On Richness and the Prince of Darkness.


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 brewed in memoriam to Ozzy Osbourne and named after one of their hits. It is a, fittingly, dark stout. It it black with the tiniest hint of reddish brown (only visible in daylight). It has a creamy rich mouthfeel and shows deep dark chocolate on both the nose and palate. Phoenix and Golding hops come to the fore in the finish which is both dry and clean, neatly stopping the beer becoming too cloying. This is a very well made beer.

The Skailes family has been involved in making cheese at Cropwell Bishop since 1847. They make one of the best Stiltons available. In 2011 Robin Skailes and Howard Lucas launched Beauvale cheese. It is a blue, as you'd expect from a Stilton cheese maker but they use a slightly milder strain of Penicillium Roqueforti leading to a milder flavour. It is also very soft and creamy (mine was migrating across the board with intent). Made with milk of the lush slopes of the Peak District it is rich and savoury with a hint of the piquancy of its older firmer brother. Its name is a play of the Vale of Belvoir (which is pronounced "Beaver", crazy, i know) in which it is made.

I paired these on the hottest May day ever so I put a small chill on the beer. However, they were lovely together. There was just enough bitterness in the stout to cut through the fattiness of the cheese The richness of both made for the most mouth filling gorgeousness. Both of these products are pure class. Lovely match.

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