Drink: Beer Revolution, Hay-on-Wye

Set up two years ago by local team, Emily & Rob, Beer Revolution has become a true Tour de force of the craft beer world, and is my personal favourite bottle shop. Originally situated in Hay Castle, they have recently moved to a new (and warmer!) premises on 7 Market Street, right in the middle of Hay town.

With a huge bay window at the front, it lets you see their quality product from the opposite side of the street! Opulently framing it with the great period features of the building. It also floods the space with light, so the interior is light but cosy.

As you walk in you are met with a mish-mash of table tops, (some old reels, some with hairpin legs) stools & comfy burgundy Chesterfield sofas that are just asking to be sat in as you quaff a pint. The floor, of stripped floorboards, lends nicely to the laid-back, effortlessly cool atmosphere of the place.

To the left, you have the reason you came in for! The beer!

Rows of refrigerators, jam-packed with interesting brews & ales. From the biggest selection of Welsh beers & ales I’ve ever seen to interesting international picks like Dugges, Beerbliotek, Poppels, Stigbergets & Brekeriet breweries from Sweden, Euskadi outfit Basqueland, Norwegian Haandbryggeriet, Stone from Germany or Oedipus brewery from The Netherlands.

As I am Scandinathan, I must add you can get the Scandi greats here like TO ØL, Omnipollo, Evil Twin & Mikkeller as well!

Their Welsh section is worth travelling for alone. Considering Hay is a border town you wouldn’t think that they’d have such an extensive Cymraeg collection. Think again! Coming here has led me to learn & discover up and coming breweries I’d never heard of. Like the Pontypool based Mad Dog,  Gellioedd based Geipel or Cowbridge based Tomos a lilford.

They also stock a great selection of local Herefordshire ciders.

Unlike many places these days that don’t offer many Vegan options, Beer Revolution has a surprisingly wide range, and interesting new finds like Good Chemistry Brewing or Cloudwater Brew Co.

At the bar, you can get this weeks selection on draught.

Can’t get to Hay? No bother, they offer an online bottle shop on their website http://www.beerrevolution.co.uk/

If you do come to the shop, (which I highly recommend), after you’ve bought your beer, why not peruse the room in the back with their side business, selling  Vintage clothes. Soon they will be opening their kitchen and serving food, becoming a hub of great beer, tasty food & vintage fashion. Sounds like Heaven!

 

 

 

 

 

Food: Vegane Currywurst

The problem with a lot of mucky, über tasty street food is that it’s invariably meat based. Here’s an equally tasty vegan alternative to one of Germany’s signature dishes: Currywurst mit pommes. 

I highly recommend prepping the carrots in advance, they’re dead simple to prepare but it makes all the difference when they’ve had time to marinate.

You’ll need:

• Two medium sized carrots (per person)
• 1tbs Smoked paprika,
• 1 tsp brown German mustard (or Dijon),
• 1-2 drops of liquid smoke,
• 1tbs of cider vinegar,
• 1tbs of light soy sauce,
• 1tsp Garlic infused oil
• 10ml water

To serve:

• 1tbs curry powder
• 1 packet of frozen French Fries
• Vegan mayo (Lots of it!)

Begin by topping and tailing the carrots and “carving” to make rounded ends, a bit like a wurst or hotdog style sausage. Peel the carrots and simmer in salted water on a medium heat until soft. Don’t over boil because they’ll fall apart and be of no use to anyone! You want the knife to slide through but not disintegrate when you lift them. When they’re done leave them to dry out and cool.

When they’re dry put them in a freezer bag or container to marinate with the paprika, cider vinegar, oil,  liquid smoke, mustard and soy sauce. Leave them to soak up the flavours for 3-4 hours or best, overnight. They’ll keep for a few days in the fridge if you’re making them well in advance.

When you’re ready to cook, fill a frying pan or wok with enough oil to shallow fry the carrots. Heat the oil to medium and then reduce if the fat is too hot for them. The carrots will start to blister and brown as they cook, turn regularly for 3-4 minutes.

Once browned, take out and put in a kitchen towel lined baking dish and pop in an oven preheated to 160°C, to finish them off.

You can now use this oil to cook the fries.

Once the carrots are done, take out and leave to cool slightly. Whilst it’s cooling you can make the currywurst sauce.

To make this I used:

• 1 Heaped tbs of vegan curry (I used one I’d made previously but a spoonful of pre-made/bought sauce will do),
• 1 heaped tbs of ketchup
• 1tsp of curry powder
• 1tbs of the carrot cooking water
• 1tsp of sweet paprika (dulce)
• 1tsp lemon juice

To make, simply whizz up the ingredients with a hand blender, transfer to a small saucepan and heat through until all of it has cooked out into a lovely punchy sauce.

To assemble, simply slice the carrots, smother in the sauce and finish with a generous sprinkle of curry powder. Serve with the crispy pommes & a German portion of Vegan mayo. You have to pair a great beer with it, I used a great peach infused Ich Bin Ein Berliner Weiße by Mikkeller, which went great!

Guten Apetit!