{"id":535,"date":"2011-09-02T03:55:50","date_gmt":"2011-09-02T07:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/2011\/09\/02\/a-sommeliers-reflections-on-the-beerfood-connection\/"},"modified":"2011-09-02T03:55:50","modified_gmt":"2011-09-02T07:55:50","slug":"a-sommeliers-reflections-on-the-beerfood-connection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/a-sommeliers-reflections-on-the-beerfood-connection\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sommelier’s Reflections on the Beer\/Food Connection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note from Peter: Alan Henkin is a partner at Pizzeria Basta and is also the restaurant’s beverage director. We were so impressed with his knowledge of both wine and beer, and his thoughtful list, that we filmed some special webisode segments with him, which we will show in the future when we run the Bruery Beer and Pizza Challenge series. But, as the time draws near for the Great American Beer Festival and the unveiling of both the Challenge Beer and the Pizza Quest\/Basta pizza, we asked Alan to share some thoughts about the creative process he goes through in pairing food with beer. This is the first of what we hope will be more Guest Columns from him. Enjoy!
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As a Sommelier, I have always been trained to use deductive reasoning when tasting wine, especially when blind tasting.\u00a0 By eliminating as many options as possible, you can sometimes identify the origin and make-up of a wine.\u00a0 For me, great beer is not as cerebral and feels more emotional and nostalgic…more like food.\u00a0 After all, beer is not capable nor is it trying to express the <\/em>terroir of where the malts and hops are grown.\u00a0 This is not to say that beer can\u2019t be linked to certain regions and producers through educated deduction, it is just not as specific.\u00a0 That being said, I now believe that great beer making more resembles the work I see happening in great kitchens, right down to the way both chefs and brewers organize their pantry and clean their equipment at the end of a shift.\u00a0 I see the same passion in the eyes of great brewers as I do in great chefs, and their ability to excite and inspire their staff is as important as any classic technique or encyclopedic knowledge of product.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

There are many great brewers in America right now who have this passion and that is why there is so much great beer to choose from.\u00a0 At Pizzeria Basta we have only four beer taps and about eight bottles on our list, but we put a lot thought into each selection.\u00a0 Sometimes it can be hard to decide what to serve and, other times, certain beers are so highly allocated that you can\u2019t get them even if you want them.\u00a0 This is all part of the process and choosing great beer to accompany our food is fun.\u00a0 One brewery that we have focused on since we opened is The Bruery, located in Orange County, CA.\u00a0\u00a0 This relationship started as soon as we opened the doors of our restaurant.\u00a0 We knew we wanted to offer at least one large format, 750ml bottle of American craft beer, but there were so many to choose from that we were not sure where to start.\u00a0 We wanted something different than what other restaurants in Boulder were serving, and we wanted something new and fresh; something with balance that would go well with Chef Kelly Whitaker\u2019s wood-fired cuisine.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The Bruery fit this mold perfectly.\u00a0 A young brewery, about 2 years old at the time we opened Basta, that only produces bottle conditioned, unfiltered, large format beers.\u00a0 After sampling a few of their bottles I was instantly impressed.\u00a0 The beers were impeccably made so that you could taste the craft behind the product.\u00a0 On the nose they displayed a beautiful malt-driven sweetness with an underlying yeast component.\u00a0 Even though most of their ales were over 8% abv, you could barely tell, and they wore their alchohol content like a suede jacket.\u00a0 The hops were there, but were used in a way as to not dominate the rest of the beer.\u00a0 In other words, the ales were perfectly balanced and tasted like they had been made by people who love the craft of brewing. This was the kind of beer I wanted to drink, and the kind of beer I wanted to serve to our guests.\u00a0 We eventually devoted an entire tap handle to The Bruery and have served a large portion of their portfolio.\u00a0 The similarities between their company and ours would later become very apparent to me when we visited them,\u00a0 as you will read in some of the other posts by Peter and Brad on Pizza Quest. I hope to write more about that in future Guest Columns. <\/em><\/p>\n

Alan Henkin, Boulder, CO<\/p>\n

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Note from Peter: Alan Henkin is a partner at Pizzeria Basta and is also the restaurant’s beverage director. We were so impressed with his knowledge of both wine and beer, and his thoughtful list, that we filmed some special webisode segments with him, which we will show in the future when we run the Bruery Beer and Pizza Challenge series. But, as the time draws near for the Great American…Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":348,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c45-guest-bloggers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Sommelier's Reflections on the Beer\/Food Connection - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fornobravo.com\/pizzaquest\/a-sommeliers-reflections-on-the-beerfood-connection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Sommelier's Reflections on the Beer\/Food Connection - Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Note from Peter: Alan Henkin is a partner at Pizzeria Basta and is also the restaurant’s beverage director. 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