Christmas day is now less than a week away, and as the craft beer industry continues to grow more and more people will be reaching for beers this year. Whether you’re looking for the right beer to complement your meal or just something tasty to sip while the kids open presents, you’ve come to the right place. With Christmas traditions varying greatly from place to place, I’ll do my best to suggest versatile beers that are widely available so this is as useful to as many people as possible.

I know you’ve been waiting all year for this, so let’s get to it.

Before the Meal

For a pre-meal beer – what some would call an aperitif – you should look for something crisp, clean and refreshing to whet your appetite. You can definitely dip into some hoppy and/or tart beers here, but nothing too crazy.

Pilsners are a classic style that fit the bill for this, and no, I’m not talking about Miller Lite. There are several great examples of pilsners on the market today:

• Pilsner Urquell, if you can get it fresh, is an iconic example
• Victorys Prima Pils is a bit of a hoppy-er take on the style.
• Noble Pils by Sam Adams is another solid option.

All three of these are widely distributed, and all are tame enough that you could knock back a few before dinner without having to worry about keeping your forehead off the table.

As an alternative keep an eye out for Bell’s Winter White Ale, a Belgian Witbier that Bell’s brews as a winter seasonal. While not quite as light and clean as a pilsner, it’s still light enough to drink before dinner, and the fruity flavors of Witbiers are generally a crowd pleaser.

With the Meal

Now, if your Christmas dinner table is anything like mine, there’s gonna be a lot going on. Since meats are usually the centerpiece I’m going to focus on this aspect of the meal for both your sanity and mine. Many of the most common Christmas cuts – roast beef, roasted chicken, turkey, and roasted pork – will all be complemented nicely by a good Oktoberfest, which you should still be able to find on the shelves.

• Ayinger and Paulaner are two classic German takes on the style that you can’t go wrong with.
• Victory Festbier is an outstanding example of the style by a great American brewery.
• Brooklyn Oktoberfest is another good Oktoberfest from a renowned American brewery.

English Bitters and English Pale Ales will satisfy those looking for a somewhat more hoppy option, and also tend to complement the traditional Christmas dishes well.

• Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome Ale is a great winter seasonal that fits the bill. Although it’s technically classified as a Winter Warmer, it drinks a lot like an English Pale Ale, and would work well with your Christmas dinner.
• Fuller’s London Pride is an excellent, widely available English Pale Ale.
• Rogue Younger’s Special Bitter is a good US-made version of an English Bitter, as is
• Goose Island Honker’s Ale.

Finally, I’ve separated ham out from the rest of the meats above because it’s often prepared as a much sweeter dish, and thus calls for a little different pairing approach. The Oktobefests will still pair nicely with ham, although the hoppier beers might not be as compatible. Instead you can try an Irish Stout (Guinness, duh), a Belgian Tripel (I like La Fin Du Monde and Chimay White) or a Belgian Strong Golden Ale (Duvel is the standard for the style).

Dessert

Dessert is a great opportunity to feature some bigger beers, and all of the beers listed here can be enjoyed either by pairing them with something or on their own as digestifs. Most desserts, including apple pie, pecan pie, cheesecake, fruit tarts, and cookies will all be nicely complemented by a big sweet and full bodied Imperial Stout:

• Founders Breakfast Stout is an American Imperial Stout that features intense coffee/espresso flavors.
• North Coast Old Rasputin is a Russian Imperial Stout with prominent chocolate and hoppy flavors.

If pumpkin pie is on the menu a spiced seasonal is a good match. Although it’s a broad category and not all are spiced, a good option here is a Winter Warmer:

• Great Lakes Christmas Ale is world renowned as one of the best Christmas Ales out there, and while it may not be available to everyone, you should try it if you can get it. This is my personal favorite around the holidays, and what I will be sipping after Christmas dinner.
• Sam Adams Old Fezziwig  is another option for a spiced winter beer if you can’t get Great Lakes.

I’ve done my best to make this as comprehensive as possible while keeping it relatively brief. If you have more specific questions feel free to drop a comment below and I’ll do my best to get back to you. I relied heavily on The Brewmaster’s Table by Garrett Oliver to help with this article, and I would strongly suggest it to anyone interested in craft beer, and especially in pairing beer with food.

