The holidays are upon us, a time when food and beer take on (an even more) prominent role and there are gifts to be bought. While I was attending the beer presentation at Beer last night with Xocolatl de David I not only enjoyed the indulgence of the delicious beer, chocolate and pairings presented but I also put this on my list of great gifts for the foodies/beeries in my life. Whether intentional or mere happy coincidence all of the beers on the evening's pairing menu are available in bottles.
In case you weren't able to make it to the event and you don't want to buy a bar and bottle of each of the pairings (although this would make a GREAT dessert course at any holiday gathering you're hosting or attending), below are my impressions of the pairings that may help you decide which to start with or choose for giving to the beeries/foodies in your life.
Almanac Meyer Lemon Gose (5%) with The Sourdough & Olive Bar
The gose was lightly lemon with the salt coming through most intensly in the front. While the beer didn't impress me enough to drink on its own the chocolate definitely elevated the beer. The chocolate on the other hand was most delicious on its own.
New Belgium Le Terrior Dry Hopped Sour (7.5%) with The Olive Bar AND The Hazelnut Black Truffle Bar
The beer was outstanding on its own, one I was sure I'd had before but Untappd argued otherwise, with the dry hop-ness being intensified by The Olive Bar. With the other bar the beer really made the truffle characteristics pop. In talking with David at the event about the tasting he did to determine the pairings he said that this was the only pairing where he felt, as I did, that both chocolates paired incredibly well with the beer; thus he decided to offer them both. Thank you, David!
Logsdon Far West Vlaming Flanders Red (6.5%) with The Rose Hips and Berries Bar
This beer is indeed one I've had and enjoyed on many occasions but it became something entirely different when paired with this chocolate. Unlike the previous pairing where elements of the beer or chocolate brought out elements of the other, with this pairing it felt more like the two melded in my mouth to instantly create a decadent chocolate brownie that was topped with perfectly ripe, fresh berry coulis.
Ballast Point Ginger Big Eye IPA (7%) with The Coconut Lemongrass Bar
I was particularly excited about this beer as I'm a big fan of ginger in both food and beer yet ended up slightly disappointed when it wasn't as powerful as I was hoping; instead it was balanced by the hops (as I'm sure was intended). As for the chocolate, before I even got it into my mouth, the aroma struck me. Trying not to gobble it all down at once I found that the trifecta of ginger, coconut and lemongrass created thoughts of a savory main dish. Far from a beer and sweets pairing it was transformational, bringing to mind Thai dishes that utilize those same flavors.
Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist Stout (11%) with The Brown Butter Bar
Saving this until last both because of the heftiness of the beer and because I was sure it would be a slam dunk (David, too, commented that The Brown Butter Bar is an easy choice to pair with stouts) I was not disappointed in the least. BBB presents with a huge roasty aroma, followed by a smooth (especially for 11%) flavor with barrel characteristics. The Butter Bar instantly brought to mind an array of tasty holiday treats, all which employ generous amounts of butter. Together the beer and chocolate were heaven with the only thing that could have possibly made it better would have been a cigar.
I thought at that point that I was done but a friend was seated next to me and generously shared the "extra" pairing - Russian River Supplication Pinot Barrel Aged Brown Ale (7%) with The Foie Gras Bar. Clearly there are some that will write this pairing off immediately because yes, there is foie in it, but for those undaunted (or better, chomping at the bit to try it) this is indeed a delightfully sinful pairing.
Thank you to Beer and Xocolatl de David for a delicious evening!
Easter is just around the corner and with that in mind I felt compelled to take a run at pairing traditional Easter candies with beer. The Halloween pairing had gone well so I rounded up enough sugar to fill a few Easter baskets, some friends and off we went.
Our bunny trail was lined with the over-the-top-sweet Cadbury eggs, pastel speckled robin eggs (malted milk balls), an assortment of traditional jelly beans including the love-'em-or-hate-'em black ones and the quintessential Peeps.
Instead of selecting which candy to work on pairing first we decided to select a beer and see where it took us. First up was Breakside Pilsner, a German-style lager, which we found not to pair very well, save for three "flavors" of jelly beans - red, pink and yellow. Deciding to try another pilsner, we cracked open a Heater Allen Pils, a Bohemian-style pale lager, which turned out to be more agreeable to the sweet selection. It went nicely with both the Peeps and the malted milk balls.
Seeking to find something that would stand up to the toothachingly sweet Cadbury eggs, we tried both Samuel Smith's Organic Chocolate Stout and Lindemans Framboise. The stout turned out to have a flavor profile that was too close to the candy but not surprisingly, the framboise was very nice with it.
Since I was the only lover of black jelly beans in the group it was up to me to test them out. As it turned out I found them to be delicious with the framboise, the flavors combining to create a cassis-like (blackcurrant) flavor.
While this pairing wasn't quite a train wreck, it was certainly far less successful than the Halloween version had been. I remain undaunted and will be on the lookout for the next candy themed beer pairing I can convince some folks to join in with me. Are you in?
When I attended my first beer pairing dinner years ago I couldn't have fathomed or foreseen the type of pairings I've been up to lately - cookies, cereal and most recently, candy. My interest in this latest foray was sparked when I read an article from Cicerone Michael Agnew. With Halloween coming up 'tis the season for candy and even people who aren't big candy fans (NOT me!) will probably end up with some excess candy at home or at the office.
The pairings were a fun experiment and overall there were quite a few that worked. Those included the first and most surprising one of the evening - candy corn and ESB. While the article specifically mentioned Fuller's ESB, and it was in stock at The BeerMongers, we opted to go for a Northwest ESB. Crystal Bitter from No-Li Brewhouse is a beer we've had before and really enjoyed and just like Michael said it would, it was delicious!
Another area that went well was the chocolate category. Kit Kats bars, recommended to pair with a bourbon barrel-aged brown, we found to go very nicely with Old Schoolhouse Hooligan Stout. For the Milky Way we went for a higher alcohol beer than the porter or stout called for. Southern Tier Creme Brulee Imperial Milk Stout was a beer we'd all had before and knew to be decadent on its own. The nougat in the Milky Way helped to balance the over-the-topness of the beer nicely. What worked even better and was a crowd favorite was the pairing of Creme Brulee with Snickers. Unsurprisingly it was quite a decadent pairing.
The final chocolate candy pairing sounded a bit odd but since we were all Reese's peanut butter cups fans we were game to try it with Lindemans Framboise. According to the article it would be "like eating a PB&J on chocolate bread" and it was! If you're a Reese's fan, seriously, pick up a bottle of this and have them together (oh, and it's great with an Almond Joy, too).
To save you some disappointment in case you decide to do some beer and candy pairing, too, I'll share a couple things that we found did not work. 1) Initially I had grabbed a bottle of The Commons Bier Royale, a lovely fruit sour, to try as the "J" in the PB&J pairing. It's a great beer but it didn't have enough liquid jellyness to make the magic happen. 2) We had two sour candies - Sweet Tarts and Jolly Rancher sour bites - and with the Biere Royale the Sweet Tarts became quite fizzy in the mouth. The Jolly Ranchers worked slightly better but in the future I'd enjoy my sour candies separately from my beer.
If you find yourself having candy and beer, intentionally or unintentionally, I'd love to hear if what winners you come across.
