With The Courier Menu Food and Drink Awards only six weeks away, Eden Mill St Andrews are brewing up a bespoke beer for the event.
Have you bought your tickets for The Courier Menu Food and Drink Awards 2018 yet? If not, why not? Not only will you find out the winners of the 10 categories to discover the finest in the region’s food and drink industry but you’ll also tuck into a wonderful five course gala dinner, with each course prepared for you by a top Courier Country chef.
And what’s more you’ll be the first to taste a brand new bespoke craft ale, created especially for the awards dinner on March 15 at the Old Course by Eden Mill St Andrews, who are also sponsoring the Mixologist/Sommelier of the Year category.
Steve Lowrie McKay, brand ambassador for Eden Mill, and head brewer Darren Guiney are thrilled to be involved in these inaugural awards.
“It’s really exciting for us to be sponsoring the first ever Menu Food and Drink Awards,” says Steve. “As a craft distiller and brewer, what is closest to our hearts in Eden Mill, is our collaborative work with the abundance of talent in our home area of Fife, Perthshire, Dundee and Angus.”
With the gala dinner just six weeks away, Steve and Darren have been mulling over ideas for a truly special brew, before producing just 250 bottles of the bespoke ale.
“We’re looking at a pale ale, straw or honey coloured, with nice body and about 4.7% vol – a bit higher than a blonde ale and a little more premium but still accessible to the palate,” explains former engineer Darren, who came to Fife from Australia two years ago.
“We’ll be using Scottish malt and a nice plain, classic yeast to let the malt and hops come forward. There are different hops we can try – at the moment we’re tending towards New World hops from the US or my homeland Australia, varieties like Cascade, Galaxy and Big Secret. We want to have a bit of fun and give it a bit of a sherbety orange pop,” Darren continues.
“But we also want to make it distinctive so we may add some old-style US hops too.”
The menu on the night will include a variety of meats, fish and other local produce and Steve and Darren are confident their creation will be the perfect pairing for whatever the chefs – Praveen Kumar of Tabla in Perth; Graham Paulley of the Apex Dundee; Jamie Scott of The Newport; Martin Hollis of the Old Course; and Eden Sinclair of Sinclair’s Catering – have up their sleeves.
“It will be very drinkable and work well with what the guys will be producing on the night,” Steve promises.
All Eden Mill’s bottles – gin, beer and whisky alike – are labelled and capped by hand by the distillery staff but the design for the label for the Menu Awards beer is a closely guarded secret until it’s revealed on the night of the awards.
“All we can say about the branding is that we will be working within our well-known shield design that appears on all our bottles, and will be looking for input and ideas from The Courier, and our packaging, production and marketing guys, before we go ahead,” says Steve.
“It’s wonderful that the Menu Food and Drink Awards are highlighting the creativity of local producers and we’re really excited about showcasing our own creativity. It’s fun for us to experiment with different hops and come up with a brand new recipe.”
For tickets to the Menu Food and Drink Awards, contact Kim McMurray at kmcmurray@dctmedia.com
www.themenufoodanddrinkawards.co.uk
