TOPIC:

Hi All,

Have friends over this Saturday night for an ale and curry night. One of the guys is in charge of cooking the curry so I'm doing the dessert.

The dessert itself is a caribbean Banana and Raisin Strudel. Its basically raisins and orange peel, soaked in rum with bananas and creme fréche and the whole thing wrapped in filo pastry.
It will be accompanied by homemade ginger icecream.

Does anybody have any suggestions for a beer which would pair well with this dessert?

I'm thinking I need something big enough that will stand up to the sweetness of the fruit and still work with the ginger.
At the same time, I don't want a beer which takes over flavour wise!

Would a barley wine be a good idea or should I be thinking along the lines of an imperial porter?

Ideally I don't want the beer to be too obscure, I won't have a chance to visit too many off licenses before the weekend.

All ideas welcome,

Tim

"tim.culhane":1zlejfu1 wrote: Hi All,

Have friends over this Saturday night for an ale and curry night. One of the guys is in charge of cooking the curry so I'm doing the dessert.

The dessert itself is a caribbean Banana and Raisin Strudel. Its basically raisins and orange peel, soaked in rum with bananas and creme fréche and the whole thing wrapped in filo pastry.
It will be accompanied by homemade ginger icecream.

Does anybody have any suggestions for a beer which would pair well with this dessert?

I'm thinking I need something big enough that will stand up to the sweetness of the fruit and still work with the ginger.
At the same time, I don't want a beer which takes over flavour wise!

Would a barley wine be a good idea or should I be thinking along the lines of an imperial porter?

Ideally I don't want the beer to be too obscure, I won't have a chance to visit too many off licenses before the weekend.

All ideas welcome,

Tim[/quote:1zlejfu1]


yeah, the new O'Haras barrel aged barley wine should do the trick perfectly or perhaps a decent stout like leann follain or porterhouse celebration.

An imperial porter will, imo, overpower the banana and ginger and definitely the filo.

I'd be going for something lighter, maybe a nice sour beer or a good fruity IPA like Jaipur.

I'd say avoid the strong dark stuff too, and maybe get some spice in. The O'Hara's Barley Wine would deffo be good, and looks great on the table. Alternatively, Porterhouse Brainblásta or Black's Black IPA, perhaps?

Thanks for the suggestions.

Baggot Street Wines have put aside a bottle of the O'Hara's Barley Wine for me.

By the way, any serving recommendations for the barley wine?
What temperature should it be served at?
I imagine room temperature would be good so that the flavours are fully available?
When pouring, should you tilt the glass, just pour it straight in, or does it matter?

Cheers,

Tim

"tim.culhane":1oh8e3nu wrote: What temperature should it be served at?[/quote:1oh8e3nu]I'd serve it at cellar temperature. At least it'll warm up if that's not people's tastes.

"tim.culhane":1oh8e3nu wrote: When pouring, should you tilt the glass, just pour it straight in, or does it matter?[/quote:1oh8e3nu]It's fairly flat if I recall, so I don't think it matters.