Blackfriar, Baking and Balsamic.

Continuing the baking theme in these pages, it's good to hear more people are trying out baking and cooking with beer. Campbell's Bakery in Crieff have been baking a beautiful loaf with Lia Fail and Ian, one of our regulars in the Brewery Tap on a Friday afternoon (come on down for a taste and a look around), brought in a heavenly loaf of bread baked with Blackfriar and chilli flakes - would be so good dipped into some extra virgin olive oil and balsamic. The previous Friday he brought in some divinely rich brownies made with Lia Fail. So baking with beer was certainly still in my mind. On Friday evening I was going to bake an ordinary gingerbread, but since there was already a half-opened botle of Blackfriar on the kitchen table, the loaf took on a new dimension. Especially when I pulled out of the cupboard the jar of ground ginger to discover it wasn't ginger at all but cardamom. Hmm... Since the butter was already melted and cooling in the frying pan and the sugar and treacle had been mixed together, I thought, 'Fair enough, carry on and add the cardamom in place of the ginger and throw in the last of my ground cinnamon - and while I'm at it, use the Blackfriar I'm drinking in place of the milk...'

You can see above a stylist's photo (all right, I took the picture, and you can also see I'm no stylist!) of the loaf complete with a well-thumbed through and stained Lofty Peak Recipe Book. The loaf did taste slightly gingery - cardamom, cinnamon and  treacle, together with the not-so secret ingredient of Blackfriar combined to give a rich, spicy warmth. Tasty and moreish. Lovely words, even for a brewer!

I'm not the only one to think that Blackfriar tastes good, as we received a postcard from our good friend Johny in Liberec, Czech Republic with his view on this mighty ale - I hope you can read them -

Diky moc & thanks very much Johny for the good words!
Slàinte,
Ken    

The Dark Side of Chocolate Cupcakes

Been on a bit of a baking frenzy this week - three dense and very moist chocolate cakes, two loaves of rye sourdough, one wheat sourdough and one batch of chocolate cupcakes. I prefer to call them fairy cakes, as there is something magical about them.

 

The extra special thing about the chocolate fairy cakes is that I used Blackfriar in the recipe. We've been brewing it for bottling this week and I've been tasting it rather more than normal. Yes it's true, there are advantages in being a brewer! Anyway back to the cupcakes or fairy cakes. The finished article was a real success and tasted divine. Moist and rich, dark chocolatey and hints of dark roasted malt. Although I've called the fairy cakes 'chocolate', there isn't any actual chocolate in the recipe as the chocolate flavours come from the cocoa, fleshed out a bit more by the caramelisation of the dark maltiness of the Blackfriar beer. The dark muscovado-type sugar also adds its hints of treacle and molasses which really round of the flavours here.

Well worth a try and ever so easy.

40g soft margerine - I use the well known brand named for the bird that is said to deliver babies.

130g dark brown sugar

100g plain flour

1 & 1/2  tsp baking powder

40g cocoa powder

1 egg medium - from Hugh Grierson's free range honesty shop past Tibbermore

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

120ml Blackfriar Ale - indulge in a glass of the remainder whilst the oven works its wonders.

I use a wooden spoon and a big earthenware bowl for everything - a lot easier to clean and even better for getting your finger to scrape the last bit out.

Oven on to 170c. Tray with 12 fairy cake cases at the ready.

Mix marg, sugar, flour, baking powder and cocoa together to make a a well-combined crumble. Don't eat any! Not until it's baked...

In a bowl or measuring jug whisk the egg and stir in the beer and vanilla extract. Add this to the chocolatey crumble and stir in steadily, just to get it smooth and mixed. Don't beat it too much or you'll drive out the bubbles to lift the cakes up.

Spoon into the cases and into the oven for 15 minutes or until springy to touch.

Let cool for 5 minutes in baking tray then carefully put on to wire rack.

I like to dust them with icing sugar and then enjoy with a cup of Lady Grey tea.

Oh yes...

