Today being a colder day, I decided to go with a beef chuck pot roast, with potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, and using some of the Amber Ale to provide the liquid component of the dinner.

This was a perfect meal for a colder day. The malt sweetness played off the beef and the sweet potato. The carbonation lifted the fat off the tongue, refreshing the mouth for each bite. The hop bitterness freshened the tastebuds and contrasted nicely with the sweet, fatty richness of the rest of the meal.

Sometimes simplicity is what you crave. This hit the spot exactly right.

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Beerlicious articles by Stuart Carter, stuart@beerlicious.net is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Burgers – who doesn’t like them? Brie – a cheese I have only recently discovered a liking for. And beer – the classic combo.

I went with the Indian Brown Ale from Dogfish Head, one of the best breweries in the world. Their IBA clocks in at 7.2% ABV, and is ranked as one of the best beers in the world on both major beer rating sites (95th percentile and A-, if you’re curious). The flavour is wonderfully layered, with hops, coffee, and caramel – almost like a caramel latte made with hops. It’s beautifully carbonated, with a gentle effervescence on the tongue. I wanted to know how this dangerously drinkable beer went with burgers and brie, so I kept it simple: bun, burger, a little ketchup, brie, and beer.

The malt sweetness and roastiness played off the caramelised surface of the burger. The hop bitterness contrasted nicely with the rich lushness of the brie. The combination – having the burger, brie, bun, and beer in the mouth at the same time – produced an explosive combination of flavours – coffee, chocolate, hop bitterness, beef sweetness, mushroomy creamy buttery extravagance from the brie.

Could you find a better pairing? Probably. But for me, on this nice September afternoon, this simple combination raised itself head and shoulders above the crowd into a memorable moment of beerliciousness.

Some rights reserved:

Beerlicious articles by Stuart Carter, stuart@beerlicious.net is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

This year, we settled on filet mignon, roasted winter vegetables, and mixed greens with homemade Roquefort blue cheese dressing.  The dinner was actually quite easy to put together.  It required a minimal amount of prep work–cutting the veggies and blending the dressing–but was otherwise a breeze to assemble.  The difficult part was choosing a beer.  I wanted something special as it was Valentine’s day, so I pulled out a slight rarity, Opus 10 by Two Brothers Brewing Co.  Classified as a cherry lambic, it is entirely unique as it is a dark lambic with more chocolate than cherry flavors.  The result was quite fantastic.

Knowing my wife is not a big beer fan, I also opened a bottle of Kirkland Napa Cabernet Sauvignon.  I figured this was a perfect opportunity to pit beer against wine.  For those who like tannic hearty Cabs, let me say that for $16 a bottle at Costco, you can’t beat the Kirkland Cab.  Really, it is worth it.  To me it tastes like a $35 bottle (despite my affinity for beer, I still love a good wine).  But this is a blog about beer and food, and I digress.

My first comparison came with the filet.  Both the cab and the lambic went well with the meat, but to be honest, the wine enhanced the flavor of the steak and the beer did not.  My next comparison came with the root veggies–carrots, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes roasted under the broiler with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  The veggies went just fine with both the beer and the wine, no weird flavors or anything.  The most interesting pairing of the meal was the Roquefort dressing and the lambic.  If you aren’t a fan of funky beer or funky cheese you would not like this pairing.  The lambic took the spoiled flavor of the cheese and enhanced it ten-fold.  For those who are curious, I looked it up, and the flavor I’m refering to is butyric acid–common in rancid butter, parmesan cheese, and body odor!  Doesn’t sound good unless you’re into that sort of thing, right?  It is kind of like reading reviews of lambics–”horsey,” “sweaty,” “barnyard,” etc.  You have to ask yourself, “But is it good?”  Split decision.

My wife found the combination to be utterly foul.  I thought it was good if not a bit overpowering.  I’ll be honest, I like smelly cheese and all kinds of wild brews, but I actually needed to mix in other parts of the meal so as to keep from being overwhelmed.

The real surprise for the night for me was when I pitted the cherry lambic directly against the dark red wine.  The wine brought out the cherry in the lambic in a way that was quite pleasant.  All in all it was a very interesting experiment.  The only disappointment I had was that I didn’t save any Opus 10 for dessert.  Chocolate-cherry lambic would’ve been awsome with some brownies à la mode with berry sauce.

Exceptional Foundation's 2009 Chili Cookoff

This may have been a once-in-a-lifetime pairing.  I hope not.

This past saturday, the family and I went to The Exceptional Foundation’s Fifth Annual Chili Cookoff in Homewood Park.  The event was widely advertised on Live 100.5 since a.) they were a sponsor, and b.) 100.5 artist Tim Brantley was one of the live performances, and it was ridiculously crowded.  This is the first year that I had even heard of the event, so it may draw equally large numbers every year, but I was really surprised at how many entrants and patrons there were.

There were around 60 booths of various kinds of chili to eat–some with beans, some with just meat, some with brown sugar, some with beer, some with bacon, and most with sour cream, cheese, and oyster crackers or some other starchy sidecar.  My favorite was Protective Insurance’s “Chili of the Gods.”  It had a serious kick, and had lots of fresh chiles and even some fresh herbs (I think).  Fantastic.

Kudos goes to all the businesses who participated as sponsors to the event, but serious kudos goes to Good People Brewing Co. This is the kind of local brewery you can be proud of.  Not only were they a sponsor, they were a participant with a great chili, AND they donated a slew of beer for the event, the sale of which benefited The Exceptional Foundation.  If you were there and were able to try some Good People Brewing Co. beer with the various chili dishes, I’d love to hear about what you had and how it paired with the chili.

