Last weekend husband and I were treated to a home cooked Indian feast by two of our lovely Morris Dancing friends. They slaved in the kitchen, we rocked up with a few beers - an excellent deal. With curry on the menu an American IPA sprung to mind almost automatically as the best match. Something bitter and refreshing, with enough body to stand up to the strong flavours and enough citrus to cut through any heat – and there must be a good reason beers made to be sent to India turned out the way they did. But…
1000's of people drink lager with curries every week - surely they couldn't all be wrong? Which would be better - the beer geek choice or the choice of most people in curry houses across the country? And why did I think that any one beer would automatically match with the menu? Yes, an IPA would work well with most spicy foods but was it the best match? Curry is more than one hot and spicy dish – it’s a term used to generically describe a hugely varied style of cooking eaten by millions of people every day. I wouldn't automatically match one beer with all British food or even all pizza regardless of the topping so why curry? What had started as a simple trip to the shop suddenly needed a lot more thought.
The Menu
Bhajis, Pakoras, Chutney, Pickle and Raita
Bhajis, Pakoras, Chutney, Pickle and Raita
Chana Masala (Chickpea Curry), Vegetable Makhanawala (Fragrant, not overly hot), Paneer Jalfrezi (Rich with a little sweetness), Tarka Dal (hot!), Pilau rice and chapatis.
Spiced Banana Tart Tatin (our other contribution, recipe here)
The Plan
Something with a good amount of bitterness as a pre-dinner drink to get the juices flowing followed by a beer along the lines of my initial thoughts to go with the starter - something hoppy and citrussy. For the main course I wanted to try a couple of beers designed especially to go with spicy food and to finish a wheat beer to complement the bananas, plus something with some caramel flavours.
The Beers
After a bit of googling and reading some thoughts from Perfect Pint, Pete Brown, a prolonged glance at Garrett Oliver's brilliant The Brewmaster's Table and a drive to Tesco the choices were made.
The Verdict
Pre Dinner Drink - Shipyard IPA
A cracking beer. It was interesting to see an American brewery using English hops as I've gotten used to the US beers I drink being loaded with citrussyness. The beer was well balanced, distinct hop flavour without being overwhelming and a great start to the meal. Definitely one to have again. Hit.
Starters - Oakham Citra
Lots of people have been raving about Citra recently, with loads of mentions as the Beer of the Year in the Golden Pints. I last drank Citra about a year ago and then, and on previous occasions, I'd been a little underwhelmed. Nice beer, but not one I'd go back to for another pint, I always thought it lacked balance - lots of hops but not much else. I'm glad I gave it another go. The light carbonation lifted the hops, it but nicely through the slight greasiness from the friend food, balanced the sweetness of the chutney, cooled the spicy pickle and was all round delicious. Another hit and a wish that we'd bought twice as much.
Mains - Simon Rimmer Presents A Beer To Go With Curry (that's it's full title, brewed by Robinsons) and Cobra.
This is where it started to go a little down hill. The Simon Rimmer beer (now shortened to SRPABTGWC) was underwhelming to say the least. On his website the beer is described as:
A UNIQUE CRAFT LAGER BREWED WITH RICE AND A FAB MIX OF STELLAR AND CASCADE HOPS, CRISP AND CLEAN WITH HINTS OF LEMON GRASS AND LIME. A fantastic lager created by Simon that’s sure to cut through chilli heat and experience a smooth and experience a smooth and tasty lemony aromatic finish.
In reality: Uninteresting, and with a slightly musty smell, on it's own it half of us wouldn't have gone back for a second mouthful. When matched with the food it just wasn't up to the job. The dishes were rich and luscious, spicy and complex, and the beer did nothing to complement it. In the words of Dylan (14, budding beer expert) "Why does it taste of soil ?". Big Miss.
Moving swiftly on the Cobra was a welcome change. Another beer designed to go with food, according to the Cobra website "the smoothness of Cobra makes it a great drink in it's own right. But with food Cobra's smoothness comes into its own. It doesn't clash with fiery spices but is soothing, smooth and calming, with malty sweet flavours which compliment curry and spicy food perfectly." They were right. Hot, rich, curry with cool, smooth beer is a winner, 1000's of people aren't wrong. Hit. Not an earth shattering match but satisfying and great for refreshing the palate ready for...
Desert - Innis and Gunn Original and Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier
First up was the Innis and Gunn, chosen because I hoped it's vanilla and toffee notes would complement the caramel sauce on the Tart Tatin. It was..... odd. It's clearly a sign of several mis-spent teenage years that, on having an initial sniff, the first comment around the table was "Why does this smell of weed?" And it did. And no, we hadn't been smoking, it just smelt dopey. For an un-hoppy beer it just seemed weird. The toffee notes did work well with the food but the whole thing was just strange. I hadn't tried Innis and Gunn before so I will grab another bottle and try again with a clear palate, hopefully just an anomaly or something only picked up when compared to the beers we'd had before. Miss.
Last up was the Franziskaner and, thankfully, it matched pretty well. It counteracted the very sweet banana without removing the flavour all together and the herbal, spicy notes worked well with the peppercorns. Hit.
So, 4/6 - not bad for my first real beer and food matching effort, hopefully I'll get more right next time. Overall a brilliant evening of great food, conversation, laughter and some interesting beers so what more could I ask?
