Category Archives: beer pairing

by | June 19, 2012 · 4:18 pm

Ladies at Ladyface: 13

This month, the ladies planned a hike to the top of Ladyface Mountain! Unfortunately, I arrived too late to attend.
Definitely missed out a little bit, but instead I got to have an awesome 3 hour dinner with this lovely lady!
Janelle’s little one is due very soon!
I started off with the Spring Farm Salad – arugula, fresh blueberries, avocado, shaved parmesan and candied almond slivers tossed in a champagne vinaigrette. This monster of a salad took me almost an hour to complete, but I couldn’t stop – so delicious! I paired it with a taster of the Derailleur and a taster of the Reyes Adobe Red.
We had a tough time deciding what to get for dessert, so we got two dishes and split them. First up was the slow roasted stone fruits – white peaches, nectarines and black and red plums served with ricotta dulce and honey lavender. We probably should’ve gotten two the way we demolished the contents of the glass.
The Chocolate Porter Torte was next, with fresh vanilla gelato slowly melting atop. The drink pairing for this was obvious.
French press coffee! Not what you were expecting?
We were serenaded by the peaceful voice of Masha McSorley as the sky began to darken.
The ladies who had attended the hike came back burdened with a huge bouquet of mountaintop gatherings which they promptly presented to us and then immediately ordered their refreshments for proper rehydration after their strenuous exercise.
More french press was foolishly consumed by myself, and I spent the rest of the evening/night buzzing around in an overstuffed bliss.

Next time I’ll be joining in on the hike and then eating even more to refuel after!

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by | May 16, 2012 · 3:25 pm

Ladies at Ladyface: One Year

Happy Anniversary to the Ladies at Ladyface: The Fermentables and Comestibles Education and Tippling Society!
Ladies at Ladyface: 1 – Trying out Ladyface beers.
Ladies at Ladyface: 2 – Brewery tour and aroma lessons.
Ladies at Ladyface: 3 – Favorites of the ladies.
Ladies at Ladyface: 4 – Summer brews!
Ladies at Ladyface: 5 – Harvest Ales.
Ladies at Ladyface: 6 – Oktoberfest.
Ladies at Ladyface: 7 – Holidays and white elephant beer exchange.
Ladies at Ladyface: 8 – Ladyface’s second anniversary.
Ladies at Ladyface: 9 – Chocolate and beer pairing.
Ladies at Ladyface: 10 – St. Patrick’s day brews.
Ladies at Ladyface: 11 – Dry hopping experimentations.
For Ladies at Ladyface: One Year, I brought along my cousin Allie to partake. I’m slowly trying to lure her away from wine and replace it with beer. Baby steps.
We split the goat cheese and basil fritters – I missed out on these last year when they came out, so I had to get an order! The tangy goat cheese with the spicy jalapeno jam and smooth avocado is a brilliant combo! Perhaps a little too much goat cheese for one bite, but delicious nonetheless!
Since we were turning one year old, Cyrena decided we would have an “aged” night. Barrel aged beer and cheese pairings, anyone?
The cheese plate contained a firm goat cheese, creamy basque, nutty Manchego and zesty blue cheese as well as sliced apples and a cherry reduction. We were served the Chaparral Saison, Blind Ambition, Co-Hoperative IPA and Blue Belly Barleywine that’s been aging for a while. After plenty of experimentation, I decided that the IPA helped cut through the silky, creamy basque, the Blind Ambition enhanced the nuttiness in the Manchego and also brought out the sweetness of the goat cheese. Not a fan of blue cheese, so that poor neglected cheese was basically ignored… Oops.
In addition to the beers above, J.J. brought this bottle of oak aged insanity from Brew Dog: Tokio. You are indeed reading that right: 18.2%ABV. The aroma on this baby is overwhelmingly tar and sherry-like. If you like roasty cough syrup, this is for you! It hurt to sip, but I wouldn’t quite say it was bad… It’s just not beer.
This aged beer was more to my liking – Supplication by Russian River. This is a sour beer that doesn’t have the hint of sweetness that you tend to find in beers aged with cherries. A powerful aroma swimming with cherries and a crisp tartness that stings the tongue in a delightful way.

It was a wonderful way to celebrate the way all of us ladies have grown in our knowledge of beer and overwhelming excitement about bringing craft beer into the world of women.
In other Ladyface-like news – Christian finally picked up his growler! There are still a few left waiting to be claimed! Those of you who won, come and get them, otherwise they’ll be donated to the next customers who look excessively thirsty.

