Craft beer tasting with Oz Clarke and Celebrity Cruises

Think of cruises and it's likely you'll think of champagne and cocktails. Think of Oz Clarke and you'll probably think of wine. Think of craft beer and you may be stumped. It's time to think again.

When Celebrity Cruises invited us to an evening of craft beer tasting and food pairing with Oz Clarke, I was more than a little intrigued. My knowledge of all three is limited at best but like many others, would never have combined them into one innovative little package. You see, luxury liners Celebrity Cruises are launching their second floating GastroBar and unlike other cruisers, this one only sells boutique brewed beers.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you'll have seen that craft beer is taking pubs and bars by storm at the moment. Colourful bottles, barrels and crates are cropping up in between the J20 and the Carling but what makes it so special? Well, it's all in the making. Craft beers are brewed by small, independent breweries using methods and ingredients that date back centuries to produce high quality beer that puts the big brewers to shame. It's also these processes that make each beer so distinctive - rather than the fizzy, watery and bland offerings you'll probably find down the local, craft beer is renowned for its flavour.

Take Duvel, for example. Brewed in Belgium (which produces more kinds of beer than anywhere else in the world), in the Dutch speaking part of the country (location is very important, says Oz), this Strong Golden Ale is spicy and fizzy and packs a bit of a punch at 8.5%. Combining yeast from Scotland, sugar syrup and 40 years of pale malts, this is a real belter of a beer hence why it's named the 'Devil' beer. We drank it with warm truffled grilled cheese raclette with braised leeks on sourdough ciabatta, letting the spice and fizz of the beer cut through the rich, smoothness of the cheese.

Other beers and breweries are known for their balls. Brewdog, for example, is the most successful brewery in Scotland (there are currently 1,200 craft breweries in the UK alone) and has spent the last couple of years trying to brew the strongest beer in the world. They've reached 41% volume and called it Sink The Bismarck as a stick to a rival German attempt; apparently it's so potent they only let you sample it in shot glasses. We tried their Hardcore IPA (9.2%) which is hoppy, bitter and gloriously aromatic with samples of Seville orange marmalade. India Pale Ale originated during the trades as a cure for leprosy, tuberculosis and dysentery - ancient Romans had discovered that hops had medicinal (and aphrodisiacal) qualities and when more modern enthusiasts saw that hops also stop oxidisation and keep beer fresh on long journeys, it was the perfect ointment for merchants and colonials suffering far from home. We drank ours with steamed pork buns - the flavour of the malts bringing the fiery, sweet, sour and salty elements of the food to life.

Something else that font of all knowledge Oz taught us is that beer isn't always savoury. Lindeman's Framboise (2.5%) is a Belgian beer that looks and tastes like a cocktail. It's fizzy, deep pink, sweet...and sour. A result of a process called spontaneous fermentation where malt is left to be attacked by yeast to produce alcohol, then mixed with the fresh juice, it's fermented a further two times and perfect for cutting through rich chocolate brownies.

And a final favourite of the night for me was Rogue's Chocolate Stout, brewed in Oregon, and a deep chocolate in colour and taste. Based on a classic London porter stout (unsurprisingly so-called thanks to porters calling for it to quench their thirst), it's a heady and rich beer that ages well and increases in volume as it does so. You may know Guinness as a much more famous stout, it's brewed differently so is lower in alcohol than Rogue's more faithful concoction - although I'm sure the boys over in Ireland will be quick to disagree!

As someone who's only really ventured into beer drinking in the last couple of years and would never think to order an ale, I'm now a total convert. Oz explained that the varieties of processes and methods, flavours and ingredients in craft beer-making are much greater than in wine-making it a much better drink to have with a meal so I'm already on the hunt for a restaurant that puts as much effort into its beer as it does its food and wine.

