I am not a beer aficionado or womanizer, I just love them both. Beers can be complicated and strong like ales, or crisp, light and refreshing like lagers / pilsners. However, not all beers are created equal. If you can’t tell yet, (you will by the end of this read) I have a current fetish for beer and the great accoutrements that go with it. I have been drinking more beer lately. It's amazing in Toronto. My recent taste tests have made me nostalgic.
It all started with my first shandy, which I had when I was 14 years old. A shandy is 1/4 fizzy lemonade (Sprite or 7 Up) added to 3/4 lager. I remember it tasting a bit bitter, but enjoyable. I was in England of course, just starting my journey into beerhood, with my copy of Catcher in The Rye in one hand and my shandy in the other.
At 16, I got very buzzed for the first time on several cans of Meister Brau, a terrible, cheap beer. However, I was at a party that night and I remember that I made out with a beautiful, senior bombshell from school. I think her friends dared her to do it, but who cared? She had great big luscious eyes, blonde hair, a great smile, fantastic body and sensual lips. It was my first kiss and it was delicious.
In the summers of the following years, I would spend time with my family in England. It was my uncle Peter who taught my brother and I everything we know about beer and REAL ALE. Real ale is cask conditioned beer that is alive. It’s not pasteurized like every beer in America is. Real ales tend to be bitter. They are also great social beers and many have a low alcohol content between 4%-5%. One of the most well-known international, real ale brands is Fuller’s Brewery in England. They produce drops such as London Pride and ESB (Extra Special Bitter). These ales are much better in England, as they are not pasteurized.
I also discovered in England that I really enjoy a great pilsner, which is a golden pale ale that is blonde in color, light on the palate and thirst quenching.
It was freshman year, the first day of university. I had several six packs of Czechoslovakia Budweiser which is called Cechvar in the States. I had picked them up that summer in England. My roommate was already in the room, chilling a few cases of American Budweiser. We exchanged Buds and then smoked one. It was a great college beginning.
Although I had an appreciation for great beer early on in life, the first few years of college were more about quantity over quality for most people I knew. Forget dorm food-- drink beer! Beer is beautiful because it’s a meal if it has to be and it’s also lubrication when it needs to be. I discovered that beer got me laid a lot easier. It gave me the courage and it gave her beer goggles or pity. Seriously, anyone who drinks a half of gallon of Utica Club or any lager (actually, I wouldn’t call Utica Club lager; it’s more like hops with club soda) is more than likely to get horny. After all, isn’t that what college is all about? Sex, socializing and that self-discovery thing. Oh yeah, there's also that academic and/or artistic self-expression thing one does, in between beer and bare bums.
My junior year, I found an off-campus bar that served the most amazing beers, roast beef sandwiches and cheddar cheese and onion plates. It was fantastic! I regained my appreciation for great beer and how it pairs wonderfully with food other than pizza and wings (the best beer paring in my opinion.) Don’t forget the bbq ribs too.
My senior year was all about Faegan’s Pub. As a class we had graduated on to drinking pilsners such as Heineken and lagers such as Harp. No more plunk beer. I remember hooking up after a visit to Faegan’s on Valentine’s night, with a girl I had fallen in love with freshman year. We didn’t actually make love that night. It happened later that week, after I cooked for her.
Beer is one of the best creations in the world. Worldwide there are over 20,000 brands of beers with about 180 different styles, from stouts, pilsners, ales, lagers and more. All beer can be classified as lagers or ales, the main difference lies in how it’s brewed. Like wine, there are no rules for how you should pair food with beer. I recommend drinking lighter beers with lighter foods and heavier beers and ales with rich, heavier foods. You may be lucky; your date may love beer more than wine. If so, below are some suggested food/ beer pairings:
Salads
Pale lagers (American beer), pilsners, amber beers
Soups
Brown ale, pale ale, pilsner, lager,
Charcuterie (pate, and sausages)
German lagers, Oktoberfest, German rauchbier
Seafood and shellfish
Stouts, wheat beer, best bitter, German pilsner
Sushi, pickled and smoked fish
Acidic Belgian lambic, rauchbier
Fish
American wheat beer, pilsner, Dortmund export, Belgian whitbier, golden ale
Egg dishes
German weissbier, Gelgian witbier, oatmeal stout, wheat beer
Pasta and pizza
Vienna-style lager, hoppy American pale ale, lambic beer
Spicy and Mexican food
Vienna-style lager, hoppy pilsner, golden ale, wheat beer
Poultry
Malty lager, bitter ale, brown ale
Pork
Vienna-style lager, Märzen, Oktoberfest
Red meats
Fruity ale, Indian pale ale, British brown ale, porter, bock
Cheese
Hoppy beer, English old ale, Belgian beer, best bitter, dry stout, wheat ale, German pilsner, pale ale, British brown ale
Desserts
Belgian witbier, Belgian strong ale, wheat beer, imperial stout, Irish Guinness, dark malty beer
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