One problem with seasonal beers is that breweries tend to overdue the funky flavours, and neglect to create a balanced beer with a fuller profile than just pumpkin or nutmeg. You need your hops and malts to work with the flavour, not just be overwhelmed by it. One brewery that did a really good job of creating balance was St Ambroise in The Great St-Ambroise Pumpkin Ale. At 5% this is the perfect easy drinking beer on a brisk fall day. It's also not overly hopped, which makes it ideal for those just starting to get into beer. It's really great to cook with as well. We threw some in our home-made cauliflower soup the other day instead of adding nutmeg. It gave the soup a rich flavour and paired really well with the mushrooms that where stewing in there as well. Definitely worth trying before they're gone.
Monday, October 17, 2011
SEASONAL BEERS
So I'm a bit of a beer nerd. Where most people drink their Keith's or their Coor's, I drink my Rogues and my Dieu Du Ciels. For those of you just starting to venture off into the wonderful world of fancy beers, a fun place to start is with seasonal beers. They come out for a limited time and are usually full of uncommon flavours. Right now you can find a lot of Oktoberfest beers and pumpkin beers.
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I always picture cooking with wine when I think of pairing alcohol and food. I am not familiar with beer so I will have to write your tips down. I cannot believe there is such a thing as pumpkin beer. Interesting!
ReplyDeleteerin neal
Where there's a will there's a way. My boyfriend literally tries to cook everything in it.
ReplyDeleteIt's really great to marinate meat and seafood in. We just had a lobster feast a couple weeks back and we steamed it up in this fancy saison tomato concoction. It was amazing. Also if you're vegetarian you could try soaking veggies in them. We do that when we make eggplant burgers.