The first cheese was a Camembert. If you have never had any, this is a soft, creamy French cheese with a chalky rind, and is very similar to Brie. I usually pick up very gentle notes of mushroom in the taste, along with masses of creaminess. This cheese is very subtle and delicate in taste, and is a style I have only recently become a fan of.

The second cheese was a 3 year aged Australian Cheddar cheese. This is a very assertive cheese, pretty much the diametric opposite of the Camembert – if the Camembert whispers sweet nothings in your ear in French, this Cheddar comes up to you and yells “G’day, mate, time for a tinny!”.

As I expected, Gouden Carolus Tripel handled these radically different cheeses with utter aplomb. With the Camembert it brought out the creamy, lush, buttery richness without drowning out any of the subtlety. With the Cheddar it calmed the cheesey exuberance without becoming harsh or watery or leaving any nasty after-taste.

Combine this experience with the barleywine pairings I did previously, and it looks as though the days of the rotten grape being paired with cheese are numbered.

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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

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I refuse to accept this – that’s why I became involved in beer culture – so I kicked this recipe up a notch by using an Imperial Stout – Old Rasputin from North Coast, to be precise.

250ml/8.5oz Old Rasputin
250g/8.8oz sweet (unsalted) butter
75g/2.6oz cocoa
400g/14oz caster (superfine) sugar
142ml/4.8oz sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
275g/9.7oz plain (all purpose) flour
2.5 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180c / 350f. Butter and line a 23cm/9 inch springform tin.
Pour the Old Rasputin into a large wide saucepan, add the butter in spoons or slices and heat until the butter has melted. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar.
Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the mixture in the pan, then whisk in the flour and baking soda.
Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out mostly clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin on the cooling rack – this is a very moist cake.

When the cake is cold, sit it on a flat platter while you add the topping – a plain, white vanilla frosting makes the cake look like a glass of a fine stout.

Cut a slice of the cake and eat with some of the Old Rasputin. Wonder as the chocolate runs to the front of your mouth, followed by a rampaging horde of coffee flavours, then the sweetness is finally chased off your palate with an assertive *snap* of hop bitterness.

Now you can confidently leave those watery mass brands on the shelf for those of a less discriminating palate to purchase while you enjoy an extraordinary dessert served with a World Class beer.

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I already had a glass of Oktoberfest poured up when I decided to serve up a helping of homemade peach cobbler.  I never dreamed the two would compliment each other.

Lo and behold, the gentle sweetness and light bready maltiness of the beer blended perfectly with the sweetness and peach flavors of the cobbler.  It was stunning.

If you had asked me before hand what beer I would ideally pair with the cobbler, I would have said witbier or fruit lambic.  I’ll give those a try someday.  In the meantime, I had this pairing again after the first experiment and it held up perfectly.  Serendipity.

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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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.

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The food came from a nondescript typical Chinese takeout place in Alabama.  General Tso’s is the standard by which I judge all Chinese joints, and this iteration was not high quality at all.  As sweet as candy and no spicy heat at all.  Fun to eat in a junk food sort of way, but not gourmet cuisine.

But the Gaelic classed the meal up quite a bit, offering a beautiful malty sweet compliment to the General Tso’s.  Only the Gaelic Ale is not cloying, so it actually reduced the sickly sweet flavor of the chicken.  And the chicken’s sweetness somehow brought out some interesting notes from the caramel malt that weren’t otherwise obvious, actually improving the experience of drinking the beer.

Call me crazy, but I’m going to rate this pairing as “perfection,” not because the food was particularly good, but because sometime in life you might find yourself eating crappy Chinese takeout and knowing which beer to put with it to improve the overall experience would be helpful.

Grilled Gulf Shrimp served on a Fried Green Tomato and Remoulade paired with Terrapin Rye Squared
The high gravity Terrapin beers have just entered Alabama. This was my first experience with the Rye Squared. As usual the hops in the Terrapin worked wonders with the spice in the remoulade to make an explosive spice mix. Wonderful.

Jolly Pumpkin La Roja served with a traditional Chef’s Salad and La Roja Vinaigrette Dressing
Jolly Pumpkin make very interesting and complex beers using wild fermentation, and are not the easiest to get hold of. All of them have some brettanomyces to provide a sour, wild flavour and unique taste profile.
The combination with the vinaigrette dressing and the chef’s salad is divine. The gentle sourness provides an almost vinegary tang that works perfectly with the salad. Seek out Jolly Pumpkin ales – don’t be put off by the description “sour” – this is an exceptionally good beer.

Three Cheese Tortellini covered in an Alabama Chevre Pasta Sauce accompanied by Rochefort 8 Trappiste Ale
The three-cheese pasta and goat cheese sauce is a great dish in itself.  The Rochefort is the 73rd best beer in the world (at the time of writing) and deserves this place – it is stunningly flavourful, rich and malty, explosively carbonated and delicious.
The combination is sheer perfection. The maltiness in the beer matches the rich unctuousness of the cheese, while the explosive carbonation scrubs the palate – and tongue – clean with every mouthful, cleaning and refreshing the palate to make every bite of the tortellini just as tasty as the first.
An example of a perfect beer and food pairing.

