Beer beyond burgers

[chuckl]

Certain food is traditional with beer. Burgers, pizza and fish and chips come to mind. But increasingly there seems to be a trend to matching craft beer with fine dining. For instance, I had a nice hoppy IPA with a shrimp pot pie and it was delicious. The hoppy beer cut cleanly through the creamy sauce in the pot pie. Places that take these matchups seriously seem to be known as gastropubs. I'm curious if any of you craft beer lovers have run across inspired beer/food pairings in a restaurant, or better yet, have come up with your own.

[fourunder]

Beer and BBQ for me

[jaykayen]

At Villa Crespi (Italy) the cheese course was paired with a Belgian. Fabulous.

[Pata_Negra]

that appears to be the case in (north) america. elsewhere that has a beer culture -and usually also a cuisine-, say germany or belgium, you get real food as the inhabitants won't have it any other way. red and game meats, pate go with dark beers. fish/seafood, white meats go with hefeweizen, or non dark beers and so on. and then you also have beers that go with cheeses.

and how i like the beer is served in the correct glass.

[burntwater]

As the foodie world and beer geek world merge I'm starting to see more places catering to that crowd.

[Jim Dorsch]

I'm sure there are others, but Merchant du Vin and the Brooklyn Brewery have worked particularly hard over the years to establish beer in better restaurants. MdV gives food pairings for its various beers on its website, and I noticed a recipe section on the BB site.

[niquejim]

http://blog.stonebrew.com/?p=1443

Here's a nice article about this same thing

Here' a nice place for upcoming dinners
http://www.beerdinners.com/

[Chinon00]

I've made this point before but when it comes to pairing beer with food although I enjoy the complimentary nature of a steak with a deep roasted beer or the contrast of cheese with one what I'd like to see are more lean stark acidic low sugar beer styles available for pairing. These to me play foil to the meal highlighting the meal's character alone which I find very interesting.

[brentk]

Just curious, but what beers fit the description that you are seeking.

[Chinon00]

Gueuze

[chuckl]

I find that oftentimes, Belgian beers like Saison Dupont and Ommegang Hennepin, and wit beers complement the types of food I cook. I'm also fond of good pilsners, like Victory or Trumer, with lighter food. For complex dishes, I like Belgian ales, even the stronger ones from Unibroue like la fin du monde. In general, it seems to me that the Belgians, Germans and even the Brits have done a pretty good job matching their cuisines with beer. What I find interesting is matching beer with international cuisine from Asia, south of the border, India, etc. For those types of food, I think you want to stay relatively light in the IBU department

[Chinon00]

I'm with on the Victory and Trummer in this regard. However La Fin Du Monde, Hennepin have way too much character across the board in regard to what I was referring to in my post above. I love them both but it's harder for either of them to play "foil" in my opinion.

[chuckl]

I happened to buy a carne asada burrito and a large bottle of Hennepin on the same day, and thought I'd see what they tasted like together. I worked surprisingly well for me. I'm thinking it would go well with Chinese food too. You might be right about LaFin du Monde, though. I brought it to a dinner party and ended up saving it for the dessert/cheese course.

[Josh]

Hennepin would be good w/ Chinese food. I'm doing a beer/Szechuan food pairing dinner for San Diego Beer Week, and one of the pairings is with a local saison from Lost Abbey.

[chuckl]

Fantastic, Josh, have you tried any pairings with Lost Abbey's Witches Wit? I think that would be a good one too. I've had it with appetizers. Very nice

[Josh]

I haven't no. One of the beers is a witbier, but from Ballast Point.

[chuckl]

Keep us posted on how your pairing turns out.

[BrettM]

I lived in Ottawa, Canada for 8 years and my favourite haunt was the Earl of Sussex, which served "Pint & Pie" -- beer (usually Guinness) and a meat pie, chicken, lamb or steak. Good stuff!

Also, not quite a pairing but check out this 'specialty' beer mix called a Pumpkin Pie -- yum!
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