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Lighter beers do well in oyster challenge

October 4, 2007: In celebration of the start of the native oyster season, Green’s Champagne and Oyster Bar hosted its first ever Beer and Oyster Challenge.

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The challenge asked journalists and guests to choose their favourite beer style to be consumed alongside native and rock oysters. The selection of beer styles was wide, including lager, sweet brown ale, sour brown ale, blond ale, wheat beer, bitter, Pilsner and gueuze, as well as the more traditional British/Irish pairings of porter and stout.

Green’s chief shucker, George Clegg, ranked fifth in the country at the national shucking championships, adeptly prepared both the native oysters of West Mersea and the rock oysters from Scotland, while head chef James Newton-Brown served hot oyster tempura with Manns beer batter and oyster Rarebit with Duvel, as well as creating a deeply refined Kasteel Cru beer jelly, set with oysters.

Green’s managing director, Mark Harris, said: “This challenge was a fun educational approach to welcome the native oyster season.

"Tradition dictates that oysters and porter make a natural partnership, but it was fascinating to observe the lighter beers do well. However, stout is still the chosen accompaniment for many of our diners, and we will still list Guinness and Whitstable Bay Oyster Stout alongside some of the winners — Kasteel Cru lager, etc."

Surprisingly, despite its acknowledged love affair with oysters, stout’s strong rich flavours failed to win the day, beaten on this occasion by the strong blond ale (Duvel) with oyster in tempura batter, closely followed by the spicy dry Pilsner (Flensburger) and Brakspear’s complex English bitter.

Other well fancied beers included Champagne yeast lager (Kasteel Cru) and sour brown ale (Liefmans Goudenband) – a love it or hate it combination in Belgium.

Porters and stouts have been paired with oysters since the 1800s when the combination was consumed not for its gastronomic merits, but as the staple sustenance of the poor. Contradictorily this time, the oysters were prepared and served inside the mahogany-panelled walls of Green’s, Duke Street, St. James.

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