Considered by many as the definitive book on sensory evaluation and guide for food and beer pairing, Randy Mosher has written a brilliant work. With information on style guidelines, history, proper glassware, etc., it is a must buy.
For those studying to take the Certified Cicerone Exam... Tasting Beer is on the list of suggested reading.
Mosher is a member of the American Homebrewers Association, Chicago Beer Society, author of several books (including Radical Brewing), award winning brewer, and lecturer.
For some people the idea of pairing fine cuisine and cheese with wine makes perfect sense while pairing with beer seems unappealing or pretentious. The fact is that wine enthusiast have acknowledged for years that their are certain flavors that wine can neither resonate or contrast due to the relatively small range of wine varieties. Beer, on the other hand, has such a wide range of styles and flavor compounds that it is actually much more effective for food pairing.
When you consider the flavors that malted grain, yeast, hops, and occasional adjuncts can lend to beer (fruity, grainy, toasty, cocoa, herbal spice, etc) and follow a few basic rules it is easy to do a multi-course beer dinner.
The Rules:
1) Match intensity of food and beer: In beer, "intensity" can reflect the alcohol content, the esters and phenol content (ie the unique spice character you get from rye beers), the bitterness of the beer, the maltiness, and the overall flavor content.
If you were to serve a rich carrot cake with very sweet cream cheese frosting... it would totally overshadow a Pilsner. A Barley Wine or Russian Imperial Stout would be a better choice.
2) Increase intensity as you go: If you are serving a 3 course meal and blow out your palate with a Double IPA during the appetizer you may not pick up on more subtle flavors later in the meal.
3) Pairing should have elements of both contrasting flavors and complimentary flavors: Perhaps the crisp dry finish of a German Hefeweizen will help cut the butter and fat content of a particular dish on the palate (Contrast), you would also want to consider using citrus flavors in the dish to compliment the beer.
That should get you started. Click here for a chart showing a variety of beers, their flavor parameters, recommended pairings, serving temps, and glass courtesy of the Brewers Association. Also, Sean Paxton, host of The Home Brewed Chef on The Brewing Network, has an episode here on planning a beer dinner.
If you want to see a tasting in action check out this video at the well known Chicago restaurant The Publican.
As I've mentioned in previous posts I am equally enthusiastic about music as I am about beer... so I have been excited to see more crossover between these realms.
Dogfish Head Has several releases inspired by music legends including Miles Davis (Bitches Brew) and Robert Johnson (Hellhound). North Coast Brewing has a very popular beer honoring the legendary Thelonius Monk (Brother Thelonius)
While some releases are simply inspired by the musicians... others are in collaboration. Dogfish Head has worked with Pearl Jam to brew a release celebrating their 20 years anniversary as a band and New Belgium recently worked with the band Clutch as part of their Lips of Faith series of beers.
With songs such as "Beer Pressure" I would really love to see a brewery work with metal band Municipal Waste on a project. But don't assume just because they like to party that they don't like the good stuff. Check out this video of their drummer David Witte dropping some serious beer knowledge:
I volunteer my homebrewing skills to this idea so if MW is reading this and is down lets make a German Rauchbier (Smoke Beer). The fans will get the reference and it would be great with some BBQ!
You do it every time you drink a beer. You may not realize it but you are. You are judging.
Of course, a formal judging has specific parameters and requires a much more analytic method. Mouthfeel, volumes of Co2, yeast character, hop aroma, color in degrees SRM, etc.
If you think you might enjoy a formal education in analyzing your favorite beer and learning proper characteristics of dozens of classic styles, The Beer Judge Certification Program has all the resources you need to become a industry-accepted judge.
Consisting of a preliminary online test followed by a sit-down tasting, participants have the opportunity to achieve various levels of certification. Higher levels must not only score well on the exam but must also have a certain number of competitions judged and/or hosted.
Study hard if you plan to take the test... the exam is designed for serious beer enthusiast.
Considered by many as the definitive book on sensory evaluation and guide for food and beer pairing, Randy Mosher has written a brilliant work. With information on style guidelines, history, proper glassware, etc., it is a must buy.
