'It's a beer renaissance' – Interview with Ed Hughes of Sharp's Brewery

Tell me about the food and beer pop-ups you’ve been doing…

It’s been a busy year this year, which started off at the end of January with London Beer Week by the same guys who do London Cocktail Week, it was brilliant – a whole week! And we took our secret bar, which I can’t tell you about because it’s a secret. We must have done a tasting experience for a good 800 people that week, but on top of that there was Craft Beer Rising, so we had a stall there at the Old Truman Brewery. We were also doing more elite events at little speakeasies, tasting session masterclasses with chef Paul Ripley, who was Nathan’s mentor, and myself at the private room at the Worship Street Whistling Shop, a speakeasy cocktail bar. Quite a lot of beer writers were in there but it was bookable through Emerald Street and I think Mr Hyde magazine.

Do you think people are becoming more aware of beer and food pairing?

Oh yeah. There’s a lot of people saying this is a beer revolution, but this is far from a revolution – it’s a beer renaissance. Beer is 9000 years old and it’s a global phenomenon. Hopefully people can learn about where the different styles of beers come from, and the vast flavours there are, from 2%–24% ABV beers, from very sweet to very bitter, and that it lends itself to food sometimes even better than certain wines.

Obviously North Cornwall has amazing produce, particularly seafood, have you created any beers with food pairing in mind especially?

Yes, our food and beer journey started in 2006 where we brewed Chalky’s Bite, which was named after Rick Stein’s dog. Rick challenged the brewery to do a beer that goes with seafood, and it was a no-brainer on a commercial level, but we never just do things for commercial sense, we do things because we generally believe in it. We specifically went for oily fish like salmon and mackerel – mackerel particularly as it’s more native to Cornwall, so we decided to brew a Belgian Abbey-style beer which was 6.8%, so again doffing the cap to great Belgian Abbey brewing. It’s all about the yeast, so there’s a lot of residual sugar. It’s not to complete with the mackerel, it’s all about a balancing act when matching beer and food – one doesn’t need to overpower the other – it’s all about matching and complimenting.

What’s your food and beer matching philosophy? Are there any dos and don’ts for beginners?

A big ‘do’ is the glassware, make sure you drink the beer out of a brandy balloon or a red wine glass. We are conditioned as beer drinkers to use a straight-edged pint glasses, and the arbitrary unit for beer is a pint. In fact, if you get into the mind-set that you’re drinking a wine you automatically respect what’s in the glass a bit more, and it looks after the aromas. In beer you have incredible aromas, if you put it in a straight edge pint glass all the aromas dissipate. And in fact the brandy balloons, as pretty as they are, are also functional because they hold and accentuate the aromas.

It’s a simple thing as well, it’s not like a Jedi mind trick – some of these beers have taken four years to make, and to put it into a straight glass, for all of those aromas to dissipate and drink it down in a couple of swigs… it’s four years of work!

What’s your favourite ever beer and food pairing?

My favourite ever beer and food pairing is... can I do a couple? Barbecued mackerel and Chalky’s Bite, that’s a favourite and easily done at home. Of recent it’s probably the ‘Beeramisu’ – we do a tiramisu at The Mariners where we use a beer called Dubbel Coffee Stout for the pudding. Comparable to that on a dessert side of things, Paul Ainsworth's Bread and butter pudding with 6 Vintage Blend is just incredible!