27th October 2009

Beer with Food The Red Lion, Steeple Aston Tuesday 13th October 2009

Hooky Bitter was the first beer of the evening at The Red Lion in Steeple Aston’s Beer with Food evening. This was a great start to the evening as I had been looking forward to this event, knowing the welcome and fine food that awaits you from Landlord and Lady, Mel & Sarah Phipps and I was not disappointed!

We were then ushered into the beautiful conservatory restaurant and shown to our seats. This event was hosted by Paul Montague (well known as Monty), one of the brewery tour guides. He was highly entertaining and informative, with a career in teaching chemistry under his belt, a restaurant full of eager beer drinkers was a doddle!

The meal began with Smoked Haddock Kedgeree partnered with Haymaker. This was an ideal mix for Haymaker as we know it to complement spicy foods very well and it also goes well with fish. The two seemed to be perfect together, neither stinting the other’s flavour but improving it.

We were then served Lemon Chicken with Hooky Gold. The citrus aromas and flavours of the beer worked brilliantly with the lemon breadcrumbs on the chicken, and being a light dish, Hooky Gold was an ideal match.

We were then treated to one of Sarah’s signature dishes – Game Casserole. This was truly delicious and, matched with Copper Ale, it was sublime. The casserole had Pheasant, Venison and Rabbit, all these meats are obviously very rich but the beer stood up to the flavours bringing us a perfect mouthful every time!

We then had our October seasonal beer, Flagship with strong Marksbury Cheddar. To match Flagship, you really need a cheddar that is so strong it hits the roof of your mouth and the Marksbury was no disappointment. Mel said that he went to the covered market in Oxford especially to collect some as he’s not seen it available anywhere else locally.

We then had our October seasonal beer, Flagship with strong Marksbury Cheddar. To match Flagship, you really need a cheddar that is so strong it hits the roof of your mouth and the Marksbury was no disappointment. Mel said that he went to the covered market in Oxford especially to collect some as he’s not seen it available anywhere else locally.

Another delightful evening at The Red Lion, everybody agreed it was a delicious meal and a very enjoyable evening. Thank you to Mel & Sarah and to Monty for making the evening such a success.