Merry Christmas!

Dave Stokley is the author of the beer review blog Behind The Brews, where his goal is to tell you more about the beer and the people who brew it than you ever wanted to know. He has been a craft beer fanatic since his first sip of Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold, a hophead since his epiphany with Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, and an avid homebrewer since his wife bought him his first homebrew kit (her biggest regret in life).

I came across this video this morning put out by Bonefish Grill which has Tim Curci (founder of Bonefish Grill) doing an interview at Pike Brewery in Seattle, WA with Charles Finkel. It’s a great interview where they talk about everything from craft beer and prohibition to beer & food pairings.

Check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post by Sara Kahn. If you would like to contribute a guest post to BlogAboutBeer.com, please contact me.

Imagine my surprise at the results of one of our recent surveys of gourmet cheese lovers: men overwhelmingly preferred wine (73%) over beer when enjoying cheese. I suppose this shouldn’t be so shocking given how much attention wine is paid when discussing food and beverage pairings in the media and at restaurants. Besides, haven’t we been culturally conditioned to embrace wine and cheese as a copacetic culinary combination much like we have peanut butter and jelly? Perhaps cheese eaters don’t realize that beer just may be the better beverage choice.

Beer, like wine, has something in common with cheese. All of these products are pastoral and crafted using traditional methods that date back centuries. Wine, beer and cheese speak of a particular culture, a place and a time. The connection between beer and cheese is particularly strong since the animals milked for cheese ate the grains used for brewing beer. It’s possible that your nose and palate may pick up similar flavor profiles. Putting aside their natural affinity, perhaps the most important reason to pair beer with cheese is that the carbonation and brisk qualities of beer refresh the mouth and wash away the tongue-coating richness of the cheese. Simply put, they taste good together.

We have all heard of wine and cheese parties but what about beer and cheese parties? As a beer lover, I am sure you’ll want to join me in spreading the gospel of this pairing perfection but may not know where to begin when it comes to selecting the right combinations. Take a look at the Gourmet Cheese and Beer Pairing Guide below for guidance. You’ll see how easy it is to serve a cheese course with your favorite brew. For best results, just add friends and family.

Gourmet Cheese and Beer Pairing Guide

A cheese course is about observing and enjoying contrasting and complementary flavors. For a foolproof cheese course, select 3 – 5 cheeses that vary in texture and flavor (see the list below). Add some crusty bread, fresh or dried fruit, olives and nuts and voila!

When choosing the right beer pairing, there are no hard and fast rules. It’s important that your selections don’t overwhelm the cheese and vice versa. Essentially, you’ll want to match beer and cheese of the same intensity level. Just remember “like for like”.

Fresh and Bloomy Cheeses – Fresh cheeses are not aged and usually are white and light in flavor, smooth and sometimes tangy. Try chevre (goat cheese) or feta. Encased in a whitish, edible rind, bloomy cheeses are often velvety, gooey with a mild flavor. Add Brie, Camembert or Pierre-Robert to the cheese board for a decadent treat.

Beer Pairings – The light citrus character of White and Wheat Beers marries well with the lactic tang of fresh cheeses. Pilsner, with its balanced flavor and mildly bitter finish, washes the palate of creamy, bloomy cheeses.

Washed Rind – AKA “Stinky Cheeses”. During the aging process, washed-rind cheeses are usually bathed in a brine or washed with liquor such as wine, beer or a spirits. It’s this brining process that gives the cheese an aromatic quality. Almost all have orange or reddish hued rinds. Not mild and not sharp, washed rind cheeses are full-flavored. Give Taleggio or Epoisses a taste.

Beer Pairings – India Pale Ale and Trappist beers have enough gusto to stand up to the power of these cheeses.

Aged, Hard Cheeses – As cheeses matures, it hardens and concentrates in flavor. Look for 2 Year (or older) Cheddar, Aged Gouda and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Beer Pairings – A pint of English ale is the traditional beverage of choice for Cheddar. The nutty and caramelized flavors of aged Gouda and Parmigiano match well with brown ales.

Blue – The bluish-green veins give blue cheese its punch. Listed from strong to strongest in pungency are creamy Gorgonzola, nutty Stilton and salty Roquefort.

