Hops across the pond

05-Jul-2006 - Last updated on 26-Aug-2011 at 23:52 GMT

American beer is over here as US craft brewers arrived in the UK on their first mission to destroy the myth that all beer in the States is mass-produced. SUSAN NOWAK reports

If you think about American beers you conjure up a six pack of Bud, right? Wrong. At least, not necessarily. Across the pond there is a new generation of brewers and, Jeez, these guys are producing beers that will make your hair curl.

Just like America cooks every cuisine under the sun, so it is with beer. From British porters, stouts and IPAs - going right back to their original,

historic recipes - to Belgian Trappist styles, Munich dunkels, Bavarian wheat beers and even their native red lager, these craft brewers are

taking on the world.

What's more, the new cult beers have a clarity, a vibrancy, a piquancy and sheer freshness that make them perfect with food.

Beer gastronomy is breaking new ground stateside as demonstrated by a group of craft brewers on their first mission to England, with US government backing, to showcase the diversity and complexity of their products.

Already brew pubs and restaurants across America serve beer and food as natural "pardners". And they are not simply parroting the traditional "beer cuisine" of Europe.

No, siree. A five-course adventure at top UK gastropub the White Horse in Parson's Green, London, took us not only from oyster beignets to Stinking Bishop cheese, but daringly through beers with names like North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner and Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre.

And boy, these beers are strong. Wine drinkers could not possibly use the abv argument when the tipples on the table rose steadily to a mind blowing 15.2% - yes, really!

"Smaller independent traditional breweries are leading the brewing renaissance in the US," said Bob Pease of the Brewers Association, who led the expedition. "I think their creativity, passion and youth is creating the most vibrant brewing system in the world today.

"We are raising the image of beer and destroying the myth that all beer in America is mass-pro-duced. We have had great success with our cam-

paign 'occasionalizing' beer - that there is a beer

for every occasion, and for every meal - and that

many "grape" occasions don't go with food at all."

Awesome beer and food combos

The five breweries in the party included names already on supermarket shelves here, such as Samuel Adams and Rogue Ales - the UK is already the biggest market for US craft brewers who send 7,500 barrels a year - and three who may take the plunge.

They included Eric Wallace of the Left Hand Brewery in Colorado (motto: beer is food). "I was one of the loudest critics of beer in the States, but when I moved back there in '93 I was ecstatic there was this small renaissance going on," he said.

Left Hand was launched the following year. Wallace said: "We brew very balanced beers from a worldclass pilsner to ginger beer and milk stout, our number-two selling beer. Americans are saving beer styles that otherwise would be lost."

His Imperial Russian-style stout at 9.5% abv stood up to an intense Belgian dark chocolate and hazelnut tart in a way that "very few wines could do", according to beer guru Mark Dorber, who runs the White Horse.

But before the pudding course the awesome possibilities of US beers with food were tasted on a menu Mark devised with Garrett Oliver, boss of the Brooklyn Brewery and author of beer and food book, The Brewmaster's Table.

It began with nibbles including potted shrimps and honey mustard sausages, their sweetness unleashed by Oliver's Brooklyn Lager, brewed to a pre-prohibition recipe.

Crab and sweet potato cakes with a chilli tomato jam were enhanced by the spice in Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - a beer already on sale here - but truly exciting with a sip of Victory's 9.5% abv Golden Monkey.

"In Downington, Pennsylvania you create your own style, and we brewed what we wanted to drink," said Victory brewmaster and president Bill Covaleski. "We are unique in that we brew all styles. Our top seller is IPA, second is the Belgian Triple (Golden Monkey) and after that a Continental pilsner."

The brewery has its own 150-seat restaurant on site serving a full menu with dishes such as "pulled pork sandwich" of beer-marinated barbecued pork or beer-boiled bratwurst with sauerkraut and German mustard. Beer suggestions accompany most dishes.

Back at the White Horse, a rack of meltingly tender Romney Saltmarsh lamb with roast summer vegetables found a fabulous accompaniment in Rogue brewery's orange amber Smoke Ale, like a gentle whiff from a gypsy's fire.

Rogue beers, brewed in Oregon, carry two food pairing suggestions on each bottle.

The winey, malty Raison D'Etre at 8% abv was

the main-course alternative from Dogfish, a brewery that gives all its beers a wine equivalent and lists dishes to partner them. With Indian Brown Ale - "a Shiraz" - they suggest balsamic vinaigrette salads, smoked meats, duck confit, braised ribs and proscuitto.

To end our meal, British cheeses accompanied by Snake Dog IPA, Odell's rich Cutthroat Porter (inspired by the old London porters) and, to do justice to a ripe Colston Bassett Blue Stilton, that 15.2% Sam Adams Triple Bock.

Sheer molten Marmite of tongue-tingling sweetness, you'd never get this up a straw. "We like to raise the bar - we really like to abuse our yeast," said Samuel Adams' Fred Mendes. "It's technically a beer but it's a port, a sherry, a Cognac, a fine Madeira..."

You sure ain't kidding, Fred...

Facts 'n' contacts

Some 850 of America's 1,400 craft brewers belong to the Brewers Association.

The association organises the Great American Beer Festival with 1,400 beers from 380 breweries.

It produces leaflets like American Craft Beer

& Food and American Craft Beer Guide.

Last year 42 brewpubs and 24 micro-breweries opened in the US, and the craft beer market rose 9% to over seven million barrels

Useful websites

Brewers Association:

www.beertown.org

Breweries:

www.samadams.com; www.rogue.com;