Do Hoppy Beers Go Better With Spicy Food?

In writings and suggestions on pairing food with beer, it is often repeated that hoppy beers such as India Pale Ales are good pairings for spicy food. A couple of days ago I made a venison chili that had some kick to it and decided to put this claim to the test. I paired my chili with two beers: Bell's Hop Slam, an Imperial India Pale Ale that is hugely popular and quite hoppy, plus the Don De Dieu from Canada's Unibroue brewery that is a Belgian style golden ale and can be described as more malty than hoppy with a touch of sweetness.

Let me first say that I don't think there is such a thing as a "right" food pairing - if it works for you and you like it then go for it. But in this case I can say that the Don De Dieu was the winner hands down. To me the hoppy citrus/pine flavors from the Hop Slam was simply too much. It competed with the chili rather than complementing it. Plus it amplified the spice in what was already a spicy dish. The Don de Dieu, on the other hand, toned down the spice and refreshed my palate while the grainy and slightly sweet flavors added to the dish. My verdict: malty beers are better with spicy food. Try it for yourself and see what you think.

Looking For A Great German Oktoberfest Beer?

There's lots of Oktoberfest beers out there right now. With the season nearly upon us, there will be lots of parties and imbibing German lagers. There are some very good ones out there and we try to pick the ones we like the best. As it turns out, many of them are domestically made. One of our favorites is Bell's Octoberfest, brewed in Michigan.

As a special treat, this year we managed to get (in our opinion) the best German Oktoberfest you'll be able to find in Virginia, which is the one made by Ayinger in Bavaria. We've been selling Ayinger's hefeweizens and lagers for a while now, and their Oktoberfest is very true to the style. A fairly strong amber lager, it's somewhat malty and grainy with some hop bitterness and quite aromatic. Forget Beck's and the other big brands, this is the real deal. Available at both stores and the wine bar (by request).

09/09/09

Okay, today is the 10th, but I reckon it's not too late to point out another significance of 09/09/09 - it's the release date of Stone's Vertical Epic beer! Every year starting with 02/02/02, Stone Brewing Company releases a new beer in their Vertical Epic series. A vertical, in case you're not aware, is a tasting of multiples vintages of wine/beer/whatever. Stone's Vertical Epic will go through 12/12/12. If you're just learning of this and you're a beer fan, it's not too late to start! Pick up a bottle of the 09/09/09 to cellar and another to drink now! This year's beer is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale.

This is Why We Don't Carry Sam Adams

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/19/AR2009051900868.html

Koch's hospitality, however, won't prevent the inevitable. Perhaps as early as this year, and most likely by the end of the next, his fellow craft brewers no longer will regard him as one of their own. He'll be allowed to remain in the Brewers Association, the small-brewers' trade group, as an associate member, but his barrelage will be expunged from its statistics.

It's nothing personal.

The association defines a "craft brewery" as one that's small, independent and traditional, and "small" specifically means "annual production of beer less than 2 million barrels." Boston Beer shipped 1.992 million barrels last year.

My Favorite Beer For Spicy Food

Although I prefer wine with food in general, there are certain times that I turn to beer instead. One of those is with spicy food, especially Asian. I have tried many different beers with spicy food and the style I have found that consistently pairs well is Belgian Blond Ale. I often hear people recommending hoppy beers, like India Pale Ales, with spicy food. That's never worked for me. I find that strong hops flavors tend to dominate whatever you pair them with. In contrast the malty sweetness of Belgian ales in general is a great balance to the spicy and often salty flavors of various Asian cuisines.

Beyond that, I have narrowed it down to two in particular that I like the best. One is the Maredsous Blonde, an Abbey ale (meaning monks oversee the brewing process). Slightly darker than most blondes, it is an almost amber color. It has great complexity of flavor with notes of fruits, grains, bread and yeast, and floral aromas. Better in my opinion than the more popular Delirium Tremens ale.

The second is the blonde ale from Achel. Achel is an abbey ale brewed by one of the Trappist monasteries, an order of Benedictine monks. You may have heard of the more famous Chimay Trappist Ale, or possibly Westmalle. Achel tends to be harder to find as they don't brew as much. Their blonde is on the pricey side but really outstanding. You will be surprised by how strongly flavored this beer is for its light color. I had this last night with a noodle stir fry I made and it was delicious.

