Timothy Taylor's: Chasing The Havercake Dragon

You have to face it; Timothy Taylor’s beers are seen as somewhat untouchable in certain parts of the country –and for good reason. Landlord is viewed by many as a high-water mark in Brewing, and is without a doubt there Holy Grail for Homebrewers (of which I am one). Ram Tam has attained almost cult status in Yorkshire; one of the few beers in the country truly worth travelling for. Timothy Taylor’s humble brewery is one of beer’s unassuming gods.

I was certainly excited when they announced, early in 2008, that a brace of new (or rather, one new and one re-imagined classic ale) beers would be brewed to coincide with their 150th Birthday. Havercake Ale, named after a nickname for the Duke of Wellington’s 3rd Battalion for which Taylor had an affinity, would be brewed for only the third time in Taylor’s history, alongside Celebration Ale, a new recipe. I must, absolutely must, taste these beers, I thought at the time.

But then, as often happens, real life got in the way. A hectic period of work meant that the trip to my favoured Taylor’s inn – The Fleece, in Haworth, had to be delayed by a week – and this was disastrous. When I finally got there, the barmaid apologetically informed me that all the Havercake and Celebration Ales had run dry. In fact, had just run dry. Excursions to other Taylor’s pubs yielded similar results. I was running round Yorkshire, always one step behind this elusive beer. I gave up. I resigned myself to the fact that I had missed the boat. Lesson learned, young drinker.
Fast-forward a few months to October 2008; we’re in Haworth again. After a pleasant stroll through Bronte country, we popped into The Black Bull for a pint of Ossett’s Silver King, and then, purely out of habit, dropped into the Fleece. Whilst lifting my lips to the first sip of fresh Landlord, my eyes caught something on the back of the bar. A box. A presentation box. With a bottle each of Havercake and Celebration Ale gleaming within. I felt like Indiana Jones faced with the Crystal Skull. Needless to say, it was bought and promptly cellared; kept away for a special occasion: the first beer of 2009.

Celebration Ale poured a clear-as-a-bell amber colour, and the main difference between it and other Taylor’s beers, in my opinion, was the nose: sweet honey and floral hops all round. A robust, typically Yorkshire biscuit malt body gave way to a long bitterness as you’d expect to find in bottled Landlord. Celebration Ale is a much easier-drinking, almost summery beer, and one that I can heartily recommend to Taylor’s nerds.

Havercake Ale, upon pouring, doesn’t seem that different, but the nose gives it away: much less hop profile, and an almost soapy note hang in there. The head did not hang around long on my sample; but the beer itself was malt all the way, with a much softer, less assertive bitterness than the Celebration Ale. As it turns out, quite a contrasting beer.

I understand both beers to have been a success around the country and I think they’ll be popping up now and again in the future. I hope so.

http://www.timothytaylor.co.uk/

Harpooned Venison

Oh yeah.

We made the weekly trip to the market with Duck in mind but ended up with some excellent venison that the Game Stall were promoting that week. Bearing in mind a 'winter warmer' I had languishing in the beer cellar, an idea formulated...

Harpooned Venison

You will need:

2 Venison shoulder steaks

Salt, Pepper

4 large mushrooms

5 small potatoes, sliced

Two cloves garlic

Fresh,chopped parsley

100 ml Harpoon Winter Warmer ale

Beef Stock

1. Firstly, make your potato and mushrooms to accompany the venison. Warm your oven to 180c.

2. Slice your mushroom and chop the garlic. Gently sweat the garlic in som butter in a pan, and then add the mushrooms and sweat also. Be gentle with the heat here. Too much and the garlic with scorch.

3. Peel and slice the potatoes. Don't rinse them.

4. Grease a small gratin or ovenproof dish. Arrange the potatoes in layers, with some of your buttery, garlicky mushrooms inbetween each layer. Dot the top with butter, season well and bake in the oven for at least an hour. Keep your pan.

Next, the Harpoon Gravy: simply boil up about 500ml of stock and add a little sugar to it. Add the beer, and stir. Add a little cornflour with water at the end to thicken up. Leave on a low simmer to reduce. Couldn't be easier.

Warm up the garlicky, buttery pan you used for the mushrooms. Get it smoking, then pan-cook your Venison. Simply roll the venison in salt and crushed black pepper first, and don't add any more oil or butter.Cook the venison as per steak to your liking (but please, for god's sake don't go 'well-done' - you may as well rip up your tastebuds and throw them away), serve with the gravy,mushroom and potatoes to accompany.

Easy. Enjoy the rest of the Harpoon with it. This worked out perfectly due to the cinnamon and nutmeg notes in the beer; game goes really well with these christmassy flavours. You couldn't drink a lot of the warmer - but it compliments this dish perfectly.

www.harpoonbrewery.com