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Nothing like pairing good beer with good food; it's just pure magic when the flavors marry and dance together in the mouth. Over the years I've discovered, and been told about some really good beer food pairings, and I want to hear about yours. Here are some of mine, along with some pairings suggested by some beer friends whose palates I really respect: Red Hook IPA and an Italian hoagie (from Mike Gates, Haddonfield, NJ) Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale and a plate of nachos Victory Hop Devil and Thai curries Maredsous 8 and creme brulee (Bob Rescinito, Oklahoma City, OK) Saranac Caramel Porter and Amish sourdough pretzels Yuengling Porter and beef stew Guinness Stout and oysters Victory Prima Pils or Pilsner Urqell and Sechuan Chinese food Sierra Nevada Celebration and a thick grilled steak Spaten Oktoberfest and pork chops braised with apples and cabbage Rolling Rock and pizza Tsing Tsao and red gravy Italian, like lasagna and/or linguine and meatballs Troegs Troeginator Dopplebock and braised lamb shank over polenta Troegs Mad Elf and Christmas cookies! One Guy Brewing Cinnamon Boldy and apple fritters (Guy Hagner, Berwick, PA) OK, I've started the list, what are YOUR favorite pairings?

A dear friend returned from Ithaca NY recently and brought back with her a sixer of Ithaca Brewing's CASCZILLA, which they describe as a "Monstrously Hoppy red ale", but folks, it is SO much more: lots of dense, grapefruity Cascades, but surprise! a beefy malt prescence that prevents the teeth-grinding of most overhopped beeers and gives CASCZILLA a nice clean finish. THere's a really bright red-ornage color, b illowy clouds of foam atop the pint glass and a sharp, tart grove of grapefruit trees in the nose. I'll have more about this terrific beer on my new blog in the next day or two. I know this brew is now available in PA, and I'm gonna be heading over the border to get me some more soon.

Last year my wife purchased a Golden Hop rhizome from a local nursery and planted it near our pond. It didn't do much the first year, but this year it went bananas. It has more cones than I could believe, and it's trying to take over our ten year old honeysuckle. So my question is this: anyone know if it's of any culinary value? The cones aren't mature yet, but i've tasted them compared to some Cascades I'm raising and they weren't bitter at all. If they're just decorative I'm fine with that, but if not we have so many I'd love to brew with them.

So having heard about and remembering eG member Pennbrew's new beer-making venture, I happened to be on my way between hither and yon, and mid-journey I found myself facing signs pointing to Berwick, PA... so I ventured off the Interstate and wended my way into that northeast PA town. A quick text-message query to cell-phone-Google found me the address, and I popped in for a quick beer break. The building is a big old factory... an old commercial bakery that had a steel fabricating tenant in some of its space. It's just off the main drag in a few-stoplight town, but not readily visible from the street. I got there just in time to get one of the last few glasses of the hefe-weizen, which was predictably depleted on a 90+F day. A great representation of the style, this beer was welcome on a hot afternoon. The place was small, the crowd quick to come and go. Guy Hagner (Pennbrew), the brewer and publican was affable. After polishing off the wheat beer, I decided to try the opposite end of the spectrum and went for a stout, which was also a tasty beer. I'd recommend this spot as a waypoint for any eG members making their way around the intersection of I80 and I476.

You might be interested in a happy discovery I recently made. I stopped brewing beer quite a while ago – I didn't seem to have time and wasn't drinking enough to get good at it (the former excuse still holds but I'm not sure the later still does). My last batch, christened by my DB as “Trash the Kitchen Imperial Stout” (never let your Imp. boil over) was a disaster in other ways, too. In a mis-guided attempt to sweeten up the recipe, I added too much molasses, not knowing that the molasses flavor results from unformentable chemicals. This resulted in a vile, highly alcoholic watered down blackstrap. So about 8 years later, I found some liter bottles with ceramic caps and a 12 pack of 12 oz bottles of the stuff left in a basement cupboard. I cautiously slipped some from a liter bottle to a beer afficionado who said, “High abv but drinkable.” Sure enough, after almost a decade, the alcohol had kept the beer preserved but the molasses had mellowed away. But wait, there's more. We opened one of the 12 oz bottles with a regular cap and the beer hadn't gotten any worse but there was still an overly strong smack of molasses. My theory is that the cap sealed too well and you needed the little bit of oxidation through the rubber gasket on the ceramic cap to take out the unformentables. Is there a moral here? Maybe that brewing chemistry is way more complex than I understand or that beer-gods are benevolent if you are patient.

