Firstly, I used this beer to attempt 'pairing'. Normally, I'll have a beer after dinner. I suppose I prefer to have the taste of the beer unadulterated by any other flavours. Pairing food with beer is a pretty popular thing by all accounts - much has been made of the 'wineification' of beer and I suppose suggesting a food that best compliments a particular beer is a consequence of this. I have absolutely no problem with this and I am fully supportive of it. Personally, I have liked (so far) to keep the appreciations separate. I've never really considered why, that's just the way I've been happy to do it.
I made a curry (recipe in this book) and had a bottle of the Redchurch Bethnal Pale Ale. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting (the curry or beer to taste even better?), but whilst it wasn't an altogether unpleasant experience, I can't confess to having had any sort of epiphany. One thing I do remember is that on some mouthful combinations, the beer did taste a lot smoother, like a good chocolate (by contrast, in some mouthfuls, the beer lost it's flavour altogether). The Bethnal Pale is I suppose quite a strong flavoured beer and perhaps I'm too used to Cobras and Banglas with my currys.
That said, the Bethnal Pale Ale is a remarkable beer. This was one of the first 'craft' ales and the memory of it has stuck with me (and probably biased my opinion of it slightly...). A delicious London take on an APA, I don't think I've had a bottle of this that has disappointed. What I do find strange is Redchurch's lack of 'presence'. There's obviously alot of web-talk and digital media focus on the Kernel, Magic Rock and maybe some of the newer brands like Weird Beard etc but Redchurch don't seem to feature much on the blogs and in the bars. Is it just me not noticing them? Or do they deliberately keep a low profile? I suppose you see them in Oddbins, some of the posh burger joints and even some of the swankier cafés. Whatever, a solid, solid outfit. Never had a bad beer from them.
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