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Which beer to drink on New Year’s Eve?
If you’re planning to toast the new year with a beer rather than a glass of champagne which one should it be? A quick Twitter survey revealed a whole raft of interesting options
Many went for the nearest the beer world has to offer - a celebratory ale: Adnams Sole Bay in the case of Adrian Tierney Jones (@atjbeer), Deus (@hautcedre) and Malheur Brut - the choice of beer writer Pete Brown (@petebrownbeer)
Others felt strongly it should be a local beer from a brewery they already patronise. As Chris King of @NorthernWrites aptly put it “something you love, something you know. Amount of times I’ve saved a big bottle for NYE and it’s been naff/drain pour” while beer writer Melissa Cole @melissacole clearly had her eye on going down her local. “Doubtless something by London Brewing Co @Bull_Highgate”
Of the beer styles available stout and imperial stout were popular as perhaps more surprisingly was gueuze though there was, of course, a contingent which favoured hugely popular IPAs and pale ales.
For a party Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham of @thinkingdrinks were planning "@MeantimeBrewing imperial pilsner & @thornbridge Jaipur".
And my own choice? Most probably @wildbeerco's Ninkasi (along with beer bloggers Boak & Bailey) though I do have a couple of handsome full-sized bottles of Italian beers (below) from Mastri Birrai Umbri which we didn’t get round to on Christmas Day - a doppio Malto and a Birra Speciale Rossa which I’ll report back on when we drink them.

Here’s the full list: (Thanks, Twitter!)
@petedrinks Will definitely be having some of my own Coffee Porter, to start but for midnight, I might crack open a

How to build a wine cellar from scratch
As I'm in the process of helping my son create a wine cellar I asked my Twitter followers if they had any tips to share. This incredibly helpful and detailed response came back from Mike of the wine blog Please Bring Me My Wine and he gave me permission to share it with you.
MIke writes: "Funnily enough, this has been a topic that popped up a few times recently when I’ve been at tastings or wine dinners. Lots of people getting into wine find that they end up hooked, and that they buy more than they can practically store. (I’m writing this from my small flat in North London surrounded by boxes and boxes! How does my poor wife put up with me?) So maybe it’s time to build a cellar.
You do need a bit of space. My parents bought a run down old shack in Piemonte in Northern Italy about 10 years ago. Spending time there is actually what started getting me drinking wine. My dad's a DIY nut and he fell in love with and bought one of these falling down places you see on hillsides. 10 years of work and we now have running water, electricity, and structural stability. Let’s be fair, you kind of need those. My dad, however, is now looking to enjoy his retirement. So now it's my turn to take on the challenge, as he just wants to sit there, sip his wine, and enjoy the weather. I can't blame him. Unfortunately as the child of a serial DIY-er, I’ve got to have to have a go myself.
So, the first project for me was to reconstruct the cellar. When you’re doing this there are main things you have to consider:
Dryness
It goes without saying I guess. You need to have a good scout around for any obvious signs of damp (as in this photo of the cellar before it was converted). If you find any then find the source and it's fairly easy to fix (there are lots of hints on YouTube). For me it was about repointing the walls (sticking mortar in the cracks in the stone work, to guard against damp and unwanted airflow), and getting a cement floor down. Both these are fairly easy to do. You can hire cement mixers from the hire shops that aren't too expensive. Alternatively it's always handy to become friends with a builder!
If you're worried about the dryness after a while you can also stick a dehumidifierdown there too. If you’re feeling flush then you can get one built in or maybe just get a free standing one. This is pretty useful to keep the air flowing too.
The humidity level you should be aiming at by the way is 60-70%. You don't want damp, but also don't want to dry out the corks.
Temperature
Hugely important, obviously. The ideal temperature is between 11-13°C but it's more about keeping the temperature constant than getting a 100% spot on temperature some of the time. If you don’t know this already, check over a few months (during winter is especially important) that the fluctuations aren’t over the top.
If you're worried here, then as with the dehumidifier, it’s possible to get heating systems built in fairly cheaply. One tip my dad gave me was to use geothermal heating from the garden (if you’ve got one) or solar panels if you have the sun. It'll be free after you've installed it.