Hi all, Aside from the fact that eating hops may not taste so good, is there any other reason not to eat them, for example, as an herb in cooking? I looked around online, and all that I managed to find were a number of sites that said hops are poisonous for dogs to eat, even spent hops. Of course, what is poisonous for dogs is often safe for humans, and since hops play quite a role in beer I'd assume that it would be clear by now if there were any potentially hazardous compounds in them. However, one never knows. Any insights into the issue? Are there any food recipes that are made with hops? Perhaps some regional specialties? Thanks in advance, Alan

Welcome to the Beer forum, where hops and barley reign supreme. This is where you can discuss the beers and ales you drink, from the palest lager to the darkest stout. You’ll also find topics on ingredients and equipment for the beers you make at home. Check out these and other topics: What Gives Guiness Its Thickness; It's Brewing Time Again; What's Everyone's Favorite Beer?; and Beer Glassware. Not a Society member? You’re welcome to read the eG Forums to your heart’s content, but you will have to join the Society in order to post. You can apply to join the eGullet Society here. If you support the eGullet Society’s mission to and wish to help further it, you can make a donation here. Our members’ questions and comments make this forum interesting, exciting and useful – we look forward to your contributions. Before posting, you may want to browse through the forum to read up on current and older topics. If you’re looking for something specific, or wondering if there's already a topic on the subject you wish to discuss, try our Search feature (use the Advanced Usage Help link to improve your results) or our built-in Google Search function. If you would like to post photos, they must be uploaded into ImageGullet. Click here for a tutorial. We encourage food-related external links (hyperlinks to websites or other media outside of the eGullet.org webspace) to the extent that they substantially contribute to the dialogue. Web pages and websites that exist today may not exist tomorrow, and most online articles are often free only for a short period of time. Thus, links to external media should always include a brief summary and/or quotation that makes it possible for readers to understand the spirit of the linked material without the need to follow the link. For more information on our external linking guidelines, click here. The Society is committed to respecting intellectual property rights. Members are responsible for making certain that their posts conform with our copyright guidelines.

FOUR STAR BEER Interesting article! I hadn't realized that the French Laundry had their own beer!

I live in Union, N.J. and remember enjoying an English ale called Bishop's Finger from Shepherd Neame about 10 years ago. I've been looking for it recently and can't find it. Is it still being imported into the U.S? If so, does anyone know where it is available in my neck of the woods? Any help would be appreciated.

Looking speculatively at the wild mugwort nearby, I wondered what home-brewed herbal beers were like. Has anybody made them? Tasted them? Seen them on sale? Apart from mugwort, I've always been curious about nettle beer, but the only fermented beverage I've ever made was ginger beer. How hard are herb beers to make? (Seriously, curiosity is going to kill me one of these days...). The nearest thing I could find on this subforum was a reference to heather ale.

I did this some time ago and have been meaning to post it for some time... Strike it up to the "yeah, this is going to be weird, but what-the-hell" page of my culinary adventures, but I gotta tell you, damn it works and tastes mighty fine!

I don't know where to post this, but my father-in-law received a beer making kit a few months ago and asked me, "how do I know if the yeast is any good" I don't know, but I think there is an easy method but I know someone here would be able to tell me. Thanks

Interesting article in Today's NY Times: A Taste for Brews That Go to Extremes*, Eric Asimov Tasted beers include Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Weyerbacher Double Simcoe I.P.A., Lagunitas I.P.A. Maximus, Oskar Blues Gordon, Victory Hop Wallop, Mad River Brewing Steelhead, Double Dog Double Pale Ale, Moylan’s Moylander Double I.P.A., Southern Tier Unearthly Imperial IPA, and Great Divide Hercules Double IPA. Oddly, about half of the beers are rated 2 1/2 stars and the other half 2 stars. Not much variety in evaluation of taste. *Link may require registration and/or payment.

My brewing partner and i are going to attempt this in a couple of days time. He has some extensive experience brewing beer and has all the gear. We do not however yet have a recipe. Does anyone have any good ones and/or tips?

I love this time of year because of the special beers for the winter season. I'd love to know do you have a favorite? I am trying to make a list of seasonals to buy before they disappear. so .... whats your pleasure?

The brewing world is in a bit of an uproar right now: there is a serious shortage of hops on the market, and grain prices are climbing. The hops shortage is predicted to go 3 years, unless unknown and untapped hops sources come to light. I'm interested in seeing how the fight between economics and beer plays out in our pint glasses. I know that prices will climb a bit, but a 50%+ increase in raw materials cost won't result in a +50% end cost... I'm more interested in what is going to get brewed by the guys who just can't get enough hops from their suppliers to keep putting out hyper-hopped IPAs and northwest-style hop bombs. I am going to guess that low-hopped Belgian styles will come forward, particularly the very low hopped sour ales that intentionally use low-flavor low-bittering old hops. I foresee more herbs other than hops getting used in beers- maybe an absinthe ale bittered with wormwood rather than hops. I foresee old style non-hopped beers from the RenFaire cookbooks getting a chance on the market: nordic juniper beers, celtic heather ales, gruits and such. The big question is who will succeed in the new market conditions. Anybody who runs across new and wacky products that stretch the definition of beer, post 'em here. It will be an interesting collection, and maybe a good bit of compiling some history while living through it. I'll start with a beer that fits this model- Dogfish Head's Chateau Jihau. This is a beer from the hop-mad creators of Dogfish Head's famous 60, 90 and 120 minute IPAs that has no hops in whatsoever. It is a very interesting drink, but much more akin to wine or mead than beer. Off-dry, very grapey, not very beer-like at all. Your turn!

