweries within 4 miles of the town centre, with three more a little further out. With so many fine breweries, it would be easy to imagine a sense of rivalry, but that has not been the case. Collaborative brews are common, and there has been a lot of crossover in staff, so there is a great sense of respect, each conscient of what they owe the others. Having plenty breweries ...

Chocolate has a reputation for being difficult to match with wine. It is sweet, rich in fat and has a distinctive taste that is hard to pin down exactly - sort of fruity, sort of spicy, a bit toasty, sometimes even vaguely meaty. On top of all that, virtually all chocolate contains a hint of vanilla. However, it has many special qualities that make it a favourite of chefs and diners alike. It melts at a temperature just below that of a healthy human body, for instance, which means you will always taste it at its best if you hold it in your mouth for a few seconds. For me, chocolate's reputation for being hard to match is undeserved; it's just a matter of remembering those features that make you want to eat it in the first place. Let's start with its sweetness. Forget Champagne & chocolate truffles. The chocolate is so sweet that it'll make the Champagne taste drier and more acidic, and battery acid isn't the most romantic of drinks! Whenever you serve a wine wit...

The 14th February approaches, the date on which we’re encouraged to show our love for each other. Although we can't go out to restaurants and pubs for a romantic date, we can still procure cards, flowers, chocolates and a take-away from out favourite restaurant. It’s good to have a day on which we’re reminded we are loved, and I don’t subscribe to the view that the day is all about cynicism and financial exploitation. I know my parents will be delighted to have received cards from their grandchildren, whether shop-bought or home-made, and while my partner and I don’t make a big thing of the day, we’ll certainly be having a drink together and taking time to thank each other for another year’s worth of kindness, support and not complaining about the laundry. St Valentine’s day is at its best when its gestures are already familiar, one of a sequence of days to make someone feel appreciated. What I write here, then, applies to any birthday, anniversary, celebration or moment of difficu...

There is a definite seasonality to my drinking habits. I have commented on it before: how I enjoy sharp and light drinks in the summer months, fino sherry in the sunshine or rosé wine with salads. By the same token, as the temperature drops and the nights grow longer, I naturally incline to darker, more full-bodied drinks in the autumn and winter. It's not just because winter foods tend to be deeper in flavour, although that certainly plays a part, but somehow the mood of the season calls for darker drinks. Even if I'm not drinking with food, I wouldn't think of opening a bottle of lager, dry white wine or crisp sherry. Even gin and tonic are less common for me come November. Shiraz, Malbec and Rioja People will tell you I'm not a fan of rich, heavily-oaked red wines. I think it would be more accurate to say I struggle to match them with food. In the winter months, I'm more likely to open a bottle after supper, or to open one early in the week and take a glass out o...

In these days of social distancing, widespread home-working and self-isolation, there is a real danger that loneliness or boredom will affect us more deeply than we're ready for. We can't always manage our feelings, but what we can do is manage our activities to ensure they affect us as positively as possible. Any number of people are posting some brilliant suggestions to help us. Here are a few from me. Structure your day Drifting through an unstructured day is a recipe for boredom and procrastination. So set your alarm clock and get up at a regular time. Establish a few little rituals to mark the passing of the day: a morning walk, time to work, an online chat & coffee with a friend, early evening music. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, give yourself bursts of that at the same time every day. Eat well Start the day with a good breakfast and space your meals out as part of your daily rituals. You will need some treats to keep you going, as well as the hea...

A table set for a St Patrick's night dinner Rain. Something Ireland has in abundance. Soft, constant rain. The Gulf Stream brings warm water up the Atlantic to the west coast of Ireland, ensuring the winters are never truly harsh, but it also ensures that the weather systems making landfall on that coast are well and truly water-laden. Cool air off the mountains condenses the water, which then falls as rain. It’s not great news for tourism, but it makes for fantastic agriculture. Ireland has always been a producer of good food. The rain makes for rich pasture for beef and dairy cattle alike. Milk, butter and cheeses are sweet and plentiful. Beef is firm and flavoursome. Small-scale farming and crofting mean that sheep farming produces high-quality lamb and mutton that is much sought-after throughout Europe. However, it is the pig that dominates the Irish domestic table. You won’t go long in Ireland before being served pork, bacon or ham. Any country that has know...

We've been drinking beer with food for centuries, but it's only in the last couple of decades that people have begun to give serious thought to matching food with beer. In the English-speaking world, especially, beer used to be seen as a working man's drink, and therefore unworthy of respectful consideration; wine was the drink of sophisticates. Working men were not expected to have discerning palates and an interest in what makes food taste good. As wine has become more popular, though, so too has to wine-drinkers' interest in food matching. I wouldn't have a blog if that cultural shift hadn't happened. Regardless of cultural class, these days there can be few drinkers unfamiliar with the idea of serving certain drinks with certain foods to enhance the appreciation of both. With the growth of interest in craft ales and micro-brewing, beer, too, has positioned itself as a drink for discerning and sophisticated drinkers, and sophisticated drinkers like to...

I was asked by my stepson to write about beer, specifically about drinking beer as an aperitif drink, with a few nibbles in the early evening. He asked me to consider what styles of beer might work best in that context, and to make a couple of specific recommendations. Gueuze Boon with pickled herring Image: GP Mather Especially for those coming new to my blog, it's worth reminding ourselves, very briefly, what aperitif culture is. Coming at the end of the working day, and marking its transition to evening, recreation and dining, the aperitif is a social drink with friends and a few light snacks. The word comes from a Latin root that means "an opening," and the drink is a way of opening up the appetite for dinner. The first thing I did was check to see what had been written before on the subject. Surprisingly little, as it turns out: even the magisterial Pete Brown ( https://www.petebrown.net/ ) hasn't used the word in his blog since 2011. If the beer intern...