BWS's Idea Of Beer Categories

[Liam_snorkel]

speaking of which - WR dark ale was the only craft beer on the menu at a wine-wanker place I went to for dinner last weekend.

 

[sp0rk]

WR Dark ale is on the beer list at 2 restaurants here...

I'd like to think it's because of my constant whinging at restaurants when all they have is 6 lagers that taste basically the same... (but it's most likely not)
I've brought bottles of craft beer to byo restaurants before,only to be told that I'm only allowed to bring wine, because they already have 6 lagers on offer...
I solved this by bringing corked 750ml bottles, like Chimay Blue, etc...

 

[manticle]

It's actually a market niche/opportunity and some high end restaurants, at least in Melbourne, are starting to look at it from that perspective.
Takes time and many other things to change perspectives and stereotypes and to be honest, I'd like beer in all it's glorious diverse historical wonderfullness NOT to become pontificated over in the same way wine often is.

 

[Phoney]

Regardless, if I ran a kitchen I wouldn't want to be serving palate-wrecking, hoppy beers and the like anyway.

As usual you are speaking out of your bum, I ate at some pretty fine dining establishments in NYC last year, and they all had an excellent choice of beers on offer.

Eleven madison park is ranked the 10th best restuarant in the world, and check out their beer menu: http://elevenmadisonpark.com/pdfs/beer_list.pdf - I had the degustation with matching wines and yet one course came out with a belgian saison and another with a french cider. Was pretty happy about that, it matched the courses perfectly, there's no excuse for Aussie chefs to not offer the same.

 

[bum]

One course at one restaurant is your proof? And it is somehow me who is disconnected with reality?

There's a really good reason for Australian chefs not to do it and that is that the Australian market is clueless/does not want.

 

[Phoney]

One course at one restaurant is your proof? And it is somehow me who is disconnected with reality?

That was just one example. Do you want more?

 

[bum]

Yes, please.

 

[pk.sax]

I took in a 3 monts last time, indonesian food, yummy, hot and the 'bottled in french they can't understand' went perfectly with the food.

Now, only if some brewery did wine style screw top bottles.... Wait.. growlers

 

[AndrewQLD]

Make your mind up!

Flavourful beers are very hard to pair with a broad range of foods.

Plus no one would buy it because they want a fancy Crownie when they're out or they want the beer they usually drink. How many people do you think want a beer even as adventurous as White Rabbit dark ale?

Pretty sure the organisers of the ANHC dinner would disagree with that, they did a pretty good job on the night.

 

[bum]

Now, only if some brewery did wine style screw top bottles.... Wait.. growlers

Nah, it's not beer. It's cream sherry!

 

[Nick JD]

Pairing beer with food is so dumb.

Making beer that has the same nutritional value as food is not.

Those Monks and their binge drinking during lent ... that may be into some 2000 year old hocus pocus, but they sure know how to procure a decent belly.

 

[bum]

Pretty sure the organisers of the ANHC dinner would disagree with that

Actually, I would be completely surprised if they read it, thought about it then actually disagreed outright with it. Pairing with one dish - I'm sure they would say it took a lot of work and testing to get it right. Getting a large selection of beers to match a large part of the menu? Nigh on impossible. Much easier with wine.

[EDIT: typo]

 

[AndrewQLD]

Some of the beers at ANHC weren't delivered to the restaurant or sampled until a week before the venue date, a general description of the beer was given by the brewers and the menu was developed from there. So while a lot of work went into the menu development it wasn't just because of the beers involved.

Most restaurants don't have a revolving door of meals, they will keep the same basic menu for a period of time with seasonal changes.
And as far as matching the beer to the menu, why would you need more than one or two choices per course? They are recommendations of a beer that would match well to the meal. Just as when the waiter recommends a wine to accompany the meal.

 

[bum]

This is fundamental to my point. The beers will not travel across courses. It is bad business to have a secondary product damage the primary one. Unless you're suggesting Australia is ready to drink beer from tasting glasses each course...?

 

[AndrewQLD]

Not being a wine buff please correct me if i'm wrong.
Aren't different wines served for each course? White for chicken, fish, red for meat, sweet with desserts ect?
Easier to open a 375ml beer for each course than a 750 ml wine for each course.
Or have i misunderstood your post above?

 

[bum]

No you haven't but the point of difference, I guess, is that a bottle of wine is usually shared amongst the table. Necking a stubbie of craft beer (and the higher than mega-beer alc that often entails) per course per person may often be less sustainable. Also you're more likely to get a wine that will traverse from pork belly entree to steak main, for example. Schlenkerla Urbock and pork belly? Yummo! Get it away from my rare steak, please.

Although you can keep wine away from the steak too, thanks. Much appreciated.

 

[Phoney]

Yes, please.

page 127: http://www.tkrg.org/upload/ps_wine.pdf
page 16: http://www.binwise.com/print/aifiori_bottle_pdf.aspx?ListId=146

etc.


The worst part of pairing beer with every dish is that they leave you feeling bloated by the end of your dinner, whereas wine doesnt usually have that effect.

 

[bum]

page 127: http://www.tkrg.org/upload/ps_wine.pdf
page 16: http://www.binwise.com/print/aifiori_bottle_pdf.aspx?ListId=146

etc.

Perhaps I've misunderstood your point. In the first link I see 126 pages of wine vs. 1 page of beer and in the second link I see49 pages of wine vs half a page of beer. both of these are approximately commensurate with restaurants here in terms of quantity. Quality? The second one is clearly only going for image. The first is a very respectable list but it is fairly unrealistic to expect something like that in a statistically relevant number of restaurants. Imagine trying to charge $155 for a bottle of beer anywhere here.

Still, I'm fairly envious if you ate at the first place (and even more so if you can afford it).

[EDIT: typos]

 

[Phoney]

Wine lists in these sorts of restaurants will always outnumber beer lists in the order of 100:1 - See above for why it pairs better with multiple courses. My original point was that there's really no excuse for not having a selection of very good beers instead of an array of bland lagers.

 

[bum]

My original point was that there's really no excuse for not having a selection of very good beers instead of an array of bland lagers.

Serious question - where do you propose they get these beers from? If I owned a restaurant I would not be remotely interested in running the Dan Murphys gusher-gauntlet. Buy a box per month direct from several breweries? Is there a market for it? People actually like and want the shitty beers that are the usual suspects.