Over the past few weeks, I have enjoyed numerous opportunities to confirm something I have firmly believed for years, namely that beer and food make terrific partners. Some of these taste sensations I experienced at specially organized beer dinners, others at restaurants and still others at home. All were great illustrations of the way the choice of the right beer can make a great dish just that much better.
-- The debut beer dinner at the new Premier Cafe in Buffalo, New York's Premier Gourmet food and beer store (www.premiergourmet.com) featured the beers of the Brewery Ommegang from Cooperstown, New York. There were four courses to the meal, three of which were paired with Ommegang beers while the fourth, a hazelnut chocolate torte for dessert, was matched to the Belgian lambic, Boon Framboise. The highlight for me was the first course of mushrooms braised with Duvel and served in puff pastry, offered with what I consider to be Ommegang's finest ale, the lightly spicy Rare Vos. Proof that the beer the dish is cooked in is not necessarily the best beer to serve with it.
-- At home, I enjoyed my last bar of Galler Champagne Chocolate (www.galler.com, and please see also the Taste of the Month for February) with a bottle of the remarkably rare Westvleteren 12. While I do think that the Westvleteren's Trappist cousin, Rochefort 8, would have been a slightly better match, I had a very hard time picking out any flaws in this gastronomic marriage.
-- In Philadelphia for the annual Book and the Cook Festival, I dined with Christine at Monk's Cafe (www.monkscafe.com), where she had the excellent Trout Saison, baked in Saison Dupont and seasoned with cilantro, garlic & spices. One taste and I had my hand raised to order a bottle of the wonderful Belgian farmhouse ale the chef had used as braising liquid. Proof that sometimes the best partner for the dish is the beer used in its preparation.
-- Three days later, at a four-course beer dinner I hosted at that same Monk's Cafe, a sell-out crowd was effusive in praise of the first course, a cold mussels salad served with a pair of white beers. The beers -- Hoegaarden White from Belgium and Blanche de Chambly from Quebec -- were selected to both match the food and provide a comparison between Old World and New World interpretations of the same style. I'm pleased to say that they filled both roles admirably.
-- And finally, at the Standard Tap (www.standardtap.com) in Philadelphia, I enjoyed a terrific hamburger with a pint of cask-conditioned Yards ESA, a flavourful, beautifully balanced and quite delicious ale from the local Yards Brewing Company. The match was a real winner, and a timely reminder that you don't need to dine on gourmet cuisine to enjoy a flavourful marriage of food and beer.
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