Old and Rare Whisky at the Broadfield

With the heady wafts of five fine whiskies in front of us, we arrived again for another tasting in the upstairs room of the Broadfield. The evening was a warm one, due to both the weather and the extreme popularity of the soon to be international tasting events run by Ed Daly (@whiskycurator). As well as the excellent whisky on offer, there was also a selection of exquisite food planned by chef Rob, to complement and contrast with our drams.

We opened with a spectacular whisky from Bowmore: the 16 year (1989 release). This bottling is a limited release that due to its excellence has sold out from most places, but can still be purchased for almost double its original price from auction sites. The whisky hums lightly of the sea, coupled with a smoked lime sherbet. Even more of the salty, iodine flavours came out on the taste, which paired perfectly with the sweetness from the bourbon cask. The whisky is bottled at 51.8% but doesn't have the heat expected from cask strength. It is a whisky that does everything you would expect from a Bowmore, but on a level not often seen.

Seared king scallops with candied leek, served on a bed of truffle polenta were served alongside: the food managed to find a careful balance of sweetness in the leek and sea-saltiness in the scallop to enhance the flavours of the whisky.

Yamazaki Mizanara is a truly rare whisky, and one that has not yet been released in the UK, but had been acquired for the evening by our host. This whisky is aged in a Mizanara cask, a kind of Japanese oak not often used as it is a slow growing tree and very temperamental in casks (it expands and contracts erratically and leakage is often inevitable), which makes it the most expensive bottle of the evening (around £250 a bottle). It has the smell of lingering minty incense and apricots, that continues to grow on the palate to a flavour unlike anything else we've ever tried, with flavours of malted fruits and a sweet woodiness of tobacco. The finish is of a light fruitiness and subtle smoke.

The food accompaniment in this case was potted rabbit, hazelnut tuille and woodland pesto made from nettles, garlic, sorrel and lovage. A great earthiness from the pesto intensifies with the flavours of the Japanese oak. The rabbit itself is bold and rich and the hazelnut tuille provided the perfect level of sweetness.

The next dram was a Fettercairn 24 year. The smell was of a Victorian retiring room during tea service: wafts of old leather, fruit scones and a small sherry. A little further into the smell came the tickly heat of black pepper and walnut. On the taste was the same retiring room, this time late evening with a large glass of sherry and a toffee pudding, plus a lovely spice creeping in on the finish.


Pan fried pigeon breast with a summer berry kebab and a strawberry balsamic jus was the pairing here. Pigeon is one of my favourite pieces of poultry and this was a fine example of how good game can be.

The oldest whisky of the evening came second to last in the form of Glenfarclas 30, which has an incredibly rounded nose of sweet toffee with treacle that gives way to citrus punch. The sherry finish is exquisitely sticky and rounded across the mouth but steps up a notch with delightful spiced dried fruit. Whilst this whisky was awesome, its age means for me that there is a little loss of a certain characteristic - the flavours all marry together so well that we both found it almost bland.

This was served with an ideal accompaniment: venison tortellini with sautéed wild mushrooms. The richness of this dish worked really well with the hearty nature of the whisky.

The final dram of the night was undoubtedly the most special. We were initially taken by surprise by the colour - blush pink! This turned out to be Bruichladdich 10 year "Duplex" - a private cask bottling, with 244 bottles produced. Finished in very rare Petrus wine casks and personally bottled by Jim McEwan, this is certainly a whisky with a story to tell. A robust wine-y nose gives way to a rounded flavour of red fruits and delicate sweetness. At 62.3%, this is a whisky which fills the head rather than the stomach with warmth. It is a marvellous dram that tickles all the palate with a rounded depth from the fine red wine finish.

This was served with a goat's cheese semifreddo, apricot puree and summer berry candy: a delightful pud and a wonderfully sweet way to draw the evening to a close.

This was a splendid end to the tasting series, with some of the finest whiskies we've sampled throughout the tastings and easily some of the best food pairings.

The next round of tastings are already planned, and we're sure to be booking on to a few!

