May 2016 – Supping Suds with Philosofiers

Dr. G and the Bear Save the World!! (…of Beer University)

Perhaps I should start by explaining the title a bit. World of Beer is a franchise business featuring craft beers and tavern food. It started in Tampa Florida about 9 years ago and has grown since to well over 50 locations throughout the US (though most of them are in the southeast in general and Florida especially). In Gainesville we now have two. The first was opened west of Gainesville, about half way between it and the city of Newberry, in the Tioga Town Center, about 3 or 4 years ago. It is a nice establishment with a great selection of beers.

But for me it has two major limitations:

It doesn’t serve food. But then that is not unusual with a lot of tap rooms in Gainesville. In fact World of Beer at Tioga does what a lot of Tap Rooms do and lets customers order food to be delivered from local businesses. So that alone would not keep me from going there.
It is pretty freakin’ far out for me to drive there! On a good traffic day it takes me at least 45 minutes to get there from where I live in Gainesville, but it can be an hour or longer. With all of the other choices available to me in town going there isn’t really practical unless I happen to be in the area, which doesn’t happen often. Also I could just as easily add a half hour to travel time and visit a brewery in Jacksonville, or an hour and visit one in Tampa or Orlando.

Given these limitations, I have only been to WoB in Tioga twice. I enjoyed myself both times but the drive back was too long. The only other time I go out to Tioga is when the Annual Hogtown Beerfest is being held. And I don’t need to stop in there then.

So when I heard a few months back that WoB was opening a location in town (a location previously occupied by Hooters), I was looking forward to the opening. And I have to say I was not disappointed.

We started the weekend a bit early on Thursday evening because the Blarneyman and the Cheerleader were visiting in town. So Thursday evening they, the Maestro, the Chemist, the Deck-orater and myself met up at Market Street for some Karaoke with Mr. October.

Friday after I got off of work, we all met up at Gainesville House of Beer for happy hour and I brought Tucker along so the Blarneyman could finally meet him. Both of those meetings (or as the Blarneyman calls it… Networking) went well and we enjoyed the company the craft beers and the philosphying, and I finished my 7^th RailCard at HoB.

Saturday afternoon, I was recovering from a miserable morning of trying to do outside chores and failing miserably all morning due to various circumstances. It seemed the universe didn’t want me to get any work around the house accomplished so I took that as a sign that I needed to go console myself with some fine ales. I started thinking about going to the new WoB as it had just opened earlier in the week. Now long after that thought entered my head, I got a text from the Doctor saying he was getting ready to head into town for beers and suggested WoB. Again the Universe was talking to me. Who was I to argue?

I eventually made my way there and found that, like the Hooters that was there before, the front entrance was kind of understated. But the entrance is only a small corner of the establishment, once you get inside then the atmosphere and the room opens up. Very nice furnishings and décor appropriate to the business and plenty of room inside and out on the patio. They even have a room that can be closed off for a private party.

I was greeted by a few staff members at the door who quickly offered to find me a seat, and then I saw the Doctor had arrived before me and said I was meeting friends who were here. The Maestro and the Blarneyman were also here and had put in a beer order already, while the Doctor was enjoying his.

The waitress came over, a young lady by the name of Ashley, who I introduced myself to and ordered my first beer of the day, a kolsch style from Coastal Empire Beer co., called Tybee Island Blonde. It has that nice kolsch flavor with a smooth finish.

It was early enough in the afternoon that Ashley was not overwhelmed with customers and she took the time to chat with us a bit. She also works at another establishment in town that sells craft beers which I have mentioned before. And she enjoys beer so we lucked out getting a waitress who not only has experience with our kind of customer but also knows the products well enough to recommend some of them to us.

While Ashley was not overwhelmed she did have other customers, so while she took care of their needs the four of us began doing what we do best, philosophying and supping suds. I found out that the Maestro and the Blarneyman would only be with us a short time that afternoon as they had a Gala to attend with their good ladies that evening… something at the Thomas Center that sounded like, as the Blarneyman would say, a very posh affair.

