Beer and bánh mì

Rodney might be Hoosier Beer Geek's beer and food pairing maven, but the rest of us occasionally try our hand at coupling good beer and food. Last Saturday, I decided to test what might be considered an unconventional pairing: Cantillon Gueuze and bánh mì.

Until Twenty Tap opened last year, I'd never had bánh mì, which is a type of French bread sandwich brought here by Vietnamese immigrants. Twenty Tap has a vegan version of the bánh mì on its menu, which I had at the pub during my second visit. Traditional bánh mì toppings include mayonnaise, pickled carrots and daikon radishes, cucumbers, fresh jalapeño peppers, and sprigs of fresh cilantro. In addition to these toppings, my Twenty Tap bánh mì had smoked tofu on it. But the classic bánh mì contains meat--usually pork, such as grilled pork belly or pork liver pâté.

Twenty Tap's bánh mì is excellent, but I'd been wanting to try a sandwich from one of the Vietnamese restaurants in the Lafayette Square area. This area fell on hard times during the last decade; many of the area's strip malls emptied out. But in recent years, this part of the city has seen a proliferation of ethnic restaurants, which have filled many of the strip mall vacancies. These establishments serve inexpensive and delicious food, ranging from Latin American dishes to Asian cuisines of different sorts. Earlier this year, the New York Times even ran a piece on the area. For bánh mì, I knew of two options in Lafayette Square: Saigon and K&T Deli. I opted for K&T Deli because they do carry-out service.

The restaurant itself is compact; my guess is that it seats 20 people at most. I ordered at the counter, but you can also opt for table service as some other diners were doing when I arrived. The menu is small as well, offering several varieties of bánh mì, pho, and rice dishes. The most popular bánh mì at K&T is the #1, which is the pork bánh mì. I opted for the #7, the bánh mì chay, which is the vegetarian sandwich. It was filled with fried tofu strips and the traditional toppings I mentioned above. Though the service was slow (it took me about 20 minutes to get my sandwich because one server was helping all 10 patrons in the restaurant), the server was very friendly, and the sandwich was only $3.50.

Upon arriving back home, I knew that I wanted to pair my sandwich with a beer, but I didn't initially know which beer I was going to pair it with. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm pretty much flying in the dark when it comes to pairing beer with food. I had a Cantillon Gueuze in the fridge and I figured, "Hey, strong flavors go with strong flavors, right?" So that's the beer I chose, though I had doubts as to whether the pairing would work.

But first, I wanted to try the bánh mì by itself. As I anticipated, the sandwich was hugely flavorful, a nice melding of the sweetness of the cilantro and pickled carrots, the spiciness of the radishes and jalapeños, and the saltiness of the tofu and mayonnaise. Any bánh mì fan will tell you how important the bread is to the sandwich; it should be slightly crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. K&T Deli's bread was just that.

Then it was time for the beer and the sandwich together. Cantillon is regarded as an exemplary gueuze, and it certainly has the characteristics you would expect out of a good gueuze: moderate to heavy tartness, oak notes, and maybe a bit of citrus, apple, and funk in the flavor. When I followed a bite of the bánh mì with a sip of beer, the tartness of the beer provided a nice interplay with the spice and salt of the sandwich. The cilantro and the carrots in the bánh mì became pronounced, as did the oak and citrus characters of the beer. I loved the combination, though I wondered whether others would too. Perhaps those of you who are cicerones can tell me whether I was crazy for trying this pairing.

Know Your Styles: Gueuze

Many people are discovering the pleasure that sour ales have to offer drinkers.  I am not entirely comfortable with the term "sour" or "sour style ales," but that is the best we've got for the time being.  I will only say that the mark of beers that fall under "sour categories" doesn't mean that more sour = better quality.  That couldn't be further from the truth, and I fear that the path we are heading down makes it seem that way.  The race for mouth puckering sourness is heating up with each new American brewery that begins producing these beers.  I think that does a great injustice to beers that fall into this category of beers that include: Berliner Weiss, Oud Bruin, lambic, Flanders Red, and fruited lambics.  

