I have always loved beer, from the adverts on television to the way it made my father giggle, beer was always something i was interested in. Who doesn’t remember the Budwiser frogs or the Carlsberg adverts ‘so good the Danes want it back’ or do they? It wasn’t until very recently in the past four years that I realised there was another world. Of course there were ales but this was mostly associated with a vision I had in my head of alchemists brewing beer in cloaks farmers with a bottle of ale and block of cheese and those old men with nasal hair and glasses at beer festivals. My first encounter was the Bridge of Allan Brewery 1st year of University in Stirling. Here I tried a raspberry beer which was the most wonderful thing and it’s safe to say that I’ve never looked back! After that in quick succession came the Williams brothers, Harvieston, BrewDog and Wychwood.
Recently I’ve become more interested in American Breweries and food pairing with beer, we’ve all heard about ‘wineing and dining’ but what about ‘Beering and Dining’? Food that’s eaten with Beer shouldn’t be limited to just scampi crisps, pork scratching and lard sandwiches. I will use this blog to explore that, so there may be some cooking and I have to say I’m incredibly excited about that too! My first blog will be coming up soon and I’ve decided to go back to my roots and will be reviewing Lomond Gold from Bridge of Allen Brewery.