Jim

Homage 2 Fromage

Totally unable to resist anything that's name includes an excellent cheese-based pun, we were delighted to be invited along to Homage 2 Fromage last week. A monthly club dedicated to all things cheese, Homage 2 Fromage started three years ago in Leeds and has since expanded to our humble home town.

Hosted in guest venues, this month's setting was the lovely Tamper Coffee. Vickie and Nick, the founders of Homage 2 Fromage and self-proclaimed cheese enthusiasts, welcomed us to the venue and explained the rules - cheese is called at 7pm, before which time you may approach the cheese, appreciate the aesthetic quality and aroma of the cheese, but under no circumstances must the cheese be in any way fondled or sampled! Once the tasting kicks off, it's all in, help yourself - there's an array of breads, crackers, chutneys and pickles to accompany the cheeses and discussion is much encouraged.

There's no lofty pomposity here - just a group of individuals having a bloody good time eating cheese. Nick described the feel of the event perfectly - "If cheese and wine is the opera, we're more rock and roll".

Each event has a theme, and this month we were treated to award-winning cheeses from the Great Yorkshire Show. A total of seven cheeses were available, which were tasted blind before being revealed to the group. On offer were:

Cheeses 1-3

1. Mary Quicke's Traditional Vintage Cheddar - a lovely soft and creamy, full-flavoured cheddar.
2. Olde York - a gentle, crumbly, soft white cheese. Laura's favourite of the evening.
3. Capricorn Goats Cheese - a deliciously delicate cheese, that wasn't too overpoweringly farmyard-y in flavour. Aptly described by Nick as a "gateway to goat".
4. Monks Folly - clean and almost lactic in flavour, this was a classic mould-ripened cheese.
5. Dewlay Crumbly Lancashire - fresh and a little tangy, very moreish! Went down well with a Yorkshire crowd - high praise indeed.
6. Bluemin White - a blue and white hybrid! Not too strong and really creamy, this cheese is kept close to blue-veined cheeses, meaning the mould transfers to just the outside. This worked perfectly with ginger and rhubarb chutney.
7. Colston Bassett - a great example of a blue-veined cheese - the flavour you'd expect but not too harsh or stinky. A real crowd-pleaser and Jim's top cheese of the night.

Cheeses 4-7

We were particularly impressed by the fact that all the accoutrements involved were sourced from local producers - the bread was all from Seven Hills Bakery, with chutneys from Hedgerow and Just Preserves.

All-in-all, this was a great evening - full of humour, and possibly the most sociable event we've been to all year! It was also sold out, with Tamper packed to the beams - who knew that Sheffield was home to so many people who are passionate about cheese?! It curd-n't have been feta better*.

The aftermath!

Events are held on a monthly basis, and membership is also available for £10 per year, which includes discounted tickets to events and offers on cheese at an array of local retailers. Head on over to Homage 2 Fromage's website for more details!

L&J

*Apologies for the atrocious pun - impossible to resist sneaking one in!

A taste of Japan

We both happened to have a day off today, and weren't quite sure what to do with it. We then discovered that today is Sea Day, a national holiday in Japan to give thanks to the ocean - and so what better occasion than to use that sushi kit we got for Christmas!

We used two cups of sushi rice to two cups of water, which was massively overcatering for two people - this would have fed four for lunch or 6-8 as a starter. Carefully rinsing the rice before cooking is really important, as is leaving the rice to steam with the heat turned off for at least ten minutes after 10-15 minutes cooking over a low flame.

We chose to use Earl Grey smoked sea trout for the fish option, and bought ourselves a great piece of rump steak from the lovely folks at Mr Pickles, which was seared for 7 seconds on each side before being left to cool in the freezer for one hour, which allowed it to be sliced perfectly thinly. We went for cucumber, red pepper, courgette and spring onions too, which were all carefully cut to a uniform size.

We made maki (traditional rolls where the filling and rice is wrapped in seaweed) in veggie, fish and meat options, as well as temaki (the cone-shaped pieces), nigiri (sliced meat or fish on a bed of seasoned rice) and California rolls (where the rice forms the outside of the sushi).

