LCBO Food and Drink Holiday 2015

BEER  BEER & BITES

6

4

Crown of Pork & Ayinger Celebrator

Doppelbock LCBO 254656, 330 mL, $3.95

Mark Wilson’s suggested pairing for crown roast of pork is a very special, seasonal beer that can only be found through the holidays. This renowned Ayinger doppelbock is a “strong, dark German lager. Malty and complex with cocoa,

some caramel and cooked fruit flavours. Dry, with some bitterness and relatively light body.” Perfect for the mild flavours of roast pork.

BUYER’S PICK

Gougères & Unibroue Blanche de Chambly LCBO 927392, 6 pk, $13.95 Feeling a little French over the holidays? Try passing gougères around at your next fête. Small balls of choux paste and nutty Gruyère cheese baked to become the perfect little bite—recipe at foodanddrink.ca. And the perfect little sip to go with them would be Blanche de Chambly from Quebec’s Unibroue, an effervescent, citrus-and-spice wheat beer. A perfectly Gallic combination of flavours.

5

Spaghetti and Meatballs with Peroni Nastro Azzurro LCBO 143891, 500 mL, $2.75 A classic like spaghetti and meatballs asks for a simple and unobtrusive beer pairing. The Peroni Nastro Azzurro keeps with the Italian theme and is also light enough to allow the heartwarming flavours of the pasta and sauce to shine. Prepare, cook and freeze an abundance of meatballs. Then throughout the holidays they’re ready to be tossed into your favourite sauces. Buon appetito!

7

Fruitcake with Innis & GunN Rum Finish LCBO 224881, 330 mL, $3.25 The boozy, macerated flavours of a holiday fruitcake call for a special beer. Most fruitcake is studded with jewel-like dried fruits and then drenched in rum or brandy. The “finishing” of this ale in rum barrels imparts lovely sweet aromas of vanilla, caramel, rum and spice, all of which are great complements to the typical aromatics used in fruitcake’s preparation, most particularly dried ginger and nutmeg.

9

Lasagna & Samuel Adams Boston Lager LCBO 365601, 473 mL, $2.90 The big, cheesy flavours of lasagna are the epit­ ome of comfort food. And all that goodness calls for a beer with great taste and balance. Samuel Adams Boston Lager is just that; its malty flavour is perfectly suited to the dish’s pasta noodles and rich sauce. This beer is super-versa- tile for food pairing and great to have on hand for the holidays.

8 BUYER’S PICK

One concept of beer pairing that is almost always guaranteed to work is chocolate with stout. Mark’s choice is McAuslan’s version, coming from Quebec: “It’s richly flavoured with lots of roasted coffee and chocolate, medium-bodied and smooth but with nice hop bitterness.” The additional oatmeal in the brew gives a pleasant round mouth feel, and all those toasted flavours are just the thing with chocolate. Brownies with St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout LCBO 398677, 473 mL, $2.80

INNIS & GUNN BOTTLE BY JODI PUDGE

56  FOOD & DRI NK HOLIDAY 2015