Curry v Beer - Round One

‘There is no sincerer love, than the love of good food ‘ . . . now, I’m not sure who first coined the phrase, but it features on the cover of my local Indian Takeaway Menu, and like a lot of Brit’s a Curry is now one of our favourite dishes. However, finding either a Wine or Beer which offers the perfect accompaniment can be a dilemma, compounded by a culture which in the main shuns alcohol, but for commercial reasons has embraced the soulless, global fizzy Lager phenomena, with likes of their Kingfisher and Cobra brands - I’m yet to catch up with a Mongoose!

When dinning out I usually stick with Mineral Water, the thought of pumping myself full of CO², like some over-inflated balloon has never appealed. Likewise, subjecting my palate to the rigours of a ’Blossom Falls’ or ’Echo Hill’, those supermarket standards served at inflated prices, leaves me truly uninspired. That said, when I occasionally come across a Chenin Blanc, be it a French original from the Loire, or its more luscious cousins from South Africa, they seem to have enough edge not to be too swamped by the complexities of the Curry experience.

My own preference is for a simple Lamb dish, in so much that it has not been subjected to the rigors of the Tandoor, the blend of spices and herbs infused into a rich sauce, with just sufficient residual heat to temper my progress, allowing me to savour the dish and appreciate its myriad of flavours - see www.thebindi.com and their Nawabi Lamb as a prime example.

Having given the subject a lot of thought, I think possibly the best match to this type of dish could be an IPA, the fabled India Pale Ale, traditionally the most flavoursome of beers, heavily hopped to withstand the rigours of the arduous sea voyage, allowing their complexity to develop and mature in transit - well if it was good enough in the Days of the Raj, surely it should be worth a try, but not in one sitting, no . . . I see this as an ongoing experiment!

Nawabi Lamb v Thornbridge Jaipur* (Waitrose, 22/08/11 - £2.25, 500ml)

Well first off the name’s spot-on and even the label background has a hint of the finest flocked wallpaper, befitting of many of the nation’s more traditional Curry Houses. Surprisingly, it pours a rich golden hue, (I’m more used to those displaying a burnt amber edge, but it is non the worse for it and pleasing nevertheless), with finely bubbled head and hints of wine on the nose, the palate soft and smooth, builds to a rich hoppiness with complex, lingering bitter finish - great on its own, but sadly the curry won through on this occasion, Jaipur just managing a whisper above the Nawabi’s building crescendo of flavours.

So, an inconclusive but promising start, leaving much open to debate, however I’m sure that we will find a beer in all sincerity to match our love of good food . . . and in particular a Curry!  

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* Available on draught at the forthcoming CAMRA Durham Beer Festival, 1-3 September 2011, and for me one of my anticipated highlights.