Garrett Oliver

Beer Trumps Wine on Holiday Tables
by Garrett Oliver

At Brooklyn Brewery, the official end of summer comes on the first autumn day when we don't need to use the glycol stage on our heat exchanger during cast-out. Once it's shut off, we probably won't turn it on again until May. There's a faint melancholy to it, but then again, I'm looking forward to winter beers. Summer is often thought of as "beer season", but many of our favorite beer styles are brilliant with cold-weather dishes, especially around the holidays. People are often surprised to hear that the question most frequently asked of wine professionals is "what wine goes best with turkey?" The answer, of course, is beer. As much as I enjoy wine, I've always found it oddly unconvincing on the holiday table. It looks nice, of course, but does it really have the flavors to match ham, turkey and other holiday dishes? Wine's got a big hat, but I don't see any cattle.

The cattle, it turns out, are French. Just before Thanksgiving every year, my brother Roger calls me up to make sure that I won't forget to bring the bière de garde. These farmhouse-style ales of northwestern France have all the flavor hooks you're looking for to match up with that turkey. The aromatics are typically herbal, with some malty caramel notes, and overtones of anise, fennel and damp earth developed by high temperature fermentations followed by long ageing. The caramel notes play perfectly to the browned skin of the turkey and the nutty flavor of the meat. The herbal flavors pick up on the herbs in the stuffing. Most bières de garde have enough hop bitterness to provide the cutting power to slice through gravy and enough malt to meld with turnips and fend off cranberry assaults. Most of them come in large cork-finished champagne-style bottles that you can open at the table with a festive pop.

From nearby Belgian Flanders comes another beer style that does well with turkey, the classic Belgian pale ale, epitomized by the pride of Antwerp, DeKoninck. Belgian pale ales tend to have fruity/spicy yeast-driven aromatics with notes of anise, melon, and biscuity malts. There's plenty of caramel to latch onto the turkey, and the biscuit flavors play through on a dry, juicy frame. And let's face it, when it comes to juiciness, the average Butterball needs all the help it can get.

Ham, of course, is another holiday favorite. Here few people would dispute that beer is king. There is a wide array of beers that will do wonders with ham, but a few stand out. Doppelbocks love any form of pork, cured or not. The slightly sweet, toffeeish malt flavors provide a nice counterpoint to the saltiness of the ham and just melt into the potatoes. You are having potatoes, aren't you? Other beers with harder, drier characteristics seem to work by drawing the salt out of the meat, exposing its essential flavors. Dry Irish stouts are surprisingly good, as are IPAs, tripels, Belgian strong golden ales, saisons and the newly-minted West-coast imperial pilsners.

For lamb and other gamy meats such as duck, goose, wild boar or venison, dark abbey styles are hard to beat. They have the dark fruit flavors you might typically put into a sauce for these meats, along with notes of caramel, warm spices, toffee, rum, and chocolate. The harmonies between the flavors in the meat and the flavors of the beers can be truly remarkable. Another great accompaniment for gamy meats is smoked beer, which makes the meat taste as if it had been cooked over an open fire. It's particularly evocative if you've got the fireplace going.

Finally, these wintry thoughts wouldn't be complete without a mention of one of my favorite winter dishes, carbonade flamande. This classic, which is basically a beer, beef and onion stew, is pretty much the national dish of Belgium. It's a great dish to make at home or at a brewpub, where you can use the house beer in the stew. Whenever I make it, I make a huge amount – it freezes beautifully, which is great for lazy, snowy evenings when the microwave represents the peak of your ambitions. I've been cooking carbonade for more than fifteen years, and I like to think I'm getting good at it. Here's my recipe – now go put your own spin on it.

Brewmaster's Carbonade Flamande

Serves 4

2 pounds of good chuck steak, cut into 1" cubes
3 large yellow onions, sliced
22 oz. Belgian-style Dubbel or Flemish Brown Ale
1 oz. Butter
1 oz. Peanut Oil
3 cups beef stock or canned low-salt beef broth
6 fresh thyme sprigs, bound with string, or 1 bouquet garni
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 large Granny Smith Apple, peeled and sliced into a dozen pieces
salt and pepper

Heat the oil and butter in a large, heavy skillet over high heat. When the skillet is very hot, add the meat with some salt and pepper, stirring frequently until well browned on all sides. Using a slotted spoon, lift the meat from the skillet and set it aside. Turn the heat down to low, and stir the flour into the remaining fat and cook gently until smooth and golden. Set the mixture (roux) aside.

To a heavy pot, add the beef, then the onions. Add beef stock, herbs, nutmeg and sugar. Add beer until the beef is entirely covered. Bring to a boil, then add tomato puree. Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour.

Remove the beef with a slotted spoon, and set aside. Using a chinoise or other strainer, strain the sauce into another pot.

Place the beef in the pot with the strained sauce. Add the roux and the raisins, continue cooking for 1 hour. Add the apple slices, and cook for a further 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Serve with mashed potatoes or frites, and a Belgian-style Dubbel.