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 ...