But that brings me neatly back to Celebrity Cruises - they've already put the legwork in to offer a rotating list of craft beers from around the world alongside classic comfort food. You can even join onboard tasting trips and vineyard visits with Oz on some of their Mediterranean routes. Whilst I'm not sure that I'll be jumping on board soon, I'll definitely be hunting down the best beers I can find. Cheers.

Time Travellers Ball

A couple of weeks ago, J emailed me telling me that Yelp were putting on a free food and drink event at the Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square. He told me to RSVP sharpish, put it in my calendar and keep myself busy until the night came around.

Thursday came and after a very productive day at work (winning three jobs that day) we headed out for some half price cocktails at Barrio Central. A few 'Papa Don't Preach'es, some nachos and calamari later, J and I left my work pals and headed over to the venue.

I'd only heard of a few of the places that had set up shop inside The Time Travellers Ball (no relation to Doctor Who or Audrey Niffenegger) so we made a great effort (read: several circuits of the room sampling everything we could) to get to know what was on offer. I came away laden with business cards and promises of more treats but have summarised my favourites below.

Harry Brompton's Alcoholic Iced Tea

My favourite first, this brand has well and truly won me over. I'm not an iced tea fan at all but couldn't resist giving this alcoholic (4%) version a go. Sweet but nowhere near the saccharine sugariness of Lipton, it combines Kenyan tea, with citrus and grain spirit to produce this refreshing and very moreish little drink. Served in sturdy glass bottles and versatile enough to be used in some great sounding cocktails, this is definitely a firm favourite that I'll keeping my eye out for. Founder Ian's a great guy too.

Rococo

With some of the finest packaging around, Rococo is one of London's favourite chocolatiers. Ethically sourced, their chocolate is utterly melt in the mouth and full of flavour - the only downside? Their three London stores are all achingly the other side of London but at least they're stocked all over. On offer at the Ball were nibs of their rose and violet chocolate (their creams are the best), 'potato pralines' - nutty chocolate encased in a hard sugar shell - and quails eggs, and even bits of their bars. I practically had to drag myself away from this stall because after all, chocolate is a girl's one true love.

Bea's of Bloomsbury

The ever-popular cupcake trend looks to be sticking around for a while if these badboys from Bea's in Bloomsbury are anything to go by. Quaint little cakes topped with the naughtiest of niceties, I had to resist stuffing one of every flavour in my bag. With flavours like Key Lime, Chocolate Peanut Butter and Rum Truffle Bea's caters to adult tastes as well as your childish craving for chocolate fudge. Apparently they also have cafes, can make cakes to order and rustle up a great afternoon tea. These guys will definitely be giving Hummingbird and Lola's a run for their money.

Roti Chai
Formerly a street kitchen and now a dining room, Roti Chai was brimming with activity. They were serving up two of their 'rail and road' dishes - pulusu chicken with steamed rice, and shahi veg pulao which were going down an absolute storm. But what really got me going was their alcoholic mango chai drink that was spiced with cardamom for this really aromatic little refresher. Serving up roadside realness, these guys and their flavours really impressed me.

Brewdog

And last but not least, one of the most well-known craft beers in London's bars. Set up in 2007, these guys have been paving the way for small breweries. Their free bottles of delicious Californian Pale Ale went in a blink but not before we'd managed to come away with a couple of glasses of the delicious nectar. The guys and girls working the stall were really friendly and knowledgeable, happy to chat and wax lyrical about their boozy beers. As I left they thrust the Brewdog Beer School in my hand. The opening pages? 'This is no boring manual. Welcome to our punk rock guide to brewing hardcore craft beers. The beer scene is sick, and we are the f**king Doctor'. Quite.

The room was full of new and known brands - we definitely paid a few visits to the Jameson stall, for example - so it was a great way of discovering some new places in town. Halfway through the night I realised that my friend Tim was the PR hosting the event so we ended up all heading next door to The Barley Mow next door, and dancing the night away at a club unknown until the early hours. Now that's what I call discovery.