Craft brew & the Gourmet Burger Scene

[kgarr]

fellow brewers,

hello all! long time lurker and first time poster!

I'm project managing the food end for a new Gourmet Burger restaurant. (coming to a street near you soon !) When asked how we can make it different to other fast food shops I suggested to have a good selection of Irish craft brews listed. I did a bit of research in London last week and all the good burger restaurants have a great selection of English ales. We will def do likewise here.

Any suggestions? What brew do you enjoy with a good burger? Don't think stout will feature. No draft offer just bottles (I'm working on that one)

Thanks in advance

Kevin

[Hop Bomb]

Im a brooklyn lager man with a burger. Sometimes an IPA too of the US kind (Sierra Nevada). These two beers seem to be in most burrito or burger places.

[Metattron]

Way to push the Irish Craft beers there lads, I'm sure Fintan Urquell and Padraic Nevada will be thanking you!

How about Whitewater Belfast Lager for the lager drinkers, or Copperhead or Hoppelhammer.
Have Metalman got their bottling up and running yet?  I'd have a Pale with anything.
8 degrees Irish Red or Howling Gale.
That's the sort of stuff us Gourmets want! 

[Kieran the Human]

Dungarvan Helvick Gold & Copper Coast always go down a treat at our BBQ's
O Haras Pale Ale is another good Burger Beer
Plenty of Irish lagers floating around too but they all taste the same to me 

[matthewdick23]

where will it be based?

[Eoin]

I don't class any of the Irish lagers myself, they're all using local hops and to me it just doesn't work and they end up tasting like an ale, certainly they don't have the subtleties of a German or Czech pils.

I'd stay with styles that fit the region such as stouts, pale ales, bitters, you could do worse than get the Dungarvan range in.

[kgarr]

Thanks lads, I don't have a location right now, but will be in the city centre for sure couple of months out, I was pushing for all Irish plus maybe some Brooklyn brewery, their summer ale is in all the burger bars in London and it is divine, I think a good Irish pale ale a red and an ale will do it, maybe a cider, Llewelyn would be my first choice.
Metalman would be my no1 PA but they aren't bottling to my knowledge. I've asked for the following brewery's to be represented on the tasting (score!)
Porterhouse
Dungarvan brewing co
Carlow brewing co
White gypsy
Galway hooker
Dingle brewery
Llewelyn cider
Metalman if I can convince them to instal a tap
Franciscan well
Roll on the tasting night!

[Bubbles]

I think any of the Irish pale ales would be good, but Eight Degrees Howling Gale in particular. It's quite dry (to my palate, at least) and would make a great accompaniment to burgers.

One of the red ales would be good too, as long as it's not too syrupy.. O'Hara's maybe?

[Will_D]

If you could do some pork buns:

Pulled Pork in a bun, apple sauce and stuffing

Crispy Belly pork and sweet n sour sauce in a bun (where the Chinese Smiley)

Then the ONLY drink has to be a craft Irish Cider: Slighlty dry, and either still or sparkling.

Craft Cider is exploding on the UK/Irish market quicker than craft beers!

@CH: What do ye think John Boy?

[kgarr]

Pulled pork shoulder will definitely feature but as a special/seasonal offer. Nice tie in to the cider, I'll keep you posted on this tasting should be over the next few weeks

[Dara]

I'm not a big fan of cider but the stuff from Longville House (North cork, not sure of spelling) is great, specially with BBQ pork. Expensive for a cider though. If you are doing fish and chips type thing I had a Friar Weiss (Franciscan well) with it recently and was lovely. I notice a lot of places now (including the Gormet Burger place which I suppose would be your competition) stock the Dungarvan range (also great). As said earlier I don't think you have to look outside Ireland to get a nice range of beer these days.

Dara

[Ciderhead]

If you could do some pork buns:

Pulled Pork in a bun, apple sauce and stuffing

Crispy Belly pork and sweet n sour sauce in a bun (where the Chinese Smiley)

Then the ONLY drink has to be a craft Irish Cider: Slighlty dry, and either still or sparkling.

Craft Cider is exploding on the UK/Irish market quicker than craft beers!

@CH: What do ye think John Boy?

Lamb beef mince and pork with a drop of cider, if you want to go mad blue cheese

@Dara try Stonewell from Belgooley, orange and yellow bottles, interested to hear your opinion

[brenmurph]

Wonderful...Kgarr... sign of the times............ great  ideas and there are many ales and lagers would do well..
bottles have a good shelf life and theres no reason why you cant have a good spread of the Irish and in turn im sure it will be repaid directly and indirectly.

we are a growing group in a growing industry and there's such variation in individual preferances re beer with food... yea theres general guides,, dark beer with dark rich meats and pale lagers and / or wheat beers with fish and chicken and so on ( lads correct if Im off target) so jump onboard with the real beer scene and who knows your customers may go for the beer ans stay for the Burgers... as long as you are successful getting customers and keeping them happy all is well in the main..
the best of luck with your venture.... Im sure all in the club would agree..keep it as local and as Irish as is possible to do given the nature of the business and we will succeed

[Dara]

@Ciderhead, I've tried both of those. Again I don't really drink cider just the odd time and haven't tried that many. For years (almost two decades!) I have had a real dislike to cider but Belgooly/Longville house have changed my view.  It was a while back, what I remember is that the orange one is sweet and the yellow dry.  The orange bottle was very nice but I think compared to Longville house stuff (from memory about the same body/residual sweetness), Longville house has a greater depth of flavour, more complex, longer finish, less carbonation also. I've had the Yellow bottle only once but I remember it, for good reasons, and that was last summer.  This was unusual to my taste but after a few sips I'd rate this better than the orange bottle - very dry and tart almost bitter, really good stuff and I think a very unique taste. I wouldn;t compare this to Longville house as to me it's almost a different drink. I was in Northern Spain a couple of years ago and they served a real dry, tart, almost sour, flat cider (in Cantabria region). The yellow bottle reminded me of that and has a lot more flavour than the orange - maybe the dryness brings out the complexity in the flavour. I presume they are using the same apples for both types?

I'll have to give them ago again to see if they taste as I remember.

Dara

[irish_goat]

I don't class any of the Irish lagers myself, they're all using local hops and to me it just doesn't work and they end up tasting like an ale, certainly they don't have the subtleties of a German or Czech pils.

Local hops? There's 1 Irish beer that uses local hops.

Decent Irish lagers include Belfast Lager, White Gypsy Belgian Pils, Metalman Brau and 8 Degrees Barefoot.

For burger pairings it really depends on what kind of burger someone is eating. There's a big difference between a cheddar cheese burger and a smokey bacon, BBQ sauce burger with pineapple in it.

Pale ales work well but I'd not leave out a stout, especially if you are selling any spicy or chilli style burgers.

Metalman will install a tap if you can promise enough business. If they're going to be the only draught beer available you can guarantee they'll put a tap in.