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Don't sneer at beer

Wine has long been considered the beverage of choice for fine dining, but with a little creativity there's plenty of room for a brew.

By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published June 28, 2006

This may come as a shock, but you can drink beer and eat food at the same time.

Sure, some of you probably already knew that and had worked out the basic principles of beer-food pairing: beer cold, food hot - or not.

Fine for pizza, burgers and barbecue or even carbonnades, the Flemish stew of beery beef. What will astonish old-school gourmets is the matching of beer and fine food - pates, game, grand sauces and other dishes that always called for wine in sophisticated circles.

But it won't surprise a new generation of beer connoisseurs, who can be as finicky as the most geeky grape lovers.

"They always talk about wine and food, but actually beer goes better with all foods," insists Darius Debski, who likes wine but makes a living importing beer. "Wine and cheese? It should be beer and cheese!"

Why? Because there are so many more kinds of beer and consequently, tastes and textures - dry and sweet, crisp, creamy, hints of caramel, chocolate or citrus, even smoke.

"They're all different. Say there are 10,000 wines. Three thousand are made from merlot, the same grape," contends Mike Fouch, whose Oldsmar firm Micro Man trucks bottles and kegs of craft beers around Tampa Bay.

Debski and Fouch demonstrated their point in a grand white tablecloth dinner at Cafe Alma in St. Petersburg earlier this month. They provided six brews and Alma chef Craig Smith cooked up courses to match, from pate with figs in port to passion fruit-lemon tart, with mussels, venison and Stilton in between.

The prospect drew beer nuts and wine lovers alike, oceanographers, designers and lawyers, with cornsilk bangs and gray ponytails.

Debski has hosted dozens of beer dinners, now common among beer connoisseurs, but it was a welcome first for Smith, an English-born beer lover who has cooked plenty of wine dinners. "'We tried the beers and did one (test ) menu we weren't so keen on, then we did another."

Crucial to the beer argument was that the beers that night were all from Belgium, a small country with only 120 breweries that produce a glorious diversity of beer (French-made Belzebuth is an honorary Belgian, made 10 miles across the Flemish border).

Although Belgium's InBev/Interbrew with its flagship Stella Artois is the world's largest brewer, most are small operations started in farms and abbeys. Each is distinct in individual character and parochial bottle shape and size from 8 to 27.4 ounces.

Indeed, in the snooty world of glassware, beer beats wine in Belgium. Most breweries commission distinct goblets, stemmed flutes, chalices, and tulips for the nose and carbonation of each beer. Let the Riedel-sniffing wine crowd match that.

Indeed, beer has such diversity that it can make food matching an exasperating challenge or give-it-a-go flexibility. One could try to balance the heft, color, acidity, spice, hops, malts. Or counterbalance them.

An easier proposition, too easy for some, is to consider lagers as white wines and heavier, often darker ales as red wines, and pair traditionally.

Surprisingly, Alma paired rare venison with sweet sauce with Belzebuth, a golden ale with a powerful kick (13-percent alcohol) instead of a toasty brown ale. Yet the richness of each was a smooth enough match to be the favorite at most tables.

When a Belgian geuze was poured in flutes, most ignored the accompanying mussels to marvel at the sparkling lambic with its mouth-puckering grapefruit flavor. "I'd be happy ordering this instead of bubbles," said Matt Budesa, a visiting restaurateur from the West Coast.

For some the best combination was a chocolatey dubbel from Val-Dieu, a strong brown ale, with a spiced pate in port. The chef's favorite was the big rich Abt 12 from St. Bernardus with Stilton, both strong and fatty.

The most important tip is to enjoy the taste of beer, delight in its thick head and lacy foam, drink in the smells of malty chocolate, fresh yeasty bread, or bright green hops, and wallow in the taste from first sip to finish.

If you must fuss over what food to serve with it, look for similarities, not contrived contrasts. For heavy roasts or steaks, try big ales, porters and stouts. With seafood, salads and lighter dishes, have a crisp lager or an India Pale Ale (a beloved exception is big stouts with oysters).

Whew. Do we need to go to all that effort for beer and food? No, but it may get a few folks to enjoy the full flavor of a good lager, ale or porter.

Good beer deserves a place at the table.

Chris Sherman can be reached at (727) 893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com.

TASTE OF BELGIUM

Belgian brewers are among the oldest, most traditional and diverse in the beer world. Styles range from classic lagers to wheat beers and ales in all strengths and colors.

Fermentation is especially skillful and gives some Belgian brews a tart, fruity, winelike taste. Lambics are made by spontaneous fermentation from wild yeasts in Brussels, sometimes sweetened with fruit syrup.

Abbey ales and many others use top fermentation. They can be fermented as much as four times. Alcohol is often above 7 percent and as high as 13 percent.

The following notes are for beers sampled at Cafe Alma from D&V Imports of Palm Beach. Various Belgian brews are sold in beer and wine specialty stores at $4 and up per bottle.

* Flavored lambic: Framboise, Brouwerij Oud Beersel 6.5 percent. Rosy sparkler with whole cherries; sweet and sour, nutty and dry. Fine aperitif.

* Dubbel brown ale: Val-Dieu (8 percent). Smooth, creamy, it fills bowl, nose and mouth with hints of wheat, fresh cocoa and ground coffee. Good with pate, heartier cooking too.

* Lambic gueuze: Girardin (5 percent). Beer as sparkling magic, yeasty and hoppy bubbles with clear almost salty taste of grapefruit. Great summer bracer and worth a toast anytime.

* Strong golden ale: Belzebuth, Jeanne d'Arc (13 percent). Ignore the light colors; heed the small bottles and smaller glasses. Big kick, big flavors: cotton candy, peppery hops and warm malt, rich yet clean. Devilishly sweet for dinner or dessert.

* Quadruppel Abbey-style strong brown ale: St. Bernardus Abt 12 (10 percent). Dark, ancient stuff, creamy and heavy, but not all malty, more like dried fruit with a bit of cinnamon for a tart spicy finish. Strong cheese beer.

* White ale: Troublette, La Caracole (5 percent). Brisk, lively wheat beer is another Belgian specialty, This one has a bouquet and tart flavors of a sour drop, orange, lemon and green apples, spiced with coriander. Save it for summer's worst day.

- CHRIS SHERMAN

[Last modified June 27, 2006, 11:42:18]