So we had another round of beers, this time I ordered a Hofbrau Maibock, which had a light caramel flavor with a smooth finish. And we resumed our philosophying. Then Ashley came back by and somehow the conversation got around to whether or not dogs were allowed in. Ashley told us that they were welcome on the patio and the Doctor showed her pics of Rowdy’s dog Harley, whom he frequently dog sits and takes to different establishments when she and the Cooler are away. Not to be outdone I produced pics of Tucker and got the “Oooh how cute!” remark for his pics. The Doctor told me to tell her about the hit squirrel and I proceeded to tell her the story about the cannibal hit squirrel that the other neighborhood squirrels had brought in to get Tucker (a tale for another blog).

After that round of beers was finished the Maestro and the Blarneyman headed out to change into their penguins suits and take their ladies to the gala, which left the Doctor and I to decide what we would do for a meal. Since we were already there and they actually served food at this establishment, we decided to sample some of the fare. We both ordered another beer while we looked over the menu, and this time I saw that they had a Weihanstephaner that I had not had before, so I ordered the 1516 which is a kellerbier (a type of German beer which is typically not clarified or pasteurized) which has a little cloudiness to the appearance due to a higher remainder of yeast in the beer. No matter how it is defined, like all of the Weihanstephaners, it is certainly delicious.

When she came back with the next round for myself and the Doctor, we put in our food orders. The doctor ordered a salad, a Spring Greens & Kale Salad, which looked good and he certainly seemed to enjoy it, along with a side of house fries. The Kale would hinder my enjoyment but the dressing was a vinaigrette made with a Framboise, which I would probably enjoy very much.

I ordered the Guinness Bratwurst, which is a bratwurst infused with Guinness, served with sauerkraut, sautéed onions & peppers on a hoagie roll, and I ordered a side of tator tots. Not the menu recommended pairing the dish with a stout, but they didn’t have a stout on draft that I hadn’t tried before so I looked of the bottle menu and saw they had a Strong Ale that I hadn’t tried yet. So I ordered it instead. And the Stone Brewing Arrogant Bastard Ale went perfectly with this dish, and was an excellent beer on its own as well.

After we had finished eating and were slowly enjoying our last beers, Ashley and another young lady walked over with a bell and a couple of T-shirts. The other young woman rang the bell loudly and Ashley called out, “Attention Everyone! I would like to announce that Dr. G and the Bear are now official members of our Loyalty Club!” with drew a little bit of applause from the other patrons. Then she handed us our tees and our respective membership cards.

Ok. This was not how we saved the World (…of Beer University). After the Maestro and the Blarneyman had left, but before we ordered our food both the Doctor and I started talking to one of the managers about what a great waitress Ashley was. We like to do that whenever we are at an establishment that has an employee that is good at their job. One reason is that when you come across an employee at an establishment you like you want to make sure they are around the next time you come you need to let the people in charge know their value. Another reason is we hope that gets back to the person we were talking about from their supervisor and helps make their day better.

But that wasn’t how we saved the World either. The Doctor mentioned that we were unable to check into Untappd on our phones. And the manager we were talking to hadn’t heard of untapped before. So we explained how the app works, how you can keep track of beers and rate them and find them when they are being served locally or how you can use the app to find a place locally as well.

Right before we were walking out the door to leave, he came up to us and thanked us for him letting him know about it, and that he had put the WoB University into their database so that it could be used as a location now. So for all of you beer geeks out there who use untapped and want to find WoB University or want to check in while you’re there… You’re welcome!

Okay… “Saved” may be a strong word for what we did. But everybody makes their own contributions when it comes to saving the world. You do it your way and we’ll do it ours!

… One beer at a time.

Papabear

The Art of Beer Pt 6 – Food Pairing (What Goes With What) – A Beer Pairing Dinner at the Top Restaurant

If you have read my other articles on the Art of Beer then you have read me quote my old wine tasting teacher and Sommelier, George Sternfels, when he said, “If you like the wine, drink the wine!”

Now when he said this what he meant was that taste is a very personal choice. How you, or I or anyone else tastes the exact same thing could be completely different. In the end what matters is that you like what you are drinking. He also commented on the general rule that reds are for pork or beef and whites are for fish or chicken. He said, “I have a preference for reds and if I’m eating fish I may not want a white, so I’ll order a red.” But he also knew that certain flavors complemented each other. Certain whites go along much better with a dessert than others, and some reds enhance the spice in a particular dish while others may cover it up.

