beer & food

For the love of yeast

Steelhead Brewing Company brewmaster Teri Fahrendorf has wandered into the blogging world as she begins work on the “GOOD BREAD GUIDE – Beer Lover’s Bread Book.”

A few of the basics:

What makes me want to write this book? I love yeast, and I love to experiment with the breads I bake. I love “pushing the envelope” with my breads, and with my professionally-made beers. (As long as the beer isn’t too far-out for our customers at Steelhead.)

There appears to be plenty of consumer guides for people searching for a good beer, but few consumer guides to good bread. I am interested in the smallest artisanal producers of both. And because I don’t think anybody’s put this slant on it before, I want to approach bread from a brewer’s perspective.

Anyway, the blog is subtitled “A brewmaster searches for the best local artisan breads and bakeries, and the best local pint of beer, with help from brewers and bakers all over the country.”

How’s that for a call to action?

Smoked, smoked and more smoked

Bamberb OnionFine Living Television features the beers and food of Germany this weekend. Germany: Prost! To German Beer! airs first at 10:30 p.m. EST on Friday, and repeats twice.

Schlenkerla Tavern, Heller Brewery and Rauchbier from Bamberg and Beck’s will be highlighted, and the Fine Living website has a recipe for the Bamberg Onion.

Just a thought. There’s time to track down some Schlenkerla Urbock (a beer that tastes bigger than its 6.5% abv), and make yourself a Bamberg Onion (be warned, the recipe is for four so you might invite a few friends over) – an onion stuffed with smoked pork and topped with a slab of smoked bacon – before the show starts.

Pig out: Still more beer and cheese

Another story about pairing beer and cheese, this time from Vermont.

In this one, Greg Noonan of Vermont Pub & Brewery (only two years from its 20th anniversary – just in case you want to make travel plans now), picks seven of his beers to match with the cheeses.

“Cheeses and beers tend to have fruity flavors that are good matches,” Noonan said. “They both have some amount of sweetness. And the maltiness and caramel flavors of beer complement the dairy flavors of cheese.”

You’ll wish you were there for this. Sally Pollak writes:

The cheese, Constant Bliss, was made at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro. Its beer mate, Burly Irish Ale, was made on the premises in the basement brewery.

Constant Bliss is a semi-soft, bloomy-rind cheese — its rind made from the blooms of diverse molds. It is formed into a high mound that brings to mind Barr Hill, a gentle rise in the cheesemakers’ hometown. Constant Bliss, a raw-milk cheese, has a subtle but rich flavor, with a touch of sweetness. It goes down easy and leaves you licking your fingers, wanting more.

Matching it with an Irish ale was a “no-brainer,” Noonan said. Made from milk produced by Jasper Hill’s Ayrshires, Constant Bliss is named for a revolutionary war scout. The latter-day cheese saint met his death on a Greensboro road in 1781, killed by American Indians.

Beer and cheese pairings

The Dayton Daily News really should let Jim Witmer – otherwise works as a staff photographer – write about beer more often. He follows up on the New Scientist report that wine are a less than perfect match with a terrific list of beer and cheese pairings.

A few suggestions:

  • Goat cheese with a Belgian Saison such as Dupont.
  • Havarti Light with Bud Light, Miller Light.
  • Triple Cream Brie with Lion Stout.
  • Stilton with barley wines such as Sierra Nevada Big Foot, J.W. Lee’s, Victory Old Horizontal.

Make yourself a copy of the whole list.