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Sunday, January 11, 2009

Freedom Dark Lager


Interesting stuff, this. I was drawn to it simply because I had never heard of it, which I often find a great tactic to use when buying beer. Turns out that Freedom have been around for a while - since 1995 - and seem to have the vegan/organic lager market cornered, producing only three brews - Lager, Dark Lager, and a Pils. I opted for the Dark Lager, given that's where my tastes lie.
...And it wasn't bad at all. The label said it had an underlying toffee note lurking within, and it did; a distinctly American burnt-caramel sweetness. Despite being fairly thin body-wise, it was a nice, rounded beer that belied a 4.7% abv. There was nothing outstanding happening here, but when teamed with a home-made pizza it sang a little higher and held up the beer end, so to speak.


The pizza was made with a simple dough (Strong Flour, Yeast, a dash of Olive Oil, tepid water and some salt), topped with a plain sauce of chopped peppers, a tin of cushed tomatoes, a generous hit of tomato puree, some black pepper,sugar and Basil - with a load of garlic going in when reduced. I find that putting the Garlic in any sauce at the end rather than the start gives a stronger but more balanced Garlic hit. I then topped this with some Mozzarella, some ends of cheddar I had left over (which gave a nice, sharp contrast to the Moz), some Parma Ham and a couple of slices of peppery, zingy Salami. A good Pizza makes a good partner to beer - a lot of the time.

http://www.freedombeer.com/welcome.asp

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

That Pizza looks cracking, did you clock the post over at Hop Topic about Pizza and Vienna Lager a while back? This is something I plan on investigating this year, possibly in the autumn when I can make the pizza with my own tomatoes.

I've had a couple of black lagers before but they didn't do a lot for me, mind you that could be said about most lagers, Paulner Munich Helles is one I'd single out as being particularly overrated. It's another drink I'd put in the "technically perfect but spectacularly uninteresting" category!

Anonymous said...

Your pizza looks great!

My homemade pizzas got a lot better when I stopped making hot, liquid sauce and instead used deseeded tomatoes, salt, basil, pepper, garlic and olive oil whizzed up in the food processor. It's like a kind of salsa, and dries out nicely in the oven. Fairly quick and easy, too.

Freedom Dark is on tap at the Duke of Cambridge, the posh organic pub in Islington we've written about a couple of times. Well worth a visit when you're next in London. I think the beer's quite nice -- and given that we aren't exactly spoilt for choice with dark lagers in the UK, I'm always quite glad to see it.

Barry M said...

The beer sounds ok, but hte pizza sounds great! :D

Just on the vegan beer thing, does this just mean it's guaranteed not to use isinglass for clearing, or are there other potential animal products in non-vegan beer? I only met one person who would ask the bar staff if a beer was suitable for vegetarians. I'm not sure they knew how to react.

Actually, I'm trying to find out if German brewers use isinglass for clearing after a colleague told me that he heard the English use fish bits in their Ale :D

TIW said...

About 10 years ago, Freedom had a (organic?) bar/microbrewery in the Thomas Neal centre in London's Covent Garden which is now 'Bunker', a generic cocktail bar. Visits to the Freedom bar were always really disappointing - cloudy pints and poor service - and I wasn't surprised when they faded away. I'd love to give them another try, though.

Affer said...

Your last sentence took me back to queuing in The Wholefood Market in Chicago last year! I struck up a conversation with a man who commented (favourably) on my case of Sam Smith's Tadcaster Oatmeal Stout. A restaurateur, he also claimed to own a micro-brewery and said he was developing the perfect beer to accompany Pizza - Chicago being somewhat known for them. Alas, I forgot his name in the rush to get back 'home' to my son's apartment - not for Pizza, I should add, but traditional English Toad-in-the-hole (which goes well with Oatmeal Stout!).

Leigh said...

John - I did actually mate - great post, and mines very similar. It was one of those things that I needed to whip up fast and as long as you've got time for the dough, it fits that category! anything left over goes on top although you'd be wise to stick to the 'pizza golden rule' - no more than three toppings!
Bailey - interesting - i'll try that. And I reckon I would give it a go on tap, for sure.
Adeptus - I would assume it has to be an isinglass issue - surely? I know I can't think of anything else.
TIW - do try them.
Affer - Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout in Chicago - nice work! The perfect pizza beer -well, i reckon I would still opt for something sweet and dark - as john mentioned above, Hop Topic vouched for a vienna lager a whil back and I thikn that would be my preferred starting point. Im sure I read somewhere that a brewery makes a beer with pizza in it, if you can imagine that. I'll try and find out more.

Anonymous said...

Gelatin can be from animal origin I sometimes use that if the mood takes me.

Leigh said...

john - quite right.

The Duo Dishes said...

Yum pizza

Heather said...

Pizza and beer - true stuff of the Pacific Northwest.

I've been reading you on the Google reader lately, btw. I like it, but it doesn't enable commenting. Besides, it's more fun to just watch you boys talk about beer. Swoon.

Leigh said...

Hi Heather - hope all is well! Google Reader??!?!? what is it?

Heather said...

It's a subscription thingy. I can keep up on all my blogs on one webpage with it.

Leigh said...

i'll check it out, dude...