UNITED KINGDOM-SAUSAGES MADE IN CORNWALL.
Linking sausages and ale is surprise success;
Type the words "beer and sausages" into an Internet search engine and you will be confronted by more than a million results, which isn’t exactly surprising as the two s can combine to form a single marriage made in heaven.
And that’s exactly what a Cornish landlady discovered when challenged to do something special to celebrate a relatively obscure occasion called Cask Ale Week.
"I wasn’t sure what to do, so I talked to my brother Andrew, who works at Charlie Harris butchers at Tywardreath, and we came up with this idea," says Sarah Caesar, of the Welcome Home public house, in Par. "I gave him a litre of each of the St Austell beers we sell and the sausages were the result."
Now the real ale sausages have gone down so well with regulars and visitors at the pub, they have become a permanent addition to the menu.
The sausages, which are made with award-winning Tribute, Tinners and Proper Job ales from St Austell Brewery, were only intended to be a one-off special, but now their popularity has inspired Sarah to serve a trio of ale sausages and mash.
Sarah told the Western Morning News: "We’re delighted with this unexpected success. We wanted to come up with a novel idea to celebrate national Cask Ale Week, but we never imagined that they would become so sought after.
"The locally sourced meat and delicious St Austell Ales make a really distinct flavour and we plan to alternate the Proper Job sausage with a new Black Prince sausage.
"This is a black ale with a full-bodied fruity flavour and is equally as delicious.
"You really can taste the ale. We originally took them around the pub and everyone could tell the difference."
She went on to explain that everything at the Welcome Home is home-made and "just about everything" is locally produced. "But the success of the sausage is down to a real family effort," she said, adding: "They will stay on the menu for as long as there is demand."
The Welcome home is not the only pub to use St Austell ales in its food. The firm’s latest landlord, celebrity chef Rick Stein, is using Tribute at his latest venture, the Cornish Arms in St Merryn, close to his home in North Cornwall.
The menu includes a steak and Tribute pie using the brewery’s most popular ale, alongside Goan curry and Tywardreath sausages with mash and onion gravy.
His advice to struggling pubs is to "look to the food and keep the beer lines clean". With its combination of the two, the Welcome Home seems to have taken that sentiment literally.
