As homebrewers progress to professional brewing, little changes in regard to competition goals. Professional brewers still want feedback in order to improve and to see if their beer is better than the rest. However, there is more at stake. Professional brewers want to sell beer, and the road from awards to sales is long and winding. Surprisingly, it has both nothing and everything to do with consumers at the same time.

The Competition

The Best of Craft Beer Awards (BOCBA) in Bend, Oregon began in 2014. Ryan Sharp took it over a few years later, armed with a passion for good beer and serving great breweries. He has since grown BOCBA into one of the largest professional beer competitions in the U.S. Now, every winter, judges at BOCBA stare, sniff, swirl and swig well over 2,000 beers from the U.S. and beyond.

Sharp acknowledges that while consumers may benefit from his work, competitions like BOCBA really are about the breweries.

“The primary purpose is to gather people with well-trained palates to provide feedback for brewers,” he said.

As far as the second reason, eventually bragging rights and street cred convert into marketing. Sharp provides BOCBA award graphics brewers can use to tout their accomplishments. But, there’s yet another benefit to winning awards, as he illustrated through a story about Fortside Brewing Company in Vancouver, Washington.

The Community Brewery

In 2018, Fortside brewed a one-off hazy IPA called Orange Whip. It became popular among taproom patrons, but after winning a silver at BOCBA, it really took off. The sales of that one beer got the attention of a local distributor who became “flexible” in their terms, in order to sell Orange Whip to a wider audience. Co-Owner Mike DiFabio admits that this isn’t always the case, but in this instance, the award was a catalyst to creating their first flagship and significant growth. It was the brand awareness and especially the opportunity that arose from that award that made the difference.

“Orange Whip is now about 25 percent of our total production,” DiFabio said.

The Specialty Brewery

Matt Van Wyk may have won more medals than Michael Phelps at a pool party. His story of awards and opportunity began with his first GABF medal in 2005. With his hand at the helm of Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery in Flossmoor, Illinois, they won four more in 2006, as well as the coveted title Small Brewer of the Year. After a circuitous story that includes a sister-in-law, a dentist chair and a small brewery, Van Wyk founded Alesong Brewing and Blending in the cultural cross-section of high-end beer and wine country.

Awards may have brought him this opportunity, but shiny medals are no longer his focus.

“Winning awards isn’t make-it-or-break-it,” Van Wyk said. “But it is nice.”

That is because his awards are now working for him. They are waves of momentum spreading his reputation on a red carpet made from barrels and barley. Challenges persist amidst the competitive beer environment, but a legacy of awards has a way of smoothing out some of the rough spots, such as ensuring adequate shelf space in bottle shops. Best of all, his patrons know that when they drink an Alesong Beer, they drink knowing it is world-class.

The Retailer

There are everyday beers, Friday night beers and special occasion beers. Award winners occupy all levels. Robert McCarthy, beer buyer at Newport Avenue Market in Bend, Oregon, knows his beer and which ones his customers should take home.

The post The Untold Benefits of Award-Winning Beer appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

I now regularly hunt for the perfect synergy of craft beer, artisanal cheese and cold cuts. While expert knowledge is not necessary, a willingness to explore is. The goal is to discover perfect pairings and bring people along for the ride. Here’s how to do it in five steps.

5 Steps to Your Winter Beer, Cheese & Charcuterie Pairing

Step 1: Pick Your Pairings

This article is about beer, meat and cheese. However, one could conjure many themes that would also be killer. I have done a Spanish beer pairing with tapas and paella, as well as wine vs. beer with cheese as the mediator, and both were awesome. Other interesting theme ideas could be fondue and Bohemian lagers or a Thunderdome style pairing match, where two beers enter … one beer leaves! Get creative, get interactive and have fun.

Step 2: Announce Your Pairing Party

Send invitations and reminders to a manageable sized group for the space and budget.

