Philly Beer Scene

Recipes for the most unique ways to pair food and beer.

You’re going to put what in the what?!?! Yes, brewing with food. It’s not as far fetched as you might be thinking. Beers with fruits and/or spices are all the rage, and have been a staple in brewing for many, many years. Let’s say then, we take it to the next level.

Pairing beer with a complementing food can be a heavenly experience. And there have been many beer dinners and tastings that have shown the versatility of beer as a vehicle for food. What we seek, per se, is to eliminate the middle man, and create an all-in-one beer. But, before you go throwing a Christmas ham into your brew, there are a few things we will need to consider.

The most obvious is whether this food requires special attention to a specific beer style? Peanut butter stout, delicious! Peanut butter sour ale, uh, not so much. Most of this can be figured out rather quickly. Pick a food, and see what styles of beer would pair well with it. If you would like to add a consumable to a style of beer you already enjoy, find the food(s) you think it best showcases.

Another conundrum to our food brew, is does this delicious delectable require any special treatment on brew day? If using crowd-roaring favorites like bacon or peanut butter, one must pay attention to the other characteristics they posses. Besides just awesomeness, bacon and other meats have oils that can ruin our food stuffed libation. Peanut butter, along with oil, has a consistency that can just clog up the works when mixed with our grains. If using meat, cook it and damp all the oil out of it you can. If using peanut butter, try using peanut flour (you’re going to need much more by weight since it’s without liquid mass). Baked goods are typically good-to-go as is. But avoid or scrape off any excess icing if possible. Also, make sure your soon to be masterpiece is made with a food product without preservatives. Fresh is best, so avoid heavily processed foods.

When selecting ingredients, choose malts and yeast that will help to bring your food-booze creation alive. With names like Biscuit, Chocolate, Roasted, Honey, and Caramel, it’s easy to start to pick and choose a recipe bill to make your brew pop. Also, try to keep hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma to a minimum. Hey, you’re preaching to the choir. I love hops about as much as I love my wife. But I want to taste the food and underlying beer. Choose a gentle bittering hop addition and leave it at that.

Listed here are three tried and true recipes to get you started on your brew food endeavor. These recipes are listed in “all-grain” format, but can be converted to “extract with grains” by a knowledgeable homebrew clerk, or by e-mailing the Brew Food headquarters at brewwithyourfood@gmail.com.

Sausage Beer
Served at Opening Tap of Philly Beer Week 2011
8lbs. Weyermann Smoked Malt
4lbs. Weyermann Pale Malt
¼ cup Red Pepper Flakes (in mash)
1lb. of the spiciest Italian sausage you can find (cook, slice, damp off oil, add to mash).
Mash for 60 minutes at 152°F
1oz. Styrian Goldings Hops 60 minutes
White Labs WLP810 California Lager (2 vials) Ferment at 62°F-65°F
Secondary for two weeks as cold as you can.
Bottle or keg as usual.

Tiramisu Stout
10lbs. Briess 2-row
2lbs. Thomas Fawcett Pale Chocolate
¾ lb. Muntons Roasted Barley
1lb. Golden Naked Oats
1lb. Flaked Barley
1.33 lbs. Fresh Tiramisu Cake (added to mash)
Mash for 60 minutes at 155°F
2oz. Mt. Hood Hops 60 minutes
Wyeast 1338 European Ale (2 packs)
Ferment high 60°’s (F)
No secondary. Bottle or keg as usual.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Beer
10lbs. Weyermann Munich
1lbs. Dingemans Aromatic
½ lb. Dingemans Biscuit
½ lb. Weyermann Carafa I
1lb 8.9oz. Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal (in mash)
¾ lb. Lactose
2oz. Crystal Hops 60 minutes
¾ lb. Lactose and 2 tsp. cinnamon 5 minutes
Wyeast 1272 American Ale II (2 packs)
Ferment high 60°’s (F).
No secondary. Bottle or keg as usual.