Blonde ambition

Susan Nowak plays

matchmaker to some

bottle blondes

Gentlemen, apparently, prefer blondes. Bottle-blondes. We're talking the latest passion for golden ales - pale, interesting and oh-so-cool for summer drinking or sipping with al-fresco food.

Blonde ales are British brewers' answer to lager. After the resurgence of darker, maltier beers, it was time for the hop to make a

comeback and beef up the bitterness in

our glasses.

To generalise wildly, blokes often savour hoppier, more bitter beers, while girls

supposedly go for sweeter, maltier brews.

But this new interpretation of blonde beer is proving a hit with the ladies, too. The colour of summer sun and sand, these ales are refreshing, light, and lovely with fruity salads, pasta, paella and the ubiquitous quiche.

For me, the style really took off when Oakham produced straw-hued Jeffrey Hudson Bitter (JHB). Nose in the glass, you get a real hop hit, but at a quaffable 3.8%.

And with hints of grass and citrus, followed by a long, dry finish, it's just right for the Thai food cooked at Oakham's Brewery Tap in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.

JHB won the Campaign for Real Ale's (Camra) Champion Beer of Britain, as did another stunning blonde, Harviestoun's luscious Bitter and Twisted, also 3.8%. But not until 2005 did Camra introduce a new class for golden ales at its Great British Beer Festival.

The very first winner, Crouch Vale's Brewers Gold - "with citrus hop aroma, lemon and orange in the dry aftertaste" - was named overall British champion, too.

This summer, golden beers are suddenly sprouting like sunflowers. From Wychwood comes White Wych, a "delicate, finely balanced golden ale with bewitching bitterness."

Hops are dominant in Young's bottle-conditioned Champion Golden Ale but you find flowers and fruit as well. Adnams' Explorer Blonde blends Chinook and Columbus hops from the New World, delivering them in a grapefruit grove; but beware - these charmers pack a bigger punch at 5 to 5.5%.

And hot - or should that be cool? - from the brewery comes Woodforde's new Sundew Ale, a light, golden beer with floral aroma and

mellow hoppy finish at 4.1%. The brewery's tip is to steam mussels in it.

Refreshing, lilting, with floral notes and sophisticated hop bite, these are perfect beers to drink with summer dishes - plates of seafood or Italian meats; fresh, soft cheeses; Spanish tapas and tortillas; plum tomato tarts or broad bean and parsley risotto.

Hoppy beers must be treated with caution in cooking: long simmering and rapid reducing can concentrate their bitterness. But their sparkling lightness and savoury taste is ideal for coating batters.

Experimenting with blonde beers is

definitely worth a try.

- add a pinch of turmeric for a deeper gold. Pile a platter with asparagus spears, carrot and courgette batons, and rings of different coloured peppers, all dipped in blonde beer batter and deep fried.

Use the batter for fish and chicken goujons, deep-fried prawns with chilli dip or sweetcorn fritters. You might even go wild with elderflowers in blonde beer batter - dip the whole blooms into the batter, then lower them by their stems into oil hot enough to cover the blossom and fry for a few minutes until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper and serve with rich vanilla ice cream.

Learning the art of matching food with beer

PubChef recommends the Beer Academy's new Making Beer and Food Dance course.

Senior reporter Lucy Britner was one of the first students to complete the course, aimed at licensees and including tips on various beer styles as well as information on sources of flavours. Course leader George Philliskirk, Beer Academy chief executive, talks the students through beer-tasting and using their senses to recognise flavours.

George holds a yeast research PhD and has spent most of his career in the brewing industry.

Assessing a beer includes visual impression, temperature, carbonation, smell and taste.

Complementary or

contrasting flavours can be chosen to cut through food characteristics, particularly fat.

As a tart cherry Belgian beer, Liefmans Kriek has an acid flavour that cuts through liver paté's fatty characteristics, cleansing the palate.

Brakspear Triple's bitter, hoppy character contrasts perfectly with creamy Stilton.

Other suggested matches include smoked salmon with Hoegaarden Witbier and apple pie with Innis and Gunn.

The half-day course, costing £75 plus VAT, includes stockist information and a glassware guide. Licensees who want to learn how to pair dishes to beers should call 01206 752599 or visit the website at www.beeracademy.org

Sonia Harris is the new general manager of the pub which hosts the course, the White Horse in Parson's Green, London. Sonia recently took over from beer and food guru Mark Dorber.

The pub offers about 150 beers; every dish has its own wine and beer match, such as seared

diver-caught scallops (£7.25) with Moinette Blonde beer (£2.95), and steak & horseradish sandwich with hand-cut chips and leaf salad (£10.95) with Worthington White Shield.