Beer and cheese have a lot on common. As Brooklyn Brewing’s brewmaster, Garrett Oliver, is fond of pointing out, cheese is grass processed by microbes in the cow’s stomach, and beer is grass processed by the brewer and the action of a microbe, yeast.
The first problem with butchering pigs is transportation—that is, assuming you don’t live on an actual pig farm, which, admittedly, would be nice.
A fervent beer lover I know was sitting in a multi-starred restaurant. He’d made his food selection, and was studying the drinks menu. After glancing at the beer list, he scanned the wine pages before calling the sommelier.
“I was looking for something in a jug red,” he said.
“I beg your pardon?” asked the startled sommelier.
The pairing of beer with chocolate seems recently to have gained a life of its own. Among other signs are reports from New York that hint this lovely combination is “the next big thing.” Actually, during the past year, our stout ice cream float made inroads in the Big Apple, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Instruction for pairing food with beer is a little like scripting sex. In both, “common senses” should prevail. Each is a lot of fun with little direction, yet The Joy of Sex and the Playboy Advisor vie in readership with the Koran, Torah and New Testament. Similarly, books about the appetizing subject of food and beer, like Michael Jackson’s Ultimate Beer and Garrett Oliver’s Brewmaster’s Table, are delicious reads that add pleasure to something we already enjoy.
Behind the Norwich Inn’s parking lot, the Jasper Murdock Ale House produces just a few hundred barrels of luscious ales each year. And as refreshing as the beer is the brewery’s garden. Surrounded by twining vines laden with hops, several tables are set for dining in the beer garden. Besides the living green screen of hops to shield the view from diners, gigantic terracotta planters towering with flowers add perfume and color. A glass of golden ale adds its own spicy aroma.
Wed Jul 3rd, 2013
The Young Turks and Old Lions of Breweries
Once a year the whole world of craft brewers, and I do mean the whole world, gathers together for four days of catching up, digesting new ideas, staying up way...
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