Food, Drink, Entertainment

Beer: Pentrich Brewery

Pentrich Brewery have, for some time, been making some quality hop forward beers which have been available in cask, keg and, more recently, in cans. I asked Ryan Cummings, co-owner, what can people expect from their beers?

We are probably best known for our super hoppy and hazy cask beers locally, and now with our cans being in a much wider circulation we’re starting to build a bit of a reputation for producing big hoppy IPAs in cans now, too. We have always been proud of the eclectic range of beers we have been focused on producing since day one. Ultimately, we brew beer with an emphasis on flavour, and styles that we are both passionate about. We make sure we execute each beer to the best of our ability, and strive to produce beer that we both like – with the hope that other people will too!

Your move into small pack looked like a sublime move, with the onset of the pandemic; something that clearly doesn’t happen overnight. What was your thought process on making that switch and at the same time a rebranding exercise?

We were certainly very lucky with regards to the timing of moving to small pack, releasing our first batch of cans in January 2020 – just before the true scale of the pandemic was realised. We had always been keen to get our beers out in small pack ever since we started the brewery, however it wasn’t until we’d upscaled on to our current brew system in November 2019 that we were happy to proceed with producing beers in cans. The key factor, when putting the beers into small pack, is ensuring that the quality isn’t compromised by doing so. When we were on our old cobbled together 6BBL brew kit that just wasn’t something we could guarantee. We had a short spell where we hand bottled our beers back in the days when we were cuckoo brewing, around 2015, but we felt the quality of the beer suffered due to the process so we quickly knocked it on the head. Cask beer will always be a part of what we do. It was the lifeblood of our brewery for the first 4 years, and we are incredibly passionate and proud of the cask beers we have produced so far, so we can’t wait to get back to producing it!

Over the festive period, you treated us to great beers, which could be seen as a bit of a diversification from your USP: a great Scotch Ale, Smoked Porter and Imperial Stout. Could we expect to see any of these types of beers returning throughout the calendar year?

We will be looking to continue to release a broad range of styles over the next 12 months. With a couple of lagers on the way very soon, as well as our first foray into sour beers too. The pales and IPAs will continue to be the bread and butter of the business but we will always look to keep our range of beers as expansive and as exciting as possible!

Do you have any aspirations to have your own little tap room, be it in the brewery or in a more centralised location?

We certainly have talked about setting ourselves up with a tap room – so that will definitely be on the cards once things eventually get back to some sign of normality.

We were actually actively exploring this avenue just before the first lockdown occurred. In hindsight we were probably quite lucky that we hadn’t quite got it over the line. If we do get around to opening one then it will most likely be in a centralised location rather than at the brewery itself. We’ve always talked about setting one up in Derby, but we will just have to see, I guess…

