Andrew Kay: Pies & Ale

Excellent Sussex beer prompts memories of divine Lancashire pork pies

I recently started working from home and thought that I would put my desk in a corner of the bedroom. At first it seemed like a good idea, there was plenty of space for it and I would not have to look at work when I was relaxing in my sitting room.
I was so so wrong. The computer faced my bed and no matter how I tried its presence was Big Brother-like, staring back at me as I tried to get to sleep and from time to time bursting into spontaneous life and lighting up the room like Blackpool seafront.
Conversely the bed would be lurking at my rear all day long, tempting me to take a quick power nap. I wish I could power nap but daytime sleeping gives me a terrible headache, akin to a hangover – which conveniently ties the two threads of the tale this week.
Having realised that the bedroom was a mistake I decided to move my desk into the corner of the sitting room which housed my plan chest. Other than that it was a dead alcove that served very little purpose.

The move was not without stress, the furniture is heavy and living alone meant that I had to improvise a means to move it. The night before I had seen a story on the news about Stonehenge and the new discoveries. It reminded me that those mighty stones had been moved on rollers so I went to the kitchen and found my rolling pins. Pretty soon I was moving things around with ease and putting my office back together in the alcove.
Pleased with my efforts I spun round in my swivel chair only to realise that I was now sat next to my ridiculously extensive drinks cabinet. It’s stocked with a ludicrous amount of booze of all kinds, several whiskies and gins, some vodkas and endless liqueurs.
I swivelled back and saw reflected in this very monitor the open door to my small cellar, again stacked with bottles of wines and beers.
Realising I was expecting a visit from Latest Bill I was aware that I look like a dipsomaniac – which is far from the truth.
The truth is that I do not like to drink alone and because I live alone I seldom touch the stock that I have. Out and about with my friends I can certainly knock back a few, but at home it is a rare thing and I am more likely to be found with a glass of Vimto, I am after all irredeemably northern. I’m no booze-free evangelist that’s for sure but drinking alone I see as the path to ruin and I love being able to offer guests a drink when they do come around to see me.

I remember when I was younger that I would buy bottles of wine as and when I needed them. Invariably this meant that I would buy one, take it home, open it and drink it. There was never a bottle of wine in the house that had not been bought for immediate consumption.
Now there is always wine in my home with no defined consumption point, and as a consequence it seems to last longer. Right now there is champagne in the refrigerator and wine that has been there for at least a month if not longer. It does not tempt me, really it does not. I can open the door and not even notice it’s there.
After shifting all the furniture though I did feel like I deserved a reward and I remembered that I had been give a couple of bottles of beer to try. Yes I do get sent some rather nice things from time to time. I knew that I had put them to chill so I delved behind the black puddings and things and pulled a bottle out. It was cool and enticing, a perfect way to wind down after lugging furniture about.
I popped the cap and slowly poured it into a clean glass, I’m not butch enough or vulgar enough to ever really want to swig beer from a bottle, and I sat down on the sagging and soon to be replaced sofa (yes another sofa drama).
The beer was a delicious surprise, clean and crisp, like a continental lager in many ways but with a full hoppy flavour, rich malty notes and a delicious citrus tang. There you go, I can sound like a pro!

The beer is Bedlam Brewery’s new Pilsner and although it does not immediately strike a note as being like a continental Pilsner it does carry some of those characteristics. I may have been swayed by the cooling power of the brew after a stretch of unaccustomed physical exertion but it really was delicious.
With my foodie head in gear I was already matching it to menu ideas, beer and food matching being very much of the moment. I then realised that I had in the same refrigerator a secret pork pie. Do you not have secret pork pies? I do from time to time. It was a reasonably good one by southern standards, again my northern roots drive me back to memories of Burchall’s pies in St Helens – food of the gods and 175 years old – the business not the pies. If you have never had a Burchall’s pie you have never experienced pie heaven.
There is another bottle of Bedlam Pilsner cooling but now I want that divine pie to go with it. The one in the refrigerator simply did not match up to the quality of the beer and stirred up memories of walking down the street with a hot pie and the peppery juices running down my chin.
I’m glad that my mother cannot read this as the very idea of eating on the street would fill her with horror and prompt a clout around the ear.
bedlambrewery.co.uk
(Burchall W J, 24 Westfield St, Saint Helens, Merseyside WA10 1QF
01744 23048)