Keeping it Simple

I don't usually do many nice food and beer pairings. I normally leave that up to the more experienced Leigh and Neil. When I do though, I have one rule - Keep it Simple.

I think it's the simple pairings and minimalist style that works so well in creating delicious matches. Think of beer with cheese. Pizza and Lager or Pilsner. Or my personal favourite: Beer & Burgers.

Now beer and burgers are pretty simple enough, but I like to keep it a little more simple than that. Forget your fancy salads, forget trying to make up your own patties - just buy some ready made (good) ones, it's so much easier with less of the hassle. Keep it simple - Burger (beef fillet steak haches from Waitrose). Bun (a nice ciabatta roll) . Cheese (smoked applewood cheddar is on order - I'm a bit obsessed with it at the mo..) and of course, a beer.

Minimalism is always something that's been obvious to me. The ingredients in the mix are top quality, why mess about with them, keep them as they should be. This sort of thing was perfectly summarized by Gordon Ramsey once when he said that you wouldn't put ginger ale in a high end Single Malt - it would ruin the flavour. It's the same with food. And he's right, why ruin something that's already delicious by trying to over-complicate things.

The Match:

I've chosen an Arbor Ale for tonight. It's a 7% IPA called Yakima Valley which goes really well with the burgers, but you could also go more mainstream, and anything from Goose Island IPA, Sierra Nevada Torpedo to Brewdog Punk IPA would all be perfect IPAs for the food. I think the suped up hoppiness cuts through the fat really well. The beer is going down really well, it has a big bitterness and it's a nice comparrison. I'm a fan of giving my burgers a bit of a burn. I'm a massive fan of roasted, toasted dark beers, so I like a bit of burnt flavours. I guess a dark ale would go pretty well with the food too as a nice similar match.

I think it's pretty safe to summarize that I'm stuffed and spent. It's a pretty perfect match up. Who doesn't really like a good burger and beer?

Just keep it simple.