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Holiday Beer Tastings
Wine lovers, move over. Beer is invited into the finest food pairings.
Story by SHANNON MONTSINGER-FAKE
Photography by MATT STANTON
We recently traveled to the home of Matt and Jennifer Simmons, co-owners of Richmond’s Capital Ale House, to learn the skill of pairing craft beer with the perfect food. Similar to coupling a fine wine with a specific food item, such as cheeses or meats, the beer-food relationship is evolving in our culture, the Simmonses said.
Beer enthusiasts like the Simmonses search for more than what the run-of-the-mill beer bar can offer a true beer connoisseur.
THE RISE OF CRAFT BEERS
“The people who appreciate good food and drink are the ones who are opening their eyes to beer. The stereotype of just having Budweiser and Schlitz for beer is going away,” Matt Simmons said. “The craft beer segment is growing like you wouldn’t believe. While beer sales are either flat or negative, craft beer is up 10 or 11 percent. So people are drinking better beers and are getting turned onto new and different things.”
With his partners – couples Michael and Linda Jones, and Chris and Rachel Holder – Simmons created Capital Ale House to bring people of the Richmond area a better variety of high-quality beer, from all over the country as well as the world. Their concept for the new beer haven was to “treat beer with a little more respect that we’d seen in the past,” he said.
THE PERFECT PAIRINGS
During the visit, we arrived to see various cheeses and meats paired with particular beers throughout the house. (see p. 44)
We discovered that a bleu cheese paired with JW Lees Harvest Ale, brewed in 2008 and aged in Lagavulin whiskey casks, went particularly well together. Also, Epic Brewing Company’s Brainless on Peaches, a Belgian-style ale with a very pronounced peach flavor, was wonderful with vegetables and some of your lighter fruit.
Rugbrod, which is a very bold, highly carbonate ale – also a Belgian-style beer – was a perfect match with the Terrine.
“Belgians do a lot of seasonal beers,” Simmons said. “[The beers are] highly alcoholic and they age very, very well. The more alcohol in a beer, the better it ages, and just like wine, the years mellow and smooth out a little bit and their character changes some.”
That evening, Simmons paired on one table Golden Monkey, made by Victory Brewing Company, with mini pork shanks and lamb chops; another table paired The Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest Lager, by Avery Brewing Company, with goat cheese and cured meat for a perfect taste.
HOLIDAY FAVORITES
As it is the holiday season, Simmons had on an outside table special and very rare beers, most of which had a holiday theme, that were paired with local sausages and cheeses from Belmont Butchery. They were Sam Adams Utopia, Samichlaus Bier from Austria, brewed in 2004, St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, Scaldis Noel, Cuvee De Noel from St. Feuillien, and Gouden Carolus Noel, brewed in 2005.
For the novice beer drinkers, Simmons hopes they come to parties like this or have friends who are beer enthusiasts. “It’s important for the people who aren’t beer enthusiasts, and who like only Miller Lite and Budweiser, to taste something that’s light but has a little more body, and gradually they’ll start tasting other beers,” Simmons said. “They can’t just come in and start tasting dark, heavy beers; they have to take baby steps and eventually the palate changes.”
Shannon Montsinger-Fake is a Richmond-based freelance writer.
Perfect Pairings
1. Hoja Santa: a goat cheese wrapped in chestnut leaves and tied with straw; creamy with a full fruity and woody flavor
Speck prosciutto: the king of Italian cured meats, made from the sculpted hind leg of a pig, delicately salted and aged till silky smooth and then smoked
Bread: Rosemary focaccia
Beer: The Kaiser, Avery Brewing Co.
2. Ossau Iraty: an ewe’s milk cheese that is creamy and buttery with flavors of nuts, fruits and herbs
Toscano salami: nice and peppery (but not hot), wonderful acidity, nice moist texture
Bread: Tomato pesto focaccia
Beer: Victory Golden Monkey
3. Comte: a decadent cheese that requires the most milk of any to produce, is aged and rubbed with salted water daily to produce a complex, nutty and caramelized flavor
Veal chipolata: Coarsely ground veal sirloin, mixed with chunks of pistachio and black truffles and seasoned with salt, white pepper and nutmeg; a very subtle and delicate sausage
Bread: Multigrain baguette
Beer: Gouden Caroulus Noel 2005 & 2010, Scaldis Noël and St. Fuillien Cuvee De Noel
4. Pont L’eveque: one of the world’s most ancient cheeses dating back to the 13th century, it is a very rich and soft cheese with a creamy and full-bodied flavor
Rabbit terrine: a coarse, aromatic terrine of marinated local rabbit with fried Spanish almonds and a fiery-red center inlay
Bread: Striatta baguette
Beer: The Bruery Rugbrod
5. Bleu d’Auvergne: the predecessor to Roquefort, Bleu d'Auvergne is strong. The taste is spicy with flavors of grasses and wild flowers
Duck terrine
Bread: Sourdough boule
Beer: 2008 JW Lee’s Harvest Ale aged in Lavagulin Whiskey Barrels
6. Evangeline: goat cheese paired with Virginia orange blossom honey, walnuts and cranberries
Beer: Liefman’s Cuvee Brut
ALSO SERVED:
Veggie and fruit trays – Epic Brewing mBrainless on Peaches
Smoked lake trout with melba
Maryland blue crab cakes with a lime tartar
Rosemary marinated lamb chops with a port wine and balsamic reduction
Assorted cupcakes and French and Belgian chocolate truffles
A special thanks to Belmont Butchery, de Rochonette Delights and The Desserterie
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