Drinks of the Month

The Durham Brewery White Stout

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on January 29 2016 at 16:33

I had a conversation on Twitter before Christmas with Elly from The Durham Brewery about whether there was a perfect beer for Christmas pudding.

She reckoned their 9% Belgian Tripel-style Bede’s Chalice would do the job and offered to send it to me to try.

What with one thing and another I didn’t catch up with it until well after Christmas was over so can’t try out the combination. My feeling is that it’s slightly drier and more savoury than is ideal for Christmas pud - a barley wine I think would be better

I was however very taken with their White Stout which I tried at the same time. As they explain on the label “Before porter brewers commandeered stout to mean a strong porter, a stout beer was a strong beer. It did not have to be black. We have recreated the style using modern hops and a full malt body.”

I find it a big, savoury brew, well-suited to meat (they recommend it with roast lamb with garlic and rosemary), shepherd's pie or cheddar cheese. It’s not as sweet or aromatic as many IPAs, more like a full-bodied red like a malbec. Watch out though: at 7.2% ABV a 500ml bottle will gobble up 3.6 units, over a quarter of your weekly 14 unit (ha!) allowance. You could happily share it between two though.

Disclosure: I was sent a selection of beers to try by The Durham Brewery.

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