Slàinte and Happy Baking, Ken

Organoleptic Evaluation, Ale Conning or Ale Tasting - Ancient and Modern

In the Days of Yore, ale was officially tasted or organoleptically evaluated, to use contemporary brewery jargon, and approved or condemned by the Ale Conners, or Knowers of Ale, whose task it was, charged to them by the Incorporated Trades Guilds of the Town, to judge the very quality and substance of the ale brewed for sale within the policies of the township. In Perth the Guilds were incorporated by William the Lion of Scotland's Charter of Perth in 1210, so they have been around for a long time.

The method for testing the ale was quite simple and consisted of 6 parts:

Part the First - Attire thyself with leathern breeches.

Part the Second - Avail thyself of a flagon of the ale in question.

Part the Third - Pour one quarter of the flagon on to a bench.

Part the Fourth - Sit thyself down upon aforementioned bench.

Part the Fifth - Quaff the remainder of the flagon and indulge in timely conversation with thy neighbour.

Part the Sixth - Upon draining the flagon, stand up and turn to observe the bench; if it be stuck to thy leathern-clad rear, then the ale be proven to be underfermented with sticky malt worts and unfit for sale, whereby the brewer be punished; yet, however, if thy rear be free of aforementioned bench, then the ale be proven cleansed and fit for sale and the brewer be complemented.

In these modern times, the ale is still tested and tasted, though without the deliberate spillage on the bench. The Guildry Incorporation of Perth continues its centuries-old practice of ale tasting and below is a picture, in the modern style, of your correspondent in the fine hostelry of Greyfriars, during their triennial Ale Tasting last week, holding forth upon a bottle of Blackfriar, which the Guildry's Ale Conners are analysing with great thought and determination.

The Blackfriar was proven cleansed and fit for sale.

Slàinte, Ken

Tänään on Kalevala-päivä, joten 'Eläköön ja kippis!'

Sammon taonta

Tänään on Kalevala-päivä, joten minä annan teille neuvoa oluenpanosta, viisaus, jonka antoi Osmotar, kaunis impi, luvussa kaksikymmentakolme:

''Keitä ohraiset oluet, makujuomat maltahiset
yhen ohrasen jyvästä, puolen puun on poltakselta!
Kun sa ohria imellät, ma'ustelet maltahia,
elä koukulla kohenna, kärryksellä käännyttele:
aina kourilla kohenna, kämmenillä käännyttele!
Käypä saunassa use'in, elä anna iun paheta,
kissan istua ituja, kasin maata maltahia!
Eläkä sure susia, pelkeä metsän petoja
saunahan samotessasi, kesken yötä käyessäsi!''

Ja tietysti, muistakaa Lia Fail ja Blackfriar teidän juhlastanne ja mietiskelystä saunassa pois metsästä eläimet!

Eläköön ja kippis!

Ken

A wee prècis for the non-Finnish speakers - Today (28 February) is Kalevala Day in Finland, a celebration of the great epic of Finnish oral folklore, compiled by Elias Lönnrot and first published on this day in 1835. It played a major role in the movement towards Finnish independence and has inspired Finns ever since.

The first picture is 'Forging the Sampo' by Aksel Gallen-Kallela, who painted many scenes from the Kalevela. The Sampo is the stuff of legends, a fantastic prize, a talisman, a magical quern with 'its bright lid' with a salt-mill on one side, a grain-mill on the next and a money-mill on the third.

What follows are some of the words of wisdom from the Fair Maid Osmotar to a young bride in how to brew beer ''from one barleycorn and half a tree's burnt wood...when you malt it with its honey-sweetness, do not turn it with a hook, but use your hand cleverly...go to the sauna often and keep the cats off the floor of malt...fear not the hungry wolves nor beasts of the forest as you go to the sauna at midnight!''

Still sound advice in these modern times.

Then finally, I counsel minding of the Lia Fail and Blackfriar for celebration and contemplation in the sauna.

Long Live and Slàinte! Ken

Wood Fired Beer!

Here's a wee pic of my first brewery - Leederville, Perth, Western Australia, circa 1991. Wood-fired - no electric or gas, just a firebox for heating.

We've been having a bit of a home-brew discussion in the brewery this week, as 3 of us are regular practitioners of this dark art, so I had a look at home for some relevant snaps.

