Stichelton (or Stilton) with Maury 1974 and Bristol Beer Factory Glenlivet-cask stout

Two matches for the price of one this week - both killer pairings at our Christmas Cheese School* last week.

The Maury 1974 ( £19.49 for 50cl. Averys), a fortified grenache made in a solera system like sherry was perhaps the more obvious pairing for the Stichelton, an unpasteurised version of Stilton. It had a similar warm, spicy berry character to a vintage port but at 17% was a little lighter. Delicious.

On the other hand the Glenlivet Cask Stout, one of a limited edition bottling of stouts brought out for Christmas by the Bristol Beer Factory, was just as good. A wickedly rich, dark smooth 10.7% imperial stout with a lovely touch of sweetness it was the perfect contrast to the creamy Stichelton.

I really like the idea of finishing Christmas dinner with a beer like this but if you think your nearest and dearest will rebel buy yourself a good imperial stout this week and treat yourself.

* Cheese School is joint enterprise I set up with local Bristol cheesemakers and mongers Todd and Jess Trethowan to offer cheese-focused events and all day courses for those who want to learn more about cheese.

Raspberry cranachan and Black Tokyo Horizon

As it turned out the star pairing of my bizarre Brewdog Burns night was not the haggis spring rolls and Punk IPA but an equally off the wall pairing of raspberry cranachan and Black Tokyo Horizon, a 15% Imperial stout.

Fresh raspberries and dark beer might sound an unlikely combination, particularly one of 15% but in fact there was so much whipped cream and the beer, which was brewed in collaboration with Danish brewers Mikkeller and Norway’s Nøgne ø was so smooth and sweet it went an absolute treat.

Other good matches included Cullen Skink with Alice Porter (6.2%), a comparatively normal brew. (It was a designed to go with a barley wine called Bitch Please which I found way too sweet. Unsurprisingly as it includes Scottish toffee and shortbread)

The sweetness of the Brewdog Hardcore IPA (9%) also worked really well with Dunsyre Blue, a mellow Scottish blue cheese and I loved the TNP float a shot of 33% Tactical Nuclear Penguin Imperial Stout with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

In general the Brewdog beers seem to be getting progressively sweeter which I feel makes them harder to match with food. Hello My Name is Ingrid (yes, that’s a beer) an 8.2% IPA made from candied malt was again far too sweet for its destined pairing of sashimi though I can imagine it being great with pork belly. Not that I imagine Brewdog are overly concerned about the niceties of food and beer pairing.

Fun evening, though.

I attended the dinner as a guest of Brewdog

Molten chocolate pudding and Bristol Beer Factory Ultimate Stout . . .

Chocolate is generally considered a tricky ingredient to match but it's not that hard - unless it's a hot fondant pudding.

The usual suspects (sweet red wines) just don't seem to work as well so it occurred to me that maybe I should turn to a beer. The perfect candidate turned up in the form of the Bristol Beer Factory's Ultimate Stout a really delicious sweet malty brew with just a hint of espresso. It provided a refreshing counterbalance to a seriously sweet Waitrose Seriously Chocolatey pudding (with an added dollop of vanilla ice cream I have to confess) - for me the perfect match.

I'm conscious though it might not be for everyone and as I don't have a very sweet tooth I tried another couple of drinks with it - a Blandy's Duke of Clarence Madeira and a Barbadillo PX sherry. The Madeira was fine but the PX was better still, complementing the warm oozy chocolate with the rich taste of boozy raisins. I guess for most people that would be the star match though I'm still rooting for the stout which I also enjoyed recently with Stichelton (an unpasteurised version of Stilton cheese).

Smoked herring roes on toast and oyster stout

I seem to be spending most of my time dining with bloggers at the moment. On Sunday it was the Blaggers Banquet, next week an Umami night at Ms Marmite Lover’s underground restaurant and last Monday Dine with Dos Hermanos a monthly (or so) feast organised by Simon Majumdar and his brother Robin.

This one was at Bentley’s an old London fish restaurant taken over recently (well, a year or so ago) by the ebullient Richard Corrigan. With both Richard and Simon having a hand in the menu it was predictably lavish with huge platters of smoked fish, followed by fish pie, braised ox cheeks (yes, as well as the fish pie) and sticky toffee pudding and clotted cream.

The smoked herring roes on toast were an unadvertised canapé but such a good one I managed to fit in three, not least because they were a fantastic match for the Porterhouse oyster stout that had been served with the oysters (a classic match) and which I still had on the table in front of me.

The consistency of soft roes is perfect for stout, I’ve realised, the slight smokey note just taking the bitterness off the edge of the beer and making it taste wonderfully smooth and velvety. Champagne couldn’t have done better.

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