MOVIES AND BOOZE
3rd February 2012
With thanks to O’Briens Wines
Dean McGuinness
From Premier International Beers
NORTHERN ENGLAND – RED AND BROWN ALES
Introduction –
We are looking at two beers from the North of England to-day, and doing a compare and contrast in terms of style, ingredients, flavour and colour. Both beers have similarities, in that they would have ingredients in common. However, their flavour shows the range of possibilities that can be achieved by using similar ingredients in different beer styles in different ways.
The first beer that we are tasting is Old Dan, from Daniel Thwaites brewery in Blackburn. This is an old-style chestnut brown ale with above average strength (at 7.4% a.b.v.). The second beer is quirky in its own way. While Old Dan is based on a very old style English brown ale, Mars Magic, our second beer, is described simply as a Dark Beer, which suggests that the brewers were not seeking to adhere strictly to the parameters of a specific beer style. Mars Magic was brewed for the launch of Beagle 2 project to the planet Mars. The beer has a distinctly reddish hue, inspired by the colour of the red planet.
Beer and Colour – Red and Brown Ales –
Colour from beer comes from the malt used in brewing the beer. Malt (or malted barley) is the grain that is most often used in brewing beer. While many grains can be used in brewing (wheat, rye, oats, corn, maize, rice etc.), it has been found from experience that using malted barley produces the most reliable results for a variety of reasons.
Malted barley is different from barley. Barley is a grain grown in fields – a crop that is popular as an agricultural product in Ireland, as our climate in Ireland (and across the North of Europe) is particularly suited to growing barley. Once the barley has been grown and harvested, it then needs to be sent to a maltster for ‘malting’. This converts the barley grains to malted barley by going through a specific three step process. In olden times, malted barley was produced, but the control over the process was not as refined as it would be now – the result was that in the 1700’s and before that all beers were quite dark in colour. With a better understanding of the malting process, maltsters for the last few hundred years have been able to malt barley with greater precision – allowing them to produce different styles of malted barley which, in turn, deliver specific colours and flavour profiles when these beers are used in brewing beers.
The first stage in malting is Steeping – the grains are wetted and allowed to warm. This trigger the second stage – Germination. During Germination, the grain is effectively tricked into thinking that it is time to get ready to sprout a shoot. Natural processes within the grain are triggered, and the grain starts producing a foodstuff – starch – that would act as sustenance for the grain over the course of the year if it were to grow a stalk and yield a harvest. The third step in the process – kilning – involves stopping this germination process at just the right time. The germination process is stopped by drying and heating the grains. The maltster is typically seeking to ‘modify’ the malt as much as possible so that it is a rich source of starch as can be achieved. During brewing, this starch is later converted to sugar, which in turn is converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide during the fermentation process.
The kilning process can be light – resulting in pale malts. Alternatively, the malted barley can be roasted to varying degrees, resulting in different types of malt such as Amber Malt, Caramalt, Crystal Malt, Roast Malt, Chocolate Malt and so on. Each of these different types of malt contribute different qualities of colour and flavour to the beers in which they are used. Typically a brewer will use a blend of malts in brewing a beer – a number of different malts used in a specific proportion to achieve a desired colour and flavour profile. The skill of the brewer comes in understanding the appropriate proportions of different malts to achieve the results that he is seeking in the beer being brewed.
When it comes to red and brown ales, the red colour in beer comes from malts in the middle of the spectrum – Crystal Malt and Caramalt. These are lightly roasted malts that contribute a distinct red hue to the beer in which they are used as an ingredient. By blending these malts with small portions of darker malts (such as Roast Malts or Chocolate Malts), this red colour can be darkened to given the distinctly brown colour that one would associate with red or brown ales.
The colour of the beer gives a clue as to what flavours to expect in the beer. Crystal Malts deliver flavours along a spectrum ranging from digestive biscuit through brown sugar to toffee and caramel flavours. Roast and Chocolate Malts deliver much more dark colour, and flavours reminiscent of charcoal, smokiness and espresso coffee to plain chocolate. With red/brown ales, the proportion of darker malts will be more restricted, so these flavours will typically be more restrained (than would be the case in a porter or stout, for example). The roasting process also converts the starch in the grain into a form which makes it unfermentable – the sugars resulting from this process typically survive into the final beer (instead of being converted into alcohol, carbon dioxide and other flavours). As a result, these malts tend to contribute body and sweetness to the beers in which they are used as ingredients.
