Forget Hastings. Forget Trafalgar, and Waterloo. From the 29th November 2011 the lines are drawn for one of the greatest battles ever fought. Swords and guns will be replaced by bottle-openers, glasses and foot long pork scratchings, as Draft House founder Charlie McVeigh takes on Wine Chap Tom Harrow in the ultimate showdown between beer and wine. Hot Dinners were invited down to the Draft House, Tower Bridge, to join Charlie and Tom as they launched the series of Extreme Grape Vs Grain events.
In an effort to make wine more accessible to beer drinkers and to make wine devotees realise the hidden delights of beer, Charlie and Tom are showcasing beers and wines from England, Germany, France, Belgium, and America in a series of events running from November 2011 to March 2012.
Having been introduced by a mutual friend, Charlie and Tom quickly realised that their respective passions lead to strong debate between them as to whether wine was superior to beer, or vice versa. They decided to host these events to open the debate out and invite others along to score their personal selections of favourites in order to settle it once and for all.
We were all seated around a large table in the Draft House and invited to kick off the evening with a glass of the most deliciously delicate Veuve D‘Argent Brut. This was swiftly followed up by the introduction of its sparring partner for the evening – a glass of La Chouffe from Belgium. As we sipped and swirled our way through both we were asked to mark each out of 5 on the accompanying score sheets.
Once debates and scores were settled in that round, we moved on to English wine versus beer which included a sample of the brand new Coats & Seely Brut Rose, then onto German and eventually finishing up around the West Coast of America. During each round we were treated to a variety of outrageously good pub dishes from the Draft House’s Executive Chef Richard Shucksmith. We tucked hungrily into foot-long pork scratchings; scotched quails eggs; The Smoke and The Yolk hamburger specials which are delicious mini hamburgers topped with smoked bacon and cheese, and fried duck’s egg respectively; and rounded off with a dessert of dark, decadent artisan chocolate from Rabot Estate.
As the final scores were totted up, we were invited to take part in a competition to write a quick haiku, or limerick. The inevitable effects of all the wine and beer meant that encouragingly everyone was possibly a shade more ‘poetic’ than normal. There was also an arm-wrestling competition for the particularly hardy, with drinkable prizes on offer.
All in all it was a fantastic evening. The information Charlie and Tom imparted about the various wines and beers was truly fascinating, and added an extra dimension to their boundless hospitability and hilarious banter with each other.
At £35 per person, this is one of the most ‘value for money’ events you’ll find in London. The standard of wine, beer and food that you are treated to is worthy of much more, and the experience of an evening full of laughter and banter with Charlie and Tom makes it utterly priceless. Be sure to book your tickets soon as once word gets round this will be booking up fast.
The Draft House Grain vs Grape events start on November 29 2011 at The Draft House Tower Bridge, with following events on 24 January, 28 February and 27 March 2012. To book click here.
