Seafood Gumbo with Olde Towne Amber
If you haven’t had gumbo, you haven’t lived. Get some now! This pairing just confirmed my already solidly set perception that Amber Ale is probably the most flexible beer style – the mellow sweetness and subtle hops balanced off the seafood richness and chili spice of the gumbo, without squashing any of the subtle flavours or developing any harsh or “off” notes. Simply delicious.

Spicy boiled shrimp on a fried green tomato with remoulade, with Good People Pale Ale
The briny sweetness of the shrimp found a perfect foil with the malt sweetness of the beer, while the spices and hops danced an exquisite tango of polite one-upmanship. Utterly brilliant pairing.

Trout a la Meuniere with buttered pasta, with Terrapin Golden Ale
The Golden Ale is my go-to beer for creatures that live in water. It has a gentle sweetness that never overwhelms the delicate taste of white fish, while also playing nice with shellfish in a non-spicy setting. The Golden also helps to cut the butter richness, refreshing the mouth and leaving you eager for the next bite.

Southern-Style strawberry shortcake, with Good People Coffee Oatmeal Stout
Stout is my go-to beer with dessert, especially the Good People coffee stout which has echoes of a really fine cup of coffee with rich cream. What more can you ask for with dessert?

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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.

OLDE TOWNE DINNER, 24 JANUARY 2009

This dinner was arranged by the J Clyde to celebrate the welcome return of Olde Towne beers to Birmingham after a brewery fire caused a too-long absence.

Reception: Olde Towne Pilsner A Selection of Gourmet Cheeses

I am generally quite indifferent towards beers in the Pilsner/lager styles – I am not a huge fan of the style. The OT Pilsner is a persuasive offering, and paired very well with the mustard seed and porter infused cheeses: it brings out the richness of the cheese, while cleaning the palate afterwards. Nice.

First Course: OT Porter with Local Winter Vegetable Soup

A surprise pairing here. The soup was truly outstanding – rich, tasty, with nice chunky vegetables. The porter lent its richness to the stock, leaving a lingering caramel/coffee sweetness that successfully played off the flavour of the vegetables.

Second Course: OT Hefeweizen (wheat beer) with Spanish Potato Omelet

Hefeweizens are a hard style to do well: many brewmasters come out with a good, but not outstanding, hefeweizen. OT’s brewmaster should be proud of this beer: it is, quite simply, world class: one of the best hefeweizens I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. Subtle, delicately sweet, with a very gentle spice flavour at the back of the mouth. The combination with the omelet was astonishing: taking a sip of the beer with the omelet in my mouth produced a phenomenal blast of clove spices! Superb!

Third Course: OT Pale Ale with Pecan Chicken Salad on leaf lettuce

This is a contrasting pairing. The Pale Ale is in the English style, very balanced and eminently drinkable, with a gentle hop dominance. The pecan chicken salad is sweet and rich. The combination? Both shine out full force: the Pale Ale clenses the palate, allowing you to fully appreciate the salad, and the salad leaves a rich sweet nuttiness which the Pale Ale washes down. Dynamite combination.

Fourth Course: OT Amber with Local Venison tossed in a rich red sauce over farfalle pasta

The Amber Ale is a style I only came across after moving to the U.S. It rapidly became one of my favourite styles, due to its flexibility: it pairs with pizza, burgers, milder chilis and curries, most cheeses, and so on. It’s also just a good sipping beer! This pairing proves I am not so nuts for liking the style: there is enough malt sweetness there to balance the spicy red sauce and to play with the richness of the venison, while keeping enough hop bitterness to leave a clean taste in your mouth, ready for the next bite. If you have never had this style before, the OT Amber is a great introduction to it.

Fifth Course: OT Chocolate Stout with Classic Homemade Cheesecake

I am, as you may recall, Mr “Dark Beer And Cheesecake”. There is nothing I can usefully add to my previous article: porters/stouts and cheesecake are simply Da Bom. The OT Chocolate Stout is an interesting take on the style. While there is the expected hop bitterness, there is also a dark chocolate bitterness. This double whammy could have been overwhelming, but the cheesecake came to the rescue by providing dairy richness and sugar sweetness to offset the hop/chocolate combination. An odd combination, but still very tasty!

As you can see from above, a beer dinner is quite a serious time – and waistline! – investment, but well worth it. It allows you to explore beer and food, and try pairings that would not necessarily have occurred to you.

This was good.  It reinforces my belief that aside from macro lagers (which have almost no flavor of their own) pale ales are the most versatile beers out there for food pairings.  They go with most foods, and this was no exception.