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Real Ale Branding » 3rd Wednesdays

By: NickC on October 25, 2011

Every 3rd Wednesday of the month, one member of the Creative team provides a delicious, home-baked pie for everyone to enjoy whilst another member of the team delivers a lunchtime lecture to share insight and provoke discussion

‘Ello there, pie lovers!

This month we kicked off our our second year of 3rd Wednesdays and, as ever, we were treated this month to two wonderfully crafted pies courtesy of motion graphics maestro Ryan Locke. One thing we weren’t expecting however was the sneaky amount of beer that was used in their creation, a fact we were only alerted to by the slyness of Ryan’s sly smirk.

In an attempt to link both the pie to the talk (more on that later) Ryan, who was up baking until a commendably devoted 3am finish, pushed the boat out with both a Steak & Guinness pie for the meaties and a Shepherd Neame ’Kentish Ale’ & Mushroom collaboration for the veggies.

What was most refreshing was that, unlike many beer-based pies, you could really get a strong flavour from the beer in both of these creations, which, ever so slightly, began to tug on our eyelids later in the afternoon.

You can find the Ale & Mushroom recipe on the trusted Good Food Channel (don’t believe the reviews, it was great) whilst we have happily gone to the trouble of writing up the Steak & Guinness Jamie Oliver recipe below:

The ingredients:

• olive oil
• 3 medium red onions, peeled and chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 30g butter, plus extra for greasing
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
• 4 field mushrooms, peeled and sliced
• 1kg brisket of beef or stewing beef, cut into 2cm cubes
• a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 x 440ml can of Guinness (no lager, please!)
• 2 heaped tablespoons plain flour
• 200g freshly grated Cheddar cheese
• 500g best-quality ready-made all-butter puff pastry
• 1 large free-range or organic egg, beaten

The method:

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5. In a large ovenproof pan, heat a glug of olive oil on a low heat. Add the onions and fry gently for about 10 minutes – try not to colour them too much. Turn the heat up, add the garlic, butter, carrots and celery and scatter in the mushrooms. Mix everything together before stirring in the beef, rosemary, a pinch of salt and a level teaspoon of pepper.

Fry fast for 3 or 4 minutes, then pour in the Guinness, stir in the flour and add just enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer, cover the pan with a lid and place in the preheated oven for about 1½ hours. Remove the pan from the oven and give the stew a stir. Put it back into the oven and continue to cook it for another hour, or until the meat is very tender and the stew is rich, dark and thick. A perfect pie filling needs to be robust, so if it’s still quite liquidy, place the pan on the hob and reduce until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in half the cheese, then season carefully and leave to cool slightly.

Cut about a third of the pastry off the block. Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll both pieces of pastry out evenly with a floured rolling pin to the thickness of a pound coin. Butter a deep pie dish, then line with the larger sheet, leaving the edges dangling over the side. Tip the stew into your lined dish and even it out before sprinkling over the remaining cheese. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little beaten egg.

Cut the other rolled sheet of pastry to fit the top of the pie dish and criss-cross it lightly with a sharp knife. Place it over the top of the pie and fold the overhanging pastry on to the pastry lid to make it look nice and rustic. Brush the top with beaten egg, then bake the pie directly on the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes, until the pastry is cooked, puffed and golden. Delicious served simply with peas.

Following on from our boozy pies, yours truly took to the floor and, having experience of working at a micro-brewery in Frome, delivered a presentation about my love for Ale and its branding.

The presentation, specifically titled ‘Where larger shouts, Real Ale sings’, moved through the History, Craft and manufacture, Market and Branding of Real Ale brands from around the world, whilst simultaneously proving that ale is better than larger – in my opinion anyway.

Following the presentation, I then split the studio into small groups and gave them five minutes to brand a brewery based on four pieces of salient research.

Sadly, due to the nature adult theme of branding propositions, we are unable to share with you the outcome of this mini-branding session.

All I can say is that we laughed quite hard that afternoon.

So there you go folks, our first 3rd Wednesdays meeting of year two.

See you next month…

(if you’re interested, we’ve got even more beer related branding on the blog here and a particularly funny beer advert here. Enjoy. )