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Hey Beer & Nosh,

I would love your opinion on a beer pairing I’m planning in a week or two, which will be the start of an ongoing series. We’re starting with Witbier, and I’d love some cheese or food suggestions.  I had a few ideas in my head, like cavatina from Andante creamery to bring out the citrus/herbaceous notes, but I can’t just do all goat cheese (which could easily happen with me).  It should be fun, and everyone is bringing a different style of witbier or wheat beer.  I’m bringing Hitachino White Nest, Floris Apple Ale, and Black Orchard from the bruery (just to throw everyone off).  What cheeses or food (nuts, olives, fruit…) would you suggest to pair them with?

Best, Claire
The Kitchy Kitchen

Dear Claire -

I’m happy to provide a few starting points.  It sounds like a great series of events, and the Belgian Wit style is a natural starting place.  With their light malt, and wide variety belgian yeast notes, the style gives you very wide area to play around in.  In fact, one of my very first posts to this blog was a pairing made with a Belgian Wit style beer from Lakefront Brewery and grilled peached, wrapped in Prosciutto.

A great place to start your thinking about pairings is the spices.  The addition of spices to beer is a classic Belgian technique, and can give you a great flavor profile to build upon. I brew mine with bitter orange peel and coriander.  Maybe a clafoutis, with apricots (deliciously in season at the moment), orange zest and coriander?  Or use the orange and coriander as a base to build a homemade mustard.

On the more savory side, seafood (with its standard lemon pairing) is also a great match for wit beers.  The crisp, dry nature lends itself nicely to the sweet meat of shellfish.  Perhaps a shrimp cocktail, with a spicy lemon caper dipping sauce?  Or crab, which is what Hopmonk Tavern paired with New Belgium’s Mothership Wit?  I first had Hitachino Nest White Ale in a sushi restaurant, and its been my favorite sushi beer ever since.

Finally, on the cheese front, I think you’ve got a good intuition with goat cheese.  Why not start with a basic goat cheese, like Humbolt Fog or chèvre, and up the ante with additional adjuncts which bring out different flavors in the beer?  Fruit and nuts, of course, but if you visit your local homebrew shop you can get some real malt, and have use it recreate a mini version of the malt bill for one of these beers (the brew shop will be happy to help with with – go for about 1-2 lbs of malt total).  Steep the malt in 150 degree water for forty five minutes, then remove the husks and strain the remaining liquid.  If we were brewing, you’d then boil and add hops.  Instead, reduce to a syrup (adding spices, or blending with honey if desired) and serve alongside the goat cheese.  You could also buy wheat malt extract for a simpler procedure. (Hint: malt extract is killer for brining pork.)

I hope this helps you get your party going.  Take lots of pictures, and enjoy your wit beers!

- Beer & Nosh

Tags: beer pairings, belgian, wit

This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 6:41 pm and is filed under Pairings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.