Here for the beer?

So 2004 is the Year of Beer with Food - at least according to the latest Good Beer Guide. In a bid to boost flagging beer sales, brewers are keen to show how compatible their beers are with food. In the past few months alone, we've had a series of beer dinners from Shepherd Neame, a major beer and food supplement in the Observer, Greene King's Beer to Dine For campaign, and an Interbrew-sponsored beer and food workshop at Caterer‘s own Chef Conference.

Now the cynics might tell you this is just a way to get us to drink more beer. But can you blame them? Things were looking pretty miserable until recently - 44 breweries had closed their doors in the last decade of the 20th century and sales of cask beer had slumped dramatically.

But the latest beer guide lists more than 30 new breweries that have opened in the past two years and a couple of dozen waiting in the wings, with major investment being ploughed back into other breweries, and beer sales rising for the first time in 20 years.

The flurry of micro-brewery activity is thanks, in part, to the Government's introduction of Progressive Beer Duty last year. Brewers producing less than 3,000 barrels a year had their duty cut in half, and brewers who make up to 18,000 barrels now get a graded discount, although the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) is lobbying the Government to adjust this up to the European ceiling of 120,000 barrels.

Yup, there's a beer revolution going on and the restaurant industry needs to play a part in it. And I'm not talking about slipping a couple more major lager brands on to your list. I'm talking about offering a decent cross-section of styles, with staff clued up on the beers' food-matching potential.

But our customers want to drink only the big international lager brands, I hear you say. Where would wine consumption be today if we had taken that attitude 15 years ago?

"It's all about educating the customer," says beer writer and broadcaster Michael Jackson. "People really enjoy finding out why beers taste different, in the same way that they're interested in wine. I remember the days when nobody drank dessert wine - it tastes like Gee's Linctus, they used to say. Well, we have to popularise beer in the same way."

After all, it's not as if drinking beer with food is a new phenomenon. "You just have to read any book written in Dickens's time," says Jackson. "Everybody in Britain drank beer with food back then." And need I mention the Belgians, who have made beer-and-food matching an art form?

"If I walk into a restaurant in Seattle, there's a good chance I'll be offered a beer list as well as a wine list - and they'll suggest food matches," adds Jackson, who has been preaching about beer's compatibility with food for the past 20 years.

The Americans have embraced the concept wholeheartedly - even fine-dining restaurants, such as New York's Gramercy Tavern, offer a decent beer list alongside its wine list. Beverage director Karen King lets her "beer man" - general manager Kevin Mahan - put together the 24-strong list (plus four ciders and a perry), which includes beers such as Lindeman's Peach Lambic (Belgium), Traquair Jacobite Ale (Scotland) and local brews such as Southampton Pale Ale and Brooklyn Monster.

So how did we get so left behind? "We sell only about 10 bottles of beer a week," moans sommelier Alan Holmes at London's P‚trus restaurant. If you remember, it was P‚trus that caused a stir the world over when four City players blew £44,000 on a celebratory meal there last year. It wasn't the obscene bill that particularly horrified beer aficionados - it was the fact that some of the diners kicked off their costly blowout with two bottles of Kronenbourg.

"That's like the beer equivalent of Blue Nun!" splutters Jackson. The only other beer P‚trus offers is Beck's. "One of the things that really annoys me is if I feel like a beer in a smart restaurant and all they've got is Budweiser," says Jackson. "No offence to Bud - it's fine in its context, but it's the sliced white bread of the beer world. That kind of restaurant wouldn't serve sliced white bread, so why serve the beer equivalent?" Quite.

So what does Holmes have to say for himself? "I suppose I might consider listing Budvar, and I had this interesting Mexican beer the other day - but I can't remember its name," he ponders, adding: "If someone showed me something unique or unusual, then yes, I'd consider putting it on the list." You hear that, brewers? Get Marcus Wareing and his team behind beer and you can crank things up a notch.

Still trailblazing
So who exactly is offering a decent beer list in the UK? Rather depressingly, the editor of the Good Beer Guide, Roger Protz, couldn't think of anyone in particular - other than Mark Dorber at the White Horse in London's Parsons Green, who is still trailblazing with his sophisticated beer-and-food restaurant above his well-established pub.