Light
Obviously you’re looking to avoid sunlight like the plague, and when you're installing lights use LEDs. They don't emit heat, they’re more energy efficient, and they last longer. If you drop the ceiling down with plasterboard and skim it, that'll help with the light installation, and you'll be able to address any issues with dryness as you go.
What are you storing?
Are you storing stuff such that you might want to sell later in its life? Or is this all for your own personal consumption? For me, it's all for my own drinking - so as long as I'd ticked boxes then I was happy. But if some of your stuff is potentially for future sale, then it’s always worth checking with a couple of auction houses to see if they have extra requirements.
Also it might be worth getting a cage down there too. If your house is already alarmed then the alarm company will fit an extra sensor for very little. I met a lovely chap at a tasting the other day from a company that specialises in wine insurancewho gave me some great pointers. It is always worth knowing their requirementstoo.
Also when it comes to space, think about what you'll be doing down there. Is it just for wine storage? I've left a bit of space in mine for some brewing, after I resurrected a few of the demijohns (I know this sounds like underwear, but they’re actually traditional barrels for fermentation/storage) we found down there. We’ve got lots of fruit trees, with cherries and figs and others. Maybe if you’ve got an apple tree in the garden, you might want to stick a barrel or two down there to make some cider? It’s easier to think this through at the start than have to reorganise half way into the build.
What do you want it to look like?
Thing is, you can go nuts trying to make the thing look amazing, like the inside of a space ship or something. There are some exceptionally good companies out there that do this. One request on Twitter and you’ll have 5 quotes in 5 minutes. Unfortunately my lottery numbers haven’t come up yet, so whenever I’m spending money I ask two questions: Do I need this? And Is this value for money?
I wasn’t building the cellar to be a show room. It's a lot easier and cheaper to stick a small but nice looking area in your kitchen or front room, with a wine fridge and a place for a few "ready to drink" bottles, leaving the rest of it downstairs in a safe, dry, cool place.
When it comes to racking, I don't think you can go far wrong with iron or steel racks. (You can stack bottles on top of each other, but without airflow if one cork gets attacked by rot, they all will.) There's lots of specialist companies that will supply these, but maybe have a think exactly what you want and then get in touch with a metal works near you and price up a bespoke effort. That'll cut margins and help with space too.
How to install it
As I mentioned earlier, DIY was a must for me. I actually love doing it (sort of!). If you or anyone close to you is up for having a go at this yourself then it's really not an expensive process. Even if you get a builder down there it won't take much longer than a week to install a reasonable sized one, which you can assume is around £2k worth of labour. It’s not cheap, but not ridiculous either.
I wasn’t building a cellar so that I can tell people I’ve got a cellar. Don’t get me wrong; it’s very cool to have one. However, if you start buying a lot of wine (whatever the value of it), you need to think seriously about it. Can you imagine buying all that gorgeous plonk and for it to spoil because you’ve not stored it properly? Shocking!
My cellar is still not quite finished, as I have to do it during my holidays. Luckily at the minute my dad does a great job of keeping my wine at consistently low volumes! I think he’s enjoying his retirement . . .
Mike blogs at Please Bring Me My Wine "a wine novice's guide to getting stuck in to grape juice."

Wine for turkey: the difference between a Thanksgiving turkey and a British Christmas turkey
Looking at the recipes online for Thanksgiving turkeys, stuffings and sides they’re very much sweeter (and more imaginative) than the typical UK Christmas turkey. They’re often brined, glazed or spiced (or all three), sometimes deep-fried and often accompanied by cornbread-based stuffings and sweet-tasting vegetables like sweet potatoes and squash.
The American taste in wine is also different from that in the UK - big chardonnays - actually very good with turkey - are much more popular than they are in the UK. There appears to be a preference for Cabernet over Rhone varietals such as Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre. And Pinot Noirs are typically much sweeter.
We Brits, although enamoured of the vibrant fruit flavours of new world wine, often revert to more traditional choices at Christmas: such as Rioja, Bordeaux and robust Rhone and southern French reds. Our stuffings and gravy may be rich but are not generally that sweet - our preferred side of sprouts actually has a touch of bitterness. Only our fondness for cranberry sauce (an American import, of course) introduces an US-style note of sweetness.