Beer Pairings – Intense cheeses like blues can be tamed with sweet, fruity beers. For a unique treat, try a raspberry flavored beer like Belgian Lambic with blue cheese for dessert.

About Sara Kahn:

Even though her passion for gourmet cheese was undying, Sara Kahn found shopping for it to be overwhelming, time consuming and confusing. She established The Cheese Ambassador to offer a simple way to select and serve the world’s finest cheeses either for home entertaining or as a unique cheese gift. By providing the perfect combination of exquisite cheese along with a comprehensive cheese course guide, enjoying gourmet cheese is now a deliciously enriching experience.

Needless to say, I’m a big advocate of beer rather than wine ’round the Thanksgiving dinner table. And I’ve written about it at Thanksgiving time every year the blog’s been around (last year’s post here). And the fact remains, if you want to wax traditional this holiday, than wine has no place at the Thanksgiving feast. The Pilgrims, after all, drank tankards of ale with their meal. It’s even been suggested that the reason the colony ended up where it did was because the Pilgrims had run out of beer and needed to set up shop somewhere quickly so they could begin brewing more. William Bradford, the father of American Thanksgiving, is oft quoted as writing,

“We could not now take much time for further search [for an ideal destination,] our victuals being much spent, especially our beer.”

To that end, the folks at SeriousEats.com have come up with a list of what they believe to be the perfect beers for your Thanksgiving meal this year. While it’s definitely an article worth your time, I’ve personally only had a few of the brews on their list but it sounds like they did pretty extensive research (poor them) to whittle down the list and have very good reasons and explanations for choosing the beers they did. Their recommended Thanksgiving beers:

• Bière de Garde (Southhampton Brewery)
• French Style Country Ale (Two Brothers)
• Ashland Amber (Caldera Brewing)
• Singel Ale (Witkap Pater)
• Kerberos Tripel (Flying Dog)
• 2° Below (New Belgium)
• Frambozen (New Belgium)
• Levitation Ale (Stone Brewing)

Personally, I’ll be choosing a bottle of Allagash Fluxus ’09 to accompany my Thanksgiving feast. The beer having been brewed with black pepper, sweet potatoes, I think it will compliment my meal nicely, provide a little bit of a palate-cleansing bite (from the black pepper) and enough backbone (from the malts and the yams, which add significant body) to stand up to the hearty Thanksgiving dishes. What beers will you be drinking this holiday?

It’s always great to see beer & cheese pairing discussed in the mainstream news, as it’s certainly still an up-and-coming notion in much of the mainstream world. So I was psyched to find an article on the topic a few days ago in the Wall Street Journal, of all places.

The article, entitled “Trouble Brews for Wine; Cheese Chooses Beer” (how great is that?!), highlights the inroads made by beer at a recent event in Piedmont — a northern Italian region which shares a border with another country known for both its cheese and its wine, France — hosted by nonprofit Slow Food entitled Cheese 2009. According to the WSJ,

Alberto Farinasso, events coordinator for the fair, says Slow Food is eager to give more attention to artisanal brews, and has elevated beer’s role from bit player to supporting actor. In previous editions of the fair, beer was present, but wine was recognized as the default partner for cheese tasting.

This time, the fair’s program and the crowds around the beer stands made it clear that beer no longer plays second fiddle to wine. Of 37 “taste workshops,” six were dedicated to pairing beer with cheeses. On Monday, the last day of the fair, one section dedicated to artisanal beers had to shut down because it had run out of beer to sell.

Of course the end of the article highlights some of the wine snobbery still present in very cheese-centric parts of the world,

“Have you ever seen anyone drink beer in Bordeaux?” asks Emeric Sauty de Chalon, president of 1855, France’s largest online wine shop. Mr. Sauty de Chalon agrees that the most flavorful cheeses have a flavor that is too strong for some red wines, but doesn’t think beer and cheese is necessarily the right alternative.

“With some lower quality cheese, why not?” he says. “But with the most high-quality cheeses from Italy or from France I really would not recommend it. Try something else.”

But overall, especially for the common folk who actually eat the cheese and drink the beer, it seems like from the point of view of the Wall Street Journal, that a lot of progress is being made in convincing people that the two — beer and cheese, that is — pair much better together than beer and wine.

