Matching Food & Beer
 As a nation we have never eaten so well nor been as open to foods of so many styles and nationalities. So why do we stick religiously to wine with our food, when we could be drinking beer like the rest of the continent? So, if the nearest you get to matching beer with food is a pint with your curry then read on…
From the 13th October to 27th November, every All Bar One throughout the UK is hosting its very own continental Beer Boutique allowing customers to try out some of Europe’s most flavoursome and diverse beers. Along with free tastings every evening between 6pm and 7pm, their experienced beer experts will also give advice about how best to match your beer with your food.
The festival will showcase nine beers including six draught and three bottled beers which have been picked for their diverse characteristics and food compatibility.
To celebrate this beer bonanza All Bar One have come up with the perfect culinary match to all the beers they have on offer. See if you agree.
DRAFT BEERS available at the Beer Boutique at All Bar One:
BELLE VUE KRIEK
Fruit beers have been brewed in Belgium for thousands of years and are fermented using only the natural yeast found in the atmosphere. Adding fruit during fermentation takes the edge off their dry, tart flavours and the oakey taste of Belle Vue Kriek verges on the sweet, with a subtle hint of morello cherries. Its fresh taste makes it a popular choice for women.
Taste match: Desserts and sweeter, darker meats like game.
Try it with: All Bar One love to match food and drink to bring out the best in each other – that’s why they serve Belle Vue-Kriek with its very own truffle!
DOM KÖLSCH
Kölsch beers may only be produced in Cologne and are brewed to German purity laws. Dom Kölsch is one of the finest, discovered in All Bar One, Cologne, and is traditionally popular with women in Germany. This pale, golden-coloured brew with its gentle, lemony taste has now been adopted by the UK bars.
Taste Match: Great with salads and fish – though in Cologne they drink it with everything!
Try it with: All Bar One’s Warm Chicken Salad: superfoods selection of char-grilled, roast butternut squash, broccoli, watercress & rocket, sesame pumpkin & poppy seeds with a low fat honey vinaigrette.
EDELWEISS
High in the Austrian Alps, near Saltzburg, is the Hofbräu Kaltenhausen brewery which was founded in 1475. It’s here that Edelweiss Weissbier is brewed - a zingy, fruity wheat ale which boasts a natural cloudiness and a fresh, tangy taste. The beer is named after the rare, white Alpine flower of the same name which it’s now illegal to pick.
Taste Match: Light, zesty Edelweiss goes well with fish and poultry.
Try it with All Bar One’s Grilled Tuna with Asian Vegetables: char-grilled tuna steak, juicy bok choi, snow pea shoots, asparagus spears, spring onions, red chilli & sweet soy sauce.
LEFFE BLOND
This engaging Belgian beer is one of Belgium’s famous ‘Abbey Ales’ and can trace its history back to the Abbey Notre Dame de Leffe, in Southern Belgium, The Abbey which was founded in 1152 housed monks who brewed beers for passing travellers and pilgrims.
Taste match: Leffe is famously versatile as its spicy fruitiness and smooth, warming taste goes surprisingly well with all kinds of foods, from cheese to desserts.
Try it with All Bar One’s Mango Fool: layers of mango, whipped cream and oat crunch with sweet Leffe syrup. All Bar One challenged its Kitchen Managers to invent a recipe using Leffe Blonde as an ingredient. Kitchen Manager, Leah Parker, from All Bar One Exchange Plaza in Edinburgh, chose to dismiss the usual use of beer in savoury dishes like pies and stews and paired it with mango to create a light, sweet dessert. This delicious recipe is so good it made it onto the All Bar One menu!
STAROPRAMEN
Rich and hoppy Staropramen is a deservedly popular Pilsner from Prague with a citrus lemon zing and a soft malty flavour. The name means ‘old spring’ and refers to the ancient water source used in the brewing.
Taste match: Staropramen is ideally served with creamy dishes, salads, vegetarian food and spicy sausages like chorizo.
Try it with All Bar One’s Chorizo & Chicken Skewers: char-grilled Vavaretti chorizo, chicken, tomato & pepper chilli salsa.
AMSTEL
Fresh, smooth Amstel is one of the world’s best loved beers. It is particularly popular in the Mediterranean due to its clear taste making it refreshing, light and easy-to-drink.
Taste match: Due to its light taste Amstel is compatible with spicy foods and pizzas.
Try it with All Bar One’s Classic Italian Antipasti: generous slices of spicy chorizo sausage, juicy salami & sun drenched tomoatoes with olives & pitta.
BOTTLED BEERS available at the Beer Boutique:
BIRRA MORETTI
Italy’s favourite beer, a golden, straw-coloured brew with a delicate malt flavour, is all about La Dolce Vita – the good life. Luigi Moretti founded the brewery at Udine, in Fruilli, Italy in 1859. The elderly gentleman who appears on the bottle’s famous label was photographed at a local trattoria in 1942.
Taste Match: Antipasti, cheese, salad, pasta, risotto.
Try it with All Bar One’s Vegetable Antipasti: char-grilled seasonal vegetables with aubergine pate, warmed pitta and olives.
BITBURGER
A crisp-tasting beer with its own distinctive flavour that in its native Bavaria is usually enjoyed with food. The clean taste comes from the Eifel mountain water used and is still brewed to the 1516 Rhineheitsgerbot German Beer Purity Laws.
Taste Match: A versatile beer perfect with fish and salads and is also good with meats.
Try it with All Bar One’s Char-grilled Gammon: classic gammon steak, free-range eggs, crispy fries, confit of slow roasted tomatoes & watercress.
PILSNER URQUELL
Until 1839, when a Bavarian master brewer named Josef Groll was imported to work in a new brewery in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, beers were traditionally dark and cloudy. Groll developed the world’s first ‘golden’ ale and Pilsner Urquell – the world’s first Pils – is still brewed to the same recipe with the famously soft Plzen water.
Taste Match: This medium-bodied beer with its rich aromas and moderate bitterness is a perfect match for spicy foods, rich red meats like steak, and salmon.
Try it with All Bar One’s Satay Chicken Skewers: char-grilled chicken, satay marinade, peanut butter & honey sauce, crisp cucumber & spring onion salad.
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