Cask Conditioned Ola Dubh Special 40 Reserve along with Sliced Smoked BBQ Mutton
Ola Dubh – Scottish Gaelic for Black Oil – is an old ale from Scotland. It’s matured in a cask that was previously used to mature single malt Scottish whisky from Highland Park, Scotland’s second most northerly distillery. It is rich, dense, tasty, with profound notes of single malt; a sublime beverage.
The Ola Dubh stands in stark contrast to the rich smokiness of the pulled mutton and the citrus-infused BBQ sauce, perking up your taste buds and providing a nice digestif to finish off the main course.

Good People Fatso Imperial Stout Ice Cream Float
Fatso is the new Imperial Stout from Birmingham’s own Good People brewery. Its taste has masses of coffee richness and an almost silky mouthfeel. In the ice cream float, it mutates into the richest, densest, most silky mocha coffee you can even imagine.  Absolutely wonderful.

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The core question was which is better – Doppelbock or Old Ale? I always went with Doppelbocks because Garrett Oliver recommended it highly in his book. I agree with him that Doppelbock is great with roast pork, but pulled pork BBQ is a very different eating experience.

First up is Tommyknocker Butt Head Bock, which is a Doppelbock despite the name. This is a tasty, easy to drink beer, and I was convinced it would pair well with the BBQ. Sadly this was not to be: although the initial combined flavour is very tasty, bringing out sweet richness in the meat and the beer, it ends with a nasty bitter twist just at the back of the throat. I couldn’t put a name to the wrong flavour, just that it is there. Quite a disappointment as it started out extremely well.

Next up was Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock. I have paired this very successfully in the past with roast pork and accordingly had very high expectations, especially as this beer is rated (at the time of writing) as the 45th best beer in the world on beeradvocate.com.

This is, indeed, a very tasty combination with some strange effects. The pairing makes the Celebrator taste almost like it was made with English Fuggles hops – it brings out that hop funk flavour that makes English beer so distinctive. The BBQ brings out a subtle but distinct oak woodiness in the beer. This was an extremely agreeable pairing, but how would the Old Stock hold up?

Old Stock Ale is an Old Ale from North Coast Brewing Co and it clocks in at a significant 12.50% ABV. This was recently paired by Danner with smoked ribs. I knew that this would be a good pairing… but just how good?

It’s an absolute winner. The beer and the BBQ go together like they were meant to be: the beer pulls out sweet and rich flavours from the BBQ, the BBQ brings out a creamy rich smoothness in the beer. Old Stock even achieves greatness with BBQ beans! There is never a harsh or clashing moment with Old Stock, just rich, tasty, deliciousness. I have a new “go-to” beer for pairing with BBQ.

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Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza with a fresh garden salad mixed with toasted walnuts and goat cheese, tossed in a Jolly Pumpkin vinaigrette. — Oro de Calabaza is an earth-shattering Bier de Garde with brett funk, aged in oak barrels.  But the oak is barely noticeable.  Lots of black pepper pop and subtle hops.  It somehow made the goat cheese taste even more goat cheesy and was an incredible compliment to the woodsy walnuts.  A+

Macaroni coated with melted brie and Monterrey served with Unibroue Trois Pistoles. — Trois Pistoles is my favorite Belgian strong dark ale.  I mentioned to the attendees last night that Unibroue says it has a shelf life of at least 8 years.  Lots of dark plum and raisin flavor melding with spicy Belgian yeast and alcohol complexity.  It was just an interesting contrast to the smooth buttery flavor contributed by the brie.  Hard to put into words, but a good combo.  A

Good People Snake Handler paired with buttered baked potato, not smothered but pampered with Point Reyes Bleu Cheese. — I am convinced that Birmingham’s own Good People have turned out one of the finest double IPAs in the world.  Just phenomenal, bursting with American hop explosiveness.  Not many foods can stand up to that kind of flavor intensity, and it’s not uncommon for hop flavors to clash harshly with various flavors in food; I’ve encountered that many times.  And not many beers can hold up to the palate-crushing flavor of a strong blue cheese.  So this pairing is an amazing battle that takes place on your taste buds, but it’s surprisingly enjoyable.  The flavors really compliment one another, and I think everyone was impressed by this.  Very fun.  A+

Smoked spare ribs lightly brushed with The J. Clyde’s signature BBQ sauce along a side of vinaigrette cole slaw and North Coast Old Stock Ale. — Old Stock is a sweet and alcoholic English old ale.  This year’s vintage is 11.5% ABV.  When planning the menu I had taste tested the beer up against a chicken breast sauteed in the Clyde’s BBQ sauce, which was a really great pairing.  The beer is quite sweet and the Clyde’s sauce is really, really lemony-tart.  It had an interesting sweet & sour feel going for it.  But the smokiness of the ribs added another element and it wasn’t quite as good as my chicken pairing.  The smoke of the ribs somewhat overpowered the subtle complexities of the Old Stock.  It still went well, but it wasn’t all it could have been.  B+

Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout with a nice slice of chocolate pie and whipped cream. — I was actually worried about this one, as it was the only one I didn’t taste test before the dinner.  I normally wouldn’t hesitate when it comes to stouts and chocolate, but Yeti is one of the hoppiest stouts out there, full of intense American hops.  75 IBU.  But the chocolate flavors from the dark malts won out here and it was a very good pairing.  The two together produced a new, unique flavor in your mouth.  I think by bringing out flavors in the hops that weren’t really noticeable in the beer alone.  Different but tasty.  A