Step 3: Prep for Your Pairing Party

Plan on using good glassware. If in doubt, use white wine glasses for the beer. Ideally, there is a new glass for each beer, but a quick rinse of cold water in between beers will work. Plan on 4 oz of beer and 1 – 2 oz of meat and cheese per person for each course. Have some neutral, unflavored crackers available as palate cleansers. Crackers with a touch of sea salt may actually help accentuate flavors. Guests will also need plenty of water to drink and cleanse their palates.

(COOK WITH BEER: Search Our Favorite Recipes)

Step 4: Set Up Your Pairing Party

Set places with a water glass, napkin, knife, fork, beer glass, pen, dump buckets in reach of guests and use the tasting notes sheet as a placemat. Some light, groovy music and dim lighting will create the environment.

Next, prep each plate with the meat and cheese. Save time and put it all on the same plate in a circle where the courses follow the plate clockwise. A simple way to make the food look good is to fold, roll or bunch the meat. Cut the cheese into chunks if dry, or triangles if creamy, for simple and sexy plating. Lean the cheese on the meat so the pairing is clear.

Serve the first beer when everyone is ready to begin to keep that beer fresh and bubbly. Also, be mindful of beer serving temperatures. An over-simplified rule of thumb is, lighter beers should be close to refrigerator temps and the darker the beer gets, the closer to a chilly room temp it should be.

Step 5: Enjoy It

Let the culinary exploration begin. I put the following pairings together with a little help from my cheese monger and charcutier friends. Our goal? To delight guests with the experience, but to also educate on the nuances of cheese, of meat, of beer and especially how they interact together.[1] Follow each course and discuss the impact of the pairings and how the flavors complement and contrast each other. Notice the textures and how the beer cleanses the palate.

Tasting sheets are valuable for jotting notes and epiphanies. Some people go so far as assigning a numerical system, from -2 for “the pairing stinks” to 0 for “not bad” to +2 for “I hear the angels.” The point is to track the experience to cultivate mindfulness and to repeat it another day. You can find tasting sheets and more resources on our Tasting Tools page.

5 Pairing Courses to Try

First Course: Kolsch with Spanish Goat Cheese & Spanish Chorizo

Light malt, fruity esters and carbonation from the Kolsch play well with the creaminess of the cheese and the spicy fat from the meat.

Try: Colorado Kölsch from Steamworks Brewing in Durango, CO

Second Course: Pale Ale with Aged Cheddar & Capicola

The sharp, tangy-sweet flavor of the cheese and the briny and smoky fat from the meat find a sweet spot with the pale ale beer’s balance between malt and hops.

Try: B. Right On Pale Ale from Ocean Beach Brewery in San Diego, CA

Third Course: IPA with a Natural Rind Buffalo Cheese & Mortadella

The smooth textured meat with nutty pistachios combined with the cheese, which is similar to mozzarella but with more character, provide a solid platform to let the IPA‘s earthy, tropical and citrus flavors bring its own slice of heaven.

Try: Strata IPA from Worthy Brewing in Bend, OR

Fourth Course: Imperial IPA with Gouda & Salame Ungherese

Your salame has a second name, it’s Ungherese. Known in the deli as “smoked bologna,” this meat is all grown up and is getting fresh with the Gouda. An imperial IPA has the impact this couple needs along with hop character and alcohol to spice things up.

Try: 120 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head in Milton, DE

Fifth Course: Cream Stout with Italian Buffalo Cheese & Pastrami

Savory, sweet and spicy, the pastrami matches the creamy, earthy funk from the cheese. A cream stout is all we need to make things right in the world again.

Try: Moozie from Brink Brewing in Cincinnati, OH

Dessert: Belgian-style quad with young Manchego (aged 6 months or less) with fruit and nut meats (dried papaya, Turkish apricots, brown figs, sour cherries and salted pistachios)

A delightful variation on dessert, the light briny-nuttiness of the cheese and the diverse flavors from the fruit and nuts love a good Belgian-style quad.