New Beers + A Rant Against Out of Season Beers

I don't care what time of year you drink your beers. Want a barleywine in the summer? Wheat beer in the cold? Fine. What I hate, though, is when breweries start pushing their seasonals out of season. You can now find spring seasonal beers in many stores, and it's the middle of February. That's ridiculous. I'm not naming names because they know who they are. I know why they do it: money. They want to get ahead of everybody else to get consumers excited about a new beer on the shelf. Meanwhile they defeat the whole purpose of having seasonal beer in the first place. Beer drinkers, help me out and refuse to buy newly released beer out of season if the beer specifically markets itself as a spring/summer/whatever beer. You will never see a seasonal beer show up at kybecca early. A few breweries that commendably do not pull this trick are Fredericksburg's own Blue & Gray, Dogfish Head, Bell's, and Troegs.

Now on to the new stuff. Do you like Hops? Do you like Belgian Ales? I think you know where I'm going with this. Green Flash brewery in San Diego has released Le Freak, which they bill as a combination of an Imperial Pale Ale and a Belgian-style Triple. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds intriguing.

Next, a new brand in Virginia! RJ Rockers beers are from South Carolina. We just brought in their Patriot Pale Ale and the Bell Ringer Strong Ale. Comes in the bottle and in 6 packs. They are good values too: the pale ale is $8.49 per 6 pack and the Bell Ringer is $9.49 per 6 pack.

And finally, making its return this year is Dogfish Head's Red and White. This beer is modeled on a strong Belgian white ale. The twist is that it is brewed with Pinot Noir juice and part of it is aged in Pinot Noir oak barrels. The result is a beer with subtle wine-like flavors. Really delicious and great with food as well.

Also new Belgian ales, new stuff from Lagunitas, and other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting.

My Favorite Beer

As many of you know wine is my area of expertise. For the most part I leave the beer to Matt and Kyle who do a great job of sifting through what's out there and bringing in only the best. I enjoy beer, and understand the legions who are devoted to craft beer, but I like having a beverage I don't have to think about too much. Wine is my thing.

However I have found a beer I really love (other than the Eggenberg Pilsner, which is my everyday beer), the Belgian brewed Biere De Miel which translates to beer of honey. It is made by Dupont who many of you will recognize as an excellent producer of Saison. The title is a little misleading because I think people may assume the beer is sweet, far from it. It is brewed with organic Belgian honey, but fermented until dry. The result is medium-bodied amber with floral and honey aromas. The hops are present, but not off-putting. I love it, it has turned into my go-to beer for pairing with a nice dinner, mostly medium weight fare like chicken on grilled salmon.

Curried Mussels in White Ale Paired With Bell's Hop Slam

That is one delicious-sounding title, and my dinner tonight. Our newest addition to the food menu at our wine bar is the curried mussels, a lightly spicy Asian-style broth with plenty of richness. We use the Floris Wit bier to make it and serve it with crusty baguette.

Now that Bell's has come out with the Hop Slam we have the perfect beer pairing. There is a touch of sweetness to balance the hops in this beer, and most likely one of the reasons it is so well liked. That bit of citrus, hops and sweetness makes a perfect pairing with the curry and Asian spices we use.

Gueuze - the Champagne of Beers

Let's start by pointing out the bleeding obvious: Miller High Life is not the Champagne of Beers. There is, however, a type of beer that does qualify for that title, and that is Gueuze beer from Belgium. Gueuze is a type of Lambic beer. You may already be familiar with Lambic beers because they are often blended with fruit juice and in this form sell very well. Lambic beers are not necessarily always mixed with fruit juice though. They are a type of ale brewed with a mixture of barley and wheat and undergo spontaneous fermentation, which is what sets them apart from other beer. Most beers are brewed using yeast cultures. Spontaneous fermentation is when you expose the beer to the elements and wild yeast ferments the beer for you. This technique is used sometimes in winemaking with what are known as natural wines. If you saw a Lambic brewery you would probably find it pretty dirty. This is intentional, because if you keep your brewery spic and span you kill off all those wild yeasts. You in effect have to create your own ecosystem in your brewery. This makes it a delicate process. Several American brewers have tried and failed to replicate the style.

