I’d been looking forward to this beer & food tasting night at the Black Sheep Brewery in Masham for quite a while. As I have mentioned in the past, Black Sheep’s Best Bitter was where my obsession with beer all started so it was a privilege to be attending.
We were staying the night in the Kings Head Pub and B & B located in Masham’s Market Place, a short walk from the Brewery. Our room was in a quaint little courtyard to the rear of the pub and was absolutely spot on. Simple, homely furnishings and the biggest bed I think I’ve ever seen. The pub was cosy and had a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, there was a few beers on as well so I wet my whistle with a Black Sheep Best Bitter while me and the Mrs waited for Andy, from Beer Reviews, and Mark, from Real Ale Reviews, and their other halves to arrive.
At the brewery we were greeted by Ashleigh, who is behind the Black Sheep Tweets, and after getting us all a glass of Kasteel Kru, a beer brewed with champagne yeast which proved popular even with the non-beer drinkers. Ashleigh introduced us to the Head Brewer, Alan Dunn, and his team. We had chance for a quick chat, before taking our seats. The big questions were about Black Sheep’s latest beer, which is currently maturing – a Russian Imperial Stout. Hopefully it will be available for tasting soon!
The menu and beer matches looked excellent and I couldn’t wait to get stuck in.
The starter was Welsh rarebit matched with Best Bitter, at first I thought this was an odd choice especially as Golden Sheep was next but the spicy, floral tones of the beer and lingering bitterness balanced the tang from the mature cheddar very nicely.
The fish course was tempura battered king prawns matched with Golden Sheep, my squeeze of lime juice over the succulent prawns really did compliment the citrus aspect of the beer very nicely.
The main course and the one I had been looking forward to the most, lamb shank married with Black Sheep Ale. The lamb shank was meaty, possibly the meatiest lamb shank I’ve ever eaten, and had very little fat. It was cooked to perfection too, the meat was tender, yet juicy and literally fell of the bone. The darker roasted flavours of this beer matching the rich roasted flavours of the lamb. The Mrs doesn’t eat lamb so she was treated to a beer casserole with a puff pastry lid (it’s not a pie) which was also very good, again very tender chunks of beef cooked in a rich and moreish gravy.
The dessert, a Yorkshire chocolate tart served with Ruddy Ram an English style Porter. As a chocoholic the dessert couldn’t have been better picked. The rich chocolate from the tart being amplified by the roasty, chocolatey flavours of the beer.
I’m not normally keen on Riggwelter but I have certainly been getting to grips with darker beers over the winter period, so I wasn’t put off by this when it was matched with a combination of Wensleydale, Smoked Wensleydale and Blue Wensleydale all supplied by the Wensleydale Creamery for the final course of the evening. In fact this turned out to be the combination that I enjoyed the most.
Each beer was introduced by Alan and his team as it was served with each of the courses, some introductions involved a little audience participation which was highly amusing and kept the atmosphere nice and relaxed. Also, at each table there were cards for judging the best match of the night, a nice touch I thought, and the tempura battered prawns and Golden Sheep won hands down. It was especially popular with the ladies.
Personally I couldn’t think of a better way to spend an evening, great food, great company and great beer.
Visit the Black Sheep Brewery website
Just been reading Andy’s version of events too, sounds like a really great evening out and not too far away.
One to look out for next time around..
Thanks, it was a good night and I’ll be making every effort to attend the next one.
Might see you there..
Your writing keeps improving with each post Dave. The beer and food at the do sounds well matched. The food that was on offer sounds well up my street. The Black Sheep brewery is a handsome building from the looks of.