As total novices who had never made sushi before, and having read a number of instructions implying it's pretty tricky, we did not have high hopes for how our little rolls would turn out. Imagine our surprise when they looked more than passable!

Garnishes and seasoning were wasabi paste, a dressing made from soy and garlic sriracha hot sauce, and home-pickled ginger.

Alongside a dram of Nikka from the Barrel, I feel we successfully paid homage to a little slice of Japanese culture.

Kanpai!

J&L

World Cup Extravaganza

Never a pair to pass up an excuse to host a party, this weekend we thought we'd celebrate the World Cup through food and drink. We'd decided right at the beginning of the tournament that the menu would be focused around traditional dishes from the top four countries left to battle it out, so leaving it quite a lot to chance whilst still hoping for some international variety!

In the end, we got a real mixed bag, which somehow worked out coming together brilliantly - here's what we came up with...

Brazil
Top of the menu was a big batch of empanadas, with a chicken, chorizo and apricot filling, stuffed into shortcrust pastry. The mini versions we made were perfect buffet food and went down a storm. Jim also had a go at pao de queijo, a Brazilian bread made with cheese. Despite the dough looking a bit like houmous before it was baked, these turned out having a lovely light texture and were a good addition to the feast. As a dessert offering, we made Brigadeiros - like a Brazilian chocolate truffle, these were made using really simple ingredients (just cocoa powder, butter, and condensed milk) but were surprisingly difficult to form into balls due to their sticky texture. They tasted good, but I'm not sure I'd make these again - cake pops behave much better! Brazilian-themed cocktails also featured, with caipirinhas made with the addition of Passoa passion fruit liqueur. Tropical!

Argentina
World-renowned for their top quality barbecued meat, we decided we couldn't go wrong with a bit of a classic - steak and chimichurri sauce. The chimichurri was homemade using a blend of herbs including mint, parsley and dill, added to chilli and cider vinegar. Malbec was our Argentinian drink of choice - Otra Vida to be precise - which was an ideal accompaniment to the meat.

Germany
Another classic - frankfurters and sauerkraut! With all the food that our guests brought along too, we didn't make these with the rest of the buffet. However, they made an excellent 3am feast! To add to this, Laura made her first ever cream cake for the event in the form of a Black Forest gateau (or a schwarzwälderkirschtorte if we're being authentic) and despite a few initial issues regarding presentation, it turned out really well! Drinks-wise, we took the easy option and bought a crate of Becks.

Netherlands
This was possibly the trickiest country to find something interesting and traditional whilst still being easy enough to mass cater. In the end we went for herrings and a cheeseboard of Dutch delights! For drinks we went for gin (of course) and made Dutch Mule cocktails, adding the gin to ginger beer and limes. We also dug a bottle of Advocaat out of the back of the cupboard, although I can't say this was a popular choice on the night!

For a bit more variety we invited our guests to bring along nibbles from an eliminated country. The result was a veritable feast of international cuisine, including deep-fried arancini, tiramisu, hot chicken wings, chorizo and bean stew and homemade lemon and chilli houmous with veggies!

The spread, before the additions from our guests arrived!

The match itself turned out to be a bit on the dull side, but much merriment was had none-the-less and it was a brilliant evening all round.

Cheers,

J&L

US Craft Beer Night at BrewDog Sheffield

In celebration of Independence Day, I headed down to shiny new Sheffield BrewDog last week. The brewing techniques and styles of beers created by BrewDog are clearly heavily influenced by our pals across the pond and so it was a great setting in which to sample some American delights from a variety of craft brewers.

We were warmly greeted by the staff and seated at a table covered in little nibbles and a giant American flag. Cool. Without further ado the first beer was presented to us: Stateside Saison from Stillwater Artisanal ales. Going straight in with an ABV of 6.8%, this was surprisingly easy to drink, perhaps on account of having the lowest bitterness rating of the evening (20-35 IBUs). It was plain to see that this evening was going to be all about the hops! This beer had a lovely fruity and slightly floral aroma, with tropical fruit sweetness on the palate.