“A year ago, it was a new experience for everybody we presented it to,” [Justin Philips, owner of New York's Beer Table] says. “Now just one in 10 are surprised.”

Anyway, it’s a great article from a great source and its great for beer. Certainly worth your time to read. Check it out here. Cheers.

The folks at Redhook and Widmer Bros. (who run their East Coast operations out of their brewery in nearby Portsmouth, NH) have announced an upcoming Portland (Maine) event, which sounds like a definite do-not-miss!

On Tuesday September 15th, join the Redhook folks at Portland’s new The Salt Exchange (245 Commercial St. Portland, ME) for a “Beer & Cheese Social” featuring the handcrafted ales of Redhook and Widmer Bros. professionally paired with complimenting artisan cheeses. Eat, drink, socialize and learn about beer & cheese pairings from the pros.

Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door. But there is a VERY limited ticket availabilty, so I recommend picking up your tickets in advance (not just to save a couple bucks). Plus, it looks like one lucky ticket holder will go home with an all-expenses-paid VIP night for two in Portsmouth, NH. The prize includes one night’s accomodations at The Sheraton Harborside (Portsmouth, NH), lunch or dinner at the Redhook Brewery and a VIP tour of the brewery itself (but you gotta be present at the social at the time of the drawing to win).

For more information or to reserve tickets, call The Salt Exchange at (207)347-5687. And I will see you there (come say hi, I’ll be wearing my “BlogAboutBeer.com is blogging this” t-shirt)!

I don’t know if I’ve ever made it abundantly clear here before or not, but I am a vegetarian (and have been for almost exactly 13 years). So, needless to say, the majority of beer & food pairings or recipes involving beer that come across my inbox go right into the virtual trashcan because they so often revolve around meat.

So I was pretty excited to read in the May/June newsletter from Samuel Adams — which appeared this afternoon — a recipe for Grilled Summer Vegetables with Samuel Adams Summer Ale Vinaigrette (Recipe by Chef David Burke) and thought I would reprint it in case any readers out there face the same dilemmas I do about their beer recipes. And even if you’re a carnivore, the dish sounds delicious and I’m sure it would make for a great side dish, so don’t discount it. Anyway, enjoy:

For the Vegetables:
* 1 bunch asparagus
* 8-10 pc. Peeled baby carrots
* 1 red pepper
* 1 yellow pepper
* 1 medium zucchini cut in 1/3 inch slices
* 1 medium yellow squash cut in 1/3 inch slices
* 1 red onion cut in ½ inch slices
* 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
* sea salt & fresh ground pepper

For the Marinade:
* 1 tsp fresh thyme
* 1 tsp fresh oregano
* 1 tsp chopped fresh chive
* 1 tsp minced shallot
* 1 tsp Dijon mustard
* 1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
* 1 cup canola oil

For the Summer Ale Vinaigrette:
* 2 cups extra virgin olive oil
* 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
* ½ cup white balsamic vinegar
* 2 tbsp Samuel Adams Summer Ale
* 2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (chive, tarragon, parsley)
* Salt, pepper to taste

Instructions:
Separately blanch asparagus & carrots in boiling, salted water. Cut carrots in half lengthwise. Whisk together all ingredients for marinade and coat zucchini, yellow squash, and red onion. Lightly coat peppers in olive oil with salt & pepper and grill, turning frequently until pepper is charred all around. Wrap each pepper in paper towel and set aside. Season vegetables with salt & pepper and grill on both sides until warmed through. When peppers cool slightly, carefully remove stem & seeds. Using back of a paring knife, carefully remove skin. Whisk together all garnish ingredients and lightly dress vegetables.

[From SamuelAdams.com]

Last night I happened across one of my new found favorite beer & food pairings and I wanted to share it with everyone. While it’s probably a pairing which would be pretty self-explanatory to anyone whose been pairing food & beer for awhile, I think it’s a great combination and a great introduction to the hobby for any pairing newbies out there.

The food I had was a very spicy Thai dish called “Evil Prince Tofu” (slightly fried bean curd sautéed in chili sauce with onion, carrots, red and green peppers, and scallions) and I had it with 2 stars for a little extra kick (if you’re here in Portland and want to exactly replicate my pairing, the food came from Pom’s Thai on Congress St).

