Yay!! First Guest Post!

This one from B Metzker from Portland, Oregon, thanks so much for writing in!  Meant to get this up before Thanksgiving....Oh well..

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For most of my life, I haven’t really liked beer all that much. Sure, there was the occasional quaff at a ballgame or something. But the pleasantness of that memory has to do with the cold fizziness of the beer on a hot day.

We also had a dog who kind of liked beer. The best part was watching his face when the effervescence sprayed his mug when we poured the Falstaff into his dish.  He’d lower his nose, snap back and shake off the spray, and then gingerly dip down again, after which he was even funnier when he hit the hardwood floor.

When we moved to Oregon in 1994, it was soon clear that I’d never drunk beer. I’d only sampled beer-flavored sparkling water, not counting beers in different countries. A German pilsner at Oktoberfest, or a glass of French lager on the Champs-Elysées on a lazy summer day could be enchanting. But it could have been the vacationing and not the brew.

My first attachment was to IPAs, but I soon switched to porter, then stout. To this day, I far prefer dark beers to lighter ones, though not always. It’s kind of a mood thing. But a double alt stout or scotch ale or even porter is heaven, especially if it’s on nitro.

Which makes fall and winter my favorite time of year.  The beers go from caramel to dark and the grapefruity hoppiness surrenders to rich malty flavor and body.  And it all goes with the food.

For Thanksgiving pairings:  Hmm, never done this and haven’t thought about it, so I’m making this up as I go along. With the rumaki appetizers, I would think a golden ale, maybe.  Or a hefeweizen. Clam dip: I might accompany this with a red ale.  Not a double red, just a regular one.

For the salads and pre-main course stuff, that’s a toughie.  An Imperial IPA sounds kind of okay, and it would offset the soon-to-come yams and marshmallows. A brown ale would also work, although I’d probably go for a caramelly strong ale.

It’s just me, but for the main turkey course, I’d go with a double alt, either a red, a porter or stout.  And I’d stick with something similar to go with the pumpkin pie. Or just say screw it, and tap into the Russian Imperial Stout.