As you know, we love to create and share. We love working with our hands to craft something special- and now we are expanding this experience out to you! Another passion of ours is using local flavours to create a vibrant food and drink experience for the palate. While we are no certified chefs- Candice is a Cicerone certified beer server and has done some time in the food and drink industry (her education in craft beer went next level during her time served at Pub Milos Craft Beer Emporium). Plus, we love ourselves a good charcuterie spread. Whenever we try out a new place, we opt for their charcuterie offering, so we've got some experience on mixing and mingling flavours under our belt.
For these workshops, we have put together a special seasonal menu of four food options and paired them with four beers from Sawdust City Brewery. We dig deep to get the who, what, why from the brewers about the beers, and we also create our own tasting notes on why this food pairs with that beer.
We follow the mantra “BEER HERE NOW”- as in there are no hard rules in any of this- it's always important to acknowledge and appreciate your own preferences and play around with that to start. What do you have on hand? What do you have access to? Can you work with that? We are here to open your mind (and taste buds) and guide you, but you are your own inner guru. Beer here now.
There are however 3 main considerations to help influence your pairings.
1) Match strength with strength: Match intensity- delicate dishes with delicate beers, strongly
flavoured foods with assertive beers.
2) Find harmonies: Find resonances- sharing common flavour or aroma elements
3) Consider contrast Elements: create contrasts- sweetness, bitterness, carbonation, heat
(spice), and richness- all quality of beer and food interact with each other in predictable
ways- PLAY AROUND “Beer here now”
And as a side note that plays a role in all culinary experiences- consider seasonality. What's in season in your area? What is readily available and fresh? One step further- what can you pick up that day from your local farmer's market? Whenever possible, keep it fresh and keep it local!
PAIRING 1
FOOD: Bread stick wrapped w/ basil and prosciutto- option to
dip in balsamic mustard.
BEER: Little Norway [4.5%] German Pilsner-style pale lager
PAIRING 2
FOOD [VEGAN]: Letties Plant Based Cheddar, cucumber slices,
Best Ever nuts and seeds, dill, on a crisp bread.
BEER: Golden Beach [4.5%] Hoppy Session Ale
PAIRING 3
FOOD [VEGETARIAN]: The Pasta Shoppe’s gluten-free crostini
topped with pear, blue cheese, Best Ever walnuts.
BEER: Skinny Dipping Stout [5.5%] Oatmeal Stout
PAIRING 4
FOOD: Kosmo's Summer sausage and aged cheddar goat cheese, topped with BBQ’d peaches.
BEER: An Ale of two cities [6%] Sour Oat IPA
This fourth pairing, I am especially stoked on. Sawdust City are always coming up with new beers- in fact they are a a mission to come up with a different beer each week of the year, so that's right 52 different beers for 2019. That being said, a beer brewed in January may very well be out of stock come July. As luck will have a it, a few days out from our workshop, they ran out of two of our beers- so we pivoted and came up with a couple new twists with two different beers which were available. This is where everything came together serendipitously. A side note- Candice teaches yoga and follows Ayurveda- the sister science and ancient medical system of yoga. It is recommended that we include each of the tastes in every meal for optimal balance in body and mind. Back to our regular programming...
WHY THEY WORK- Strength w/ Strength:
Full flavour sausage! Smoked Cheddar! BBQ peaches! The acidity of the sour cuts the richness & creaminess of the cheese.
A “saatvic balance” (a mix of all six tastes) — sweet (goat cheese), sour (beer), salty (meat), pungent (Chipotle BBQ sauce), bitter (beer) and astringent (peaches).
The exploration continues as we dive into new territory with bourbon! That's right, we are partnering with a local bourbon expert and taking the workshop over to Bracebridge at the Riverwalk Restaurant where Chef Dave Friesen and his team will kick up the food offerings BBQ style!
And stay tuned as we transition into fall and explore all that this abundant season has to offer! Find our upcoming monthly workshops here
Namaste!
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