Fortunately for us, we arrived early, about 11:00 a.m., and while the place was already crowded when we arrived, the beer line was only about a half-dozen people long.  By the time we left–closer to 1:00 p.m.–the line for $2 beer (yes, only $2!) from Good People Brewing was at least 100 people long.  It wound all the way through the gym and out the door!  I am seriously glad I tried their special Chili Cookoff Beer.  I was told it was their already-exceptional brown ale “dry hopped” with ancho chiles!  Can you imagine a better beer to pair with chili?  I actually considered trying the IPA or the Roggenbier… but I ultimately decided that I’d better go with the special occassion beer, as I might never have the opportunity again (or will I?…).  I’m glad I did.

I’d already sampled some of the food, and my mouth was already stinging from the heat, so initially the anchos in the Chili Cookoff Beer were lost on me.  But, after a little water and a little beer, I was getting awesome vibes from the mellow anchos and was ready for rounds two and three with the chili.

Our system worked well.  My wife would hang out with the kids on a bench in the shade while I would retrieve three or so samples to share.  The ancho brown ale was a perfect match for round after round of chili onslaught.  It handled a Texas-style all-beef chili with aplomb.  It worked magic on the sweet brown sugar chilis, and, of course, one-upped the beer used in the beer-based chilis.  With my mouth again on fire, I relented to the goodness of the brown brew.  My only regret was that I had no time left to go another few rounds with the Chili Cookoff Beer before I had to head home to put the kids down for their naps.  Here’s hoping that the good people at GPBC make the Chili Cookoff Beer a regular in their already stellar lineup.

Of course not. The rich coffee flavour perfectly complements the chili and moderates the heat, without becoming harsh or unpleasant.

As for the brownies? Well… they are chocolate. See my earlier article

Hobgoblin is an English brown ale.  Newcastle is an English brown ale.  The chasm between them is vast.  Hobgoblin is very rich, malty, and pleasantly sweet.  It’s not overpowering but it’s really packed with flavor as English ales go.  I find Newcastle to be little more than a shadow of an English brown ale.  But I digress.  I’m supposed to be talking about steak.

I felt safe with this one.  Another malty beer with minimal hops.  It ought to work with steak, and by Jove, it does.  A gentle sweetness in the beer is an excellent contrast with the savory beef.

Run with this.

The beer was from a six pack bought at least a couple months ago, and I hung onto the last bottle waiting for an opportune moment to sping it upon the right food. I wasn’t sure this was it, but I figured since it leans malty and it’s certainly not hoppy, it might go well with steak. I just wasn’t sure about the spices.

Fortunately, it all came together well. The steak pushed the spices to the background and it really was just a pleasant pairing. Nothing to sacrifice a limb for, but recommended.

The beef stroganoff I make is from a 5 ingredient/15 minute cook book. Well, of course I can barely cook a hot dog in 15 minutes. Something like this takes me quite a bit longer. The guts of this are ground beef, mushrooms, a jar of beef gravy, sour cream, and green onions. That’s what’s in the cook book. I add garlic powder, another spice or two that strikes my fancy, and either red wine or red wine vinegar. Of course serve over egg noodles.

And how does a Scotch ale go with this dish of Russian orgin? Perfectly. The food actually makes the sweetness of the beer stand out and the flavors really pop. In all honesty, the beer was measurably better with the food than without. It seemed dull when the food was gone and I started sipping the beer on its own. That’s an unusual experience for me.

Mark this down as a winner.

How do these beers pair with chili? The regular stout is a very pleasant beer, and is an eminently suitable pairing. The Imperial Stout, with its coffee, caramel, chocolate, and dark fruits are a superbly rich complement to the taste of the chili. Quite simply, any Imperial Stout will leave a regular stout gasping like a grounded fish.

Despite the clear superiority of the Imperial Stout, you will not be unhappy with the results of pairing a chili with either beer.

Stout goes well with both chili and dessert. And it’s liquid bread. What more do I need to say

Got the orange and brown food groups covered.

The food was fore-ordained.  In the course of conversation over the weekend, a friend recommended pot roast with sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes.  Said it made the roast sweet.  Sounded good to me; when I was buying a few necessities Sunday I picked up a roast, some sweet potatoes, carrots, and a sweet onion to throw in the crock pot.  Sliced the onion and sweet potatoes this morning before going to work and threw them in with the roast and the baby carrots.

I had no recipe to work from, so I just added a few random things in hopes of achieving a good end result: water, olive oil, a splash of vinegar, some oregano, steak spice, plenty of salt, and some Tabasco.  Set on low, give it 9 hours or so.

Extra Special Bitter! Not "Early Spring Beer," jerks.

The end result was pretty good, but not quite what I’d hoped.  I didn’t think the roast tasted any different from the many times I’ve made pot roast with white potatoes.  Pretty much identical, really.  So that was a disappointment.  But pot roast is inherenty a tasty food, so it was enjoyable, of course.  And the sweet potatoes actually became savory over the course of the extended slow cook.  There was hardly any sweetness left.  My wife appreciated that, though.  So different strokes for different folks.  The Tabasco did add a nice mild kick that helped things without being overkill for the little ones.

Beerwise I really debated on whether to go very sweet and malty to compliment the flavors in the food, or sharply bitter to contrast.  I went somewhat in between.  ESB’s have decent malty punch, but are still quite hoppy.  Pretty good call.  Enjoyable pairing.

Sierra Nevada releases their ESB as a Spring seasonal, thus the “Early Spring Beer” tripe they put on the label.  But ESBs are not traditionally released in the early Spring.  Looks like they took a page from Redhook’s playbook and just wanted to get “extra” and “bitter” off the label.  I guess it turns some people off.  But it pissed me off when Redhook changed to “extra special beer” and this is pretty annoying too.  ESB is a noble style with a rich history.  Pretending it’s something other than “extra special bitter” detracts from that history.  Bah.

But the beer is good.