Beer U! Valentine's Dinner Pairing

Homework

As part of his Beer Judge Certification studies, Ben is still deeply embedded in Garrett Oliver’s Brewmaster’s Table, which rhapsodizes about the transformative nature of food and beer pairings. So, naturally, as we approached Valentine’s Day, we decided to create our own special dinner centered around pairing food with NC craft beer.

Rebecca already had the main dish and dessert planned and all Ben had to do was come up with perfect beer pairings. Assignment accepted!

The Basics

Food and Beer Pairings

Smoked Chuck Roast: Foothills Brewing – “People’s Porter” English Style Porter

French Chocolate Mousse with Orange: Incendiary Brewing – “The Inception of Entropy” Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

Important NC Beer Explorer Tip: When consuming alcohol, always have a designated driver. Be safe out there, friends! Follow these simple tips for safer consumption.

Smoked Heaven

We began our pairing project with our main entree: smoked chuck roast. Before moving several years ago to the great state of North Carolina, we spent most of our lives in Texas. Now, we acknowledge that opening a BBQ discussion will ignite a heated controversy in our current native land; nevertheless, we admit we remain big fans of Texas-style smoked brisket. Nothing against pork BBQ! We’ve just maintained our love of bark-blackened, pepper-crusted tender slices with fat melted into a buttery richness that practically sighs under your fork. Yum!

We have an electric smoker that uses wood chips, and we really wanted to have our brisket and eat it, too. However, we’ve found good cuts of brisket in NC to be: A) hard to come by, and B) expensive when found. So, our Plan B was to use a high quality chuck roast and use a similar preparation and “low and slow” smoking process.

Rebecca had found a recipe online called Traeger Smoked Chuck Roast, and the blend of ingredients called to her. The rub includes chili powder, brown sugar and ground coffee. The resulting flavor notes we wanted to complement with a beer selection were smokey, herbal, spicy, and caramelized sweetness. We would also have well-distributed fat resulting from the slow-smoking treatment. (Note: Rebecca leans toward pecan or cherry wood for smoking – hickory or mesquite can be very intense, and here, we were seeking a milder smoke flavor.)

Get It Together

Ben recalled that, when we first moved to North Carolina, we visited City BBQ and had combo plates that included Texas Brisket, along with some Carolina pork BBQ. This meal was before our whole NC craft beer journey had begun, but Ben was on a dark beer kick at the time and tried Foothills Brewing’s People’s Porter, which went down beautifully with the Texas Brisket. Several years and a lot of education later, he realized he had lucked into an amazing food/beer pairing!

Here is a bit of background on porters. Porter is an English ale style that was popularized in London in the early 1800’s. The name came from its humble roots as a beer for the working class people including street porters and dockworkers. It is a brown beer with a restrained roasty and bitter character and a complex range of flavor notes including caramel, toffee, coffee, chocolate and mild roasty/smokiness. Later on, porters brewed with even darker malts were called “stout porters” – or eventually, just “stout.” (To learn more about stouts and porters, see our related article.)

Like so many old world beer styles, American craft brewers have their own interpretation of porters. These can range from hoppier, sweeter, or more coffee and/or chocolate focused. You may also see an American porter with oatmeal or another added adjunct. But Foothills People’s Porter is brewed in the English style. The flavor notes are understated and balanced.

Ergo, it was no surprise that People’s Porter paired very well with Rebecca’s Smoked Chuck Roast (see tasting notes below). The beer’s subtle malty sweetness was well-balanced with hop bitterness. The medium body and carbonation had a smooth and creamy mouthfeel. People’s Porter is a delicious, satisfying beer by itself, but the pairing made it really blossom. The coffee notes matched the rub, and the caramel, toffee, and malty flavors aligned with the sweetness and complexity of the roast’s bark. The roast’s smoke found an ally in the beer’s own roasty-smokiness, and the beer’s bitterness cut through the fat while the carbonation lifted it from the pallet, making way for the next wave of flavor.

"People's Porter" by Foothills Brewing paired well with a smoked chuck roast.

ChatGPT recreates a scene where Ben takes his favorite book into a taproom – which he regularly does.