So what would my choices be? If I were cooking a Thanksgiving turkey this Thursday I would go for a lush fruity red - a Pinot, Merlot or a Zinfandel, possibly even a Grenache. I might even choose an Aussie-style sparkling red though I think that’s better suited to a southern hemisphere Christmas than a European one. I would pick a full-bodied Chardonnay (for good value I might look to Chile) or Viognier for those who wanted a white.. A fruity rosé would also work well.
For a British Christmas I’d be more inclined to abide by the findings of the Decanter tasting I ran last year where our high powered panel of chefs, sommeliers and wine writers surprisingly voted a seven year old Chassagne Montrachet (Jean-Noel Gagnard’s Les Chenevottes 1er Cru, Chassagne-Montrachet 2004) their top pick. (It proved an incredibly refreshing contrast to the richness of the bird and chestnut stuffing.)
The two most popular reds were an 11 year old Bordeaux, a Château Branaire-Ducru, St-Julien 2000 and a four year old Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the Bosquet des Papes, Chante le Merle 2007, both rich and generous but not too tannic.
Of course these were quality wines that still had a good deal of life in them - I wouldn’t necessarily recommend drinking 10 year old wines of a more modest provenance but it does suggest that the more restrained, classic style of cooking a British turkey may be the one to go for if you want to pull out that special wine. And hold that cranberry sauce . . .
Photo ©Bochkarev Photography at shutterstock.com

So, what makes a great cheddar?
An archived article, first published in 2008, about how great cheddar is made and the difference between Keen's and Montgomery
Back last September [2007] the cheese world was rocked by a startling decision. Out of 867 cheeses submitted to the British Cheese Awards the Supreme Champion trophy went to a mass market cheese called Seriously Strong cheddar, made in Scotland by (sacre bleu!) a French-owned cheese company, Lactalis McLelland. It’s as if Gallo had been named the world’s best winemaker.
Julie Harbutt who runs the awards says the judging process was painstakinglyconducted and the award well merited. “The cheese went through a blind tasting three different groups of judges including some of the leading figures in the industry. If the first group had got it wrong, the second would have picked it up. It was a very good cheese made from good raw materials. There’s some excellent milk in Scotland.”So how come a cheddar could be made in Scotland? And is it a ‘real’ cheddar?
Although cheddar is one of he oldest cheeses in the world, dating back to the 12th century, the name itself is not protected so anyone can make a cheddar style cheese. Only in the West Country is there a PDO (protected designation of origin) for West Country Farmhouse Cheddar which is given to handmade cheddars from milk from cows reared in Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. The cheese must be made on the farm by the traditional cheddaring process (see below), aged for at least nine months and contain no colouring preservatives or flavours.
The term Somerset Artisan Cheddar, which is a recognised Slow Food Praesidium is only given to producers that meet more exacting requirements still - making traditional cloth-bound cheeses from unpasteurised milk, with traditional starter cultures and animal rennet. Only three producers Keen, Montgomery and Westcombe meet these criteria. According to Randolph Hodgson of Neal’s Yard Dairy who was instrumental in setting up the Praesidium “there’s a level of complexity in the hand made cheddars of the south west you simply don’t get anywhere else.
To see the process for myself I visited Keen’s, a family-run farm in the rolling hills just north of Wincanton where cheese has been made since 1899. Brothers George and Stephen Keen still run the farm, while their sons James and Nick make the cheese and look after the cows, a herd of 280 Friesians
I had imagined that the Somerset soil and climate would have had a significant part to play in the way the cheese tastes but according to George Keen it’s not as important as the way they handle the cows and the cheesemaking process
.
“The time of year obviously makes a difference. On a really cold wet day cow is going to have a different diet from a warm summers’ day and that will affect the milk but more important still is the effect it has on the animals digestive health.” Cows have complicated digestive system. Keen explains. They have four stomachs including the rumen which is where their food is stored. “Essentially it’s a big vat of fermenting roughage made up from grass, herbs and leaves. The flora in the rumen break down the roughage so that the cow can digest it. If the cow has indigestion its stomach won’t function properly so we have to have varied sources of foods, minerals and vitamins available to fine tune their diet.” A bit like Yakult? “Exactly. We’ve tried to revert to the simpler way our grandfathers brought up cows. We don’t need all the products the drug companies want to sell us.”
