Kegerators Blog

Cheese has traditionally been paired with wine, fruits, nuts or things like marinated olives, but recently with rise of Craft Beer in America we have been noticing more and more brew pubs and bars offering beer and cheese pairings. These beer and cheese pairings include high end cheeses and craft beers that can compliment each other in a new way. Anything from Goat to Gouda cheese and Wit to Wheat beers, it’s all fair game in the new playing field of beer and cheese pairing.

The following are 9 beer and cheese pairings that will excite your palate and bring forward flavors in the beer and cheese you probably have never tasted before.

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A Comparative Analysis of Black Lagers

Lagers are clearly one of, if not THE most popular beer style in the world. Lagers have become popular enough that many sub varieties have developed. Around the world, you will find beer fans that prefer their favorite style, be that the American-style lager, the Bock, the Dunkel, the Helles, Märzen, Pilsner, Schwarzbier, or Vienna lager. Of the lagers commercially available, I have always preferred the darker varieties including the Bock, Dunkel, and especially Schwarzbier, or black lager in United States parlance. Here I’ll take you through a tasty comparison of my two favorite commercially produced black lagers, or Schwartzbiers, Dixie Brewing Company’s Blackened Voodoo Lager and Shiner’s Bohemian Black Lager.

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The U.S. beer industry is in a constant state of flux. New ideas and innovations are changing the face of beer every year, especially in the micro brew market. As the primary field of growth in the brewing industry, kegerators.com will name the top ten names in domestic craft beer production. These are names to look out for. These are brewers associated with quality, ingenuity, tradition, social responsibility, and most of all, good tasting beer. For these qualities, we name New Belgium Brewing Company (Fort Collins, Colorado), Dogfish Head Brewing Company (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware), Spoetzl Brewery (Shiner, Texas), Rogue Ales (Newport, Oregon) and St. Arnolds Brewery (Houston, Texas).

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Beer and Oysters go great together.  Beer is commonly served with seafood of all sorts.  The key to enjoying your seafood dinner is finding just the right beer to enjoy with it.   From fish and chips to sushi to raw or fried oysters, complimentary flavors can be found.  The culinary joys of beer and seafood are celebrated in festivals, such as Richmond, Virginia’s "River City Beer & Seafood Festival"; recipes, such as Oysters boiled in beer, beer-battered fish; and cultural traditions from seaside villages all over the world.

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Texas has a long history in beer – both drinking and brewing. In addition to the long-standing Spoetzl Brewery (the makers of Shiner beers), and the ubiquitous (if watered down) Lone Star, new micro-brews are taking the state by storm. With solid traditional and inventive ales, newcomers like Saint Arnold and Real Ale Brewing Company are challenging the old hands to do better than what they’ve done. This battle seems to be playing out to the benefit of Texas beer fans.

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For many potential beer fans, gluten intolerance has stopped them from ever quaffing brews made with barley. Those times are now over. Gluten-free beers are popping up all over the country, giving those with Celiac Disease (intestinal damage due to gluten intolerance) a new opportunity to drink with impunity. Not to mention that traditionally, beers from around the world have been made with alternative ingredients, some glutinous and some not. Thee is even a gluten-free beer festival held in Chesterfield, England. Here we will discuss some alternatives to using barley malt in beer, and some substitutes that are possible.

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As interest in ancient beers and brewing techniques is piqued, the world is seeing a proliferation of the technique of serving beer as a cask-conditioned ale. Cask-conditioned ale is also referred to as “Real Ale” in some circles, although there is a subtle difference between the drinks the two terms describe. Cask Ale is a very old and traditional technique for carbonation and serving of beer. Cask Ale is currently enjoying a revival due to the qualities it imbues on the beer that it produces.

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With the rise in popularity of craft, micro, and home brewing, a slew of books have come out in recent years on these subjects. Some focus on cultural aspects of beer, some on nutritional aspects, and some focus on recipes. I will go over a few of the more popular titles on the shelf today, and relate them to my personal experience.

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One of the greatest benefits of home brewing, and of the golden age of micro brew that we are currently living in, is the ability to create new and unusual brews.  The freedom that comes with experimentation in this realm knows no bounds except those of one’s own imagination and ability.  With practice and planning, even these limits will increase, as the breadth of knowledge in these fields is naturally increasing.  As the golden age of the micro brew expands to even more unique and inventive realms, we are even seeing the list of strange and unique beer that is commercially available expand.

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One rare treat in the world of craft brewing is the fortified ale.  A fortified ale is an ale that has a hard liquor, an herbal admixture, or both added to it before kegging or bottling.  This kind of ale is mostly seen in the realm of craft brewing or home brewing.  In the days before refrigeration technology was much advanced, it was common for barkeeps to mix new ales with older ones, enhance brews with wormwood to increase their potency, and for brewers to create fortified ales as well.  Now, the fortified ale is a rare commodity indeed, but one that is rather simple for the home brewer who is equipped to keg his or her beer.

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