To those of a technical bent, there will be seen a mash tun, insulated with wood (1'' x 2'' dressed all-round for the carpenter amongst you), hydrometer, sparge liquor tank - with patented slotted spoon sparge distribution system - Redhead matches and pencil (why pink I cannot remember) for brewing notebook. The wort running into the 10 gallon copper cauldron - it's the old clothes washhouse copper in the shed at the bottom of my garden- was for an 120/- Edinburgh Strong Ale. The boil itself should have taken 90 minutes, but my pals and I were having so much fun chopping up the old blocks of jarrah, an Australian really hardwood, to feed the firebox underneath that the boil lasted four hours! Had to keep adding water to keep the gravity down....

The beer was called Flaming Copper Cauldron and had an adequate strength of 7.7% abv. Tasting it was like a leap back into Scotland's brewing heritage - strong, heady, dark, rich, malty and sweet, oh so sweet, but still luscious and lasting...I even won Homebrewer of the Year with it.

Times like these, oh they were the days...but now we have Blackfriar. Huzzah!

Slàinte, Ken

Pub Tram!

Here we are in Helsinki, the Jewel of the Baltic, about to go for a tram journey. Not any old tram journey, but a very special tram journey, for this tram, bedecked in the Finnish beer Koff livery, is a pub! Unlike many former trams masquerading as restaurants and bars - the one in Prague's Wenceslas Square springs to mind - this Koff tram actually goes on a circuit of the Helsinki centre. The beer on board was the very tasty Koff pilsner and was a superb accompaniment to the tour of the old city with its achitectural gems. The small tables between the seats have holes cut out in which to keep one's glass steady whilst the tram trundles over the cobbles and points on its journey.

Gippis!

(Slàinte for the non-Finnish speakers)

Passing by one of the Alko off-licences which sell our Blackfriar

In typical Finnish style, the tram was furnished with polished wooden seats and tables with all the metal finishings in beautiful brass. The circular journey took about 45 minutes, plenty of time to sample the liquid gold with sufficient time for ample replenishment...and there is a very clean toilet on board for those who feel the need. I wanted to go around again (obviously to tick off my guide book recommendations of Jugendstil granite edifices), but was countermanded by the Lady Arlene, as a visit to the ceramic studio Arabia awaited us...

Well worth a visit if you are in Helsinki, and it's only one of the many pearls of delight in this truly wonderful city.

The small but perfectly-formed bar.

Slàinte, Ken

Blackfriar for Finland - Olut Suomen!

Here's your local brewmaster standing beside our new 60 bbl FV8 bedecked with Sinivalkoinen or the Finnish Flag to mark this brew of Blackfriar destined for our good friends in Finland in a few weeks time.
Gippis & Slàinte
Ken

The brewery's getting bigger!

We are very proud and pleased to announce the commissioning of our new Fermenting Vessel, Big Bertha, which is dwarfing the lovely Lady Arlenka on her Sunday visit. Big Bertha holds 60 barrels, 100 hectolitres or 20,000 bottles. She was a bit troublesome to get in position, with 2 cranes needed and lots of excited brewery folk watching from the viewing platform upstairs.

However she's all ready to brew into with 60 barrels of Blackfriars destined for Alko in Finland! Hurrah!

Slainte, Ken

Kalevala Day - where's the Sampo?

The Defence of the Sampo by Gallen-Kallela

Tänään on Kalevalan Päivä, jolloin vietetään Suomen Kultturista. Eläköön Sinivalkoinen ja Olutta!

Today is Finland's Kalevala Day, when the great national epic is celebrated all over Finland. The best way to do this is with some sahti, the traditional cottage ale flavoured with juniper and then some Blackfriar!

Slàinte ja Kippis!

Ken

PS The Sampo is the great prize in the tale of the Kalevala, which gives health, wealth and happiness to the Finns.

Hallo Finland! Part 2...

In my last blog I wrote in Finnish, or what sort of resembles it, over a weekend with the help of a variety of dictionaries, grammar notes, my father's old Teach Yourself Finnish book and the interweb Finnish university language pages with much thanks to the authors of the wide range of Finnish brewing pages for the more technical brewing words.

Since many readers don't understand Finnish, I was asked to give a translation, so here goes:

''Hallo to our Finnish Friends!

