by Peter Bailey
Orthodoxy has no place at the dining table.
Garrett Oliver was speaking about the accepted place wine had at the dining table in his classic 2003 book, The Brewmaster’s Table. He called for a reformation in thinking about what we serve with food—in particular, he declared that beer deserved a seat at the table.
Oliver wrote that beer—real beer as he called it—is a noble, versatile beverage that pairs beautifully with most food. This idea was heretical at the time, with fine dining tables the exclusive purview of wine. But Oliver was right. Wine is made from a single ingredient. Beer is made from at least four ingredients, often more, with hundreds of variables within the grains, hops, yeast and water used, never mind the multiplicity of methods, processes and approaches. In fact, beer’s wide range of flavours—earthy, acidic, smoky, sweet, bitter, fruity, floral, biscuity—means it pairs better with more foods than wine.
Just as the rigid old rules of white wine with fish, red wine with meat have fallen away, matching beer with food is flexible and open to experimentation.
The easiest way is complementing; look for similar tastes in the beer and the food. Think of the caramelized char on grilled meat and look to the maltiness of an amber ale. Match strength with strength, big beers with big food, soft beers with delicate dishes.
Contrast is another way to go, pairing the fire of a curry with the lush coolness of a hefeweizen. The key is to know a little bit about the beer you want to match and there’s no better way to figure that out than to try the beer.
In the years since Oliver’s Martin Luther moment, beer has found a place at the grown-up table. You don’t have to look far to see evidence of beer’s increasing respectability. In my neighbourhood lone, all the hip new dining spots such as Canteen, RGE RD, North 53 and Solstice Seasonal Cuisine serve beer— good beer.
I spoke to Josh Meachem, the bar manager at Solstice about beer and fine dining. What a pleasure to discover a fellow beer geek at the controls of the beverage program. Meacham agreed enthusiastically about beer at the table.
“Absolutely beer has its place. Beer can have a depth of flavour like fine wine or a well-balanced cocktail.” The beer menu is stylistically varied (not all lagers, as continues to be the case at too many restaurants, akin to a wine menu of only Chardonnay).
“We attempt to have eight-10 varieties of beer.
We want to have the best beer in each category while maintaining value,” Meacham said.
Their list runs from Rosée D’hibiscus, a soft, hibiscus-flower infused wheat beer from Montréal’s Dieu du Ciel to Yukon Brewing’s delicious English-style Ice Fog IPA.
Asked about his favourite beer and food pairing, Meacham pointed to dubbel, a strong Belgian brown ale, with braised, smoked or barbecued meats. Solstice currently serves the Westmalle Dubbel, a classic of the style, dark brown, heavy- bodied, slightly bitter, and nutty with fruity notes; a perfect companion for beef.
The owners of Solstice are all young turks, as are many of the people behind the beer-friendly boîtes around town. Meacham agreed with my thesis that younger food people treat beer well because they grew up with craft beer and it is just a normal part of their world. Or maybe he was just being polite; such a nice young man. Regardless, I know the reformation is not finished when I see Shock Top or Alexander Keith’s IPA on the beer menus at otherwise good restaurants. But we’re headed in the right direction—and this old beer geek says cheers to that.
Beer Menu
Six food-friendly beers that match well with meals from breakfast to dessert. Look for these at the restaurants mentioned or one of Edmonton’s better beer stores like Sherbrooke or Keg ’n Cork.
 Never mind the mimosa, beer’s what you want at brunch. Try a nice, soft, fruity wheat beer like the Hacker-Pschorr Hefe Weisse I had with my eggs benny at Calgary’s FARM restaurant recently. Or head to Canteen on 124th for Edmonton’s best brunch and order up a pint of Maisel’s Weisse. Owner Frank Olson says Maisel’s goes amazingly well with Canteen’s famed chickpea fries. |
 Sake brewer Kiuchi began brewing beer in 1996, looking primarily to Belgium for inspiration. Their Red Rice Ale is a Belgian-style strong ale but made in a uniquely Japanese way, with 25 per cent rice and both sake and ale yeasts. The taste is complex, sweet and bitter with a hint of strawberry. It paired beautifully with a dizzying parade of small plates of modern Korean food at Calgary’s wonderful Anju restaurant. |
 One of my beer epiphanies was eating a fish burrito on a beach near Encinitas along the Pacific Coast Highway, with a powerful Green Flash West Coast IPA. Ideal companions: hoppy west coast IPA and SoCal cuisine. I’m waiting patiently for the Tres Carnales guys to stock a great beer like the fruity, bitter Stone IPA, to match with Edmonton’s best fish tacos. |
 Craft beer is a global phenomenon, so why not brew beer in wine-obsessed Italy? New to Alberta are beers from Società Agricola Colleverde near Urbino. This pleasant blonde ale has a subtle twist due to the addition of sea salt. It would go nicely with the signature egg yolk ravioli at Bar Bricco. Costa stocks the Italian Brùton craft beers presently. |
 Recently I did the beer pairings for a dinner cooked by a marvelous amateur cook. I was confident about all my pairings except the centrepiece dish, rotisserie prime rib. My fears were for naught as the dubbels I chose, Unibroue Maudite and Chimay Premiere, were a perfect marriage with the beef, the char matching the big malt, the fruitiness picking up the taste of the rare meat within. Heaven. |
 The final dish of a recent beer dinner was a chocolate stout chocolate cake. I paired the cake with one of my favourite beers, the incredible Hopworks coffee-infused stout. Survival Stout is liquid bread, with seven different grains including barley, wheat, oats, amaranth, quinoa, spelt and kamut. Plus coffee! Chewy, smooth, semi-sweet yet bitter and very delicious. Or as one dinner guest said, “a revelation!” |
Peter Bailey is an Edmonton-area librarian who keeps a few bottles of Survival Stout in his basement. Just in case.