Wegmans Releases Beer Pairing Guide

Wegmans is a regional supermarket chain that originated in Rochester, NY. The franchise now has stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Northern Virginia, and Maryland. In addition to being one of Fortune's Best 100 Companies to Work For, Wegmans has been committed to offering a wide selection of quality craft beers in their stores.

To supplement their beer offerings, Wegmans has recently released a beer pairing guide. Wegmans Executive Chef Russell Ferguson sat down with Brooklyn Brewery's Garrett Oliver to talk about pairing regional beer and food.

In addition to the beer pairing guide, Wegmans also picked out their favorite New York beers according to style. The beers were supplemented with the ABV, a basic description, Chef Feruson's pairing suggestions, and other delicious beers to try from the same brewery.

Cheers to Wegmans for continuing to introduce their customers to tasty, New York beers!

sourced from Foaming Head

Craft Beer and Great Food

Beer and fine food: a natural pairing

May 23, 10:36 AM

Craft beer has risen considerably in popularity over the last 20 years to where it is now said that the average American lives about 10 miles from the nearest craft brewery. So, too, have we seen a rise in artisan cheese, coffee, breads and gourmet/ethnic foods. As our beer palates become more “tuned” and sophisticated, we want good beer to pair with our equally expanding tastes in food. Craft beer does not exist in a vacuum. We want an aged cheddar to go with that barley wine, or a malty bock beer to go with the Indian curry. As the flavors of the food get more complex, we need a complex beer to complement them. Tasteless yellow fizzy just won’t do!

The Abbey monks in Belgium know this. They produce some of the world’s finest beers and cheeses. In Germany the breakfast bratwurst has a Hefeweizen to go with it, and the Dunkel gets paired with a pretzel and pig knuckle. In England, stout goes with oysters.

So, how do you know what goes with what? My suggestion is to pick a few of your favorite beer styles and experiment. Try a sip of a beer, taste the cheese or food, and then try another sip of the beer. See what changes, if anything. Notice what happens when you add salt, or lemon juice to the food and then taste the beer again. Or taste something sweet and try again. If you really want to experiment, throw a wine or two into your tasting, also. In wine versus beer challenges, the beer holds its own and will often win over wine in that there isn’t anything you can’t find one of the 75 different beer styles that will pair nicely with it. Wine is challenged sometimes by soups, salads, and hot spicy foods. And desserts? How about a nice cherry porter or coffee stout to go with that chocolate cake? Better than port? I think so.

If you really want to know more, try getting a copy of “The Brewmaster’s Table” by Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, or “The Best of American Beer & Food” by Lucy Saunders, the beer cook.

Aroma Thyme Bistro , Ellenville NY, Comments:

I just finished writing a blog about how most great restaurants totally avoid good beer. I used the example of David Burke in his restaurant Prime at Foxwoods Casino. I was not picking on David Burke in particular, but it was the last upscale restaurant that I was at that totally dropped the ball on good beer. Most of these fine restaurants spend a great deal of time and money on the wine list, single malt scotch list and whatever other spirits is currently trendy. So why do they overlook quality American craft and imported beer?

At Aroma Thyme not only do we pride ourselves in over 250 selections of wine, 40 single malt Scotchs, American craft vodka but we also have a lot of fun with craft beer. In fact we have so much fun with craft beer that our beer menu offers over a 150 different selections from around the world. We have a great concentration of New York State and regional craft beers as well as six out of seven certified Trappist a long list of Abbey ales. Some of our craft beers even carry a vintage date just like wine. These beers were also in each in a similar manner to wine. So sporadically throughout our list you will find vintage beer and you'll even find verticals( multiple vintages) of the same beer.

We get a lot of people that love to experiment with beer. Not many people really know what style or characteristics they like of beer. That is where the fun begins. As the article mentions there are over 75 different styles of beer. It basically is a beer for everyone including the non-beer drinkers. And we see that day in and day out. Some will say how they do not drink beer, but after trying a certain style we hear that they would actually drink it or in fact order that beer. So my suggestion is that when you do go out to a good beer bar or to Aroma Thyme is to ask for advice and taste.

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier now on tap at Aroma Thyme Bistro

It's Memorial Day Weekend 2009 and summer heat is here. It is wheat beer weather and we have one on tap now. Enjoy a Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier now on tap.


The Weihenstephan Story:
The Finest German Beer

The Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan: Nearly one thousand years ago it was the monastery brewery of the Benedictine monks, then the Royal Bavarian State Brewery.

Today, as a regulated enterprise of the Freestate of Bavaria, it is a company run according to the precepts of private business. As the oldest existing brewery in the world, our brewery occupies an exalted site atop Weihenstephan Hill in the Bavarian city of Freising, surrounded by the comparatively still very young Weihenstephan science centre of the Technical University of Munich.

Yet it is precisely this unique combination of tradition and custom, proven knowledge, and modern science, which gives the brewery its incomparable identity and permits it to brew beers of the highest quality. And, of course, we're more than a little proud of that.

Class not mass — a simple description of one of the most important principles of our corporate philosophy. As a mid-sized company, we are dedicated to quality products and are delighted that our beers are viewed — nationally and internationally — as a particular speciality, not just in beverage speciality shops but also, and particularly, in the area of gastronomy. Among brewers we have always been seen as an "insider brand."

This is no surprise when you consider that Weihenstephan represents the centre of international brewing science and that beer brewers all over the world have learned the beer brewer's trade at Weihenstephan. Thus for our scientists our brewery also plays the role of a model plant — a position of great responsibility!

However we are mindful of the fact that we bear a responsibility not only to the university. Above all for our customers and for the connoisseurs of our beer specialities, we want to maintain the highest standards and a corresponding dedication to always brew a special beer and to be available as a trustworthy partner to give advice and to lend a helping hand.

A partnership of trust also means getting to know one another better. Therefore we have tried on the following Internet pages to present briefly the world of beer brewing and thus the world of experience of Weihenstephan. Besides sketching the history of our brewery, we particularly want to introduce to you the reader our corporate philosophy through pictures, information and impressions of Weihenstephan. We do so because we believe that lasting values and the certainty of a good product are important — especially in our fast-paced age.

For us, beer brewing is a special philosophy. We hope that the following pages will whet your appetite and have you looking forward to your next Weissbier (wheat beer) from Weihenstephan. Prost!

History of Weihenstephan

Over the centuries much has changed in the world, and the future lives from change. It's nice to know that in the eventful history of Weihenstephan, with all its developments, achievements and setbacks, one thing has remained constant: our beer. Thus the Weihenstephan Monastery Brewery — after nearly a thousand years — still stands atop Nährberg Hill, proud of its quality and its tradition and conscious of its position as the oldest existing brewery in the world.