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Beer and food matching. It is the glorious nirvana that enhances both food and beer alike. When you are eating and drinking at the same time you have successfully matched food and beer. Simply open a can of lager to accompany anything you happen to be shovelling down your neck and you begin to understand what Mark Dredge means when he says Fabpow. It’s kind of like touching God. By that I mean touching God in a good way. Not touching God in an inappropriate fashion that would have you removed from the workplace if you were to do that unexpectedly to a work colleague without her prior consent and approval. Kind of like giving God a matey high five.



This particular road to Damascus began with the news that Pot Noodle had released a Christmas dinner variety. My mouth watered at the prospect and to aisle of a supermarket I went in search of evidence of the power of DivineGrace. The Buddha once said “Seek not to follow in the footsteps of the Master’s, seek what they sought”. This wisdom came to mind when feeling the crushing disappointment of there being no Christmas dinner Pot Noodle in stock. However God had other plans for me, for on there on the shelves was Pot Noodle GTI at £1 a pot. The label promised “real meat”. Nuke it in 2 minutes for a “real meat” curry Pot Noodle. At that moment I knew there was a God. I have never been more certain.

This required a special beer to match with it. I closed my eyes and opened the fridge and pulled out the first thing I touched. This beer and food match was Gods choice. The first thing I touched was packet of Cathedral City cheddar. I was a bit perplexed at the will of god, but then so are all mortals when faced with understanding the will of the divine. If it was simple there would be no need for theology. God would make it clear what he thought of homosexual and lady vicars or even housing benefit reform. He obviously doesn’t for a reason. With that I took out the bottle of Chechen 25 Grain Im Penial that Stuart Howe sent through to me, many moons ago and had a go at it whilst waiting the 2 minutes for the microwave ping.
An effervescent frothy malty brown ale with a floral hoppy smell. Quite an enticing pong and very well rounded. Quite a thick strong ale that reminded me of treacle with a burnt bitterness on the aftertaste and a lingering wrap around the tongue flavour. Kind of like a well hopped dopplebock.

As I dug into the Pot Noodle goodness I read the ingredients of the Pot Noodle and discovered a worrying lack of E numbers. Thank god for the monosodium glutamate or the calorie count combined with the contents would have this labelled as health food. As I polished off the delicious combo I realised that my skills with a microwave would enable me to get a job in the finest pub kitchens in the land. Time for pudding and what is a better pudding than another beer. I still had a Williams’ Ginger Beer 3.8% to neck, sent to me way back. Ginger beer, ginger cake? That’ll do for pudding.



This is a traditional adult ginger beer with barley, wheat, root ginger, lemons, sugar & No hops. A sweet ginger smell and quick dying head revealed a sharp astringent taste. The bitter aftertaste came as a surprise alongside a light acidic quality. Very unusual. Not unpleasant but it all depends whether you like ginger and by that I mean root ginger and not ginger nuts.



Thank God I had some lout in. I had a couple of Freedom Lager’s Rabid Glyn sent me when he was hawking LOBI week. I have already blogged about this lout here, I won’t repeat myself but it is still nice lout.

Beer and food. Food and Beer. Food and Food. Beer and Beer. It is gods will.



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