But then Jackson couldn't come up with much either. "There's a guy in Leek who does a good beer list, I think - oh, what was the name of his place?"

There is the odd guiding light, of course. Paul Henderson at Gidleigh Park, Devon, has offered a beer list (seven at the last count) alongside his impressive wine list for the past 10 years.

And the almost-as-posh Flying Pig restaurant at the newly revamped Stonor House hotel in Oxfordshire is having some success with its substantial beer list, thanks to its forward-thinking Aussie sommelier-cum-manager, Mark van der Goot.

Then there's Sankey's in Tunbridge Wells. The wine bar began offering a beer list five years ago. Owner Guy Sankey decided it was time to diversify, so added a few local brews to his list, alongside a couple of fruit beers on tap. "At first, people thought we were mad," says Sankey, who now lists 30 beers, 14 on tap and 16 in bottle. "But the beers definitely bring more people in."

Sankey has always loved beer. His parents ran a pub that specialised in local ales and the passion rubbed off - now 15% of his customers choose to drink beer with their meals. "We don't actually recommend certain beers with particular dishes, but there's a thumbnail description on each beer we list so customers can decide for themselves."

Sankey says his customers are as fascinated about beer as they are about wine, and he took a brewing course recently to improve his knowledge. "They're always asking ‘why is it called Triple?' and ‘how do you make fruit beer?'," he says.

So any tips for building a beer list? "You've got to have a good range of styles and you should choose beers from all the main categories," Sankey says.

Jackson agrees. "There's no point in building a beer list comprised of international-style lagers - the differences are minimal," he says. "They have a similar gravity and hop bitterness - it's like having a load of Liebfraumilch. You need to offer different styles.

"And why don't more restaurants list local beers? To me, it's utterly incongruous selling Budweiser when you've got good local beer."

And for those who have at least managed to get a local ale on their list - one is not enough, says Jackson. "You need two good examples of each of the major styles - about two dozen beers in all would be good."

Chef David Smale and his wife, Katrin, have offered a beer list at their Hove restaurant, Coriander, for the past two years. They had decided to go organic and started looking around for organic beers and wines. "Although we're not anal about the organic thing - as long as the beers are produced cleanly, without chemicals, then we'll list them," says Smale, giving Belgian Trappist ales as an example.

He has a dozen beers on his list at the moment, but is just about to order more. "We're finding that more and more of our customers are ordering beer with their meal," he says. Later this month, the Smales are taking things a stage further. For their third anniversary, they are introducing a beer-and food-matching menu.

Mark Dorber at the White Horse, Parsons Green, is an inspiration to them all. What he doesn't know about beer-and-food matching isn't worth knowing and he runs the country's only dedicated beer-and-food restaurant, on the first floor above his west London pub.

So come on, Dorber, what are your tips for the perfect beer list? "You can organise your list thematically, by country or even by colour," he suggests. "There's such a broad palate of flavours to choose from - and even the great beers are relatively accessible. You need both beers that work well as an aperitif and those that work well with food. The key point here is that beer is not there to compete with wine, it's there to add value." (For Dorber's beer suggestions, see the list on the right).

Dorber also insists that, like wine, serving beer in the correct glass is essential to its flavour. But don't panic, that doesn't mean stocking new glassware. "A Chianti glass will do for many styles," he says. Try the Riedel Restaurant range (Riedel Crystal UK 020 8545 0830), starting at £3.75 a stem.

Brew it yourself

When Jonathan Downey was putting his drinks list together for Match Bars, he just couldn't find a beer he liked (nor would he be bullied by large drinks suppliers into taking what they were offering). So he got together with business partner Darius Sanai and set out to create his own.

But what style of beer to choose? Well, Sanai is a self-confessed ale nut and had harboured a passion for Kölsch for some time. "And I was sick of going to good places and being able to order only Stella Artois," he says.

Not to be confused with Grolsch, Kölsch is brewed in Cologne by only 20 breweries. If you do get Kölsch brewed outside Cologne, it's called something else - and woe betide anybody who nicks the name because it has its very own appellation contrôllée. The law even protects the shape of the glass it is served in.

So what is it exactly? It's a top-fermented beer, a throwback to the days before lager domination in the Germanic world, brewed from Pilsner malt and up to 15% malted wheat. It's light-bodied and bone dry on the palate, with a restrained bitterness and a slightly acidic finish.

