The secret diary of a cheese and beer guy.

A week before Christmas last year the choir in which I sing was invited to lead some carols at the Vale Brewery Tap room near Brill in the Vale of Aylesbury. It was a perfect evening, there were people present from a few months old to genuine nonagenarians which is always the most convincing sign of a genuine community asset. WE sang, the kids sang, the regulars sang, the staff sang and those of us who were of age supped some really good ales. It was quite the loveliest way to start the festive season. Vale brewery was founded in Haddenham in 1995, moving to Brill in 2007. Their tap room is open from Thursday to Sunday they often have food trucks and live music on busy evenings.  Smaller breweries have the advantage of agility. They are in the perfect position to make small batches of beer and special gyles are to be expected. Vale has a handful of excellent core beers then seems to delight in producing one off gems. The beer for this post is one of those gems. Into the Void was br...

Legend has it that the Dauphin de Viennes (later King Louis IX) was out hunting when he was saved from a bear by two woodcutters. They invited him to eat with them and it was here where they introduced him to their local cheese. He was so taken with it that it became a regular in the royal household until he died. Like all legends (and cheeses) this tale should be taken with a pinch of salt, however, the cheese of Saint Marcelin is mentioned in royal documents in 1445 so maybe.... Saint Marcelin is named after the town of the same name located in the Dauphine area of the Rhone-Alps region of France. It is a cow's milk cheese (though historically it may have contained goat's milk too) and has a very delicate rind. If kept well it has an oozing creamy texture with a flavour that develops nicely into a mature nut meets mushroom sweetness.  It is marketed in a small terracotta dish called a "coupelle" which helps with the ooze in the unlikely event that you have any left ...

England has produced many of the world's great thinkers, it was the cradle of the industrial revolution and has been at the forefront of cultural movements for centuries. However, it is hard to believe any of this when one considers how completely bonkers the whole place is. Before anyone suggests that I am some sort of revolutionary, seditionist warrior I am, I would point you to the Coopers Hill Cheese rolling and Wake. Coopers Hill is a 50% slope in the outskirts of Gloucester and every Spring bank holiday it hosts a two day festival of such lunacy that it makes one doubt one's own sanity. In simple terms competitors gather at the top of the hill and wait to start. A 3-4 Kg wheel of cheese is thrown down the hill and a second later the competitors hurtle after it, down the impossible slope. Chaos then ensures as bodies tumble and fall toward the bottom. The aim is to either catch the cheese (this never happens as it rolls at speeds up to 70 mph) or reach the bottom first whe...

rules There are three rules that govern the creation of Trappist beer. Firstly the beer has to be brewed in the precincts of the named abbey or monastery, then the beer has to be brewed with notable input from the brothers; finally the beer must be sold for the betterment of the monastery and its mission. These rules mean that many of the beers that claim to be "Abbey" beers are not members of the International Trappist Association (ITA).  At the time of writing, I believe that there are 11 Trappist beers being brewed with other members of the ITA making other products such as cheese. It is a highly politicised space in the market and stepping outside the bounds of the association will get you removed from their roster. It would be easy to buy into the myth that these beers are brewed in small batches by slightly tipsy clerics in their monastic robes. Whilst the monastic clothes may well be worn, many of these are massive beer businesses that happen to be set in religious spa...

The Sparten brewery can trace its origins back to the late 14th century; just for a bit of perspective Richard II was on the throne of England at the time! It gained its present name when the brewery was taken over by George Spatt in 1622 (James I and VI), from where it got its current name. The Brewery was then taken over in 1807 (George III) by the "Royal Brewer" Gabriel Sedlemyer. By this stage it was already one of the largest and most influential breweries in Bavaria. On his death the brewery was taken over by his two sons Gabriel (Jnr) and Joseph. Joe went off to but the Leistbrauerei and left his brother with Spaten. This is where the fun starts. There are dozens of different versions of this story and I'm pretty sure that none of them tell us the full story so I have just pulled out my favourite bits and tried to stitch together what could have happened. In 1833 (William IV) Joseph Sedlemyer (Jnr) and his friend from Vienna, Anton Drecher visited the UK. They were...

Stilton is one of the great cheeses of the world. There is probably not a better cheese symbol of Englishness than this crumbly, creamy, blue beauty. There are, however, a few things about this style of cheese that are so bonkers they just confirm its English eccentricity. To start with, if you lived in the village of Stilton (in Cambridgeshire) and made a lovely blue cheese you would not be allowed to name that cheese "Stilton". This is because, according to the PDO (see below) on Stilton cheese, it has to be made in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire or Leicestershire. To sum up, a cheese maker can't make Stilton in Stilton. PDO recognition is a European idea which we have held onto in this post Brexit era. The concept is that the regionality and style and often process surrounding a food product is protected. This is why Camembert only comes from Normandy and Champagne only comes from the region of "Champagne" in North East France. Indeed, a Melton Mowbray pork pie ...