Dea Latis, the group who are helping to introduce the idea that beer is far too good to be enjoyed only by men, ran a tasting session on Friday 23rd May at the Plasterer’s Arms on Cowgate in Norwich consisting of six different breakfast dishes paired with an appropriate style of beer.
Beer can be a surprisingly good pairing to any number of breakfast foods; the bitterness of the hops helps to cut through some of the greasier breakfast fair whilst the myriad of beer styles and flavours makes for a fine balance of flavours. At the same time, according to figures released by CAMRA in 2013, women trying real ale for the first time has grown from 14% to 34% in the last three years.
Lisa Harlow from Dea Latis said: “We had six different beers donated by local brewers including Adnams and Buntingford Brewery to accompany our dishes and we’re chosen the Plasterer’s Arms because it is renowned for its good food.
“Anyone is welcome to our events; they are a guided tasting but very informal. We find our guests will quaff, nibble, ruminate, deliberate, chat, Tweet, take photos and scribble throughout the session with the volume of chatter gently rising as the tasting gets into full swing. At the end, we vote for our favourite match – but there’s no pressure to be an expert. Whilst beer for breakfast may seem unusual it does highlight the fact that different styles will go with just about anything – even breakfast.”
Tickets cost £20, including the six-course breakfast with tea, coffee and guided tasting through the beer and food matches by one of the first female Beer Sommeliers in the UK, Annabel Smith. The breakfast comprised:
Baked Eggs with Roast Tomatoes with Brewsters Helles 4% ABV
Smoked salmon on Mandarin Salad with Adnams Saison 6.3%
Sausages cooked in marmalade with Buntingford Twitchell 3.8%
Bacon & herb sandwich on rye bread with Adnams Rye IPA 5.0%
Beer batter pancakes and maple syrup with Oldershaw Miss Red 4.4%
Chocolate Stout cake with Brentwood Smoked Porter 5.4%
It’s the third Beers with Breakfast event from Dea Latis who have also paired beers with cheese, chocolate, tapas and championed issues such as better glassware in pubs to encourage more women to try beer. Last September the group also ran a tasting event for female MPs in the Houses of Parliament.
For more information about Dea Latis go to http://dealatis.org.uk or follow them on Twitter @DeaLatis or like them on Facebook at /DeaLatis.