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So, August the 4th took us to the Dean Swift, London, in our capacity as the European host brewers of International IPA Day. Planned over the previous few weeks, Max Chater (Manager & Host of the Dean Swift) Momo Medi (Head Chef) & Rick Furzer (Food & Drink Blogger) got together to plan a stunning evening of IPA & food matching.

Before I go into some detail about this truly memorable evening I'd ask you to watch this two minute video montage so you can get a feel for the spirit of the evening & gauge what dizzy heights food & beer matching CAN reach.





The Dean Swift International IPA Day Feast Menu

1st Course
Type: Black IPA
Food: Toulouse sausage scotch egg
Beer: The Kernel India Pale Ale Black (keg), BrewDog Abstrakt AB:06

2nd Course
Type: Canned IPA
Food: Calamari with sweet chilli sauce, timbale of avocado and crayfish
Beer: BrewDog Punk IPA, Maui Big Swell


3rd Course
Type: Centennial IIPA Resurrection
Food: Grilled goats cheese and roasted peppers
Beer: Kernel Centennial #100, Centennial 2010


4th Course
Type: IPA and Spice?
Food: Tandoori Chicken with Cauliflower Velouté
Beer: Stone Brewing Co. Ruination


5th Course
Type: Draught IPA: UK vs. US
Food: Lamb Mechoui
Beer: Summer Wine Brewery Kahuna, Stone Brewing Co. IPA, Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Great Divide Titan

6th Course
Type: Dessert IPA
Food: Raspberry and limoncello jelly tartlet
Beer: Mikkeller Sorachi Ace

7th Course
Type: Quadruple IPA, Freeze Distilled.
Food: Aged goats cheese, Vintage Gouda, Monastery Cheddar
Beer: Sink The Bismarck!



The Fresh fruity IPA's were perfect with Seafood.

You simply haven't had a Scotch Egg until you've had Momo's Toulouse Scotch Egg.
Toby & James discuss the subtleties of the canned IPA's.
The whole beer & food movement has been gaining momentum lately & with it being International IPA Day what better opportunity to demonstrate beers extreme diversity of flavour ability to gel with amazing foods.

The most amazing thing about the night was that the beers & food courses were matched supremely well by Max, Momo & Rick & it was clear a lot of thought & time went into developing the menu.

Max Chater is a natural host, Momo is an incredibly talented Chef & Rick is a pure glutton with an amazing palette, marrying their skills together produced an amazing menu.



Andy & James talk about the British Brewing Scene.

If we are to establish beer as a legitimate beverage to match with food then these guys have a the recipe sown up. I believe we will see more events like this in particular at Dean Swift as I know Max has plans to do much more around this fascinating concept.

I'd like to extend our gratitude to Phil Strongman, Max Chater & James Watt for their incredible generosity on this truly memorable evening, also the guys from The Kernel, Toby & Nate. Rick Furzer, Peter Millar, James Bendall & Patrik Strandberg for making it such a pleasure.

Haven't visited the Dean Swift? You really must as this place has an extremely bright future & a crucial role to play in establishing food & beer matching in the UK.

The night was capped off with stunning hard cheeses with Sink The Bismarck & Black Tokyo Horizon.

Now if you'd like to read the detail of how each course married up get over to Rick Furzers fantastic new blog 'Gastroturf' Rick is very talented & without a doubt has a great future in this area.


This was just one highlight of our trip to London, I'll be blogging about the other delights in due course.



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