Take two chefs
Take two chefs... ...and a day at a brewery. The result? Fun and beer!
You’re invited to a development meeting to create a new beer for a major brewery. Wouldn’t it be nice to think that it was going to be a bunch of people with a shared interest in food and drink, standing around in a cosy bar, having a laugh, drinking beer and throwing ideas around? But actually, you think, it’s more likely to be a cold and clinical affair: a sterile unit, all stainless steel and smelling of bleach, and thronged with marketing supremos with an eye only on profit margins, and white-coated food development specialists with degrees in chemistry… 



A relaxed affair 
Well, you’d be wrong: or at least you would if you were invited to a development meeting for Two Chefs beer at the Great Yorkshire Brewery in Cropton. When James and old buddy Andrew Pern, from the Star at Harome, went to Cropton last autumn to come up with ideas for the winter version of Two Chefs, the second recipe they’d created for the brand, it was a very relaxed, hands-on affair. James, Andrew, brewery director Jo Taylor, head brewer Alan, and a very lucky writer and photographer, joined forces at the bar to taste the range of Cropton beers and come up with a new recipe.



Jo explained that at Cropton the development of a new flavour is very much an organic affair. “We literally take an existing beer, add the chosen ingredients, then leave it to steep for a few weeks,” she says. “Then we taste it, see if it’s working – the adding flavourings might need longer to infuse, in which case we reseal and leave a bit longer, then keep tasting till we feel it’s right. Or they might already be a bit too strong – in which case, we’ll start again, but this time, taste it a bit sooner!” 



Years of experience
Once the required flavour is reached – and has been approved by the two chefs whose names it will bear – the beer is passed to head brewer Alan, who uses his years of experience to figure out how to produce it on a larger scale. At the winter beer development meeting, the talk was all of seasonal flavours.

The original Two Chefs beer, created in the spring of last year, was a golden honey beer flavoured with lemon thyme – a zesty brew perfect for the warmer months. But with the winter chill about to descent, and Christmas on the way, the team was looking at bigger, bolder flavours: carefully sipping the range of halves that Jo had lined up on the bar, and imagining them with added ginger, cardamom, or cloves.



Nutmeg and cinnamon 
At one point, someone comes up with the idea of a Christmas-cake-flavoured beer, with raisins, almond paste, and even glacé cherries, and there’s serious discussion about its possibilities, but it’s eventually dismissed as being probably too over-fussy. The final Two Chefs Winter Spice is a warming combination of nutmeg and cinnamon: an ale that will keep you warm until spring.

And at just 4.0%, you can enjoy a pint without feeling too guilty. Two Chefs beer is available on cask at many good Yorkshire pubs – including, of course, the Pipe and Glass and the Star at Harome. And the honey-and-lemon-thyme-flavoured spring summer version is also going to be bottled, and will be available soon at a shop near you!


PUBLISHED :April 2013
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