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by | February 21, 2012 · 1:32 pm

Ladies at Ladyface: 9

Last night was our monthly meeting of Ladies at Ladyface: The Fermentables and Comestibles Education and Tippling Society. On the agenda – beer and chocolate pairings!
I absolutely love spicy chocolate. I also love IPAs. I also love how IPAs make spicy chocolate seem even spicier!
(Photo credit to Stacey P.) We brought along some fiery chocolate from my favorite little chocolate shop in Ventura, Trufflehounds, to pair with Ballast Point Sculpin IPA (an AMAZING IPA, by the way!). The bitterness of the hops amplify the spice of the chocolate by tenfold, so if you like spice, you’ll love this combo! For those attendees who don’t enjoy the pain of spice as much as I do, I brought La Trappe Quadrupel. The creamy maltiness of this beer still allows you to relish the spice in the chocolate, but also acts as a mellowing agent after the first sip. The majority of the ladies seemed to prefer the quad pairing over the IPA.
I began the night with Ladyface’s Blind Ambition, which I haven’t ordered in over a year but was feeling nostalgic for.  This was a flashback to the first time I tried it – a nice floral aroma, hints of malty sweetness and a clean, crisp ending. I also got a taster of the cask of the week, Beer Pancakes – Russian Lullaby Imperial Stout with maple syrup and vanilla beans. The vanilla aroma really emanates from the beer, even in a taster glass, while the maple hides right beneath it, finishing the beer with an extra layer of smooth, sugary goodness. This beer is like a delicious, boozy chocolate milkshake. Love!

We had a full house of ladies, with other pairings like C7 (homemade cashew brittle with cumin, cinnamon, chocolate and three other “C”s) with a homebrewed pale ale, homemade spicy peanut brittle drizzled with 67% dark chocolate paired with Ladyface IPA, dark chocolate sprinkled with lavender salt paired with Ladyface’s smoky Midnight Special scotch ale on nitro, and a handful of others. I was too busy enjoying myself to get more pictures, so here are a few random ones from my weekend.
Sweet potato tater tots at Lazy Dog Cafe.
Spicy buffalo sauce chicken nuggets, also from Lazy Dog Cafe.
Grilled pizzeti with goat cheese, prosciutto, fresh basil and garlic with a red wine sangria from Roman Holiday.
Random sighting in my town. CHIVE ON!

Tonight, I head back to Ladyface for yet ANOTHER off flavor tasting. Wish me and my poor taste buds luck.

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by | January 20, 2012 · 3:50 pm

Beer Pairing: Sweet and Sour Chicken

Welcome to the second edition of pairing food and beer! This recipe is compliments of my mumsie who threw a bunch of random things into a bowl and made delicious magic!
[gmc_recipe 5635]

Deliciousness marinating!
Spread in one layer so all the vegetables are cooked evenly.

This is a hearty, filling meal with a lovely tangy sweetness. I’d recommend pairing this dish with a rich nut brown ale or any other sweet malty beer to really emphasize the caramelized sugars that form as a crust on the pineapple after it’s baked in the oven. If possible, drink local!
Enegren Brewing’s Valkyrie California Alt – rich, malty and a smooth finish. The residual sugars in this match perfectly with the marinated chicken and vegetables.
Island Brewing Company’s Nut Brown Ale – this one is a little drier, but still has enough malty sweetness and roasty back-end to enhance the sweet marinade reduction. If you want to be blown away, throw a handful of roasted peanuts on top, combine with a nut brown and let your taste buds go crazy!

Some mainstream beers that would pair well with this dish:
Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale – rich malts and a toasted nutty finish with just a touch of hops.
Chimay Premiere (Red) – sweet dried fruits and a relatively dry end.
Sierra Nevada’s Tumbler – hints of chocolate and toasted nuts with medium high carbonation and light sweetness.

I’m sure there are plenty more! If you make this, share your beer pairing choices!

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by | January 12, 2012 · 3:20 pm

Beer Pairing: Bite Me Chicken Stew

Good afternoon! I’ve decided to start a little series about pairing different styles of beer with food –  partially in preparation for the Cicerone test, and partially because every single type of meal can be brought to another level when combined with the right style of beer. I’ll try to post a new pairing every week and if you have any questions, recommendations or requests, feel free to write them down in the comments!

Yesterday I was feeling a little under the weather and was craving something warm with a spicy “bite”, so I threw a bunch of random foodstuffs from my cupboards into a pot and came up with:
[gmc_recipe 5659]

If you’d like, you can even make your own chicken stock for this recipe, which is what I did.
[gmc_recipe 5675]

Continue with the Bite Me Chicken and Brown Rice Stew recipe above.
I decided to pair this wonderfully spicy stew with Uinta’s Cutthroat Pale Ale (I’d recommend either a pale ale or an IPA for this soup). The pale ale has just a hint of a bitter backend to enhance the spicy bite that rounds out the edges of the stew, but enough of a light graininess so as to not compete with the flavors. The caramel malts that grace your palate at the end of the sip brings out the sweetness of the corn and tender chicken. If you want to really suffer (in a good way), pair this with a seriously hoppy IPA like Dogfish Head 90 Minute or another dry pale ale. The hops will make the spice even more pronounced and clear your head of any congestion, guaranteed.

Other pale ale pairing recommendations:
– Fish ‘n chips – crisp hops help to cut through the grease
– Grilled/broiled halibut – dry pale ale doesn’t overwhelm the delicate flavors of white fish
– Gumbo – hops bring out the spices while chilling the afterburn at the same time
– Sushi – light flavors in pale ale add a sweet complexity that pairs well with the vinegar-graced sushi rice
– Anything fried, spicy, or seafood of any kind
– Pale ales with higher IBUs are good for dishes like roast beef or pork roasts to bring out the sweetness of the meats

Any other food pairings you’ve tried with pale ale that you’d like to recommend?

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