SEA DOG, I TOLD YOU SOMEONE CAN EAT HEALTHY & ENJOY IT!

As part of an ongoing weekly post yours truly will be picking one food menu item and pairing it with one of our 150+ bottle beers from our monster beer menu. Stay tuned each week for an informed, tried and true suggestion.

This weeks' winning couple is:

Mudville's Portobello Salad and the crisp Sea Dog Apricot Wheat Ale 

 +

 

The Chemistry:

Welcome back! I see you've made it to 2012. Congrats! Feeling sluggish yet? Are your New Year's resolutions in full swing? Well, I know you weren't dumb enough to cut out beer so I've picked a pair this week to keep it light on the "remainders of 2011" (aka, your beer gut).

Don't worry, Mudville's portobello salad isn't small by any means. And there's so much flavor going on here you'll forget it's actually good for you. The standout flavors though will come from a couple of key ingredients - the goat cheese and the marinated portobello (overnight-ed in balsamic vinaigrette dressing). 

As many of you know, cheese and beer were meant for one another. Usually, the rule of thumb follows that the more pungent the cheese the stronger flavor you'll want in your brew. Even more, wheat beers tend to go great with all cheeses. So, following this formula (carry the one), having a lighter goat cheese means we need a lighter wheat. I took it up a notch and chose a nice flavored wheat beer to accompany this week's meal. The Sea Dog Apricot Wheat Ale isn't your normal wheat though. The mouth-feel is light-bodied and sweet with not too much complexity to steal the thunder from the salad. It has strong elements of apricot (of course) and a bit of a creamy finish. The wheat yeast brings out the very subtle nuances of the goat cheese and the crispness of the fruit cuts through the tangy vinaigrette. Beer geek tip: let this beer warm a little bit...it gets better! 

See (dog), you're feeling better already!

Bon Apetit!

P.s.  If you can't have a meal without meat, ask your server or barkeep to top the salad off with some grilled chicken. 

Cheers!

A PORTER WORTH SWIMMING UPSTREAM FOR

As part of an ongoing weekly post yours truly will be picking one food menu item and pairing it with one of our 150+ bottle beers from our monster beer menu. Stay tuned each week for an informed, tried and true suggestion.

This weeks' winning couple is:

Mudville's Salmon Burger and the robust St. Peter's Old-Style Porter

 

+

The Chemistry:

Before you head off to that faraway, distant home-made meal for the Holidays (or as you're getting back from your food coma), do your body a favor and try out my latest pairing. Yes, it's a burger, but it's a salmon burger. That being said, who doesn't crave something a little different every once in awhile? Take a break from your usual and dip this tasty treat into Mudville's daily fresh homemade tartar sauce. And it's no stretch to see that I've chosen a Porter to mate with this Atlantic Salmonidae morsel.
This porter in particular is very robust. Being that it's a classic British Old-style, there are no bells and whistles here. Simply, WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get. The toasted, almost smokey, malt though is what drew these two together in my head. The brew really draws out the grilled smokiness in the fish without masking any of the notorious fishy flavor salmon is known for. And traditionally porters have that nice hop bitterness in the end. This is no different. Here that hop cuts through the oiliness of the salmon perfectly giving you a nice balanced palate with every round of your bite-sip.

Bon Apetit!

P.s. Add on some delicious grilled asparagus to round out this "lighter burger" meal.

Cheers!