Pairing beer with food

It’s one of the oldest beverages in the world — almost certainly the oldest alcoholic beverage. There are references to it in some of the earliest writings discovered in ancient Sumeria and Mesopotamia. In its modern forms it has a range of flavors and complexities that can match and often exceed wine. So why is it that beer, to quote comedian Rodney Dangerfield, “don’t get no respect?” Says beer authority Michael Jackson [no relation to the singer]: “Wine and beer are companions of honor: the world’s two great fermented drinks, derived from grape and grain respectively. Thus conjoined by the force of language, they are too often rent asunder by social snobbery.” He’s right; there can be a degree of snobbery associated with wine that looks down on beer as “common or lowbrow.” How did that come to be? In the U.S., at least, it may have been because beer was commonplace. Beer was fresh, made locally, and even in small cities such as Springfield, there was often more than one brewery. Wine — other than homemade or commercial plonk — was more exotic, for special occasions.

During the last half of the 20th century, beer became even more commonplace as local breweries folded one after another, drowned by a tidal wave of mega-breweries whose oceans of bland, characterless beers were (and are) barely distinguishable from each other.

All that sameness, however, gave birth to rebellion. At first there were a just few upstart microbreweries — San Franciso’s Anchor Steam on the West Coast, and Boston’s Sam Adams in the East. Today there are hundreds of breweries (and brewpubs) all over the U.S., including Two Brothers and Goose Island in Illinois, and Schlafly and Boulevard in Missouri, who are making beers that range from the lightest summer wheat-based beers meant to be served with a lemon wedge, to fuller-flavored beers, including smoked stouts and porters, that can stand up to and compliment the heartiest winter dishes and everything in between. Americans also began discovering beers from outside the U.S., including rice-based brews from Japan and Asia and the astonishing array of European beers.

Springfield beer enthusiast Kevin Brown wants to promote craft beers and show locals how well fine food and beer compliment each other. Actually, Brown isn’t just an enthusiast: he’s the Great Lakes regional editor and Illinois columnist for The Ale Street News, the largest beer-based paper in the U.S. Brown has teamed up with Charles and Limey’s chef Peter Munds to create a menu that’s luxurious, yet familiar, for a special four-course dinner on Jan. 11. Brown will match each course with appropriate beers.

The menu begins with imported cheeses and meats, as well as hot hors d’oeuvres. Next comes either beer/cheese soup or a salad of organic greens, candied walnuts and an ale vinaigrette. The main course is either roasted prime rib of beef and Yorkshire pudding, or beer-battered cod with homemade blue cheese potato chips. Dessert will be a trio of chocolates: chocolate pyramid, white chocolate sin cake and chocolate stout pudding.

Cost for the beer dinner is $45 and covers all food, beer, tax and gratuities. Call Charles and Limey’s at 522-6300 for reservations or more information.

Contact Juilianne Glatz at [email protected]