My apologies if I should have put this in the Wine Forum... I'm setting up to make my first batch of hard cider. I found a brand at the local supermarket that seems convenient, pasteurized, no preseratives, "organic" apples as the only ingredient. I bought one to test it out, tasted pretty good. Seemed a bit better after a couple of days, but that might have been a flawed perception. Anywho, I'm wondering if I need to add sugar to the cider/yeast going into the fermenter. I'm not really sure how to predict the final alcohol percentage, but I'm hoping for around 8-10%. Most of the things I've seen predict 6ish% with no use of sugar. Any advice?

Article in today's Wall Street Journal (I don't believe it's behind the subscriber wall, so try this link) discusses how the big three aren't identifying themselves on the label as manufacturers of "faux craft brews" they make and market, i.e., Blue Moon, Leinenkugel's. Some small craft brewers think it's deceitful on the part of the big brewers. The biggies respond, hey, if Kellogg's doesn't promote its ownership of Kashi and Toyota its Lexus, what's the problem? The article finishes by quoting one craft brewer as believing that, while the big guys may cut in to the small guys' market share, they are expanding the entire category to the benefit of all brewers, big and small. The fact I found most interesting, if largely irrelevant, is that Jake and Dick Leinenkugel, the fifth generation of the founders, manage their beer and brand for SABMiller. But while Leinie's doesn't mention its owner on the packaging, the Leinie's website tackles the issue head-on. PS: My wife thinks your basic Leinie's tastes pretty much the same as it did when she was in Madison in the 1960s and 70s; the family sold out to Miller in 1988. But then, your basic Leinie's was never considered a craft beer until SABMiller started expanding the brand a couple of years ago; before that, even under the big guy's ownership, it was just considered a decent quality cheap brewski.

I'm travelling through Vermont this fall, and would love to try some great, distinctive local beers and hard ciders while I'm there. What would you recommend? Names I've heard (from this forum and elsewhere) are Otter Creek, Magic Hat (although some people think they've jumped the shark), McNeill's and Wolaver's. Beyond the world of malt and hops, Woodchuck Cider. But what else should be on my list? And a few other questions: is most good beer in Vermont bottled? Or should I be looking for cask-conditioned beers? If so, are any bars/pubs especially worth checking out? Thanks for your help.

Each year for Halloween, I host a huge pumpkin carving contest. One of the traditions of the carving party is my finding, ordering and having shipped in multiple cases of pumpkin ale. Everyone gets a charge out of sampling each year's version and much talk goes on comparing it to prior years' pumpkin brews. The small breweries that do these seasonal ales sell out quickly so it's important that I order early. The running favorite is Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale but I would like to order a new one again this year to attempt to unseat this old fave. Any recommendations?

they are doing a tasting of 150 beers at planet hollywood this saturday.... is anyone planning to go? i thought i might wander down there....i think its going to be interesting. never have been to one here.... has anyone been to any of these before? seems like a good chance to see what else is out there besides my usual brews.

Hello all, I am hoping to get a British-style beer fest launched in the Montreal region for next summer/fall and need some advice. Does anybody here have experience of organising a festival? What do I need to know? Where can I source beer from? I realise some of this is licensing questions, so I'll need to take this up with Quebec's authorities, but any general advice would be very much appreciated. I'd like to feature beers from the US and Europe, if possible. The British-style fest model is a bit of a departure from most north American festivals, which typically charge high entry prices and serve only small samples. British-style fests usually are cask and keg-only. Entry is cheap and you pay as you go for beer. I believe it will be quite an experience for people who have only tried the north American style of festival. The ambiance is very different and companies don't need to spend four- or five-figure sums setting up tents, finding accomodation etc. Usually they are held indoors, which makes them immune to the fluctuations of the weather. Any comments or queries, please post!

Anybody been? Stopped in this afternoon and I think it's a great addition to the Manhattan beer retail scene. Mostly selections you can find here and there across the city, but centralized in one location. The growler option is nice. And a few selections that I haven't seen in town before.

I thought you might like to read Lew Bryson's eloquent TRIBUTE to Michael Jackson on Bryson's website today. A sad day for any one who loves and appreciates beer.

This months Saveur has a recipe for making root beer at home Recipie It looked interesting enough so I obtained the necessary supplies and brewed up a batch. 4 days later I open a bottle and give it a try. It does not taste like any root beer that I've ever had before. Sasprilla taste, yes. But it isn't very sweet and has a very powerful molasses taste with a slightly medicinal finish. I don't really like the taste of molasses. I'm thinking of making the recipe again but with straight cane sugar instead of the molasses. Does anyone know where/how I should begin the substitution process? The recipe had 2 cups of molasses. Should I try 1 cup of sugar?