Local Flavors:
Try a food and beer pairing next time
When you’re looking to pair food with a beverage, wine is usually the first thing to come to mind. However, Matt Brynildson, the award-winning brewmaster at Firestone Walker Ales in Paso Robles, would be among the first to suggest that beer can be just as good a choice, and sometimes better.
By Katy BudgePosted on Wed, May. 02, 2007
“There’s still an upsurge in handcrafted beers, and right now people are really developing a heightened awareness of those beers and how they work with food,” he explained, citing nationally known experts and enthusiasts such as Garrett Oliver and Sean Paxton.

The concept behind pairing beer and food centers on “whether you want a beer to come up and compete with the food, or something that will cleanse your palate,” said Brynildson. “The one thing beer has that most wines don’t is carbonation, an effervescence that can cleanse your palate.” Because of that, he noted that a pairing such as “beer and cheese is a match made in heaven.”

Specifically, Brynildson suggested the Firestone Lager as a “great meet-andgreet beer to serve with cheeses and easy appetizers. It’s not a beer with training wheels, but it’s a light lager that’s easy to put with foods and doesn’t overwhelm them.
‘Right now people are really developing a heightened awareness of beers and how they work with food,’ says Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker Ales in Paso Robles.
The Double Barrel is also a breeze to pair with food. It’s got oak that shines through (thanks to a unique brewing process used by only one other brewer in the world) so it’s great with Santa Maria-style barbecue, and its caramel, sweet character pairs well with other red meats and rich, savory sauces.”

If you’re looking for a beer that will assert itself a little more with your food, Brynildson suggested the Firestone Pale Ale, which has “a big, spicy American hop presence and coriander and citrus notes … you can imagine how many things you can pair with that!”

Katy Budge is a freelance writer from Atascadero. If you have a favorite “Local Flavor” you’d like to see featured, e-mail your suggestions to ktbudge@sbcglobal.net.

FIRESTONE PALE ALE STEAMED MUSSELS WITH BACON, GARLIC AND FENNEL

Makes: 3 servings as a main course, 6 servings as an appetizer

• 3 dozen large mussels

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 6 cloves garlic, peeled, thinly sliced

• 1 small bulb of fennel, cut into thin strips

• 1 yellow onion, peeled, thinly sliced

• 1 cup cooked bacon, diced

• 2 bottles Firestone Walker Pale Ale

• 5 scallions, thinly sliced

• 1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped

• 2 lemons, quartered

• salt and pepper to taste

• bread for dipping

Clean mussels well, being sure to discard any with open or broken shells, and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over high heat.

Add garlic, fennel and onion and sauté for one minute.

Add bacon and mussels to pot and cook for 30 seconds.

Add Firestone Pale Ale, scallions and immediately cover pot with a tightly fitting lid.

When you begin to see uffs of steam escaping from the lid, your mussels are ready.

Remove the lid, add parsley and a couple of squeezes of lemon; salt and pepper to taste and gently stir to incorporate.

Allow mussels to rest a few minutes in the liquid and then serve with extra lemon wedges and plenty of beer bread for dipping.

—Katy Budge
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