The second offering of the night was Hop Devil, an American IPA from Victory Brewing Co. I'd actually sampled this on keg the week before, but the effect from the bottle was somewhat punchier, and also had a more reddish hue than the pale ale I'm sure I drank last time! The bitterness of the hops was the overwhelming flavour, but this was coupled with a spiciness that lingered on the tongue for ages. Not quite my thing, but none-the-less a good beer that's a great example of the style.

Next we moved on to Oskar Blues Deviant Dale's IPA - an American Double IPA, making this a "souped up" version of their Dale's Pale Ale. Oskar Blues is one of a growing number of breweries choosing to can their beers rather than bottle them, to avoid any "skunking" (spoiling of the beer caused by the infiltration of UV light). I really enjoyed this beer - it had enough hoppiness to make me suck my cheeks in but this was still nicely balanced with a malty sweetness. With an IBU rating of 85 and at 8% ABV, it was a signal that this was time to move on to the big guys!

After a quick break and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or two, we returned to our tasting with a bottled version of another drink that I've previously sampled on tap: the excellent Shipwrecker Circus, an American style barley wine which is a collaboration between Oskar Blues and Brewdog itself. I loved this beer from the keg and from the bottle it was just as good. Barley wine is perhaps my favourite style of beer and the characteristically high ABV (the Shipwrecker Circus comes in at 10.5%) makes it a perfect sort of beverage to finish off an evening (although on this occasion we had two more to go!). Almost syrupy in consistency with a beautiful rich sweetness reminiscent of liquorice and caramel, with a raisin-like fruitiness that lifts the flavour above being sickly. I loved this beer - my favourite of the night.

What we thought was to be the last beer was Clown Shoes - Chocolate Sombrero, a 9% imperial stout brewed in Massachusetts. My aversion to all things clown-based means that this isn't a brewery I've typically gone for, but this was probably a lesson in how not to judge a beer by the label. Another very enjoyable drink with huge notes of roasted cocoa on the nose with a tiny suggestion of chilli. On the taste this was deliciously chocolatey and full bodied, alongside a maple syrup sweetness. The little hit of chilli came through at the end but was delicate enough not to overwhelm the palate.

An observation from the lovely Claire that the Chocolate Sombrero had a hint of banana to the flavour and the guys at BrewDog just couldn't resist giving us a taster of their Abstrakt 14 - "the closest to banoffee pie you'll get in a beer". This was a dream of a beer, definitely tasting like a good pud and an ideal finisher to the evening alongside a Reese's peanut butter cup (the only downside to this being that I now have a slight addiction to them...)

The evening was a great introduction to a variety of big, brash and bold American craft beers, and the knowledge and passion of the team at BrewDog was refreshing. An entertaining and informative night all round!

Stay classy, America.

Laura x

Meet the Brewer: Ilkley Brewery

A couple of weeks ago, we headed down to the Sheffield Tap for their Meet the Brewer event with Ilkley Brewery. We're both big fans of Ilkley beers so it was great to have the chance to sample ales from across their range, as well as being able to chat to the team about their work.

The night began with Ilkley Gold, one of the regularly brewed core range beers with a strength of 3.9%. This beer is designed to be an easy drinker, with a great subtlety coming from the US and Slovenian hops. Like all their ingredients, specialist hops are something that Ilkely strive to source from the best producers and suppliers.

Lotus IPA had a little step up in alcohol content at 5.6%. Lotus is a similar colour to the previous beer but by no means the same. The summit hops sing through in the distinctive way that comes with an IPA. Produced in a traditional way, the beer is not dry hopped which produces a more rounded beer. Ilkley produce their beers in a variation of styles across their 50,000 pints a week. With the craft beer movement gathering speed and introducing all sorts of wacky brewing methods to the UK, it's great to see a brewery doing such innovative things using traditional techniques.

The third beer of the evening, Siberia, was a rhubarb saison, named after the location of the fruit's original place of cultivation. A nice little fact that we discovered at the event is that all the rhubarb is chopped by hand, in the various kitchens of the brewery's employees... just showing the level of care and personality that goes into Ilkley's beers and also why it isn't brewed as often as you might wish.