My Tankard in Greyfrars beside a very nice bottle of ale...

Today I thought I'd write a few words about our beer Blackfriar. This wonderfully dark and mysteriously strong ale has been accepted by ALKO (which is the Finnish State Off-Licence Board). I am chuffed to bits about this.

Blackfriar is named after one of the three former monasteries in Perth, Grey, White and Black Friars, so called after the colour of the monks' habits. They were destroyed after the Reformation in 16th century, but the names live on still. Whitefriars is a suburb now, Greyfriars is now an old graveyard and also the name of my local pub, where I have my own tankard above. Being a brewmaster has its privileges! Blackfriars, where James 1 of Scotland was murdered by traitors in 1437, is now the name of some buildings beside the River Tay, but more importantly, receives acclaim and glory as our delicious ale.

The taste of the ale is outstanding, with a strong vinous aroma mixing with Fuggles and Styrian Goldings hops, going then to a warming dark chocolate malty palate and finishing with the soft bitterness, which continues on and makes the drinker taste it once more. At 7% abv, it's an ale to sip slowly with a good book, such as the Kalevala, the famed Finnish epic poem, perhaps looking at Chapter 20, 'On Slaughtering and Brewing'! Listening also to Sibelius' Finlandia Suite or even the Leningrad Cowboys (an esteemed Finnish Rock 'n Roll band renowned for their quiffs, wraparound shades and winklepickers, let alone their riotous assemblies with the Red Army Choir!).

I'm cooking tonight with a bottle of Blackfriar for some friends over for dinner. Venison shoulder, Blackfriar and juniper berries slow oven-roasted for a rich spicy gravy. I'm looking forward to it already...

Now I've got to get the dinner organised. Where's my bottle opener?

Kippis or as we say in Scotland,

Slàinte, Ken''

Hei Suomi!

Hei meidän suomalaisia ystäviä!

Tänään ajattelin, että haluan kirjoittaa muutaman sanan olut Blackfriar. Tämä ihanan tumma ja salaperäinen voimakas olut on hyväksynyt Alko. Olen hyvin iloinen tästä. Pahoittelen huonoa kieltä ja oikeinkirjoitusta - suomalaisia opettelen. Oppimen kreikan ja latinan vuosia ja puhuminem Gaelin ja Tsekin auttaa paljon!

Blackfriar on nimetty yksi 3 entisen luostarit Perth - Harmaa, Valkoinen ja Musta Friars (munkki). He saivat nimensä väristä munkkien kaavun. Luostarit tuhottiin vuonna 16. vuosisadn aikana uskonnollisia ongelmia, mutta nimet elävät tänään. Whitefriars on lähio nyt, Greyfriars on vanhan hautausmaan ja on myos nimi minun paikalliseen pubiin, jossa minulla on oma kolpakko. Että pääoluenpanija on etuoikeuksia! Blackfriars, jossa kuningas Jaako 1 Skotlannin murhasi petturit vuonna 1437, on nyt nimi rakennusryhmä Tayjoen, ja mikä tärkeintä, saa suosiota ja kunniaa niin herkullisia olut.

Maku olut erinomainen, voimakas viinistä tuoksu sekoittamalla Fuggle ja Golding humala, menee sitten lämpeneminen tummaa suklaata maltainen maku ja lopuksi viimeistely pehmeä katkeraan loppuun, jonka pitää käynnissä, ja tyontää juomari maun uudelleen. Klo 7% alkoholia on olutta juoden hitaasti hyvä kirja, kuten Kalevala (ehka luku 20 'teurastuksesta ja oluenpano'!) ja kuunnella Finlandia J. Sibelius tai jopa Leningrad Cowboys...

Olen keitetään pullon Blackfriar tänä iltana ystävien minun metsästysseura. Red Deer hirvenliha olkapää, Blackfriar ja katajanmarjat kypsennetään uunissa hitasti rikas mausteinen kastike. Jo minä odotan sitä...

Nyt minun täytyy mennä valmistelemaan keittioon. Missä on pullo-avaaja?

Kippis tai kuten sanomme Skotlannissa, Slàinte!
Ken