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July 2009
South Shore Living
Food and Beer: A Love Story
By Dan Mathers
 There
was a time, not so long ago, when being a “beer guy” (or
gal) had certain negative connotations —namely that you
enjoyed drinking cheap swill from a can and were someone
for who “fine dining” meant including fries with your
greasy burger.
How times have changed.
The past 25 years have seen nothing
short of a complete revolution in the American beer
landscape. Where American beer was once dominated by a
handful of giant macrobreweries that canned and bottled
tasteless swill, the rise of craft microbreweries over
the past two decades has given American beer drinkers a
wonderful gift: Taste.
Here in microbrewery-rich New
England, we have tons of locally-brewed lagers, pale
ales, porters, stouts and seasonal concoctions to choose
from, all with different characteristics and individual
tastes. And the higher quality of these brews has
elevated the status of beer, even to the point where it
is invading wine’s territory and accompanying good
meals. Nowadays, when people go out to dinner, they
don’t just choose between white or red, but rather
whether their meal would go best with a golden ale or a
stout.
Many restaurants even host beer
dinners, where guests can experiment pairing particular
beers with certain meals. Stars on Hingham Harbor hosts
several beer dinners each year to educate
beer-enthusiasts and to promote local breweries. Brian
Barry, who, as Stars’ beverage manager, has the enviable
job of choosing the restaurant’s beer, says when you
consider what beer to order, you need to think about
what characteristic the beer will take on with your
meal.
“Every beer has its own
characteristics,” says Barry. “The more full-bodied the
beer, the better it will work with a heftier, deeper
dish. Lighter beer works with crispier stuff like salads
and appetizers.”
One of the breweries Stars works
with is the Plymouth-based upstart Mayflower Brewing
Company. The company started turning out beer in January
2008, and can now be found at stores and restaurants
throughout the South Shore and Cape Cod. Mayflower’s
founder and president, Drew Brosseau, has deep roots in
the area’s beer culture. He is a direct descendent of
John Alden — a passenger on the Mayflower who,
coincidentally, was the ship’s beer barrel cooper. The
beer barrel cooper was an indispensible position on a
ship in the 1600s, as passengers didn’t drink water, as
water would get bacteria and spoil. Beer, however, would
stay fresh because of its alcohol and hops.
Brosseau began homebrewing beer in
the early 1980s. After a career in the technology and
investment banking world, he decided to start his own
business. And what better way to do it than doing
something he loved: brewing beer?
Mayflower brews a variety of
English-style ales — golden ale, pale ale, india pale
ale, and porter, plus several seasonal and specialty
beers during the year. Brosseau says the evolution he
has seen in the American beer industry is astounding.
When he began homebrewing, there were only a handful of
beers available. Today, he says, the United States has a
better variety of beers than anywhere else in the world,
an idea that was unthinkable two decades ago. And with
that variety, beer has taken on a new identity.
“There is a richness and a value
that has risen in terms of what this beverage is,” says
Brosseau. “Slowly, people are starting to think of it
more like wine. And, as a result, it is getting thought
of in combination with food in a way that it just never
was before.”
Mayflower’s Director of Brewing
Operations, Matthew Steinberg, enjoys experimenting with
beer and food whether he is at a restaurant or home in
his own kitchen. For a recent corned beef meal, he
enjoyed a hefty porter. But for a spicy chicken
enchilada, he liked a hoppier beer, the india pale ale.
The hops of the beer helped bring the spice out, and the
dryness helped not to prolong it.
“Find the foods that you like, and
understand that you don’t want the food to overpower the
beer, and you don’t want the beer to overpower the
food,” says Steinberg. “What you want is an
intermingling of flavors.”
For example, the folks at Stars
recently paired some of their dishes with particular
beers from Mayflower. They paired their barbecue pulled
pork sandwich with Mayflower’s porter. They found the
slow-roasted pork rubbed with spices and sugars goes
nicely with the darker, malty thickness of the porter.
Their Steak and Cheese Spring Rolls were paired with the
golden ale. Barry says the crisp, easy-drinking golden
ale pairs nicely with comfort food like the fried
wrapper of the spring rolls. And the Buffalo Chicken
Rangoons go great with the pale ale. Barry says the pale
ale has more hops, and the spiciness of the buffalo
chicken opens up your taste buds to allow you to truly
appreciate the hoppiness of the beer.
The great thing about pairing food
is the right beer is what tastes best to you. And the
fun part is experimenting.
“I think the most important thing
is not to worry about what is right, but what tastes
good,” says Steinberg. “Fortunately, taste is
subjective.” |
