Lost in Tank 7 (Plus Get It Together: Farmhouse Ale and Cheese Fondue)

4...8...15...16...23...42...

Such are the mysterious numbers in my favorite TV show, Lost. They come up time and time again throughout the series, hiding some cryptic meaning for Losties like myself to ponder endlessly.

The obsession for this show runs deep as I wait nine or so months for the show to return to the weekly lineup. Even as intensely frustrating as the series can be, I'll wait for it's arrival every February.

The mysteries surrounding numbers exist in beer as well. Boulevard Brewery of KC has a particular fermentation tank that likes to infect their beers. Instead of fighting the mysterious black cloud hovering over Tank 7, they went with it and brewed up a semi-traditional Belgian farmhouse ale. And like my obsession for the show, I've waited for this beer to arrive in its majestic 750 mL bottles to reveal the mysteries of open fermentation.

Tonight, as if caught up in the same time warp as the survivors of Flight 815, we enjoyed some cheese fondue with our sci-fi melodrama. The beer and garlic-y cheese paired nicely, playing off the mutual funkiness and tartness, keeping my senses alert as I tried to take in the games Lost played with time and space. Much like the mysterious nature of the island, Tank 7 and the fondue slowly revealed themselves and their parallel assertiveness.

Get It Together: Breakfast Stout and Breakfast for Dinner

It was Friday. We didn't feel like going out. We didn't feel like cooking dinner. In this case, the best choices include calling for pizza or making breakfast for dinner (BFD). We went with the latter.

While making our famous pumpkin pancakes (half a can of pumpkin puree and spices tossed into a batch of pancake batter), I contemplated my beer options. This is not an easy pairing. I know that some people drink cheap beer by the pitcher for kegs and eggs events, but I wanted something more appropriate.

Just as I was about to give up and open a beer while I cooked, I remembered the Founders Breakfast Stout I just slipped into the fridge. Although I still content that beer and breakfast do not readily go together, this pairing seemed somewhat fun if not extraordinary.

The bitterness of the beer and the maple syrup left me with an iron-y taste in my mouth; the bacon's smokiness battled the beer throughout; and eggs just don't go with beer. This combo was not ideal.

However, the gooey, pumpkiny pancakes did pair well with the beer on two levels. I like pumpkin and yams with dark chocolate. This beer brings the chocolate. Then there is the roasty-ness of the beer's coffee profile. There is nothing better than washing down buttery pancakes with some coffee.

The pairing was a stretch, but at least it was fun to try. The next time I might make a hardier pancake to go with my breakfast stout for BFD.

Get It Together: Ommegang and Coq au Vin

We made the trip to a friend's farm for some coq au vin which is basically rooster in wine sauce. Now, I realize a rooster might not sound appetizing, but how could anything not taste good after be cooked and soaked in wine for many hours?

Anyway, one of my favorite websites - Beer Sommelier - suggested a Belgian dubbel for this meal. Luckily, someone brought us an Ommegang Abbey Ale a few weeks back for a party. This beer's strong malty flavor was just the right thing to stand up to the rich wine sauce of the coq au vin.

I love a perfect pairing of such flavorful components.

Get It Together: Alpha King and Pizza

Is there anything better than beer and pizza? I'm not sure there is. Tonight, I had my partner's chicken/bacon pizza with pesto and some veggies on her whole-wheat crust. This pizza was the inaugural pie on her new pizza stone. To wash it down, I broke open a Three Floyds Alpha King Pale Ale. There isn't much to say beyond that. Words would ruin the whole experience.

Beer and Music

I came home late last week from work to find my partner had fixed a nice chicken dinner. It was a long day, so this was very welcome. Also, waiting for me at the door were some records I had mail ordered a while back. This all made me want to pour an Oaked Arrogant Bastard.

As I sat there, enjoying my dinner, drinking my beer, and unwrapping my new music, I thought of another perfect pairing: beer and music. It will take me some time to get something together, but I think I'll start to write about some of the these pairings.

Shall I pair a Three Floyds Alpha King with a Pavement album? Would a farmhouse ale go best with The Afghan Whigs' Gentleman? What would I listen to while drinking a Stone Russian Imperial Stout?

These are questions I shall ponder and share on this page of html code.

The Beer and Chocolate Project: Trappistes Rochefort 10

As mentioned before, I'm making it my goal to find the perfect beers to pair with my friend Alan's chocolates. Honestly, I had no idea where to start. I figured imperial stouts may match the flavors and lambics could possibly compliment. Otherwise, I really had no clue.

At a chocolate and wine tasting a few months back, Alan suggested a Trappistes Rochefort 10 would pair well with his chocolate. I bought one of these shortly after that event to give it a try, but the opportunity never really presented itself.

So, the other night, I gave it a try. The chocolate I had with which to pair was Alan's new nib bar, a 70% cocoa bar with chocolate nibs embedded on one side.

This bar is by far my favorite of the Patric Chocolate line. This bar combines the creamy sweetness of the molded chocolate with the roasted nut and berry flavors of the nibs. It may be the perfect chocolate bar in that gives you all the possible flavors found in chocolate in one bar.