Keen’s are also ultra-traditional about the way they make their cheddar. The milk is unpasteurised. The starter culture which sours the milk and kicks off the process of separating it into curds and whey comes from a laboratory that preserves traditional cultures based on local microflora. “They have about 50 or 60 but we have five that we like. From time to time we might drop one because it’s not reacting to the milk in the way we want then we’ll usually come back to it in six month’s time.” And they use traditional calves’ rennet (again to accelerate the production of curds). “We avoid using synthetic rennets as the cheeses can turn quite bitter as they mature.”
The milk goes through successive heating processes as each ingredient is added, finally forming a soft, sloppy mass called junket which is then cut into curds. Other softer cheeses are formed at this point but cheddar goes through a unique process called cheddaring which is fascinating to watch. The curds - by this stage a mass of buttercup yellow granules - are pulled to the side of a large trough to drain off the watery whey. As they’re cut stacked they begin to take on texture of foam cushions. They’re cut and re-cut, stacked and re-stacked as the texture changes before my eyes, becoming firm and elastic. The weight of the layers pushes down the blocks of cheese extracting the rest of the whey. “There is a tremendous skill in the process. If you don’t know how to handle it it all falls apart in your hands.” says George.
When the cheddaring process is over (it takes about an hour) the curd is passed through a mill to cut it into smaller, even-sized pieces. Salt - another crucial ingredient - is added to stabilise the curd, develop the flavour and to stop bacteria growing then the cheese is put into moulds and left to drain. Finally the cheeses are smeared with lard and wrapped in three layers of muslin, a permeable coating that allows air to continue get to the cheese and moisture to evaporate.
As the cheese ages the surface becomes gradually colonised by moulds which are regularly rubbed to ensure the cheese ages evenly. You can see them evolve from the multi-coloured spots on a cheese that is a few weeks’ old to the greyish craggy surface of a mature one. Should you eat the rind? “For me it’s the best part of the cheese” says George, grinning. “But we have to say the rind is inedible because it has pig fat in it and we would then have to go through the process of listing everything that went into the pig.”
Most of Keen’s cheddars are stored for 10-12 months though they mature them for up to two years. George Keen is reluctant to define the taste of his cheese - everyone he says finds different flavours in it - but the most common descriptors are caramel, apple, onion, savoury, sweet, fruity and farmyardy. “What we don’t want is a really sharp, acid cheese that burns your palate and hides the intricate range of flavours that should exist in a raw milk cheese” he explains.
There are many variables which can make two cheddars taste entirely different says Randolph Hodgson, underlining many of Keen’s points. “It’s not so much the terroir, it’s what the cows are eating. It’s the way you handle the milk and how it’s stored. It’s the temperature you scald the curd and how you cut it. How you ripen the starter and what strain of starter you add. How much cheddaring you do and how you stack it. How you mill the cheese - Keen’s use a mill which cuts the cheese into even sized fingers. Montgomery uses a peg mill which rips the curd apart.”
“Montgomery is drier and firmer cheese, more savoury and nutty” he continues. “Keens has a stickier paste (the body of the cheese, excluding the rind). It’s wonderfully creamy at its best with a more grassy herbaceous flavour.”
Not everyone likes the slightly farmyardy flavours of mature, traditionally made cheddar, just as some don’t enjoy the taste of an older burgundy. “We know some people will prefer other cheddars” admits George Keen “but hopefully they will appreciate a variety of flavours which are produced entirely naturally. It’s nice when our customers say ‘That’s a cheese I remember from my childhood’. That’s what’s missing in life today.”
How to enjoy cheddar at its best
Ideally cheese shouldn’t be kept in the fridge but few have storage that is cool enough, especially in warmer weather. If you do refrigerate it you should bring it to serving temperature before you eat it. Traditional British accompaniments would be apples, celery and wholemeal bread or crackers but the Bath-based Fine Cheese Company which has done extensive research into ideal accompaniments for cheddar, suggests mustard and black pepper flavoured biscuits, quince paste and onion pickle (though the latter would obviously be better with beer than with wine). I also like a fig paste or relish.
This article was first published in the February 2008 issue of Decanter.

