beer sommelier Archives - Peer To Beer

June 14, 2023June 14, 2023

Beer & Fish Pairing

There’s a beer for every occasion!

So let’s focus a bit on how to best pair beer with fish!

Think wine !

White wine is in general the go to option to pair with fish. It’s acidic, dry, fruity, bright… somehow it plays the role of lemon! Of course we’re not talking about a Sauterne here but your everyday Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay….

Well you should approach beer pairing the same way. You’re looking for a beer that will brighten up your fish just like a lemon squeeze!

In most cases, stay away from bitterness (Just like you’d stay away from high tannic wines)!

Lemony and Tart Beers ?

Besides some very epic and unexpected pairings you can always do a great job bringing beers with some Lemony/Limey notes, low sweetness, low bitterness and moderate high acidity….

Let’s explore a few of them.

May 1, 2023May 23, 2023

Beer and Food Pairing – Menu ideas

Here is a Beer and Food pairing menu I just did recently at home for 8 people. A diner in 6 parts. Tapas format, each time with a beer pairing.

What I love about this format is that we all progress at the same pace, we all drink the same beers and it’s very playful.

Find the menu below and some top tips for a successful session!

In this menu I have indicated the beers I have used but also the style so if you can’t find these beers you can easily chose an alternative.

Pro Tips

Set the scene and make sure you have 1 beautiful beer glass for each participant. If you really only have boston shakers, use stemmed wine glasses. My favorite is the Teku glass!

Manage quantities… I usually count 1/2 bottle per person for each pairing. It’s always nice that people enjoy fully until the end. They can always have more beer afterward!

Know your audience. Beer and Food pairing is certainly an opportunity to discover new styles but are they ready for a sharp lambic, a salty gose and a rauchbier? There are plenty of accessible beer styles that are already stretching the sensorial map of most people!

Don’t steal the attention. Sometime your guest have plenty of questions and keep asking for more info and this is great. Sometime they mostly want to have a great sensorial experience and that’s ok too. Make sure you read their interest and don’t crash the party into a workshop.

Add you personal playful touch. You can simply ask people to take note so that at the end they can together define the winning pairing?

Use music as an extra sensorial stimulation. For the menu presented here I created a playlist made of 6 different “music styles” to pair with the 6 “beer and food”. It was completely subjective but added to the fun. Like I used some Juicy lounge beats with the NEIPA, some funky music with the cheese and sexy beats with the dessert… You can find the playlist on Spotify as “Beer & Food (by chrlsnwn)” (you’ll have to figure out when to move to the next course yourself)

Enjoy and let me know how it went below!

January 2, 2020April 14, 2022

HOPPY(TM) is Live

Long time in the making HOPPY™ is now available to everyone (above LDA, I mean).

HOPPY™ started as an ambition to bring beer culture to everyone in a new, different way. Not too academic, not too sophisticated, not too technical,… in a fun, casual and engaging format.

So what is HOPPY™?

It’s a web access app. The look and feel directly sets the tone. A playful smiling beer glass! Because HOPPY™ is a learning game, unlocking badges and collecting beercoins along the way.

The content can be accessed in any sequence. No need to complete the ingredients 101 before you can explore glassware or learn about Octoberfest. You choose to learn what you want and there’s content for every beer lover. How beer is made, beer culture, styles, how to taste, gluten free beer…

The pace is gamified, with quizzes at the end of each lessons (beer flights) and a leaderboard to compete with your friends! The daily challenge (which you can repeat as much as you like) will challenge your knowledge with 5 questions. Nail them 5 right before the glass is empty and you’ll collect extra beercoins!