The beer is a Belgian quad and easily one of the finest I've ever tasted. It's dark, dark black, smells of bananas, and tastes of raisins. (Sorry, that's two posts in a row where I use raisins to describe how beers taste.) Even if the beer didn't go with the chocolate, I was sure trying it out would at least be a pleasant experience.

Honestly, the beer was too much for the chocolate...or the chocolate was too much for the beer. I'm thinking that the beer may balance better with Patric's other bars, sans nibs. Maybe even the nibs alone with the beer might pair well. I don't know. It certainly requires more investigation.

What I did learn was that I needed to have either more beers or more chocolate so that I could compare flavors and choose the best pairings. Maybe I should try to gather each of the four bars and a bag of nibs to pair with a variety of beers.

So, it's back to the drawing board for the beer and chocolate project. One place I will look for inspiration is Stone as they have been a leader in extreme food pairings, particularly with chocolate. However, the biggest difference is that they pair with flavored chocolates or truffles. So, it's quite a bit different. I figure something out.

Beer on a Sunday

I invited over a friend to have some beers Sunday. I have several beers in my stash that not just anyone would enjoy. On top of that, I don't know that I should enjoy them alone. So, there they sat on their shelf under the basement stairs until yesterday.

My friend Alan is a major foodie. In fact, you might have heard of his chocolate. He brought over some super dense rye bread, this great cheese with a strip of ash running through the middle, some chorizo, Branston pickle, and some homemade pickles. The pairings of all these slightly off, mostly sour foods went well with the beers I chose to sample.

We started with a Jolly Pumpkin La Roja. The nose of this beer is quite sour, but somehow balance is maintained with just the right amount of bitterness. If all sour beers were like this, I may drink more of them.

It was cool to bring out the Jolly Pumpkin as Alan has been talking to the brewer and founder at JP concerning some projects. I won't divulge any information at this time, but I think it will be a great partnership.

When that beer was done, we moved on to the very excellent Mikkeller Monk's Brew. What a fine example of a quadruple. Again, the beer paired well with the foods. It's a cliche to say that I tasted raisins, but I tasted raisins. That's probably all some people need to know about a beer.

It was a nice afternoon of discussing beer styles I don't often consume. The food pairings and Alan's profession have convinced me to make pairing his single-origin chocolate with with the perfect beers. Stay tuned for those developments.

Get It Together: Lamb Kebobs and American Barley Wine

Usually, a barley wine is saved for dessert or used as a digestive. However, at the suggestion of He Said Beer She Said Wine, I decided to put Hair of the Dog Fred to good use. The idea is that the strong hop character will stand up to the gamey lamb and the cilantro-mint sauce R prepared to slather on the kebabs.

It did work. the sauce was spicier than expected, but the beer stood its ground.

Fred was a great, great beer, but I wish I had waited and let it age a bit. Barley wines are almost always better aged. Of course, I'd put this one right up there with barley wines like those put out by Great Divide and Avery as barley wines ready to drink as soon as you can flip that top. The only disappointing part of this particular beer was its lack of carbonation. I don't actually need a ton of bubbles to enjoy a beer, but this one was downright flat. Either way, it was a good beer to pair with lamb and a mint sauce.

Get It Together: Booches Burgers and American Brown Ale

Booches might possibly make the best burgers in the world. You don't believe me? Come to Columbia, MO and try them for yourself.

I understand. You'll take my word for it.

Anyway, my folks took the kid to Booches for some lunch while R and I painted her office. Thankfully, the grandparents returned with two Booches cheeseburgers with everything plus grilled onions. A burger like this calls for something with enough alcohol and hops presence to cut through the grease. A little sweetness wouldn't hurt either. So, I went with a Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale. Perfect.

At this point, it should be noted that many of my pairing ideas lately come from the book He Said Beer She Said Wine. The beer portion of the book is written by Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione. This particular pairing was directly from his suggestion for burgers. However spot on this choice was, I doubt Mr. Calagione has ever had a burger like Booches.

Get It Together: Blueberry Pie and Brown Ale

After eating out with my folks, we returned home to munch on some of R's delicious blueberry pie. A bock would have been a nice compliment to the dessert, but I had something better in mind. A pie as thick and heavy as this pie deserves a little caramel. Plus, I wanted some alcohol to finish off my night. For this pie, I pulled out the big guns: Dogfish Head's Palo Santo Marron. Molasses and chocolate carried the caramel home and the alcohol put me to sleep. This was a great pairing. I just wish I had more Palo Santo Marron, pie or not.

Get It Together: Steak and a Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Saturday for dinner, we grilled steak. I needed a beer to match the smokiness and richness of a fillet hot off the grill. I considered a double IPA in order to match the richness of a steak, but I always go IPA by default. There are several good imperial stouts that would compliment a steak well, but that felt heavy on a near-100 degree day. For this meal I went with a Belgian strong dark ale: Unibroue 17.

The Unibroue 17 stands up to the smokiness of the meat and matches it with complexity and some fruitiness. Pomegranates, raisins (yes, I said raisins), orange peel, molasses, and alcohol provide such complexity. The dark malt flavor matches the smoke. All-in-all, it was an excellent match on both sides.