De Passie was sampled next - a White IPA flavoured with passionfruit, which is a collaborative brew with Dutch breweries Rooie Dop and Oersoep. A stunning beer that really delivers on its fruity promise, made with 3 different hops that are added to bring out the best flavour of the passion fruit juice. A real hit on the night and a perfect drink for a balmy summer's evening.

We then moved on to the wildcard beer: Derby Day - a 7% mint stout. Other stouts using mint that we've tried before have tended to couple the flavour with chocolate, producing a sweet and sticky beer that seems to provoke a strong reaction in the drinker. The Ilkley take on a mint beer by contrast is much more savoury and arguably more palatable to the masses despite the high ABV.

The final beer of the night just so happened to be possibly our all-time favourite beer and an absolutely mighty drink - The Mayan. This is a chilli chocolate stout that doesn't aim to punch too high with either flavour, although both are very much apparent. The result is a balanced beer tingles subtly on the tongue with a flavour that lingers for around 15 seconds... just divine.

From being able to see first hand the passion and attention to detail that goes into the Ilkley range, it's clear to see where their almost exponential growth has come from. With exciting times and further expansion to come (plans are in the pipeline for a bigger brewery and a visitor's centre), we can't wait to see what they'll think up next.

Cheers,

J&L

The Milestone

At the Sheffield Food Festival, we had our first taste of cuisine from The Milestone, with their "Piggy" dish. This was a delightful selection of pork, including braised head fritter, blood sauce with black pudding, and an array of miniature salads and shoots. After trying this, we couldn't quite work out why we hadn't been to the restaurant before, particularly as it seems a sort of rite of passage in the Sheffield foodie scene!

We wasted no time in booking ourselves on to the Early Bird menu, which offers a smaller but still very varied selection of dishes and even includes a pint or glass of house wine.

Whilst we perused the menu we went for some homemade bread and dripping, recommended by our waiter for the evening (and it's worth mentioning that the service throughout was exceptional, although a little more formal than we're used to!). Can't go wrong there really, can you?!

Second up on our meal, we went for a celebration of the humble chicken, with chicken ham, chicken liver parfait, and chicken thigh served with crispy skin. Very nice (although the liver was just a tad too rich for Laura). We also shared the pig's head terrine, which was served with a delicious selection of pickled veg, crackling and a wonderfully tangy apple sauce. We'd expected this to be quite similar to the Piggy dish from the Food Festival, but it was a totally different twist on the ingredients, which demonstrates the flair and originality shown by the chefs on a day-to-day basis.

Onwards to the main courses! Laura chose the coley, accompanied by buttery-soft new potatoes and sea vegetables. Gherkins and anchovies were also used in the dish which worked really well as seasoning and were a lovely touch. Jim decided upon a classic: sausages served with mustard mash, plus side dishes of quite dense but still delicious Yorkshire puddings, and fresh asparagus. The mash sang with a lovely kick and tang of mustard and worked really well with an excellent pair of sausages. The spring asparagus was sweet and fresh with a lovely crunch and nicely seasoned with Parmesan.

Having partaken in two sides, Jim decided on a calvados rather than a dessert, which turned out to be a very good idea when Laura's sticky toffee pudding arrived. As such emphasis is placed on presentation here (and everything arrived looking outstanding), we were expecting a dainty little pud. What was put in front of us was a veritable wedge of gooey, rich and utterly scrumptious toffee pudding, served with salted caramel sauce and really tasty droplets of date puree, which brought the whole dish together perfectly. Jim's assistance was required.


The Milestone have a great ethos, having an end goal of being self sufficient. Already having a pig farm and a lovely little rooftop garden, they are well on their way to achieving this. The garden provides the restaurant with many of the shoots and herbs used in the dishes and cocktails, meaning they are as fresh as you can possibly get.

The "From Garden to Glass" cocktail menu itself looked superb, and boasted some completely original cocktails that I've never seen anything like in Sheffield before, including the Walk in the Weeds (comprising gin, celery, cucumber, mint, and borage - or whatever else they can forage from the rooftop garden!). Whilst we had over-indulged quite enough for one night we will definitely be back to try some of these out.

Cheers,

Laura & Jim