SAVOR Craft Beer Festival: Too Much of a Good Thing

Luckily, there were educational salons and private tastings to slow down the options. At the “Craft Beer and Cheese Pairing Taste Off!,” a panel comprised of brewers and writers were tasked with selecting a beer that paired best with both chocolate and cheese. The panel, consisting of Christian DeBenedetti (freelance food writer), Eric Wallace (Left Hand Brewing Company), Greg Koch (Stone Brewing Company) and Lauren Buzzeo (Wine Enthusiast Magazine), were given a Chuao chocolate (made with macadamia, praline and chipotle) and a Maytag cow’s milk blue cheese for pairing. Each panelist got five minutes to defend their choice while the audience tried the chocolate and cheese with their beer. We didn’t get the beer name until after we voted on a winner, but below are my notes on each:

Allagash Black (DeBenedetti) - The aroma was of toasted kashi or twig tea with a little bit of cocoa dust; tasted of well-balanced malt. With the chocolate it was ok, but almost too similar. And with the cheese, the beer didn’t cut into the boldness of the blue, and was overpowered.

Left Hand Smoke Jumper Imperial Porter (Wallace) - Being the same beer I’d just had outside, the second I smelled it, I knew that Wallace had brought his own brewery's beer. The woody/charcoal smoke (as opposed to the bacon smoke that smoked beers tend to have) went great with the chocolate, almost adding a new layer of complexity to an already complex chocolate - all this without squashing any flavors. I was worried about what this meant with a blue cheese, but the smoke and salt went hand in hand and the different malts here balanced out the blue. Seemed like an obvious winner.

Stone Ruination (Koch) - This is a beer I’ve had numerous times, and got me thinking that next year the brewers should have to pick a beer that they didn’t make. Great beer, but I wasn’t sure how the lemony hop flavor would fare with a spicy chocolate. Much like the smoke, it added a new layer, bringing out some of the macadamia even. A seemingly crazy choice was starting to look good…until I tried the cheese. The vaguely acidic Ruination took the blue over the top and took away some of the pleasures that they had separately.

Deschutes Dissident (Buzzeo) - The hands down winner. This “Flanders style” sour brown ale had a strong cherry and acidic aroma, with a wood I couldn’t determine. To taste alone this beer was a revelation and tasted just like it smelled, but with a punch. With both the cheese and chocolate it didn’t just complement the flavors, it combined and made a whole new flavor. The chocolate was suddenly spicy and sour while somehow blending the wood, nut and darkness together. With the blue, the saltiness burrowed into the sour while the cherry and creaminess came together as dessert. Truly unreal.

Back on the tasting floor things were still hopping and lines were getting long. While virtually every style of beer was represented at this event, the talk at the tables seemed to lean towards Saisons, sours and beers with Brett yeast. Standouts in those worlds were the Ommegang Hennepin Farmhouse Saison, the Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme (blended sour ale) and Boulevard Saison - Brett, all very unique and sometimes acquired tastes. On the more tame side of things, Pilsners seem to be coming back in style and were a nice tonic to some of the more radiant beers.

For my sake, I wish this event was over three nights, with a smaller number of brewers per night. But for the sake of beer and food enthusiasts everywhere, this was a nirvana of great quality pairings. Let’s hope that the Brewers Association holds similar events throughout the year, but maybe with a few less options.