Landlord, an all-seasons winner

From FRESH, The West Australian, December 14

By Vic Crossland

Christmas would not be complete without sharing a bottle or two of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord Pale Ale. The label picture of a jovial landlord in cheery red waistcoat evokes Dickensian festivities in a low-beamed English pub beside a log fire. And the ale is so superb it goes down a treat with all your Christmas munchies, from prawns to pork and turkey and even nuts, cheese, fresh fruit and sorbet.

The aroma entices with vanilla, orange peel and peppery hints. Floral and spicy hop flavours slide along the tongue. The piquant dry bitter finish lingers deliciously.

No wonder pop icon Madonna has told several TV chat-show hosts this is her favourite quaff. No wonder TT Landlord has become the epitome of pale ale, the one that craft brewers like WA’s Colonial brewery aim to match. No wonder Landlord has won acclaim worldwide: Millennium Brewing Industry International Award in 2000; inaugural Champion Beer of Britain and Supreme Champion Beer of Britain in 1995 and 1999; world and British gold medals for best bitter and pale ale too numerous to list since the 1950s.

And no wonder I felt compelled to wangle a visit to its home, Knowle Spring Brewery in Bronte country, Keighley, West Yorkshire. At the end of a narrow cobbled lane between a car wash and a used car yard I learned how the current head brewer feels about his responsibility for this great beer. “I’m not so much the brewer of Landlord as the steward, really,” Peter Eells said. “I would not try to improve or change perfection.”

This modest opinion came as the beer hero greeted me at the door of the 143-year-old stone brewery with an invitation to join him for tea in his “office”. It’s a glorified kitchen; table and easy chairs as well as computer and filing cabinet. Leaf tea was brewed in a pre-warmed up pot and poured ritually, milk first.

We were joined by the rest of the brew team. They number four in all - astonishing when you consider that Little Creatures has four times that number. Each batch of Landlord is 32,000 litres and supplies cask conditioned real ale to pubs across Britain and pint bottles all over the world. Its soaring popularity is evident.

“When I joined the brewery in 1984, we brewed Landlord once a week,” Mr Eells said. “Now we do eight brews a week. In 1984 we had seven open fermenters; now there are 14.”

He put the success down to adhering to traditional standards, such as an infusion mash tun and Yorkshire open squares. The only modernisation is in handling material, racking beer into casks and bottles, loading wagons and other means of “saving our backs from breaking”.

The other secret is the ingredients. Scottish Golden Promise barley is grown and malted specially for Timothy Taylor’s; hard water comes direct from the brewery’s pure spring deep beneath the Pennine moors; the yeast has been propagated for generations.

Then there are the hops. Mr Eells opened barn-like planked doors on a huge storeroom, cool and dry with slatted floor for airflow. It was stacked shoulder high with scores of sacks of Goldings and Fuggle hops – pungently aromatic, full, natural flowers.

“We’re the only brewery of this size still using all leaf hops,” Mr Eells said.

At a row of open square tanks, he pointed to the fermentation progression: that day’s brew billowed like fluffy summer clouds; the previous day’s batch had a khaki-coloured doughy head; the third-day one was becoming crusty.

The cellar’s whitewashed stone walls were lined with wooden barrels of Landlord Pale Ale at different stages of maturation – all for tasting. Bliss.

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Theakston’s back home

Another world-renowned Yorkshire beer evocative of Christmas tradition is Theakston’s Old Peculier(SUBS:OK). And Edward Theakston, who once ran the Australian end of Scottish and Newcastle’s sales with a passion for beer choice, is back in Britain helping a resurgence of the dark, strong ale at its original home.

He is one of four brothers, led by executive director Simon Theakston , who bought back Theakston’s 1827 family brewery at Masham, North Yorkshire, after years of S&N control. With a nine-strong team under head brewer Bill Wilson, Theakston’s old magic of open fermenters and hands-on production has found favour with real ale fans in WA, who can buy Old Peculier (5.6 per cent) in 500ml bottles.

“We’re working steadily to re-assert Theakston’s,” Simon said. “We have the old recipes and ingredients, and the secret is our Masham twin-strain yeast.

“Cask-conditioned beer is absolutely sublime – kept well and served well there’s nothing finer. Although some of our beer is sent further afield in kegs, there’ll always be a future for cask ale.”

Edward Theakston, although a director of the revitalised brewery, is still with the big S&N group, in charge of maintaining the quality of cellaring and serving cask-conditioned ale.

During his time in Australia, Edward regaled licensees and customers with a philosophy presaging the upsurge in beer passion. “Never just ask for ‘a beer’. You don’t tell the butcher you want ‘a piece of meat’; you specify a particular cut of beef, pork or lamb to suit your taste. It’s the same with beer.”

Cricket commentary

Lager-drinking cricket fans could add an extra dimension to watching the Perth Test match on the box. VB BoonanzaII may even raise a wry smile from England supporters. A croaky voice roused me from sleep on day one of the Ashes series: “Wake up, Beefy, the Test is about to start.” The din came from a figurine of Aussie cricket legend David Boon. Since then he’s been making some pointedly cruel – if fair - cracks such as, “God save the Queen, because nothing can save England”.

Last summer’s VB Boonanza won the Australian Liquor Industry “best liquor promotion of the year” award and this season’s BoonanzaII, designed for the Ashes and pairing Boon with his old Pommie mate and rival Ian Botham, is a bigger campaign with twice as many packs - 400000 Boony and “Beefy” pairs. The two moustachioed figurines pass comments and banter at random when positioned with infrared panels about 20cm apart.

Tips for anyone who has a BoonanzaII pack: Keep the special 375ml cans of VB as possible collectables. If you drink the lager, pierce the concave bottom rather than use the ring-pull, thus preserving the can.

One reservation: Is it just me, or does the voice purporting to be Botham’s saying, “Steady on! This beer is cold,” sound more ’Strine than North of England? Seems a bit unsporting.

Figurine pairs cost $12 plus postage and handling, but only after buying two VB promotional coded cartons. Visit www.boonanza.com.au for more information about Boonanza II “Battle of the Tashes”.

QUICK ONES

Jarrah Jack’s new seasonal brew is German Pilsner enlivened with spicy, earthy flavours of Saaz hops. Brewed at the Pemberton microbrewery by John Stallwood, the 4.2 per cent, crisp, light-coloured but medium-bodied lager is notable for being more bitter than most Australian pilsners.

Peter Nolin of Gage Roads was appointed president of the WA Brewers Association at last week’s AGM, giving founding president John Stallwood time to concentrate on restarting his Nail Ale brewing. Cowaramup Brewing’s Jeremy Good is vice-president and treasurer.

Christmas health tips by British supermarket giant Tesco include drinking beer. “That’s right!” the website announces. “Beer contains phytochemicals that have been shown to help prevent heart disease. It may also aid digestion by encouraging acid production in the stomach.” Tesco does advise moderate intake – a pint a day – with the admonishment: “But wait! This doesn’t give you licence to become a lager lout.”