One reason for the rise of brew pubs is
that they are producing their own beer
and making food they think goes well with
it, says Albert Schmid, CEC, CCE, CCA,
chair of the beverage management, hotel/
restaurant management and hospitality
management programs at Sullivan
University, Louisville, Ky. “Beer accounts
for 40% of the alcoholic beverages
people order with dinner. It beats out
wine and spirits. Beer is wonderful to
drink by itself, but I think beer pairs better
with food than wine does. It goes with an
incredible variety of foods.”
HOTTEST FOOD-PAIRING TREND: DARK BEERS
sauce out of the beer served with a
course. One recent dinner started with a
beer champagne, biere de champenoise,
which is a relatively new style, she says.
“It’s a Belgian beer shipped to the
Champagne region. It’s super effervescent
and has a high alcohol content with honey
and spicy nuances. Beginning with this
beer was a play on the idea of starting a
meal with glass of champagne.”
friendly, especially with grilled meats.
“It’s the same reason a Pinot Noir is
great with food. There are more layers
of complexity of flavor. For example,
an India Pale Ale does not pair well
with food, like a Zinfandel does not
pair well with food. There’s so much of
something that it overpowers.”
According to Bart Vandaele, chef/owner of
Belga Café, Washington, D.C., dark beers
pair well with comfort foods, including
dark meats such as braised short ribs.
Christina Perozzi, co-executive editor of
Los Angeles-based thebeerchicks.com,
frequently hosts beer-pairing dinners.
She likes to suggest making a reduction
Matthew Pera, co-owner of The Liberty,
Charlotte, N.C., says favorites such as
Expedition Stout are extremely food
However, Gregory Hall, brewmaster for
Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago, says
the brewery’s dark brews stand alone.
“Our stouts are great at the end of a
meal or with dark chocolate. Stouts are
not meant to pair with food. There’s too
much flavor. They are like a single malt
or port after a meal.”
The Liberty has about 90 beers by the
bottle and 19 craft brews on tap; 25-30% of
the beer list is dark. Two favorites right now
are Expedition Stout by Bell’s Brewery, Inc.,
Galesburg, Mich., and Mephistopheles’ Stout
from Avery Brewing Co., Boulder, Colo.
Belga Café, which is D.C.’s original Belgian
eatery, serves authentic Belgian cuisine
along with 150 Belgian beers. Vandaele
says the trend toward darker beers at his
establishment is seasonal. “People want
and crave the dark, spicy and rich flavors of
the dark winter and Christmas ales during
the snowy months.”
About 40% of Belga Café’s beer menu is
dark brews, which includes red ales and
stouts, and it offers between 30 and 40
different dark beers.
Goose Island’s most popular dark brew
is Bourbon County Imperial Stout, which
is aged for 10 months in spent bourbon
barrels. The brewery also makes a coffee
stout to which Intelligentsia coffee is
added after the beer is aged in barrels.
In addition, Goose Island makes Night
Stalker, which is an Imperial stout that
features an extra charge of hops for an
aggressive, spicy and piney hop aroma, says
Hall. On the lighter side, Mild Winter is a dark
mild ale with a dark, tawny color, but with
mild flavor from the spiciness of rye malt.
Schmid says many microbreweries make
ales as opposed to lagers because they
are easier to make. The temperature they
are fermented at is higher, and there is a
quicker turnaround.
THE FUTURE IS DARK
Looking to the future, Perozzi says it is still
up to an educated bartender to point people
in the right direction. “Men really don’t know
more about beer than women do. Men have
a bravado about it, and many women are
intimidated by it. But, the people who need
to lead the way in the craft beer movement
are the restaurateurs.
“When the beer list expands, that’s when the
beer revolution will really be here. You don’t
have to have a huge list. Five nice beers with
different flavor profiles is what I want to see.”
“We’re looking at the
beginning of the ascent of
dark beer,” says Pera. “Now,
the really experienced
beer people are moving to
darker brews. The public
is a year to a year and a
half behind. In the future,
we’ll see more high-end
dark beers on menus.”
