This combination of radically different flavours, textures, and fat content is enough to give anyone other than a world-class Sommelier nightmares.

For a beer connoisseur, it’s easy – give me a good Saison or French Farmhouse ale, and we’re done.

The explosive carbonation lifts the fats off your tongue – goodbye butter. There’s a sweetness in there that plays nicely with the turkey and the sweet potatoes (and brown sugar or marshmallows, depending which way you like to make it).

There’s a sharp acidity in there that laughs at the cranberries, and there is a final sharp snap of bitterness from the hops that scours your tongue, leaving it refreshed and waiting for the next bite.

Wine with my Thanksgiving meal? No thanks! Give me a Saison and I will give thanks

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 was the perfect pairing.

The stir fry veggies came in a large frozen package from Costco.  I poured some into a bowl while I thawed some frozen chicken.  Fried it all up and added some hoisin sauce.  Served on a bed of brown rice.

Awesome stuff.

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.

Curry in a hurry

I’m not sure where we picked it up, but we had a box of Thai-style infused chicken broth in our pantry.  There were directions on the back for making a very easy Thai Coconut Curry Vegetable Soup which consisted of throwing veggies, coconut milk, pasta, lime juice, and the chicken broth in a big pot and heating.  The results were phenomenal–I love easy thai-style curry dishes like this.   I thought I’d do another lager pairing as I’ve had great success with lagers and curry.  I chose Dixie Brewing Co.’s eponimous beer, Dixie, which Beer Advocate calls an American Adjunct Lager.  Yep, I wouldn’t disagree.  I was initially excited about seeing this on the shelf in Birmingham, thinking that Dixie Brewing Co. was up and running again post-Katrina.  According to Wikipedia, however, they are contract brewing with plans to reopen.  Still, it is great to support (semi) local breweries and I hope they are up and running again soon.  However, Dixie’s flagship beer is nothing to write home about.   I could see how this would be good on a hot day on the docks in New Orleans or on the beach, but here in my kitchen on a cold winter night, it was verrry subtle and not very exciting.  The Thai soup did not help bring out any interesting flavors.  I’m sure the hops and malts were used very judiciously as there was not much to either one.  I’m sure I could have done better with a hoppy lager or cream ale.  I did have a thought as I contemplated the mix of flavors, or lack thereof, that Dixie would go well with some utterly spicy cajun food as a palate cleanser.  Somehow that would just make more sense than pairing a New Orleans beer with Thai food…

Twain’s has changed a lot since the last time I’d been there. It’s now less a pool hall and more a brewpub- much to my delight. The former brewer from Dogwood is now in charge, and I was rather happy with the offerings- which were paired with appetizers instead of mains, as we were mostly in the mood for lighter fare.

My brother and I both got flights. They included Heaven for Climate Golden Ale, Mad Happy Pale Ale, Thirty Days Belgian Black, and Three Lies Cocoa Stout (which had an interesting overtone of milk stout, though that is not its style). All were quite good, though the Golden was my least favourite. (I tend to favor hoppier and darker brews.) I found the Mad Happy went particularly well with the hummus and pita I’d ordered. The only weird element was the cucumber spears included in the dish- they didn’t seem to go terribly well with anything, including the hummus. I tried my father’s appetizer- deep fried green beans with horseradish mayo- and decided it was best with the Belgian Black. (I’d figured the Pale Ale would be best with the horseradish element.)

I ended my evening with Stone’s Oak Aged Arrogant Bastard, which Twain’s had on tap. I’d only had it from the bottle before- and found the tap version a bit milder; not quite as much bitterness, and not quite as pronounced an oak overtone.

I do recommend you stop by Twain’s and give their brews a try. They’re probably not totally on par with the world-class brews you can find at The Brick Store, but they’re not bad.  (I’m a fan of drinking locally- so when in Decatur, why not drink Decatur brews?) I’m sure I’ll return for more.

Around 2pm today I received an email from the wife informing me she’d been to Whole Foods to pick up some essentials and also bought a prepared meal: cajun turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans, and (mixed greens with balsamic vinaigrette) salad.  Nice.

You might not be worthy.

I gave it a little thought and decided to run with some Lindemans Cuvée René with this meal.  Which, by the by, is now available in Alabama.  I’ve no idea how long that has been the case, but it was previously unavailable here in spite of its mere 5% ABV because it was only sold in 750 ml bottles, so our crass 16 oz container limit was keeping it out.  But now they are putting it in 12 oz bottles, and that is the state in which my wonderful wife found it at the Western in Mountain Brook just a couple days ago.

A word about the Cuvée René.  It’s a gueuze, a style that is unfamiliar even to many who enjoy craft beer, and little understood.  It’s a lambic in the truest sense of the style, with no fruit used in brewing.  Many people are familiar with Lindemans sweet fruit lambics such as their Framboise and Peche.  I’m not a fan.  There is a debate among lambic purists with some arguing that the Lindemans fruit lambics don’t fit the historical style norms.  I’m not particularly interested  in arguments among purists over whether a particular beer qualifies for a style descriptor.  I am interested in flavor.  And I’m not fond of the excessive sweetness in the Lindemans fruit lambics.

But Cuvée René.  Ohh the Cuvée René.  What I have heard is that René Lindemans brews everything else for some degree of mass appeal, but this he brews for himself, popular tastes be damned.  It’s his masterpiece.  And it’s very sour and acidic.  Not for the faint of heart.  Or those easily susceptible to heartburn.  It is spontaneously fermented with various wild yeast and bacteria.

The pairing here was excellent.  The “cajun” turkey was only cajun at the skin.  Any bites lacking skin were almost flavorless, so I added a little of the vinaigrette to the turkey to make things interesting.  Considering the vinegary nature of the beer, it magnified the acidity of the dressing.  The sweet potatoes and beans were incredible though.  The sourness of the beer was a perfect contrast to the sweetness of the potatoes.  The green beans were some sort of variety I’ve never had before, and they were off the charts.  Remarkably similar to asparagus in size and texture, but without the stinkiness.   They offered a savory character to the meal, then the salad piled on with more loads of acidity from the vinaigrette.

The acidity was a bit punishing, but I kept coming back for more.  Not entirely unlike extremely spicy foods, which are also punishing but addictive.

You’ve got to know what you’re getting into and be prepared for some sensory overload at times, but this is something I’d repeat.

I of course started things off with a delicious Good People IPA:

Drink local!

Foodwise I was in the mood for something relatively light, so I sprung for the BLT.  Southern-style, featuring fried green tomatoes and remoulade.  With sweet potato fries on the side, of course.  It all paired nicely with the GPBC IPA.

But my glass was empty by the time I finished the first half of the sandwich.  How odd.  Finding myself presented with the opportunity to enjoy a second beer with the meal, I went for something from the newly reborn Hunstville brewery, Olde Towne.  I’d had their Pilsner recently, so I opted for the Amber.

American ambers can span the spectrum from intensely malty to intensely hoppy.  Olde Towne’s is the maltiest I’ve ever had.  Not to be confused with something like Cable Car Amber, which has virtually no flavor.  Color ≠ flavor.  But Don Alan at Olde Towne does it right and gives us a surprising barley malt bomb in a keg, especially considering the sub 5% alcohol content.

Which brings us to the Malt Barrier.  I’ve been getting my butt whooped by malty beers, but this marked a turning point.  The Olde Towne Amber was the superior pairing of the two beers.  It went beautifully with both the BLT and the sweet potato fries.