Ramsey brews up a good match for veal

July 31, 2008: Channel 4 viewers this week saw Gordon Ramsey create a one-off beer to accompany Janet Street-Porter's hand-reared veal in the last episode of The F Word.

The beer was created with the help of Dougal Sharp, owner and founder of brewery Innis & Gunn, and drew praise from F Word diners.

The cameras followed every stage of the brewing process, with Gordon choosing to use Britain’s iconic Maris Otter barley blended with English Goldings hops before ageing the beer for over a month in an American White oak cask, closely following the unique process pioneered by Innis & Gunn.

The programme had never before followed the brewing process. The notion of pairing beer with food in top-flight restaurants has been growing fast in the last three years, but Gordon is the first top restaurateur to try their hand at brewing their own beer.

Gordon called on Edinburgh-based master brewer Dougal to help him create his own home-brew, incorporating the delicious oak barrel derived vanilla and caramel spice flavours that work so well with the delicate, sweet taste of veal.

Dougal said: “Brewing with Gordon was great fun. It was a new experience for him and he was genuinely excited about the whole brewing process.

“When it came to tasting the beer after its long maturation in oak barrels, we were both nervous before taking our first sip as we had absolutely no back-up if all had gone wrong. Luckily the brew was a gem and Gordon was really pleased.

“However, the final test was serving the beer with Gordon’s fantastic Veal dish in the F Word restaurant. I was lucky enough to be a diner on the night so was able to see people’s reactions to the beer first hand — it was really well received and worked brilliantly with the veal.

"I hope this shows that beer is a f…ing good match to some of the world’s best cooking.”

You can watch the programme online by going to www.channel4.com/4od

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