Just Desserts

Chocolate Mousse with Orange is one of our favorite homemade desserts, and it is surprisingly simple to make and even low carb! But skilled preparation is key. The ingredients are luxurious, with dark chocolate, eggs, brewed coffee, salt, and orange zest. Rebecca likes to substitute Kahlúa™ (or any coffee/espresso liquor) for brewed coffee, just for more intensity and a bit of a kick. The trick is to add the liquor to the already melted chocolate – speaking of which, Rebecca says that it’s important not to overheat the chocolate to the point of becoming dry and cakey.

Pairing this dessert was pretty simple: it called for a Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout. “BBAS” has become a popular style for American brewers, and we reported last October how Seth Gross of Bull City Solera helped brew the OG of this beer style when he was at Goose Island Brewing a few decades back. (Note that Bull City Solera is temporarily closed – but you can enjoy all the same beers and wonderful food at Bull City Burger & Brewery).

We have recently enjoyed a romance with Incendiary Brewing’s multiple iterations of BBAS, so we visited the Raleigh Incendiary Brewing taproom location and talked to Savannah, the Taproom Manager. She gave us a couple of samples to taste, and we went home with a bottle of The Inception of Entropy. The Inception of Entropy (IoE) is a blend of stouts aged 3 years in Sazerac rye whisky barrels and 1 1⁄2 years in Buffalo Trace Eagle Rare barrels. It is an extravagant (14% ABV) beer, but like its Incendiary siblings, it manages to be huge and complex without being cloying or gimmicky.

It's easy to love this chocolate-orange mousse, especially when paired with "The Enception of Entrophy" by Foothills Brewing.

Lots to Love

Appropriate glassware and serving temperature are essential to all good tastings and pairings (we’ll explore this topic sometime). We poured out our stout into brandy snifters at 55º so we could observe its jet-black color and light covering of milk chocolate foam. The nose was raisins, chocolate, and bourbon, and as we sipped we tasted coffee, lightly charred oak, tobacco, vanilla. The mouthfeel was full-bodied with low carbonation and a creamy, lingering aftertaste that finished boozy and tangy, much like a glass of good sherry. With all its flavor notes and intensity, Inception of Entropy still managed to be highly drinkable. We attribute this to the absence of off notes and the subtlety and range of its flavor spectrum.

Rebecca’s chocolate/orange mousse and this beer were an explosively good match. Coffee and chocolate notes caressed each other, and the orange was somehow accentuated and made tangier by the beer. The creaminess of the dessert vaulted to a higher level in combination with the beer’s high gravity and smoothness. The combination finished with a distinct impression of fine dark chocolate and cognac truffles. Tasting this desert with this beer was – so far – one of the highlights of our NC Craft Beer journey.

One of the things we can appreciate about beer is its approachability and drinkability. You don’t have to be a connoisseur or get fancy with pairings to knock the cap off a cold one and quench your thirst. Beer is great for every occasion! But we will affirm that our Valentine’s dinner proved that excellent beer combined with fine cuisine can satisfy the pickiest of palates and achieve a match-made-in-heaven.

Smoked Chuck Roast a'la Rebecca paired well with "People's Porter" by Foothills Brewing.

NCBE's Beer Notes - Beer Pairing Dinner

• Foothills Brewing – People’s Porter

  • Style: English Porter

  • ABV: 5.8%

  • Color: Dark ruby red/brown

  • Aroma: Coffee, chocolate and herbal hops

  • Taste: Coffee, Chocolate, added toffee, char-smoke, espresso

  • Mouthfeel: Dry, medium body and carbonation, smooth and creamy

  • Aftertaste: Lightly bitter coffee/chocolate

  • Overall: Terrific tribute to the English style. Complex and highly drinkable

• Incendiary Brewing – The Inception of Entropy

  • Style: Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

  • ABV: 14%

  • Color: Black

  • Aroma: Raisins, chocolate, and bourbon

  • Taste: Raisins, chocolate, bourbon, coffee, lightly charred oak, tobacco, vanilla

  • Mouthfeel: Full body, low carbonation, creamy

  • Aftertaste: Boozy, tangy, sherry

  • Overall: An extravagant beer that is drinkable and pairs magically with chocolate desserts

What questions do you have about pairing beer with food?