A gourmet dinner paired with fine wines sounds appealing to most diners. But the idea of pairing that same dinner with beer would have many people scratching their heads -- or turning up their noses.
Garrett Oliver, the head brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery and one of the foremost experts on beer and food pairing is working to change many people’s limited appreciation of beer, one finely crafted batch at a time.
“Beer is the most popular fermented beverage in the United States by far,” Oliver says. “What we’re trying to do is re-introduce beer as something interesting that can work wonders with food.”
Oliver is taking artisanal beer to new heights with high-profile events like the recent dinner at Thomas Keller’s restaurant, Per Se, in New York City that showed the beautiful synergy created when elegant cuisine is paired with the right beers from Brooklyn Brewery.
Diners paid $350 per person for a seven-course repast that included butter-poached Nova Scotia lobster paired with Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse, a German style beer made with malted wheat that offers hints of clove and banana. A dessert of dark chocolate Mud Cake and a caramel parfait was matched with Oliver’s Black Ops, a Russian style stout beer that offers flavors of dried figs, espresso and chocolate.
American craft beer seems like a new trend, but Oliver explains that America once had the most vibrant beer culture in the world, with 4,000 breweries around the nation making ales and lagers that echoed those found in Belgium, Germany and Czechoslovakia.
But as America became more corporate in the post war era, many small breweries closed. And beer lost much of its personality and flavor.
“The same thing that happened to ... American food happened to beer,” Oliver says. “It’s been made into a very dull, mass market and flavorless product.”
The liquid most Americans think of as beer has the same relationship to real beer that Wonder Bread has to a crusty levain loaf or that Kraft American Singles have to English farmhouse cheddar.
The Queens, New York native might have remained among the unenlightened, had he not gone to England to manage rock bands after graduating from college. The beers he tasted in London pubs changed his life.
“Once I had spent time in England, I realized that beer had an amazing range of flavors and it was delicious and fascinating,” he says.
Hooked on flavorful beers, he started dabbling in making his own beers at home. He eventually started brewing beer with Manhattan Brewing Company in 1989 as an apprentice and became the brewmaster in 1993. Oliver attracted a following with his distinctive beers and his engaging articles and speeches on the subject. When Brooklyn Brewery was founded in 1994, he came on board as a partner and head brewmaster.
Food and beer pairing is his specialty, and he explores the subject in depth in his book The Brewmasters Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food which can be found on Amazon.com.
Sommeliers may argue, but Oliver says beer is much more complex in its flavors, making it a superior match for a wide range of foods. Beer can be brewed with grains including barley, wheat, rye and oats that can be toasted or roasted to give them a different flavor. Beer makers choose special yeasts that add particular flavors to the beers. They can add fruit like lemon, raspberry or orange peel and spices such as hops, cinnamon and coriander.
“Wine is always made from grapes,” Oliver says. “Beer has a much wider range of flavors than wine does; it’s not even close.” His latest is a beer called the Manhattan Project that was crafted along with cocktail historian and writer David Wondrich. The beer is blended with rye, the same spices in red vermouth and cherry - all the components of the Manhattan cocktail.
When people come to visit Brooklyn Brewery during their weekly tasting day and experience the subtle bitterness and malty flavor of their seasonal Oktoberfest beer, Oliver thinks he’s on the right track.
“What we’re doing is getting our food culture back and beer is a part of that phenomenon.”
Oliver shares some of his favorite beer and food pairings for Cuisine Noir readers to try.
Mexican food
India Pale Ales (IPA) beers have slightly bitter, hoppy aromas that are good with bright spicy flavors, like and cilantro. If you’re having a dish with smoked chiles, mole, dry a Double Bock, a soft round German style beer with a bready flavor.
Brands to look for: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale
Sushi
Wheat beers (aka witbier or Hefeweizen) have light elegant flavors with notes of spice and orange peel that shine with sashimi and sushi rolls.
Brands to look for: Brooklynerweiss, Hitachino Nest, Sierra Nevada Kellerweis, West Hand
Soul food
The rich flavors of soul food and grilled meats are well matched by the smoky chocolate, coffee and caramel flavors in a brown ale, an American style invented at Brooklyn Brewery.
Brands to look for: Brooklyn Brown Ale, Full Sail Nut Brown Ale, Indian Brown Ale
For more information about Brooklyn Brewery and beer pairing, visit www.brooklynbrewery.com
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