Several weeks ago I was afforded the opportunity to attend a beer dinner at Charley’s Steakhouse here in Tampa. The event was hosted by Canada’s Unibroue and featured one of their Belgian-inspired beers as an accompaniment to and integral part of the recipe for four separate courses. Between each course was also a nice talk about the upcoming pairing from Unibroue’s Master Brewer, Jerry Vietz. For me, this was a doubly welcome respite from a usual day at work as I geared up to enjoy another hockey season. What could be better than a dinner featuring one of my favorite Canadian breweries?

             The dinner started with Ephemere Cassis, an ABC exclusive, as an aperitif. This served as an excellent wake-up to the taste buds with its crisp, dry, and satisfying mix of sweet and tart. Jerry, as we came to know him, was a very jovial and knowledgeable fellow. He mingled throughout the growing crowd of hungry guests spreading little tidbits of knowledge as he passed, which was also an aperitif of sorts for the little talks he gave between courses. One such tidbit was the proper way to serve a Unibroue beer, which is to tilt the bottle upside down and gently swirl a bit before opening. This serves to reincorporate the yeast that has fallen out of the beer since bottling and bring the flavors the yeast imparts back to the beer. Also, don’t be shy about pouring a nice fluffy head. Eating and drinking should be feasts for all the senses, the head of a beer is not only visually pleasing, but it also releases the aroma of the beer, adding to the full experience.

             With our appetites and anticipation growing the meal began in earnest. The tables were set with a fresh Unibroue glass for each course and the food arrived. Course one was a beautiful onion soup with crostini and parmesan reggiano and provolone cheeses prepared and served with La Fin Du Monde- “The End of the World” in English. The smell was rustic and intense. The play between the soup and the beer was remarkable. The soup brought out sweetness in the beer while the beer served as a light balance to the heartiness of the soup. Even the light mouthfeel of the beer served to complement the thickness of the soup. Jerry’s tidbits this course included a little of the beginning of the brewery to accompany La Fin Du Monde. The company started in 1990 by purchasing an existing brewery and moving it from Lennoxville to their current headquarters of Chambly, which is easier to do in Quebec than starting a brewery from scratch. They were also the first to commercially produce Belgian-style beer in North America with the introduction of Blanche de Chambly.

             The second course was crab encrusted Chilean sea bass served on a cedar plank with a microgreen salad paired with Ephemere Pomme, the more common incarnation of the beer with apples infused. Normally, this beer is fairly sweet on its own, but this pairing brings out a complexity that was never apparent before. The sweetness of the crab shines and brings out the apple peel from the beer and the must and dust from the yeast while the meatiness of the fish rounds out the meal and gives balance and a fullness to the beer. This course was probably the most impressive pairing, as evidenced by the statements from Jerry, who said he does not typically enjoy seafood, especially crab, but the interplay between the crab and the apple notes of the beer were something he, as well as the rest of us, greatly enjoyed.

             It now came time for the steak. This course consisted of a Harris ranch tenderloin fillet marinated in Trois Pistoles (for two days!) with mushroom gravy (also containing the beer) and garlic smashed potatoes paired with Trois Pistoles. I thought this course was the no-brainer of the bunch. Obviously, a world-class steakhouse such as Charley’s would showcase their steaks and what goes better with steak than a nice, rich, dark beer? In fact, leading up to the event, we debated whether it would have been this beer or Maudite (“The Damned”) that would have had the honor of this pairing. The deep, rich flavors of the steak and garlic potatoes bring out the rock candy, caramel, sweet plum, and fig in the beer while the beer likewise accentuated the garlic and wood char on the steak. The sweet mushroom gravy rises above and unites the beer and steak. This is a robust beer perfect for a robust meal. Charley’s is known for their aged steaks and the pairing with a beer that Jerry recommends to be aged (his preference is three years or so) is sublime. Aging a beer is a thought that would never occur to some, but there are styles that were made for the long haul and this is definitely one of them. The flavors will meld together after a period of time, heat from alcohol dies down, and the yeast gets a better chance to carbonate the beer and add a little more complexity to the flavor. Just like a steak.

 The final course came all too soon. Unibroue’s Don de Dieu (“Gift from God”) was paired with a chocolate crème brulee containing the beer and an assortment of fresh berries. Per Jerry’s instruction we took a sip of the beer, then a taste of the dessert, then back to the beer. It was amazing the flavors that came through with this pairing. There were some nice sweet notes of apple and fruit with a hint of barnyard funk. The crème brulee was all chocolate, caramel, and spice- the last presumably from the beer it contained. On its own this is an intense, deep beer. The pairing brings out some of the lighter qualities that are otherwise lost while maintaining the deep, rich fruit and spice notes. And this is where we were, diners pondering the interactions of food and beer, the flavors growing and changing. In the end it was all so simple. Beer is food, why not pair it accordingly?

Beer blogger Stephen Schmitt can be found pairing beer and food at our Gandy Blvd store in Tampa