The same is very true of beer, especially craft beer. But even ordinary American Style Lagers go better with some foods more than others. I can remember for years that I loved lagers with hamburgers or hot dogs or pizza, and of course pretzels, But I have never been able to drink beer while eating pasta without feeling all bloated and unable to do anything else after. You may have experienced the same problem, if not with pasta then with another food.

Now with the rise of craft beer and the multitude of flavors and styles that came with it the opportunity to find a beer that I can eat with pasta has come, not to mention all of the other food and beer combinations that are now available.

The one thing to remember is that when we combine all of these different flavors, what we are really doing is creating new chemical compounds that will react differently with each other. When you are tasting food, what is happening is the chemicals in the food are reacting with the chemicals on your tastes buds to activate certain flavor sensors in your brain. When you drink a liquid with that food then our taste buds are reacting again to a different chemical combination. That’s why when you drink water after eating really spicy-hot foods it makes it worse because the water is simply spreading the flavor around even more in your mouth, but if you eat cheese or drink milk this dissipates the heat from the spice and lets you continue with your eating.

Certain beers go better with spicy foods, and others complement sweet foods better. Some beers are too strong for chicken or fish, and others can’t stand up to beef or wild game.

Two excellent examples just happened recently. The first involves my own homemade marinara sauce. I like to use wine, preferably red, and a little honey in my sauce. This gives it a little sweetness and helps cut down on some of the acidity of the tomatoes. And the wine also imparts its own flavor into the sauce. I used a little bit of a bottle of Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva, which is a very fruity medium bodied Italian wine which I really enjoy. It was also one of the last bottles I purchased back when I was taking the above mentioned wine tasting classes from George and since he has since passed I had been holding onto it as long as possible. But it was a 2009 vintage and I wouldn’t be able to hold onto it too much longer so I decided to use it to make the sauce a few weeks ago and had the rest with dinner.

Now a couple of weeks later I had some leftover sauce that I took out of the freezer and served over a couple of veal parmesan patties. I had spent the day working in the yard and decided to treat myself to a rich dinner afterwards. I wanted to treat myself to a nice beer with dinner but wasn’t sure which to serve. I narrowed it down between two choices, Boulevard Brewing’s Sixth Glass, which is a very nice and smooth Belgian Quad, and Founder’s Brewing Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale, which is a great Scotch Ale. I decided that I want to go with one of these because they are both a little higher in alcohol and that might help bring out some of the wine flavor.

And since I was having a hard time deciding I decided to start the dinner with one and finish it with the other. I started with the Belgian, and was really pleasantly surprised at how well it paired with the homemade red sauce. I was right about the higher alcohol content bringing out the wine flavor of the sauce. But the hoppy flavors also complimented the veal and the sauce.

The Scotch Ale came next and like the Belgian, the higher alcohol content brought out the wine flavor, but the scotch flavor did not compliment the red sauce. It did not make the sauce taste bad, nor did the sauce affect the ale flavor, but they just didn’t pop like the Belgian/Red Sauce combination did.

Now, I will confess that I like both of these ales independently very much. I have been fortunate lately to come across some really good Belgians and have come to enjoy that style a lot more lately than before. And the Wee Heavy or Scotch Ales have been really outstanding in their own rights for the last couple of years. I also have to confess to a preconception going in that the Scotch Ale would fare better than the Belgian. I really like the products that have been coming out of Founders Brewing over the last few years and can’t remember one lately that I did not like. Generally speaking, while I really enjoy both styles I would have to admit leaning toward the Scotch Ale more than the Belgian.

But why, when pairing them with very tasty veal parmesan, did the Belgian pair better? And why did the Scotch Ale not pair so well with this dish when I really like that ale so much?