The beer I chose to pair with the Evil Prince was a bottle of Holy Sheet Uber Abbey Ale from the Clipper City Brewing Heavy Seas collection, poured into my new Allagash Brewing tulip glass. Holy Sheet is a Belgian-style strong, dark ale (with a 9% ABV) with a hugely sweet malt presence. And it was that malty sweetness that made this pairing work. The abundantly sweet, dried fruit flavors of the heavy malt (which didn’t have any sort of hop presence to combat) cut right through the extreme spice of the Thai dish, making for the perfect compliment to the food. I’d like to see wine do that!

Give this pairing a try yourself. If you have access to takeout Thai food, great. If not, any sort of spicy dish will do. And similarly, if you can get Holy Sheet then great, give it a try (it’s a fine beer with or without the Thai food, too). But any sort of heavy-on-the-maltiness Belgian-style beer should do the trick.  The point is to pick a sweet malty beer to cut through the Thai spice, so stay away from the hops for this one. And once you’ve done it, let me know what you think; I’d love to hear some responses (or maybe variations)! Good luck and enjoy.

Temperatures may be down (waaaay down) in Portland, but the beer events seem to be up (waaaay up). First, Gritty’s has developed a small-batch porter to support the Portland Pirates hockey team.  Named after the Pirates’ mascot, Salty Pete Porter is available at Gritty’s Portland brew pub only, and only for a limited time. According to the official press release,

This porter is dark, but with a less roasted flavor than most porters. There is a nice chocolate malt flavor and it’s quite a bit hoppier than most porters. Salty Pete has a significant amount of American Cascade Hops, so there is a strong hops aroma and flavor, which is unusual for a porter. This beer is served on draft and driven by CO-2 rather than Nitro, which lets the dark malt and hop flavors come through. ABV: 5.8%, which is more than Black Fly Stout, Original Pub Style and Best Bitter, but less than Scottish and the 21st IPA.

Next, the third annual Vignola Beer & Cheese party is coming right up. The event will be held at Vignola (10 Dana St. in Portland’s historic Old Port district) on January 18th Saturday, January 17th from 12:00-5:00pm. Tickets are $25/person and let you sample as much of the 35 beers and 25 cheeses (from as close as Maine and as far away as Italy, Belgium and France) as you can handle. If you’ve been reading this blog long enough to remember the pictures and review I posted of last year’s party, than you already know this is simply a cannot miss event.

If you simply cannot wait until the 18th to get your beer & cheese fix than you’re in luck. The folks of Dogfish Head will be on hand at The Great Lost Bear this coming Thursday evening (January 15th) for a pairing event being co-sponsored by the guys and gals of the Cheese Iron in Scarborough, ME.

And lastly, not to be outdone – Novare Res is keeping winter warm by throwing their own “12 Stouts After Christmas” celebration beginning on Monday the 12th and lasting for 12 days (or until the kegs run dry… whichever comes first). The drought line up will feature 12 special, rare and delicious stouts to melt even the iciest of hearts.

Will you be attending any of the events above (I sure will be!)? Let me know in the comment section below.

[image by Two Labs Photography]

YPLAA (that’s Young Professionals of the Lewiston/Auburn Area to you) is hosting a Beer Tasting Dinner at Fuel Restaurant on Lisbon St. in Lewiston, Maine on January 20th. The dinner, hosted by Allen Reitz of Dogfish Head Brewery, will be a 5 course meal professionally paired with a variety of beers from Dogfish Head Brewery. Reitz will be explaining the pairings as the meal goes along.

Doors for the Beer Dinner open at 6pm and seating will begin at 6:30pm (you can spend the half an hour of downtime checking out a sneak peak of the next exhibit at Gallery 5 – the art gallery attached to the restaurant) . Tickets are $40 a person (plus tax & gratuity). Reservations are required in advance; to reserve your spots, call Fuel at (207) 333-3835.

So head up to Lewiston, support an important organization, have some great food (if you’ve ever been to Fuel than you know what I mean) and best of all, pair that food with some top-notch Dogfish beer!