What feels like ages ago now, Molson put on a lovely event, just for bloggers. I haven’t talked about it primarily because Drinks After Dark covered the event in Toronto, and also, several other bloggers covered the whole event. There’s about a million pictures available as well, partly because Raul and Ianiv were there. Shutterbugs, the pair of them.

Instead, I want to talk about the food and beer pairing. Like I told Vaynerchuk back in the beginning of the summer, food pairings are not the sole domain of wine geeks.

I guess I just outted myself there, didn’t I? Spirits and beer are my friends. Wine is an acquaintance. Hate to say it, but it’s true. Wine has it’s time and place, but you can drink beer at almost any time of year.

We had chefs from the Pan Pacific pairing some amazing food with all of the brews Molson makes, including Rickard’s White, Red, Corona and Heineken. (Image source: LexnGer)

Molson Brew 2.0 Menu

Scallop and Papaya Ceviche Crostini
paired with Rickard’s White

Grilled Vegetable and Goat Cheese Bruschetta
paired with Coor’s Light

Smoked Wild Salmon on Wild Rice and Beer Blini, Fennel Salad
paired with Molson Canadian

Prawn Quesadillas, Fresh Guacamole, Salsa Fresca
paired with Corona

Chorizo Empanadas
paired with Old Style Pilsner

Rickard’s Honey Brown Ale- Braised Bison Mini Sandwiches
paired with Rickard’s Red

Cheeseboard with Aged Cheddars, Brie and Gorgonzola
Walnut Baguette, Flat Bread and Crackers
Blair’s Addictive Beer Nuts
paired with Heineken

All of the food above was completely enhanced by the paired beers. The rules of thumb were essentially:

Pair a white (or whit) beer with delicate fish and fruity flavours
Pair a light beer with a higher carbonation with a creamy cheese
Pair a good lager with a slightly caramelly smokey dish (like smoked salmon)
Pair  something a little spicy, like the Chorizo, with a Pilsner, which I’ve always found to be a slightly lighter, more carbonated brew
Pair robust meats with a caramel hook-ed beer like Rickard’s Red

Stouts, which we didn’t sample (and I’m not sure that Molson makes) are good with strawberries or chocolates as well as richer seafood like oysters.

Basically, my main advice is to just try things, just like you do wine. Remember the main points above and go on a tasting adventure!  Want more details?

Check out this video from Dave Drucker of Loud Murmurs.

On Thursday I joined the fabulous Rannie Turingan and b5media’s own Accordian Guy, Joey DeVilla for a night of beer tasting, photos and laughter at The Air Canada Centre. Hosted by Molson and organized by the lovely Meghan Warby, I didn’t anticipate the night that started at a little before 6 to go so late…but to my delight the time flew by as we all got to know a little more about beer.

Before the seminar began, I started with a Rickard’s White, which I quickly learned works extremely well with citrus. Simple and palatable gets a surprisingly major boost from a slice of orange, boosting it from ‘good’ to super tasty.

The menu for the night:

Canadian with Grilled Chicken Skewers
Coors Light with Hamburger Sliders
Heineken with Sweet and Sour Fried Oysters
Rickard’s Red with Steak Satay w/ Onion Soubise
Rickard’s White with Grilled Shrimp w/ Orange Sauce
Corona with BBQ Duck Tacos
Creemore Springs Lager with Smoked Brat on Potato pancake w/ Tomato Jam

The result:

Once satiated/cheerful/tipsy drinks blogger.

The Canadian was a nice place to start and the chicken was delicious. The Hamburger Sliders stole the show when it came to the Coors Light. They were so amazing I could forgive the beer their paired with for being a far less remarkable choice. Heineken is a purpetual favorite of mine - so it wasn’t surprising to me when this little glass was done right quick. The Oysters weren’t so bad either.

The Rickard’s Red paired nicely with the steak, but I was far happier to go back to the Rickard’s White (even if the shrimp were too lime-y for my taste). Corona…always another excellent choice. And I enjoyed the tacos very much even if the sour cream to taco ratio was a wee high. The Creemore was also delightful as usual. Not sure how, but by some miracle I found room for the Bratwurst…and they didn’t disappoint.

So what else did we learn from this evening of fine food, great beer and brewery education?

Beer is tasty. Okay, fine I already knew that. But this just reminds me that there are other (more upscale) ways to pair beer than gross greasy nachos.

Ads for beer are lies. At least the photos are. The ridiculous amounts of froth spilling all over the place is unreasonable…more appropriate is about a dime-size of head.

The glass you use makes a difference. clean, cool, room temperature. Oils from your hands or any dishwashing soap residue is going to mess up the glass and result in a less than tasty beverage.

[Images: Rachel Segal]