Endless Pairings -

by snebbu

Endless Beer: Ommegang Valar Morghulis

ABV: 8%

“When confronted with the most feared saying in Valyrian, take a sip and choose your words wisely.”

We’ve all been waiting for the October release of the latest Ommegang Game of Thrones series. Now that we’ve all been able to find it somewhere, drink it up and converse about the series and what to expect next, we can talk about the beer! There are a lot of cool beer series out there, but I think Ommegang and Game of Thrones wins with most creative and true to the style (of the books and the beer). The creativity in determining what kind of beer, the label art, and even the marketing message is impressive. I’ve had each series but this is the first time I’ve had the brew after reading four of the books. I gotta tell ya, the excitement in receiving this sample from Ommegang can’t compete with many things.

Fun fact: the Valar Morghulis Dubbel was chosen by the people in a facebook poll. If you don’t know (how dare you?), Valar Morghulis means “all men must die” and to say it is foreboding would be an understatement. One of my favorite characters – Arya Stark is given a two-headed coin by a man that is able to change his appearance and also just happened to kick ass on a number occasions in the book. For two kick ass characters to be represented, the beer must do the same – kick some ass. The poll participants chose a Dubbel as the style of the beer and Ommegang went to town to create a Dubbel that lives up to its name. In knowing the ABV was at 8%, my expectations were for a boozy taste with sweet malts and to get some strong yeasty characteristics. On to the tasting profile!

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by snebbu

Endless Beer: Flying Dog Secret Stash Harvest Ale

ABV: 5.5%

Yes, kind of a mouthful. Flying Dog sent their most recent production of their secret stash: the Harvest Ale. For a limited time, Flying Dog is offering a “local brew” for the harvest. The beer is a wheat saison brewed with local hops and malts. Flying Dog held their first annual Mid-Atlantic Hop Selection at the brewery with hopes of exposing local breweries to the best hops of the mid-atlantic region. Typically, the Flying Dog brewmaster will take part in the Yakima Valley hop selection to pick the best hops offered. However, this brew is made with local cascade hops to create a bit of a kick paired with the spices of the saison yeast.

Picture sitting around a large kitchen table as the farmers come in from a day of bailing hay ready for a nice warm supper. What do you want to drink? You want something that is going to give you a nice relaxing feeling, with some spices in the mix – a farmhouse ale. Many know farmhouse ales as Saisons. Saison is the yeast strain that provides the spicy notes we’ve all known to love in the farmhouse ales. Anywho, enough of the boring (yet impressive that I know of course) stuff…on to the tasting:

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by snebbu

Endless Beers: Anchor Big Leaf Maple

Fall beer season isn”t over. Remember – fall really isn”t over until Thanksgiving is over. So pack up the winter decorations, don”t you DARE say the “C word” or anything related to peppermints, candy canes, or mistletoe. Now, open your mind to even more fall beers! We looked at Anchor Big Leaf Maple last year and enjoyed the taste of a balanced sweetness of malts and spices.This year, we”ll give you the handy tasting profile, but we also have some suggested pairings and FALL concoctions made of the Big Leaf Maple. As always, the tasting notes:

Appearance: Copper, but lighter than last years – more translucent but still with a red hue.

Aroma: Sweet scent with slight hints of maple and caramel. A bit of a floral scent follows (mostly from the hops combination during the boil and dry hopping).

Taste: Malty with caramel undertones (maybe a little maple syrup flavor too), followed by spices and the slight bitterness of the hops.

Mouthfeel: A dry, crisp brew at the finish.

Overall: Definitely a warming brew, but without the strong alcohol flavor. Sat out on my porch on a cool casino evening for this drink and enjoyed it. The Big Leaf Maple fits the fall season and is a satisfying drink. It has good balance if you aren’t up for the sweetness of most Oktoberfests and Pumpkin brews. I also appreciated the hops that came through the beer. Still a refreshing brew – and pretty much sticks with the same flavors as last year”s vintage.

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by snebbu

Endless Pairings: Emeril’s Chophouse

While it’s clear we that love craft beer here at ES, we do not play favorites. Which is why we took advantage of an opportunity to attend a four-course wine pairing dinner at Emeril’s Chophouse at Sands Casino in Bethlehem, PA. The event was based on South American Wines (from Chile) and some fall-themed foods. My expectations for this event were pretty simple – learn more about wine (how it’s made, how to choose a wine for particular meals, what’s so special about Chilean wine?), have some great food that I couldn’t have otherwise, and taste wine that truly complements the food I’m eating with the wine. Rather than boring you with my oh-so-important and attention-worthy opinions of every course, I’ll give you the cliff notes version.

First, let’s talk about my educational expectations. Whenever I go to these kinds of events, I want to leave knowing more than I did when I first arrived. The woman in charge of the “educational” aspect of the event was a very well-versed representative from Southern Wine. She did a great job of explaining why she chose Chilean Wines for this event (it is under-represented and often under-rated) and giving a good run-down of the people that made the wine. Something that I appreciated was learning about what the winemakers intended for the wine, what kind of grapes they picked, and why they picked a particular region. For instance, when drinking my favorite wine of the night (Ritual Pinot Noir) I learned that the grapes are pressed with the berries still in a bunch. When this occurs, more pronounced tanin flavors come through in the wine (which is something that I look for in a dry red). The one thing that was missing from the education aspect of the event was that she really did not discuss why she chose the particular wine for each course. Like I said – she gave great information about the wines, but not as much about why the wine was chosen for the courses.

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