Tarragon Chicken Salad + Southern Pecan Brown Ale

Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan may be one of the most versatile beers to pair with food.  I’ve tried it with a number of dishes with great success.  One recent pairing inspired me to get all artistic and take a photo of a Southern Pecan bottle framed by my homegrown bounty of tarragon.  Some herbs do better in my backyard than others, and this year, after three previous failed attempts to keep thyme alive, we went with tarragon.  Tarragon doesn’t seem quite as versatile as thyme, but it does make a mean chicken salad.  My wife whipped up some canned chicken, some fresh tarragon, and some chopped celery for a fantastic chicken salad sandwich.  I grabbed my go-to Southern Pecan and stumbled upon a fantastic combination between the licorice-ness of the tarragon and the pecan-esque flavors buried in my beer.  I’m not sure what it was about the tarragon that worked so well with the beer, but it was definitely the tarragon that made the pairing a success as sips following bites without the tarragon didn’t have the same zing as those that followed bites with tarragon.  It was a delightful treat to find a seemingly unusal ingredient work so well with a beer, even if the beer itself is quite versatile.  Speaking of which, I have another Southern Pecan pairing write-up on the way.