HB&B Blog — Pilsner

The Beer Lover's Table: Singaporean Chilli Crab Pasta and Sureshot Brewing Whimmy Wam Wam Wozzle Pilsner

Claire Bullen Lager Manchester Pilsner Sureshot

The Beer Lover's Table: Singaporean Chilli Crab Pasta and Sureshot Brewing Whimmy Wam Wam Wozzle Pilsner

Recently, inspired by the recent tteokbokki à la vodka recipe we made together, my partner and I were riffing on ideas for hybrid dishes - food that doesn’t neatly fit under the slightly naff “fusion” label, but which playfully juxtaposes elements of dishes from different culinary traditions, teasing out surprising moments of overlap or resonance. We stumbled upon an interesting possibility: Could we turn Singaporean chilli crab into a pasta dish? Singapore’s national dish, chilli crab was created in the 1950s and features mud crabs cooked in a tomato base that’s sweet, salty and a little spicy. There are as...

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Fundamentals #122 — St Mars of the Desert Làska Pils

Fundamentals Lager Matthew Curtis Pilsner Sheffield St Mars of the Desert

Fundamentals #122 — St Mars of the Desert Làska Pils

According to Sheffield brewery St Mars of the Desert, Làska means love in Czech. It’s also the name of its latest lager, and trust me when I say this lager is definitely for lovers. I have shared my own love for this exceptional beer producer many times, often in my Instagram posts, and at length in a profile of the brewery I penned for my magazine Pellicle back at the start of 2021. There’s something undeniably wonderful about this brewery who’s name has been shortened by fans and locals to simply “Smod”. And it’s true that every time you drink one...

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Fundamentals #102 — Duration Cutting Grass Italian Pilsner

Duration Brewing Lager Matthew Curtis Norfolk Pilsner

Fundamentals #102 — Duration Cutting Grass Italian Pilsner

What’s with the spate of “Italian” style pilsners being released by British breweries lately? And just what the hell is an Italian pilsner anyway? First released in 1996, Birrificio Italiano Tipopils was, and still is considered by many as something of a game changer. A world apart from the likes of Peroni or Moretti, Tipopils takes a soft, bready malt body, much like a traditional German Helles, then dry hops the beer using the Spalter Select variety, giving the beer heady floral and lemon zest characteristics. The inspiration for this hoppy lager didn’t come from the US as you might...

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The Beer Lover's Table: Cheeseburger Tacos and Beak Brewery Déšt Pilsner

Beer Lover's Table Claire Bullen Lager Pilsner The Beak Brewery

The Beer Lover's Table: Cheeseburger Tacos and Beak Brewery Déšt Pilsner

It’s cold, it’s dark, it’s gloomy and lockdown restrictions mean we’re all stuck in our homes even more than we otherwise would be at this time of year. In other words, the conditions are perfect for making cheeseburger tacos. Cheeseburger tacos might sound like some outlandish Taco Bell special, or the kind of stoner fare that would inspire Harold and Kumar to go on a night-long quest, but they weren’t dreamed up by craven fast food marketers or spat out by some unholy junk-food algorithm.  Instead, they were born in Mexico City. Later, chefs like Alex Stupak (of the now-shuttered...

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