Which brings us back to Gueuze. Geuze is a special type of Lambic. It is a blend of older Lambic beers which are rounder with high acid, tart young lambic. Like Champagne, it is refermented in the bottle to create the carbonation. In fact, it often comes in Champange-like bottles. These beers are amazingly complex. They are higher in acidity than most beers making them excellent with food. The flavors are somewhat wine-like with a tart fruitiness, a long finish and even some minerality. In other words, my kind of beer. If you are a beer lover and you have not tried these you are really missing out. Gueuze, in my opinion, is probably the most interesting and sophisticated of all beers. And at a fraction of the price of Champagne, you can have a Champagne-like experience (almost) without spending so much money. While it doesn't quite reach the heights of truly great Champagne, I will say without qualification that a bottle of Geuze (usually around $12-$20 for 750ml) is better than nearly any wine you could get for the same price.

Yes, they are available at kybecca. You can buy the beauty in that picture for $11.99.

New Beers This Week

Okay, the new year rush is over and now I have time to sit at the computer and tell you about what's new in the beer world, or at least kybecca's beer world. I've got some returning beer and some new beer to tell you about.

First, the returns. Dogfish Head has released their once-per-year Fort in 750ml bottles. Fort is the world's strongest fruit beer. It's brewed with loads of raspberries. It's not like some other fruit beers, such as some lambics, that blend the fruit juice after fermentation. The raspberries go in during the brewing process so the beer is not as sweet as other fruit beers. The abv is a massive 18%, making it almost port-like. This beer can be cellared and will age well for up to 20 years, but if you don't feel like waiting that long it tastes good now.

Next to return is the St. Victorious Doppelbock from Victory Brewing Company in Pennsylvania. This beer was made Pennsylvania only last year much to the disappointment of many customers. Now it's back, and better yet they, and by extension we, lowered the price!

On to the new. We have a very interesting new beer from France from a Brasserie Mont Blanc. The beer is called Verte, which means green, and is appropriate because the beer is in fact green. This is because it is brewed with Genepi, a family of herbs some of which are related to wormwood, also found in Absinthe. This one is for the adventurous only.

Last is a beer I tried to get before but the distribution did not reach our area. This is the Full Nelson Pale Ale from the Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton, Virginia. I think we'll be seeing more from this brewery in the future as Virginia made beer becomes more popular.

New Beers This Week

A couple of new beers recently arrived for those of you always looking for something new to try. First up is a beer new to Virginia from Southern Tier brewery in New York. It's called Choklat and it's a stout brewed with, you guessed it, chocolate. But it's not just any chocolate stout. Click here to see what people on beeradvocate.com have been saying about it. Apparently (I say that because I haven't had a chance to taste it yet) it's one of the best chocolate stouts you can get.

Next up is another once-per-year release from Dogfish Head, the Olde School Barleywine. A barleywine is a type of strong malty ale. The style is British in origin, but the American versions are different enough to warrant their own style. True to Dogfish Head form, this one is particularly strong, with an abv of a whopping 15%. Tastes good now, but of course you can age these for years.

Both of these are in very limited quantity so I can't guarantee how long they'll be available.

Stop by either store on Saturday to taste the Southern Tier Choklat!

New Beers - Lots of American Craft Brew and Something Special From Belgium

We have loads of new beers in for you to try this week, including a couple of rarities.

We'll start with the best first. We managed to get a limited quantity of the De Dolle Oerbier Special Riserva from Belgium. Oerbier is the fall seasonal from De Dolle brewers (although it usually gets here around winter). The regular oerbier isn't easy to get, but this one is even harder. It's the regular oerbier (which is a Flemish ale) aged in oak barrels. This beer doesn't even come around every year so get it while you can if you're a fan of Belgian ale. Pictured right is the regular Oerbier, I don't have a picture of the Special Riserva, but it looks like that but with a silver label.

From there we have lots of new or reappearing American craft brews. From Richmond's Legend Brewing Company we have the Chocolate Porter and the Belgian-style Tripel. From New York's Southern Tier Brewery there's the Krampus Imperial Helles Lager, which is one of their winter seasonals and is basically a very strong lager. Back again from San Diego's Stone Brewery is the Double Bastard, the big brother to the well-known Arrogant Bastard.

We also have an interesting beer from the Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, NY. For those not familiar with this brewery, they specialize in Belgian-style ales and do it just as well as the Belgian breweries. We got a very small quantity of one of their once-per-year beers called Chocolate Indulgence. It's a Belgian-style stout brewed with lots of Belgian chocolate. Good stuff.