The second example also happened recently and involved a Beer Pairing dinner, hosted by the Top Restaurant in Gainesville, and featuring a line-up of some excellent beers from Founders Brewing, the same company that made the above mentioned scotch ale. If you’ve been in Gainesville very long then you must have been to the Top, And you are probably well aware of the fact that they can cook anything from a burger to a traditional gourmet dish with equal zest and triumph. It is probably one of the best restaurants in town, if not in the state of Florida.

Like some other Pairing dinners I have been to featuring wine, this was a five course dinner, with each course paired with a different flavor or style of beer from this particular brewery. They also had a welcoming beer to introduce you to what Founders is. And the beer they used for that was the All Day IPA, a really great smooth tasting IPA. The young lady who is the North Florida representative for Founders, I believe her name is Kelly, gave the dinner guests a brief history of Founders and how they came to be and with each beer style she gave a little background on how it came about.

After she did her intro they began bringing out the first course and the beer that would accompany it.

The first course was a Goat Cheese and Corn Soup with a Crab Beignet. And the beer paired with it was the recent release called Devil Dancer IPA. This IPA had a bit more hoppiness to it than the All Day, but it complimented the sweet and creamy flavor of the soup and the beignet very well.

The second course was a Fried Farmer’s Egg, Roasted red Pepper Butter Sauce, Asparagus and Micro Mizuna. It was paired with the Founders Mosaic Promise Single Hop Ale. I am not generally a big asparagus fan but I can eat it. But the red pepper sauce and the Farmer’s egg both helped it go down and the Mosaic helped bring out some of the spiciness of the pepper sauce.

The third course was Sweat Pea Ravioli with Tomato Confit and was served with Founders Curmudgeon Old Ale. I really like old ales and this is one of the better ones out there. And it complimented the flavors of the sweet peas and the tomato confit very well. And I did not get that full feeling from eating the pasta with a beer.

The fourth (and the main course) was a Pork tenderloin served on top of Smoked Gouda Grits with a Red Eye Jus and accompanied by Fava Beans. The paired beer was Founders KBS Bourbon Stout (Kentucky Breakfast Stout). It’s brewed with chocolate and coffee and aged in oak barrels for a year, and is very much worth the wait. And when paired with the dinner grew on me even more than before.

The oaky flavor complimented the pork and helped bring out the smoke gouda flavor in the grits. And the chocolate/coffee combo went really well with the red sauce.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, they brought out the dessert course. It was Toasted Coconut Panna Cotta, Pineapple & Mint Salsa, Grilled Pineapple and Mango, Mint Oil and Pina Colada Ice Cream. It was paired with Founders Mango Magnifico Fruit Beer. I have to say, normally I don’t like coconut in any form. The texture makes me want to gag, and the flavor reminds me of the texture. But this combination of flavors with the dessert, especially when paired with the mango beer was so excellent a combination that the texture didn’t even faze me.

I have to say if the opportunity comes again for another beer pairing dinner, either at the Top or featuring Founders beers, count me in!

But why did these beers from Founders all pair well why the Dirty Bastard I served with my veal parmesan at home not do so well?

The answer is Balance.

Certain flavors and interactions arise in certain styles of beer and these need to be counterbalanced in the food to complement each other.

For example, Hop Bitterness and Roasted Malt flavors and a higher alcohol content or carbonization balance well with sweetness, savory and fat content. That is why some of the heavy ales that have been brewed with bacon tasted well, or cooked well with it.

Sweet or Malty beers balance well against spicy foods or high acidity.

And Hoppy beers balance well against spicy foods.

So the reason the Belgian went well with my homemade red sauce and veal parmesan is that hoppiness and higher alcohol content helped to balance out the sweet and savory flavors I had working in the sauce.

While the heavy ale had the alcohol content to battle the flavors it had too much of the oakiness to blend well with the other flavors.

A friend from work, Steven, came with me to the dinner and he is not quite the beer connoisseur that I am. I don’t think he liked the Old Curmudgeon or the Mango Magnifico as much as I did, but he did agree that when he tried it with the food served with them that he liked them better.

So if there is a beer out there you don’t care for as much as you do others, there may be hope if someone has served an appropriate food flavor to go along with it.

But in the end, I’ll still stick with George’s advice with one caveat…

If you like the beer, drink the beer. If it doesn’t pair well, then change the food.

Papabear