Pairing Errazuriz wines at Pollen Street Social
New world wines are sometimes criticised (usually by the French!) for overwhelming subtle Michelin-starred food but award-winning blogger Jeanne Horak-Druiff of Cooksister found much to admire when she attended an Errazuriz food, wine and photography evening at Pollen Street Social.
"We kicked off with three amuse-bouches on which to practise our smartphone photography" Jeanne reports: "soft cooked Italian egg with tomato fondant, mushroom purée, potato foam and bacon powder, venison terrine crostini and a spoonful of lobster, apple, fennel and avocado which went particularly well with the Errázuriz Aconcagua Costa single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc we’d been handed on arrival - the food brought out a pronounced gooseberry flavour in the wine which was quite delicious.
This was followed by another round of amuse-bouches consisting of puffed pork skin with seaweed salt, parmesan biscuits with smoked tomato chutney and fennel seed crackers with ricotta - with the intensely flavoured biscuits and smoky chutney being my runaway favourite.
With our delicately beautiful starter of Colchester crab salad rolls with coriander pineapple, shiso leaf, compressed fennel and espelette pepper we sampled the 2013 Aconcagua Costa Sauvignon Blanc again (13% alc, RRP £12.49) - a clear pale yellow with a hint of green; a rich nose of gooseberries, cut grass and green tomato; and a palate of tropical fruit (guavas, passion fruit) but well balanced by good structure and acidity and

The Chardonnay was definitely my favourite match with the crab rolls, having enough complexity to stand up to the more strident flavours of the dish without overwhelming the more subtle ones.
For our main course we had perfectly pink Lake District rack of lamb, a fritter of braised lamb shoulder, fregola pasta in basil, olive powder, artichokes and more of that fabulous smoked tomato chutney. To match this, we tried two of the estate's reds:
· Aconcagua Costa wild fermented Pinot Noir 2011 (13.5% alc, RRP £24.00). An odd, slightly foxy or wild nose, but with good colour for a Pinot Noir, the wine was less full-bodied than I had expected, with a subtle spiciness soft tannins. It made a good match for the lamb though, emphasising the subtle gamey notes in the meat.
· Aconcagua Costa Single Vineyard Syrah 2011 (14% alc. RRP £19.99) This was by far my favourite red wine of the night with its deep inky purple colour and rich dark berry nose reminiscent of Ribena for grown-ups. The palate was equally lush and appealing, full of the autumnal flavours of ripe blackberries and blackcurrants, but with soft vanilla notes and hints of Christmas spices with a long finish. For me, though, this was a sipping wine rather than a food wine as food took the edge off the lush fruitiness and made the finish seem shorter.

With our cheese course of three cheeses (a Camembert-style cheese, a hard cheese along the lines of a Comté, and a third creamy soft cheese) together with crackers and homemade chutney we were served two of the estate's premium red blends:
· Don Maximiano Founder's Reserve 2008 - 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 6% Cabernet Franc 6% Syrah (14.5% alc. RRP £50). This was in total contrast to the heavy, perfumed Syrah - a far lighter colour and palate full of ripe red berries as opposed to dark berries, with peppery notes and lovely balanced tannins. It seemed a lighter wine than the Syrah, despite its higher alcohol and although I liked it, I did not think it was a great match for the cheese, which seemed to emphasise the wine's acidity.
· Kai Carmenère 2010 - 96% Carmenère, 4% Petit Verdot (14.5% alc. RRP £90) This had a deep, velvety purple colour and a nose with vegetal hints but also dark red fruits and fig preserve. On the palate, there were grippy tannins and good structure with restrained fruit and flavours of Christmas cake. I found this to be an outstanding match for the cheese which seemed to bring out lovely fresh fig and peaty whisky flavours in the wine. Lovely as it was, I do have to wonder who this wine is aimed at, with a price tag of nearly one hundred pounds?
As we sat around finishing the last of the wine, we were served a wonderfully light and refreshing dessert of mandarin sorbet topped with yoghurt cream and kafir lime shavings; and those of us who had the shortest journey home and could afford to linger the longest were also rewarded with glorious little warm financiers with a centre of raspberry jam, fresh from the oven."
To read about the food photography element of the evening with photographer Paul Winch-Furness read the second part of Jeanne’s report here.
DISCLOSURE: Jeanne attended this event as a guest of Errázuriz Estate and R&R Teamwork. All opinions are her own.
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