Beer vs. Wine

St Veronus hosted its first beer vs wine paired dinner this week. The winner: beer.


Described as the "Ultimate Pairing Dinner", this night was a chance to pit beer and wine, notorious enemies, against each other in a battle of the palate. Which would make a better pair for lobster, steak tartar, duck and lemon mousse? Who would reign supreme amongst beverages? Each course was paired with a wine and beer and the guests chose the best food match of the two. It was a close call - beer won by 8 votes total, taking two of the four courses. Wine, also a winner of two of the four courses, just came short overall and must now wallow in its total failure.

First course:
Butter poached lobster on barley risotto cake with garlic-mushroom duxelle and arugula

While the dish as a whole was delicious, the bold flavours of the barley, duxelle and arugula overtook the delicate lobster. A challenge to pair, the winner of this round was wine: a Riesling Kabinet. Duvel, a top fermented big bodied pale ale, lost to the off-dry white, which maintained its sweetness when enjoyed with the barley and the lobster. The Duvel became a little bitter when paired with the dish.

Second course:
Steak tartar (yum)

Freshly minced tenderloin mixed with cornichon, white onion and raw egg. Dressed with crostini, fried caper, and a tamarind-anchovy gastrique. This dish was dynamite! The flavours sang... tender delicate beef uplifted by crunchy bold onion, sweet & sour cornichon and that tangy gastrique boasting an uncanny similarity to Worcestershire or HP sauce... meat's guilty pleasures.


Wine: a Portuguese tempranillo. Beer: Rodenbach Grand Cru - a sour brown beer. The beer was by far the winner. The sourness of the ale complemented the gastrique - a flavour match. The irony-metallic qualities of the raw beef brought out the minerality of the beer. And while the beer is mouth-puckeringly flavourful, a great foil for the sour-tangy brightness of the dish, it did not overpower the tender raw meat.

Main course:
Duck confit with cranberry jus, mashed parsnip and candied yam

Wonderful duck confit. Skin not as crispy as I may have liked, but the meat was tender - pulled away from the bone with ease - completely moist and flavourful, its gamey qualities still present, but delicate. This was a hard one to call. The wine: 13th Street Gamay Noir from Niagara. The beer: Aventinus Dopplebok. So close. Gamay is a perfect match for duck. The cherried flavours of the wine complemented the jus and were a great match for the candied yam. But the beer - earthy and fruity - was too great a match with duck's gaminess. By a small margin, beer wins this round, however, that fantastic duck was the true winner...

Dessert:

Lemon mousse with white chocolate creme anglaise and coconut tuile

Decadence. Light, creamy and refreshing. A real tough pair with beer. The beer: Blanche de Chambly. Just not a match. The wine: botrytis affected Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley. The dessert wine was an obvious winner, with its citrusy sweetness.


A great night of great food, great debate and discussion, and great company. Looking forward to the next beer dinner.