By Sean McKeown

Follow Sean on Twitter @joonip3r

Word on Wine Technical Details: Grapes: 100% Chenin Blanc Appearance: Clean, clear wine In February, I attended an online tasting sponsored Nose / Aroma: Aromas of stone fruit by Waitrose and the Love Wine team to highlight the problems that the South African wine industry was currently facing. (apples, pear, apricot & peach) Taste: Fresh on the palate with hints of vanilla and pineapple flavours, easy drinking wine. Alcohol by Volume: 13.5%. Food match: Shellfish, spicy foods, lean fish Back at the start of the COVID-19 restrictions in the spring and cheese dishes. of 2020, the South African Government imposed restrictions Available from: Waitrose online shop, £13.99. banning the sale of alcohol including wine, beer and spirits. This was lifted in mid-August but with the recent surge in Visit www.waitrose.com to buy, or cases in the New Year a total ban was re-imposed on all sales see more wines of South Africa. of alcohol. The thought being that it would reduce alcohol related admissions to hospital and they also blamed alcohol If you like wine and would like to for promoting social gatherings which allow the virus to be learn more, please visit our website at transmitted. www.kiburnwinecircle.weebly.com or visit our Facebook page for details. The ban on domestic sales of wine has lasted for 14 weeks, Please visit our website to see our plus 5 weeks of restricted sale and a further 5 weeks of planned programme of tasting in 2021, export sales has left the industry reeling. Two industry subject to COVID-19 restrictions. bodies, Vinpro and Wines of South Africa, which represent wineries for both domestic and internal sales, estimate that the industry has lost the equivalent of US$400 million, with 80 wineries and 350 grape growing operations likely to shut, with 21,000 jobs lost. It is also thought that the ban will have a total effect on over 290,000 jobs. It estimates that that the domestic wine sales will be down 21% on the previous year. By David Savidge, Kilburn Wine Circle Being in the southern hemisphere, the winemaking season is in March in South Africa. It is estimated that between 280 > 300 million litres of wine remains unsold from the 2020 harvest, equivalent to the domestic sales in 2019. This is still in tanks awaiting bottling, with the 2021 harvest now due. A South African winemaker was at the online tasting to tell us about the problem. His final comment was that they were not looking for a handout, but just asked that we buy South African wine. So, on that point, I would like to talk about one of the wines we tasted on the night. Think of a white South African wine and we immediately think of Chenin Blanc. Chenin Blanc originated in France as one of the main grapes of the Loire region. It has been found that it grows well in virtually all wine regions, particularly in the New World. South Africa found that it grows well with the cool sea breezes and warm weather. This results in the grape being used in a full range of wines, and as a base wine for fortified wines. The wine we tasted on the night was the Kaapzicht Bush Vine Chenin Blanc 2020. The wine is made using grapes from an Old Vine Project vineyard planted in 1982. They have found that these old vines give a better taste to the wine to the point that they have now catalogued and numbered all the old vines and the bottles carry a Certified Heritage Vineyard seal on the bottle. Food Facts:

Onions

The heaviest onion ever grown was 8.5 kg and was weighed at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show in 2014. It is estimated humans have been growing and eating onions for at least 7,000 years. China produces over 25% of the world’s onion supply. Eating fresh parsley will help take away the taste and smell of onion (and garlic) on your breath. Onions are eaten and grown in more countries than any other vegetable, with at least 175 countries producing an onion crop. And unlike wheat (the largest global crop by area harvested), the onion is a staple of every major cuisine. The sulphuric acid in onions is what causes you to cry. However, several things reduce the release of the acid: if you cut the root end last; if the onion is cold; or you cut it while holding the onion under cold running water. Wearing contact lenses also protects your eyes from the acid.

Recipe

Asparagus & Salmon Mini Frittatas

These colourful savoury muffins are easy to make and are delicious served warm for breakfast or cold for lunch with a salad. Asparagus is a fabulous healthy seasonal food to include, being rich in B vitamins and antioxidants like vitamin A, C and E.

Serves: 4 Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 23 minutes, plus cooling Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Ingredients:

125g/4½ oz asparagus 1 handful of frozen peas (30g) 2 spring onions, chopped 60g/2¼ oz smoked salmon, cut into small strips 4 eggs, beaten Sea salt and ground black pepper

Nutrition per serving (2 frittatas): 110kcal, fat 6.3g carbohydrates 1.6g, protein 11.2g

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and grease and line 8 cups of a muffin tray with paper muffin cases. Blanch the asparagus in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 2–3 minutes until just soft. Drain, then cut into 1 cm/½ in pieces using scissors.

Divide the asparagus, peas, spring onions and smoked salmon among the paper cases – they should be three-quarters full. Beat the eggs in a jug with some salt and pepper, then pour into the paper cases. Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes or until the muffins are golden and just firm in the centre. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before removing them from the tray. Serve hot or cold.

For a vegetarian option swap the salmon for some feta cheese.

BUY 1ST PAIR AND GET 2ND PAIR OF LENSES