Of course, malt is only one ingredient used in beer. Hops (which deliver an array of aromas, and beers distinctive bitterness), used to varying degrees, will balance against the malt character in a beer. The fermentation process, in which the yeast used converts sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide, is controlled in terms of speed and temperatures by the brewer – these actions dictate the flavours that result from fermentation. Even the water which is used in brewing, which one would expect to simply provide something in which the other ingredients can be mixed, will have its own salt and mineral composition. Different levels of sodium, calcium, and other constituents in the water used will mean that the water interacts differently with the ingredients used, resulting, in turn, in different flavours in the final beer. Beer should never be one dimensional – the skilled brewer will ensure that this is not the case. However, looking at one dimension of a beer or beer style gives us a better appreciation of that aspect of the beer.
Old Dan –
Beer Style - Old Style Chestnut Brown Ale
Alcohol by Volume - 7.4% a.b.v.
Brewed by - Daniel Thwaites
Brewed in - Blackcburn, England.
Daniel Thwaites brewery in Blackburn is over two hundred years old – and still in family ownership. The heritage involved in this history is evident in the brewery, its beers and the approach that they use in presenting their beers to the public. For example, the family that owns the brewery still maintain and breed traditional shire horses that would have been used in the past to deliver the beers by English ‘draymen’. Every year at the Great British Beer Festival, Thwaites bring two of their shires, hitched to an old-fashioned horse trailer that would in the past have been used to deliver casks of beer, and present this with a dray in traditional clothes.
Old Dan, while based on a very old style of beer, is relatively new as a beer. First brewed in late 2010, Old Dan was first released by the brewery in 2011. With above average strength, Old Dan is full flavoured (but mellow) and rich in its complexity and character. That being said it is a very easy drinking beer.
Old Dan is bottle conditioned. This means that yeast is left in the bottle when the beer is bottled. This yeast sediment can mean that the beer presents with a slightly cloudy appearance – which is perfectly natural for this style of beer. What makes bottle conditioned beers most interesting is that this live yeast continues to develop the flavour and character of the beer over time. From about three months after bottling, one notices that the flavour mellows out beautifully. Moving on from this time, the initial fruitiness of the beer gives way to the distinctive caramel, toffee and brown sugar base flavours from the malt. Tasting Old Dan at different ages will demonstrate the complexity of this beer, and the manner in which this complex beer develops over time.
The bottles of Old Dan that we are tasting to-day are about nine months old – meaning that the flavour has had time to develop. In presentation, Old Dan presents with a rich red-brown chestnut colour, and off-white head. While this beer can be drunk cold if that is one’s preference, allowing the beer to warm to around 8 to 11 degrees Centigrade will allow the flavours in the beer to come through more distinctly. At this temperature, one gets delicious fruit cake flavours (rum raisin, currants, dates and figs) combining with brown sugar, toffee or background treacle flavours. Old Dan is brewed with English hop varieties. Fuggles – one of the hops used in Old Dan – is a classically traditional English hop that can deliver a subtle plummy fruitiness to the beer together with a natural bitterness.
Old Dan is a deliciously mellow beer. Ideal to drink by itself, or perfect when paired with fruit cake. This is a beer which pushes the flavour and alcohol content up when compared to what is the norm for English beers (typical English beers would most often be below 4.5% a.b.v., so at 7.4% a.b.v., Old Dan is a step away from the norm). One has to say that this beer has been brewed with considerable skill and attention to detail. Not only is the traditional Chestnut Brown Old-Style Ale shining through in the taste of this beer, the balance of flavours means that Old Dan is, at the same time, incredibly drinkable and moreish, and also mellow yet characterful and deliciously flavourful.
A superb beer – well worth hunting out. Ideal to enjoy beside a warm fire while the weather outside is cold.
Mars Magic –
Beer Style - Dark Ale
Alcohol by Volume - 4.6% a.b.v.
Brewed by - Wold Top Brewery
Brewed in - Yorkshire, England.
The Wold Top Brewery have enjoyed considerable success with their beers. Winners of multiple awards for their gluten free beer (Against the Grain), and also for their bitter (Wold Top Bitter), the Wold Top Brewery is a sign of what can be achieved when two farming families put their heads together to work out a way in which they can add value to the raw materials that they have been growing for years.
