Need Help with Beer Pairing. Help Please

Jbomb

Jbomb

Knows what a fatty is.
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I own a BBQ Company and rent the kitchen area out of a Local Bar. They are doing a Beer tasting with Goose Island out of Chicago. Featuring BOTH Goose Island's 2014 Bourbon County Brand Barleywine & 2014 Bourbon County Brand Stout. The stout has a bourbon chocolate vanilla flavor. the Barleywine is the same with a coconut flavor too. Any Ideas of something I can pair with it that customers could buy? I have seen flank steak would be good but honestly I haven't dealt with it much and don't know if I just want to fly by the seat of my pants.
 
Those are bold beers so the food will have to be bold as well IMO. How about the steak with some funky cheese on a small toast, maybe some carmelized onions on there as well.
 
If you haven't tasted the beer, you won't get it right. Go get some
 
SteveKing84 said:
If you haven't tasted the beer, you won't get it right. Go get some
Click to expand...



GI could probably supply some, but that coconut variant is going to be impossible to find retail.

Also, the coconut will be "a hint of" and not really a major player in the flavor profile.


The emphasis with these beers is the bourbon
 
Whoa, a little checking, those are some high gravity ales. At 12% to 14%, you will have to consider mouthfeel as well as flavor components. High gravity ales will have a slick, mouth coating feel, and there will be hotness (alcohol) to contend with.

I would go one of two ways with this.

1. Contrast, look for things such as tacos, sliders etc...that you can use some brightness and saltiness to contrast the ales. Smoke and sweet can play nicely as background flavors. Bright flavors, even fruit, might make sense.

2. Alternately, you could try and match the beers, by using the same beer to prepare something like a Beer braised beef chuck, that could work very well, and serve with mashed potatoes or similar.

In the end, it is very hard, unless you have the food and beer together, to know that the flavors work.

also be glad it's not IPA's which don't play well with food at all. I often pair ribs with stout. But, I go light on the black pepper and punch up the salt and vanilla/maple components.
 
Would they give you some of the beer to make a glaze for the steak? that woul be good and less finger foody.
 
Thank you guys. I don't think as of now I can get the beer until then but in the future I should be able to. This was a spur of the minute thing and think it will be a once of month thing in the future kind of like a beer club.
 
That will be a tough one to pair up. I haven't had the barley wine, but I absolutely love the stout. It's a farkin great beer. It's also pretty much a meal in itself. Very complex beer, a lot going on. The stout has chocolate, coffee, and some vanilla notes, boozy nose and some bourbony flavor too. Landarc is on the right track for sure. It's a fabulous beer, and unfortunately hard to come by if you need to sample it now. Maybe buy some New Holland Dragons milk for practice if you can't get the Goose Island. It's not as good, but a very similar beer.
 
With the barley wine I recommend something with blue cheese or rich English cheese. For the stout, you have to go rich, rich roasted beef. That's a BOLD beer.
 
Jbomb said:
I own a BBQ Company and rent the kitchen area out of a Local Bar. They are doing a Beer tasting with Goose Island out of Chicago. Featuring BOTH Goose Island's 2014 Bourbon County Brand Barleywine & 2014 Bourbon County Brand Stout. The stout has a bourbon chocolate vanilla flavor. the Barleywine is the same with a coconut flavor too. Any Ideas of something I can pair with it that customers could buy? I have seen flank steak would be good but honestly I haven't dealt with it much and don't know if I just want to fly by the seat of my pants.
Click to expand...

I have very successfully paired BCS (Bourbon County Stout) with brisket. It's one of my favorite bears and oddly hard to come by these days out here in California - I would have figured InBev would try to step up production.
 
alexf said:
I have very successfully paired BCS (Bourbon County Stout) with brisket. It's one of my favorite bears and oddly hard to come by these days out here in California - I would have figured InBev would try to step up production.
Click to expand...


i believe that GI is still "over" this particular beer. it sells out in minutes or hours now, but i remember a few years ago, it would be on the shelves for a few weeks.
 
IT'S FARKIN BEER,Toss 'em a box of goobers and some beef jerky.
 
deepsouth said:
i believe that GI is still "over" this particular beer. it sells out in minutes or hours now, but i remember a few years ago, it would be on the shelves for a few weeks.
Click to expand...

Yeah... so weird. Could buy it at BevMo whenever I wanted.

Also I just noticed I spelled it "bear" and not "beer." Rest assured I do not pair bear with beer (or brisket!)
 
I would recommend a contrast between shrimp and pork sausage toothpicked. Shrimp with the Barleywine for sure and sausage paired with the Stout for sweet. Smoke only on the Sausage and Shrimp, no sauce but maybe a sprinkle of heat season on both.
 
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