Monday, May 2, 2011

Burger and wine pairings

Howdy!

Once again, shamelessly lifting from Eater's National Burger Week (by the way happy National Burger Month everyone...) they decide to ask some folk what would be a good adult beverage to accompany some very specific burgers. I might just have to 'borrow' that idea in the future...

In the meantime:
At Longman & Eagle in Chicago, Jim McCann suggests either a "dry but fruit forward" Sicilian white wine, a slightly bitter pale ale or a "wheated bourbon... on the sweet side." - Wouldn't you be looking for the same qualities in a beverage instead of completely different flavors?

At the Heirloom Café in San Francisco, Matt Straus suggests an $85 half bottle of vin jaune or a $120 American Cabernet Sauvignon to go with a $12 burger. - If the burger was $30, perhaps. But you have to be kidding. And on top of it a vin jaune and a burger is like pedal powered Lamborghini aka a joke.

Over at Father's Office in Los Angeles Sang Yoon suggests a wine that has a "bloody, iron ore like character" or a beer that has a "tannic hop finish, [and a...] slick caramel like maltiness." to go with a hamburger that has both blue cheese and Gruyere. Again, why would you suggest two completely different flavor profiles for your beverages? And with a good blue cheese on a burger, I would suggest water. There are just going to be too many extremely strong flavors happening for a beverage to compete.

At Burger & Barrel in New York Natalie Tapken recommends a wine with "tobacco and herbaceous qualities... crushed floral and cherry notes." A beer that is "quite complex" with "malt and strawberry qualities [that] compliment the bitter backbone to the beer." Or a cocktail with Gin, Aperol, Lemon, Grapefruit and Sparkling Wine because it is "refreshing." To her credit they are to be paired with a lamb burger. All my previous comments apply here as well.