Try: The Sixth Glass from Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City, MO

(LEARN: CraftBeer.com Beer & Food Course)

Winter Beer Pairing Finale

As the courses finish, it is nice to surprise guests with a finishing touch. It could be a final, surprise course of dessert and more beer or a simple plate of dried fruits such as slices of papaya, Turkish apricots, dried cherries, figs and nuts like pistachios or Marcona Almonds. Check in with guests to ask about favorites, surprises and take home experiences. Lastly, make sure everyone gets home safely to repeat this winter beer and cheese and charcuterie pairing experience again another day.

The post How to Host a Winter Beer, Cheese & Charcuterie Pairing appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

After catching up, he began to tell the story behind Resident Brewery while the wafting aromas from the beer began to vie for my attention. He started telling the fantastic origin story of Robert Masterson, a homebrewer who became the head brewer. My beer begged for a sip. Coconut, pineapple and other tropical fruits came through the flavor in that well-balanced IPA. “How’s a guy supposed to pay attention to the conversation when he has this in his glass?,” I thought.

Between the attention-grabbing IPA and the storytelling, my interest was piqued. I called Masterson sometime later and got the full account.

(SEASONALS: 2017 Winter Beers)

From Homebrewer to Head Brewer

Like many of us, Masterson began as a homebrewer. His sister and brother-in-law gave him a homebrew kit for Christmas in 2009. He learned from a friend and then joined homebrew clubs. Masterson told me, “The homebrew clubs were a way to meet like-minded people, to talk about beer, to talk about process.”

The hobby turned into a passion as he brewed frequently. “I was brewing about every other weekend, so about 20 to 24 times a year,” Masterson said, “and really just kind of honing in on some styles and entering competitions.”

In 2013, he entered a Stone Brewing homebrewing competition with a couple of brew buddies — a bold cannonball into the pool of competitive homebrewing. “We decided that we wanted to brew a piña colada IPA. We entered it into the Stone AHA comp, won the competition and got to brew on the Stone system,” Masterson said. “I think we did 12 batches, so 12 120 Barrel batches, which was the largest at that time for Stone brewing [for a homebrew collaboration].”

(READ: Dogfish Head Releases 2018 Beer Calendar)

Masterson confided, “The beer didn’t quite turn out how I would have liked it. But it was still an awesome process and having the bottles go to 40 states, that was great.”

Masterson continued entering competitions with more success. After winning first place for a double IPA and third place for an English-style barley wine at a homebrewing competition at Karl Strauss Brewery, his brother-in-law told him, “We’ve got to get your beer into the market.”

The pair teamed up with Dickson and eventually found their way to partner with the owners of the longstanding downtown restaurant, The Local.

Old Building, New Hurdles 

The problem with opening a brewery in downtown San Diego in an old building is one cannot always build to suit his needs. There are legal issues, permitting issues and historic designation dilemmas. Then there are the logistics of getting raw materials into the basement and spent grain out of the building. Perhaps more an acquiescence than a lament, Masterson said, “We have a manual brewery and a manual way of lifting and getting our kegs and dry goods and hops and everything else up.” This includes a hoist with a minute round trip to carry the loads of patience required to get things done.

(VISIT: Find a U.S. Brewery)

“We have a very unique spot of delivery,” Masterson said. “We have basically a sidewalk outside on C Street and then right out past that is a trolley line. We basically have to park or double park on 4th Avenue and they’ll drop the grain, wheel it up the sidewalk, wheel it up into the brewhouse, and we take it from there. We’ve gotten multiple tickets from the San Diego meter people,” he said. “They get mad at us all the time.” I laughed, but I doubt he was joking.

This is all to say that the triumphs and challenges are real, which brings me back to my old friend and the beer. I thought of how much hard work went into creating a place where I could sit down and eat some delicious pork chili verde, taste this award-winning beer and reconnect with an old friend.

As Dickson finished his story I took one last sip of the Vacation Coconut IPA and thought, “That was worth it!”

The post The Worthwhile Trials and Triumphs of Resident Brewing appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

1. If it tastes good, then continue on with it.
2. If it tastes bad, stop and choose another.
3. Cheese and beer pairing is an adventure.

