Charity Beer Pairing

A couple of months ago, I was approached about donating an experience to be auctioned off to benefit the United Way at the WBKO Holiday Bash. They wanted something unique, and I bounced around the idea of a wine-tasting or a world-tour kind of multi-course meal. When I really got thinking about Bowling Green, it occurred to me that this town has really developed a taste for good beer. So I set out to put together a 4-course beer pairing meal.

The first step in putting together a beer pairing is getting great beer. For that I went to my friend Chris Abend down at Bowling Green Pipe & Cigar, who not only knows great beer, but is quite wise on all things culinary as well. We decided to feature a single brewery, Founders, picked four beers from their selection, and within a few minutes had a menu worked out for the event.

Of course you need something to drink a great beer out of, and for that I turned to my friends at The Fancy Pigeon. They have an extensive line of custom-etched glassware as well as other personalized gift items, and graciously offered to add 6 monogrammed pilsners to the winner of the beer pairing.

The "B" is for bad photo, which I'll blame on my camera. 

One of the best parts of this event was that I got to taste some beers that were new to me as well. First up was the Red's Rye PA. It's a hoppy beer, but not too strong for a first course. We wanted to start simply, so we went with that most traditional of beer foods, the pretzel (recipe and instructions will be in the next post). To give a little zip to the plate, I made a simple beer mustard using the Red's Rye.

The next course up was the cheese plate, another traditional pairing for beer. I had been to Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati - a place that every serious foodie should go out of their way to visit at least once in their life - and picked up a whole array of interesting options for this plate. We decided to go with one familiar cheese, Havarti, one that was familiar with a twist, aged Gouda, and one that was a definitely going to be a new experience, seaweed-infused Roquefort.

From left to right: Havarti, Roquefort with Seaweed, and aged Gouda

The Havarti was what you'd expect, a mild, creamy cheese. The aged Gouda had a harder texture than you'd expect from Gouda, more akin to an Asiago or Romano. The taste was sharp like an aged cheedar with a slight hint of bleu that lingers for a while. I picked up quite a few cheeses from my last adventure, and so far this is my favorite. The last cheese, the seaweed Roquefort, is hard to describe, but fantastic nonetheless. The texture is semi-hard, with striations of seaweed throughout. There is a slight bite to the cheese, nothing dramatic, and a mineral-yet-fresh flavor from the seaweed. All in all, the three worked very well together on the plate from a texture and flavor standpoint.

We paired this with the Centennial IPA, another hoppy selection that would hold up against the bold flavors of the cheeses. To round out the plate, we added some simple Irish Soda Bread, made with just enough caraway to compliment the flavor of the beer, and a scoop of Major Grey's Chutney to add a little sweetness to the course.

For next course, we were pairing with Founders Cerise, an amber beer made with tart cherries. We decided to mimic the flavors of the beer in our dish, and Chris and I came up with a Chicken Roulade stuffed with spinach, walnuts and cherries and braised in the beer. Our side for this was a wonderfully simple agave-glazed parsnip. For anyone who has never had parsnips, they are basically a milder, less colorful carrot and give the same earthy sweetness when roasted. The sugars in the meal helped to mask a bit of the beer's sweetness, letting the tart cherry flavor to really come through.

Chicken Roulade with Agave Parsnips

Admittedly, the toughest thing for me when thinking through this meal was dessert. I was already thinking something stout paired with chocolate, so when Chris suggested we use the Breakfast Stout - a beer brewed with coffee and chocolate - in a pudding, it sounded perfect. It may sound odd to put beer in pudding, but the Breakfast Stout has such a rich flavor that it nearly hides in the dish. Credit to the folks at the Michigan Beer Blog for coming up with the recipe we used. I'd love to try this one with a fruit beer in the future, either the Cerise or maybe something like a blueberry stout.

Founders Breakfast Stout Pudding

I'll post recipes for these dishes in my next post. Special thanks again to Chris Abend at Bowling Green Pipe and Cigar and the fine folks at The Fancy Pigeon for their support in making this event a success.