What's my Motivation?

A few weeks ago on a day I otherwise want to forget I got an e-mail from a very nice man from Maverick Productions. He wanted to speak to me as I was apparently an expert home brewer. I suppose that as I spend more time at work than at home, I officially live at the brewery and everything I make is home brew. He explained that he was doing a programme about the sexy subject of home produced drinks. A presenter will be travelling around and learning how to make beer, wine and cider in an entertaining way. The man on the phone went on to tell me that they have been challenged by Channel 4 to make a banoffee pie stout. He told me that some other home brewers he had spoken to suggested that the best way was to brew a stout then to drop a banoffee pie in it. While this clearly showed outside of the box thinking and an implicit understanding of the craft of brewing, I suggested a more scientific approach to the brief was much more sensible and interesting. The basis of my recipe is thus.

Banana: Iso amyl acetate from a warm fermentation of a heavily oxygenated wort with Weihenstephan yeast

Toffee: High rate of 140 colour crystal in grist giving Maillard derived aroma compounds and butterscotch from diacetyl producing bacteria

Stout: high rate of roasted barley

Tomorrow I join Sam Galsworthy, the presenter (and gin distiller) in his Hammersmith kitchen to brew the imperial banoffee stout. Hop wise we are using Target, Goldings and the brutal Summit. Hopefully these and the roasted barley will prevent the beer tasting like banoffee pie in a liquidiser by giving some balance.

Mum has given me some advice for my TV moment. She said that I should be myself. So you can expect me to swear, get overexcited and fight with the presenter!

I was devastated to learn that the filming has been moved to the morning which means that I now have 6 hours to kill before my train. 6 hours in London with several superb pubs on the route back to Paddington, not sure what I’ll do.

nb this post was written on Thursday