In the CraftBeer.com Beer & Food Course, we speak in-depth about pairing guidelines. Here are a few of those terms that will help ensure success on your beer and cheese adventures.

Complement

Cheese and beer are no different than our human interactions. If we want to get along with each other, we need to find the commonalities and use them to make connections. A classic food complement is chocolate and peanut butter. The salty, sweet nuttiness combines with the rich and creamy chocolate. In the world of beer and cheese, find the common flavors and use them as a bridge to harmoniously unite the two.

(READ: Peanut Butter Beer is Nostalgia in a Glass)

Contrast

Another food example is peanut butter and jelly where the salty, sweet nuttiness works wonderfully together with the fruity, sweet acid. Basic rules of thumb are sweetness counters acidity, spiciness and bitterness. Not all contrasting pairings work, as in oil and water, but this idea is wonderful to play with.

Cutting and Cleansing

Imagine washing down a gob of peanut butter with fresh, heavy cream from the dairy. They would overwhelm the palate and coat the mouth so heavily we wouldn’t taste anything else for quite a while. We need to cleanse our palate so we can enjoy other flavors without one bite dominating our evening.

Bitterness in our beer can effectively cut through the fatty cream and neutralize it. Carbonation uses scrubbing bubbles to cleanse the palate and give it an easy rub down before the next bite. Acidity can also join the team to refresh the palate and prepare it for more. This formidable team works together to prevent palate fatigue (which is an actual thing).

Impact

No one wants to get dressed in a nicely tailored suit only to drive his date in a rusty old clunker that sputters down the road. Equally, a light Pilsner will be dominated by a beef stew and an imperial stout will overpower a summer salad. This is impact.

Simply put, pair light cheese with light beer, and pair that funky, washed-rind, juggernaut of a cheese with a beer so strong and flavorful that it can stand toe to toe with a grin.

(LEARN: Beer Flavors Six Pack)

Here’s another piece of pairing advice: That which grows together often goes together. Either through terroir or the home field advantage, products that grow within the same region are generally a safe pairing. Good examples include Mexican beer, guacamole and flip flops, as well as an IPA, Northwest salmon and a flannel shirt. 

Before you dive in, you should know cheese flavors vary within a style as much as beer. Find a cheese expert, like those at the American Cheese Society, to navigate you through the wonderfully diverse world of cheese. The following pairings are meant to help you begin your adventure, not to help finish it.

10 Popular Styles for Pairing Beer and Cheese

Pepper Jack

Pepper Jack is a creamy, sweet cheese with peppers, chilies, herbs and other flavors. Frankly, this cheese can pair with beer either really well or really poorly. The spicy bite of alcohol and the bitter hops can potentiate the spiciness in the cheese.

I prefer to contrast this cheese. I’ve discovered one of my favorite pairings is pepper jack cheese with a Scottish-style ale. The phenolic character in some examples of the beer seem to provide a bridge to the smoky and spicy flavors of the cheese while the malty sweetness enveloped the vegetal spiciness and began an elegant dance that fuses the two cultures together in a wonderful and surprising way.

Feta Cheese

Feta is one of the cheeses that most often finds its way onto my plate. It is creamy, tangy and briny. It has a dominant flavor that doesn’t bully other ingredients, but instead works very well with many dishes.

However, the clear winners came with complementing this cheese in the form of lighter and equally interesting beers such as a Belgian-style witbier or a Belgian-style blonde. Both beers are light but full of character and can pair with Feta any day of the week.

(MORE: Get to Know 75+ Popular Beer Styles)

Goat Cheese

Goat Cheese comes in many glorious forms. The creamy, spreadable, fresh versions often have a distinct, tart, sweet and earthy flavor. Don’t dismiss this cheese as light and delicate as it can pair very well with a beer with a bit of alcohol spice on the back end.

The best pairings for a creamy goat cheese tend to be those that complement such as German-style pilsners, American-style pale ales, Belgian-style wits, Belgian-style golden strong ales, tripels and saisons. You can also try a maltier German-style doppelbock or the bananas and clove from a German-style hefeweizen with a semi-firm goat cheese.