Gueuze is a fantastic style of beer that falls into this category, and gueuze's are extremely labor intensive and require much patience.  These spontaneously fermented beers are a blend of young and old lambic. That is important to understand.  Lambic is the base beer for gueuze.   This can range from as young as four months to as old as three years and just about anything in between.  A master blender is then charged with knowing when and how to blend these ageing casks of lambic.  These can then range from anywhere to 15% young-to-old to 70% young-t0-old.  Once the casks and blending amounts have been chosen the bottles are then are aged horizontally for at least year (or longer) where they undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle.  The residual sugars left in the young beer will continue to ferment out of the blend and create the champagne-like effervescent quality of gueuze. Then, finally, the beer is shipped to thirsty consumers worldwide.  That is a tremendous amount of work for a beer isn't it?  

Several brewers in Belgium are brewing this beer on their own and going through the entire process from brewing, blending, ageing, and distribution.  A very small number of places actually purchase lambic from other brewers and then age, blend, package, and distribute from that point.  I can't imagine that business ever taking off in America, but I find it very interesting that that type of business exists in Belgium. 

These beers should be served slightly chilled to get the most appreciation for the many nuances of the beer in nose and taste.  

Eyes: Gueuze will usually be a golden color with a medium to large white head that will last most of the beer. 

Nose:  The mark of a great gueuze will be balance.  The tart and acidic scents should be balanced with scents of orchard and citrus fruits.  Some gueuze's will have more wood flavors based on aging as well. 

Taste: Balance is again key for the mark of a great gueuze. The flavor profile should have that barnyard/acidic funk right beside the apple, melon, lemon, and grapefruit flavors that can be tasted in many beers in this style. 

Overall: Gueuze's are not for everyone, but the beauty is in the details for these beers.  A true work of art and craftsmanship in your glass. The price point for these beers is actually pretty low when you think about how much time and effort when into these beers, and a small bottle of these types of beer are worth a chance at least once. 


Commercial Examples: Brouwerij Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze (pictured), Hanssens Oude Gueuze, Cantillon Gueuze: 100%, Lou Pepe, and Lindeman Gueuze

Cheers! 

Matt 

Belgian Champagne you say?

On New Year's Eve many millions of Americans will be popping the cork on a bottle of champagne, sparkling wine most likely, but how about popping the cork on what some call Belgian champagne, (I think this is an American term) better known as gueuze (say Ger-ser while clearing your throat and you've got it). Gueuze is a blend of old and young lambic beers, and it will usually range between 4% and 6% ABV. The young and old lambic beers are usually blended, bottled, and then aged anywhere from 18 months to 36 months depending on the flavors that the brew-master or blender is looking for in their product. An aging time of at least six months is mandated by law in Belgium. The beer provides the complex flavors of young lambic like tartness and spiciness, but then the more mature features of the old lambic round out the beer. The mixing of young and old lambic is a pure art form that will change greatly from cask to cask. It could vary from 30/70 young-to-old or 70/30 young-to-old, or it could end up anywhere in-between.

The beer is also spontaneously fermented. This means that the wild air of Belgium inoculates the wort to create the beer. This beer is not like any other beer you have ever had. The normal hop presence that most beers have is gone, and it is replaced by a myriad of complex flavors ranging from sour, acidic, horse blanket funk, cider, dry fruit, and is carbonated much like a dry champagne would be. If you want authentic gueuze make sure to look for "refermented in this bottle" on anything that you are buying for the real traditional taste. This beer isn't for everyone by any means, but instead of buying that third of fourth bottle of Korbel, try a wonderful traditional gueze instead.

Commerical Examples of Gueuze: Gueuze Giradin 1882 (pictured above), Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze, Cantillion Gueuze 100% Lambic, and Lindemans Gueuze Cuvee Rene. I've personally seen all of these beers at Party Pak, but hopefully others can chime in on where they have any of these around town.

Have a safe and happy New Year

Cheers!
Matt