Mars Magic is a quite distinctly unusual beer. The colour of this beer was inspired by the colour of the planet Mars. When one holds the beer up to the light, the rich red colour, derived from Crystal Malt used in brewing this beer, is evident. Given that this is where the idea for the beer originated, it is no surprise that Mars Magic was the beer at the launch of the Beagle 2 project to Mars. Beagle 2 was an attempt to launch an unmanned module to Mars. The landing module left the ‘Mother Ship’ (Mars Express) on 19th December 2003, and was meant to land on Mars on 25th December 2003. They lost contact with it, and believe that the landing module may have had a ‘hard landing’.
So what about the beer. Mars Magic is distinctly drinkable, with a slightly malt sweet aroma, and a soft sweetness on the palate which is balanced against a delicate hop character. Dark Crystal Malt is responsible for the distinctive colour of the beer, and the flavour that this malt delivers does not stretch as far as toffee or caramel and instead comes through as a softer light toffee / almost candi sugar sweetness. The hop additions using Progress hops are controlled, allowing the malt character to shine through. At 4.6% a.b.v., Mars Magic is above average strength for an English beer, but very much at a sessionable strength.
Distinctive and different from what one might expect – Mars Magic is a delicious, easy drinking, yet different craft English Ale. On talking to people, most people assume that the name is a reference to the eponymous bar of chocolate, and so they sometimes expect something reminiscent of this. While there is a sweetness in Mars Magic, this does not stretch to a rich, full bodied character that one might expect from a beer built around this idea.
Movie reviews with Esther McCarthy
@Esthermccarthy on Twitter
Young Adult (15A) ****
Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Wilson.
The stunning but troubled Mavis (Theron) returns to her home town to win back her childhood sweetheart (Wilson). Trouble is, he’s married with a kid.
Ever wondered what happened to that bitch you went to school with who moved to the city? Well, she’s back.
That’s the premise behind this witty and jet black comedy that sees director Jason Reitman teaming up again with Diablo Cody, who wrote his movie, Juno.
And while the humour doesn’t always stick, there is plenty of fun to be had here thanks to a strong script milked for all its comic worth by Theron.
She’s terrific as out and out shallow bitch Mavis, the quintessential American high school student that everyone loved to hate.
After school she left her small town of Mercury to move to the city - in this case, Minneapolis. There she enjoyed moderate success (or in her eyes, major fame) as the ghost writer of a popular series of teenage books. Some of the film’s most amusing scenes see Mavis listening in to teen slang in fast food restaurants and stealing their lines for her books.
But gradually, the drama of the characters in her book seems to interwine with Mavis’s view of own life. Recently divorced, way too fond of alcohol and short on friends, she snaps when she receives a birth announcement from Beth, the wife of her ‘one who got away’, Buddy (Wilson).
Disregarding his new family, the conniving Mavis decides to go back to her home town and use her looks and sexuality to get Buddy back. But another old classmate, Matt (a very good Oswalt) has her number.
It’s a credit to the filmmakers that they resist the urge to make Theron’s character too empathetic or, God forbid, likeable, but that in a way creates some problems with the movie’s tone.
It’s nigh impossible to empathatise with the central character or understand her motivations while her sadness and badness can feel kind of draining.
An out-and-out comedy it ain’t then - yet there are some brilliantly funny lines of dialogue within all the dark material. And Theron, dead eyed but putting on her make up like a warrior preparing for battle, is excellent.
Carnage (15A) ****
Short, sharp, very funny and downright odd. These are the words that best describe director Roman Polanski’s latest, a movie that feels like a play shot on the big screen.
It comes as no surprise that this is actually an adaptation of a play, The God of Carnage, as most of the movie is set within one middle class sitting room.
That room is the home of Michael and Penelope Longstreet (John C Reilly and Jodie Foster) a well-off couple who consider themselves civil minded and socially aware.
When a playground brawl results in their son being hit by the son of parents Nancy and Alan Cowan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz) the four of them agree to meet to sort out their differences.
What follows is a sharp black comedy where both sets of parents set out to be polite middle-class types but quickly embark on verbal warfare.
The biting black humour comes in the form of the individual prejudices each of them have once you scratch the veneer.
Characters are brilliantly drawn and acted too. They include the anxious, uptight Nancy (Winslet), her work-obsessed husband Alan (Waltz) who has lost any sense of discretion when it comes to taking calls on his mobile phone.
Michael Longstreet (Reilly) is an amiable type who, it quickly emerges, feels he’s under the control of his domineering, earnest wife Penelope (a brilliant Foster).
A dark, eccentric and sometimes quite bitter story, Carnage certainly won’t be for everyone but if you like your comedy served sour, you’ve come to the right place.