Also rolling in are the Christmas beers such as Delirium Noel, Gouden Carolus Noel, and Penn Brewery Christmas Bock, among others. Plus other new stuff I don't have time to mention. If you haven't been in for a while come check it out.

New Beers This Week

We have some great stuff for those of you looking for something new to try. First, we received a very limited quantity (actually the only quantity at all in this area) of the Southern Tier Cuvee Series 1. Southern Tier is a brewery based in upstate New York whose other beers we have carried for a while now. The Cuvee series is a one-off set of beers they are brewing that are aged in oak casks. Series #2 comes out later this year and #3 next year. Series #1 is aged in French oak and actually gets flavors from the oak, especially vanilla and coconut, rather than tasting like wood. It's rich and creamy and hides its 11% abv well. Get one and split it with a friend.

Next is the winter seasonal from New Holland Brewery called Cabin Fever brown ale. A rich brown ale to savor on the colder days ahead. Now that Halloween is behind us the winter beers are starting to appear.

Which leads me to the next beer, Bell's Winter White. We had this one last year. It's a Belgian White Ale (same style as Blue Moon, although this one is way better), which is usually a summer beer but Bell's decided to make a more robust version of the style and sell it as a winter ale.

Attention Dogfish Head Fans: Very Limited Quantity of Their Newest Available at kybecca

We just received a very limited allocation of the newest from Dogfish Head - the Theobroma. This one is another of Dogfish Head's attempts to recreate an ancient beverage. According to the brewery, "This beer is based on chemical analysis of pottery fragments found in Honduras which revealed the earliest known alcoholic chocolate drink used by early civilizations to toast special occasions. The discovery of this beverage pushed back the earliest use of cocoa for human consumption more than 500 years to 1200 BC. As per the analysis, Dogfish Head’s Theobroma (translated into 'food of the gods') is brewed with Aztec cocoa powder and cocoa nibs (from our friends at Askinosie Chocolate), honey, chilies, and annatto (fragrant tree seeds). "

Here's the deal on this beer: No holds, limit of 2 per customer. Also, it's only available at the William Street store.

Attention Beer Lovers: La Bière de France est Arrivée

We just received a batch of beer from France. Why is this special? Because French beer other than Kronenberg is very difficult to find. Not only that, but what a lot of people don't know is that France is one of the world's greatest beer producing countries. France is like Ireland - it makes great beer but other than the big brands you never see it here. A wine importer (originally from France) that we work with noticed this and decided to import some beer himself.

I have had the chance to taste some of these beers and was pretty impressed. I was expecting the beer to taste just like Belgian ale. Not so! These beers are not as malty as Belgian ales and have other special qualities. One thing I noticed about all of them was a strong floral quality that was very attractive. Here is a description of each:

Brasserie Bourguignonne Ambree - This craft brewery is located in Burgundy, better known as a place that makes the world's best Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. This amber ale has much of the floral characteristics I mentioned, is very soft and subtle on the palate but very complex.

Mandrin Biere au sapin - This beer is brewed with pine needles. Now before you make a face and go 'yuck', let me explain. My expectation was that the beer would taste like pine resin, but it didn't at all. It was very floral in an unusual but delicious way that I can't quite put my finger on. This one is for the beer lovers who think they've tried everything.

Brasserie D'oc La Mouska - This is an ale brewed with Muscat grapes. The Muscat gives it some sweetness and intense fruit flavors. I had this last night and it is amazingly delicious.

St. Rieul Grand Cru - A "Tripel" style ale, much like the Belgian variety. If you like Chimay or Tripel Karmaliet you really must try this.

La Sancerroise au Gruyt - From Brasserie Sancerroise, located in Sancerre in the Loire Valley, a place better known for making amazing Sauvignon Blanc. This dark ale is a secret recipe based on a medeival brew made with herbs and spices.

By the way, did I mention that these beers have never been imported into the U.S. before? The La Mouska and Mandrin au Sapin will be open for tasting at both stores this Saturday starting at noon.

UPDATE: I tried the St. Rieul Tripel last night. Wow! That is one of the best Tripels I've ever had. Right up there with Tripel Karmaliet. Very well balanced, malty but not overly sweet.