Bleu, Stilton and Gorgonzolas

Bleu, Stilton and Gorgonzolas are amazingly complex and diverse, which opens them up to many delicious pairings. Generally speaking, these cheeses tend to be creamy, nutty, mild to sharp, complex, earthy, caramelly, with the distinct character of the Penicillium Roqueforti mold.

With so many bridges that complement flavors in our beer, you could almost cover your eyes and point aimlessly to the beer cooler and pull out an acceptable winner. The trick to pairing these types of cheeses is finding an equal impact. Imperial IPAs, barley wines, tripels and quads, even Baltic-style porters and imperial stouts can be amazing.

Gruyere

Gruyere is a swiss cheese similar to French comté that comes across as sweet, salty, nutty, creamy and earthy. This cheese practically begs for rich and complex malt and spicy or earthy hops to complement it. Try pairing with beers like German style doppelbocks, English bitters, American-style amber ales and Scottish ales.

(LEARN: CraftBeer.com’s Big List of Beer Schools)

Parmesan

Parmesan cheese is gloriously sharp, fruity, nutty and savory with a gritty to somewhat creamy texture. However, one of the defining flavors is the saltiness. When you break free from the obvious pairing of pasta marinara with chunks of good parmesan and a doppelbock, the world opens up.

A light and refreshing wheat beer may contrast wonderfully, but I prefer to complement this cheese with a British or American barley wine, a Belgian-style gueuze/lambic, a salty gose, or even the grassy hop notes of an IPA.

Havarti

Havarti is a sweet, creamy, acidic and buttery white cheese that ends up in most of my sandwiches. The creamy smooth texture envelopes the palate and insists on a fairly long finish.

The flavors can easily pivot from contrast to complement, but I suggest using beer’s cutting potential as well. Think dry body, a bit of acidity and high carbonation for this cheese. A German Berliner Weiss, Pils, IPA, dry stout would all find a sweet spot with Havarti. For a rare treat, pair your havarti and turkey sandwich with a Grodziskie, which is bone dry, highly carbonated and tastes of light, bready malt and smoked oak.

Cheddar

Cheddar is the classically versatile mild, sharp and extra sharp cheese of British origin that we all know and love. The aged versions of this wonderful cheese are sharply bitter, pungent, earthy, creamy, sweet, even hazelnutty and often the object of palate envy. Following the “if it grows together, it goes together” food pairing guideline, British bitters, stouts, porters, Irish-style reds, browns and Scottish ales are the “dog’s bollocks,” (which means really, really good in plain English).

(RECIPES: Hundreds of Ways to Cook with Beer)

Manchego

Manchego is one of my all-time favorites. It’s a lightly to well-aged Spanish cheese that is also mild, nutty, creamy, grassy, earthy, lightly briney and sometimes subtle.

Manchego is such a clean slate with which to pair any beer that I suggest letting your palate be your guide. Light and fruity lagers and wheat beers are equally as excellent as earthy rye IPAs and barley wines.

Brie & Camembert

Most people have had a version of Brie cheese, especially baked in a bread crust. It is creamy and buttery. While Brie presents somewhat of a neutral flavor for many pairings, it is so creamy and buttery that I strongly suggest a beer that can cut through it such as German or Bohemian-style pilsners, weissbiers, IPAs or Belgian tripels.

Then along came Camembert, Brie’s funky cousin that adds earthy, mushroomy, slightly pungent and barnyard-farm animal aromas. There is a lot of wiggle room for pairings here, but I am so in love with saisons paired with Camembert cheese that I don’t see the point in looking any further.

The art and craft of pairing is a delicate balance between these variables. However, there is a safety net to catch us if we lose the balance. After all, it is beer and cheese — we have the odds of a good pairing stacked in our favor. But if we have the occasional bad pairing, there is a world of beer and cheese pairings for us to discover, and it can only get better.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Pairing Beer and Cheese appeared first on CraftBeer.com.