The latest Iechyd Da beer column by Llandeilo brewer Simon Buckley
The Carmarthen Journal Iechyd Da beer column by Llandeilo brewer Simon Buckley, chief executive of Evan-Evans Brewery.
It was Sigmund Freud who once asked ‘What do women really want?’
I am sure that question is not Politically Correct, but being PC would be a first for me!
Over the last three months (while the Journal’s Iechyd Da column has been ‘off air’, so to speak), we have been far from idle in the Evan-Evans Brewery in Llandeilo.
To the contrary we have been working like demons trying desperately to answer Freud’s big question.
And the answer is?
Well, if only it was a simple one-liner. It’s not - and we hope that after three months of market research we have come up with an answer that goes some of the way to answering what is really the question of the moment, how do we get ladies to enjoy beer and to sample new products?
The answer, we believe, is to look at the opportunity of creating a new range of craft beers that develop wonderful new flavours, unique hop and malt combinations, and then to get the two young ones on our team to brew them.
Over the dark winter months James (my son) and Sajan Muthanna, my two brewers, have done just that.
With my help, they have created a whole new range of beers to be launched in April and called the Artisan Craft Beers.
In a time where provenance and method of manufacture are paramount, these beers have been brewed to produce products of the very highest quality.
These are not whacky US ‘me too’ beers, with antiseptic bitterness and heady levels of alcohol, but more carefully-crafted beers designed to maximise flavour without being over-bearing.
These are beers to be savoured, not swilled down in copious volumes, drunk in smaller glasses designed to capture the wonderful aroma from hops such as Amarillo, Aramis, Boadicea, and of course the great British Fuggles.
Tweaked to produce gentle and subtle flavours in fermenting vessel these beers are a magic mix of hop and malt.
So why will the ladies find these beers irresistible?
Ladies that drink wine look for subtle and gentle flavours that match food styles, that do not frighten them away.
But, often, they want a longer drink, that is not a lager nor a stodgy bottled ale, something that excites from label to nose, to mouth feel and flavour.
These craft beers will do just that, from subtle citrus aroma, the malt body of the blond beers, and that wonderful gentle fizz and effervescence that is caused by the unique combination of noble hops that will set the taste buds running.
Add to these exciting flavours, a simple but good food match, and you then have the opportunity to bring beer back to the dinner table as the ‘must have’ drink.
It is now posh to serve beer at the dinner table and these will be the poshest of the lot!
There will be beers to be drunk with beef dishes, a floral stout to match with oysters, golden beer to transform mussels, and the magic moment of a very special organic beer to savour with the first sewin (seat trout) of the season.
Suddenly, our thoughts move away from dark winters days, with incessant rain, to the very best of a Welsh summer.
Even if the weather this summer fails to match last year, we have something for you that will make this summer very special. Just wait and see!
I am sure that question is not Politically Correct, but being PC would be a first for me!
Over the last three months (while the Journal’s Iechyd Da column has been ‘off air’, so to speak), we have been far from idle in the Evan-Evans Brewery in Llandeilo.
To the contrary we have been working like demons trying desperately to answer Freud’s big question.
And the answer is?
Well, if only it was a simple one-liner. It’s not - and we hope that after three months of market research we have come up with an answer that goes some of the way to answering what is really the question of the moment, how do we get ladies to enjoy beer and to sample new products?
The answer, we believe, is to look at the opportunity of creating a new range of craft beers that develop wonderful new flavours, unique hop and malt combinations, and then to get the two young ones on our team to brew them.
Over the dark winter months James (my son) and Sajan Muthanna, my two brewers, have done just that.
With my help, they have created a whole new range of beers to be launched in April and called the Artisan Craft Beers.
In a time where provenance and method of manufacture are paramount, these beers have been brewed to produce products of the very highest quality.
These are not whacky US ‘me too’ beers, with antiseptic bitterness and heady levels of alcohol, but more carefully-crafted beers designed to maximise flavour without being over-bearing.
These are beers to be savoured, not swilled down in copious volumes, drunk in smaller glasses designed to capture the wonderful aroma from hops such as Amarillo, Aramis, Boadicea, and of course the great British Fuggles.
Tweaked to produce gentle and subtle flavours in fermenting vessel these beers are a magic mix of hop and malt.
So why will the ladies find these beers irresistible?
Ladies that drink wine look for subtle and gentle flavours that match food styles, that do not frighten them away.
But, often, they want a longer drink, that is not a lager nor a stodgy bottled ale, something that excites from label to nose, to mouth feel and flavour.
These craft beers will do just that, from subtle citrus aroma, the malt body of the blond beers, and that wonderful gentle fizz and effervescence that is caused by the unique combination of noble hops that will set the taste buds running.
Add to these exciting flavours, a simple but good food match, and you then have the opportunity to bring beer back to the dinner table as the ‘must have’ drink.
It is now posh to serve beer at the dinner table and these will be the poshest of the lot!
There will be beers to be drunk with beef dishes, a floral stout to match with oysters, golden beer to transform mussels, and the magic moment of a very special organic beer to savour with the first sewin (seat trout) of the season.
Suddenly, our thoughts move away from dark winters days, with incessant rain, to the very best of a Welsh summer.
Even if the weather this summer fails to match last year, we have something for you that will make this summer very special. Just wait and see!
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