It's a particularly refreshing style of beer and doesn't step on your food's toes, as beer guru Garrett Oliver puts it in his new book The Brewmaster's Table. "Kölsch beer approaches its food affinities with more diplomacy than flash," he writes. "It's terrific in salads, light enough not to overwhelm tasty greens and will play along with hard-boiled egg, ham, cheese and whatever else you want to toss on top. Sharp vinaigrettes won't disturb it much and delicate fish will scarcely find a better partner."

Trouble is, few K"lsches are widely exported, although several US brewers produce their own version. And now you can add one British brewer - Alastair Hook at the Meantime Brewery, Greenwich.

"I discovered K"lsch when I was in Germany for GQ magazine," says Sanai, who is a journalist in his spare time. "I noticed how incredibly dry and drinkable it was. I made Jonathan try it and he loved it, so we contacted Alastair and off we went."

Called Proof, the beer is a collaboration between the folks at Match Bars, Nick Jones at Soho House, Justin Carter of the Elbow Rooms, master brewer Hook and assorted unnamed backers.

"I brew mine using yeast that ferments at a warm temperature," says Hook, who makes 15 different styles of beer. But what of the special Cologne water? "The water of any town is completely reproducible," he says. "And anyway, Cologne water is not that dissimilar from London water - moderately hard." He uses a hop called Staler and another called Hallertauer.

And yes, you can buy Proof, too - if you have the right image (the Lanesborough hotel has just ordered some). "We do say no to some people," says Sanai. "Not that we're making money out of it yet - we're still establishing the brand. It's expensive to make, and you can't sell it for too much. The key thing about it is that it's unpasteurised - and needs to be served fresh. But the satisfaction comes from offering a really good beer."

So what do the punters say about Proof?

"Our members really love it," says Soho House's Charlie Luxton, who sells it for £3.25 a bottle. "We started listing it six months ago. It fits in with our organic image - there are no preservatives or additives, and it's a well-made beer. And yes, our members are drinking it with food."

Beer list - the basics

Quaffers
Pilsner or Pilsner style - Urquell, Bitburger, Budweiser Budvar
Pale ale - Oakham Ales JHB, Adnams SSB, Coniston Bluebird
Wheat beer - Hoegaarden, Blanche de Bruxelles, Dentergems Wit
Wheat ales - Arran Blond, O'Hanlons Wheat, Hop Back Taiphoon
Weisse - Löwenbräu, Erdinger, Schneider Weisse

Food beers
Malt accented - Fullers Porter and 1845, Greene King's Strong Suffolk, Meantime's Union Vienna style lager
Hop accented - Duvel, Marston's Old Empire, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Speciality beers
Abbey and Trappist beers - Chimay, Westmalle
Strong beers - Theakston Old Peculiar, Gales Prize Old Ale
Strong Continental beers - Schneider's Aventinus, Samichlaus
Fruit beers - Timmermans Kriek, Fraoch
Large format bottles - Chimay, Duvel
Champagne-like beers - Deus, Innis & Gunn oak-aged beer

Must read

The Brewmaster's Table by Garrett Oliver (just published in the USA by HarperCollins)

Everybody's talking about it. "He's the Robert Parker of beer," says Danny Meyer, chef-proprietor of New York's Union Square Café. Oliver is the brew master of the acclaimed Brooklyn Brewery and claims beer is far more versatile than wine, intensifying flavours and creating "brilliant" food matches. Next week, he'll be showing off his finds at a special beer lunch for London's top sommeliers at Aubergine restaurant in Chelsea. Watch this space.

Contacts

• Need help? Then beer consultant Nigel Stevenson offers to show you the way (07974 195921).
• For the low-down on breweries and their ales, buy a copy of the Good Beer Guide 2004, published by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), £12.99
• Beer supplier?Good Beer Guide sponsor the Beer Seller is a good place to start, selling real ale and bottled beers to 18,000 outlets across the UK.
• Also try James Clay & Sons on 01422 377560, plus Pierhead Purchasing on 020 8320 3367, which specialises in imported beer, or drop in at the Beer Shop (020 7739 3701) on Pitfield Street, London N1, which boasts the largest selection of beers in the world.