Returning Beers This Week

Those of you who were wondering where the Blue and Gray Borman's Belgian went, well, the brewery was working on seasonals. But they've brewed a new batch and it's back (already in at Plank Road, will be available at William Street from Friday). If you haven't had it, this is Fredericksburg's local brewery's version of a Belgian ale. It just came in today so I haven't tried one from this batch, but I'm told by master beer judge Lyle Brown that it's a bit hoppier this time and the brewers did a great job. I can't wait! Oh, and the only place you can buy this other than the brewery is kybecca. David, I hope you don't mind me ripping off this picture you took of the beer.

Also back in is the always popular Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, another pumpkin beer for you to try. Dogfish Head uses real pumpkin in their version, rather than a bunch of spices and nothing else. Available in 4 packs or by the bottle. Better get it while it's around, because once it's gone it's gone until next year.

New, Bigger Beer List at the Wine Bar Plus New Beers This Week!

We are excited to tell you that due to popular demand we have greatly increased our beer offerings at the wine bar (still a lot of wine, of course). We now have 25 bottles available. Some of the highlights include:

- Dogfish Head 90 Minute and 120 Minute IPAs. The 120 Minute is especially exciting because this beer is not very easy to get.

- Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout. Do you love Chocolate Stouts? You should definitely try this. A True dessert beer.

- Affligem Tripel. A must for Belgian Ale lovers. This beer won the gold medal for its style at the 2008 World Beer Cup.

So now you beer lovers don't have to pick from just a few bottles, we have something for everybody here.

Also, a couple of new seasonals are in for retail. First is Bell's Octoberfest. I took a pass on this one last year, but was told that this year was much better. They were right! This beer is better than any of the German Oktoberfest imports I've had. It really tastes like Autumn.

Second is a very interesting beer. Last year I had a lot of people ask me if I had any Holloween-themed beers and I really didn't. This year we have the Coney Island Freaktoberfest. It pours a deep red color and has a big malty flavor with a nice dose of hops as well. This one will be perfect for your Halloween party. Just look at that logo! Plus the alcohol content is 6.66%.

The Real Ale Movement

Interesting article I found on the real ale movement in Britain. Traditional British cask-ales are becoming more popular even while overall beer sales are falling. This matches the trend in this country for increasing interest in craft beers and microbrews while sales of the major brands fall.

What this means, I think, is that more and more people are realizing that beer (and wine) is about the taste, it is not merely an alcohol delivery medium. This is also part of a broader trend of the improvement in the American (and British) palate. You can see it everywhere. Coffee, for example, is generally better than it was 15 years ago. Wines from smaller wineries have cracked the market where before the mass-producers were dominant. Cooking shows on television are more popular than ever and people are beginning to discover it's worth it to spend a little bit more on better ingredients.

Anecdotal evidence also shows that the movement to drink better beer could have a beneficial side effect - less drunkenness. Better ale is more expensive so it discourages buying and consuming in large amounts and encourages people to buy based on flavor rather than "value" (which is really code for saying you get more alcohol for your money). As the guy quoted in the article put it, "Nobody likes a lager lout, but have you ever heard of a real-ale lout?"

New Beers This Week

If anybody is looking for something new to try, here is some stuff that just came in:

Oktoberfest is closer than it seems, and some of these beers are starting to come in. Right now we have Hofbrau Oktoberfest from Germany and Victory Fest from Victory brewing company in Pennsylvania. Victory Fest is probably my favorite. People will tell you that no American brewery can make an Oktoberfest beer as good as the German ones, but these people are wrong. Victory Fest is better than most of them, even in Germany.

Arriving unexpectedly early is the Weyerbacher Imperial pumpkin ale. There was a shortage of pumpkin ales last year, and we hope that doesn't happen again. Weyerbacher's is one of the best.



Next is the Brooklyn Local 1 from the Brooklyn Brewery. This beer is a Belgian-style ale that doesn't neatly fit into any particular category. It tastes like a cross between a saison and a tripel. It's also 100% bottle fermented - they put the beer in flat with some yeast and let the magic begin.

Hey Dogfish Head Fans...

We just got in a shipment of the Palo Santo Marron, the newest beer from Dogfish Head brewery. The last time I got this it sold out in about a week, and I had to tell some disappointed people that the brewery just didn't have enough at the time to satisfy demand. Now they have brewed more, but I can't promise how long it will be around, so act quickly. Available at both stores.

For those of you who are not familiar with this beer but are now interested, Palo Santo Marron is a strong brown ale aged in Palo Santo, a type of wood from Paraguay. I had the privilege of tasting it the first go round, and found it strong but well balanced. You could cellar this for a couple of years as well.