LCBO Food & Drink Autumn 2020

BEER FOR DESSERT

Old-school thinking on beer-and-food pairing stipulates that the beer must be sweeter than the dessert— making most beers impossible to pair up with the final course. However, modern gastropubs and restaurateurs are ditching this old rule and playing with a snifter of IPA or sour beer alongside dessert. Here are four combinations that prove these beers belong with confections. Dessert pairings

IPA & Apple Pie The tropical fruit bouquet of an IPA like Indie Alehouse Instigator IPA ( LCBO 16080, 473 mL, $3.85) marries up nicely with the baked apple and cinnamon notes of the pie, while the pie’s rich bready crust calms the beer’s bold, citrusy bitterness. Top with vanilla ice cream for a pleasingly sweet contrast.

Belgian Dubbel &

Bread Pudding Gooey bread pudding drizzled with caramel sauce is a perfect match with the caramel and cocoa flavours of this classic Belgian ale. Brewed in a 150-year-old Trappist monastery, Chimay Premiere’s ( LCBO 198069, 750 mL, $8.25) fig, date and baking spice notes act like the pudding’s missing ingredients.

Doppelbock & Bacon

Butter Tarts Sweet caramel- and savoury bacon-filled butter tarts are addictive, but we find it wise to space out bites with sips of a toasty, thirst-quenching doppelbock like Paulaner Salvator Doppelbock ( LCBO 499103, 500 mL, $3.00). These old-school German-style lagers have just the right amount of light caramel with a whisper of cocoa—the perfect backdrop to this sweet-and-salty combo.

Flanders Red & Cherry Cheesecake This beer and dessert pairing have two things in common: both are sweet and sour. Palm Breweries Rodenbach Grand Cru ( LCBO 492207, 330 mL, $3.60) is a wild-fermented, bubbly Flanders Red Ale that drinks a bit like tart cherries drizzled with a rich, aged balsamic vinegar. Bites of the rich cheesecake will punctuate the sour beer, and the cherry topping will coax out the ale’s fruity, vinous heart.

Maple-beer-candied bacon Recipe on page 136

Smoky umami meets toasty maple in this tasty treat. The candy crunch of bacon glazed with maple syrup, brown sugar and Mill St. 100th Meridian Organic Amber Lager ( LCBO 413765, 473 mL, $3.35) is perfect on its own as a post-meal indulgence. It can also be served as a garnish on stouts, porters or maple-flavour brews, or as a topping on chocolate cupcakes or fudge brownies.

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AUTUMN 2020 FOOD & DRINK