Directors' Diary - Focus on Beer and Food Pairings

It’s officially December so we’re going to talk about…...Beer! (and the food you should be eating with it over the Christmas period!)
Here at Wold Top, we are all about the beer (obviously!), but we also love to use our beer for cooking and pairing with food, so here are our ideas to help you have a ‘beerific’ Christmas Dinner!

Canapés & Starters:
Smoked salmon on some fresh bread or a blini with a squeeze of lemon and a dash of pepper, accompanied by a nice cold glass of Wold Gold or Landmark Lager is the perfect amuse bouche after a morning of present opening.
Pigs in blankets accompanied by a sweet, sticky dipping sauce made using honey, mustard and a dash of Headland Red are also a great start to your Christmas eats! Alongside a pint (or half) of Wold Top Bitter.

The Main Event:
Turkey, roasted in the oven and basted with a butter and beer mix to keep it moist and tender is a firm favourite here at the Brewery. Once the turkey is prepared and ready to go into the oven, we take some melted butter and a bottle of pale ale (Angler’s Reward, Against the Grain or 5 Wold Rings would all work well) and coat the turkey with this mix. During cooking, we then use these juices to keep basting the meat. Halfway through the cooking time, tip another half (or whole, depending on the size) bottle of beer over the turkey to keep it hydrated!
We usually have roast turkey on Christmas Day, but this idea would work just as well with a goose or indeed a nice roasted ham!
For those who prefer a meat free option, all our bottled and canned beers are vegan friendly and would work just as well alongside a nut roast, a vegan pie (sweet potato & beetroot, yum!) or a cranberry and lentil bake for example. Many of our bottled and canned beers are also certified Gluten Free as well.
Alongside our turkey, as well as the usual potatoes, parsnips and carrots, we’re also partial to some Brussels sprouts cooked in a frying pan with some bacon (or pistachios and pomegranates as a vegan alternative), shallots and a dash of beer (Wold Gold or Against the Grain) to create a beautiful glaze and some red cabbage braised in Scarborough Fair IPA with apples, cinnamon and star anise!
As a liquid accompaniment to the dinner itself, a nice crisp pint of 5 Wold Rings would be a perfect partner!

Dessert:
Love it or hate it, Christmas pudding is a staple at the British Christmas table. For such a rich, dark dessert you need a rich, dark beer, so we’d recommend either a glass of Shepherd’s Watch or Marmalade Porter as an accompaniment. However, this may be too much alongside rum sauce as well, so maybe switch that for some creamy vanilla ice cream instead!
Or how about some vegan friendly mince pies with cherries and hazelnuts alongside some dairy free chocolate ice cream and a glass of Headland Red?

Finally, a personal favourite with us (Yorkshire has such good cheese makers!) No Christmas Dinner is complete without a cheeseboard afterwards. As a brief guide to some suitable beers we’d advise the following:
Cheddar - Wold Top Bitter
Brie/Camembert (soft rind cheese) - Against the Grain, 5 Wold Rings or Landmark Lager
Stilton/Gorgonzola (blue cheese) - Scarborough Fair IPA or Marmalade Porter
Goat’s Cheese/Feta - Wold Gold or Benchmark IPA
Emmental/Gruyère - Angler’s Reward

Great Yorkshire food suppliers that we love to buy from at Christmas!
Smoked Salmon: Staal Smokehouse, East Yorkshire
Bread: Side Oven Bakery, East Yorkshire
Sausages and Bacon: Trotter’s Farm Shop, Potter Brompton
Turkey: Herb Fed, Easingwold
Vegetables: Hunmanby Pantry, North Yorkshire or Rafters, Driffield
Potatoes: Bannister’s, East Yorkshire
Cheese: Shepherds Purse, Thirsk
Oil and Dressings: Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil, Thixendale
Ice Cream: Yummy Yorkshire, Huddersfield & Burgess, East Yorkshire
Whisky & Cream Liqueur: Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery, Hunmanby