Desert Hops Beer Festival: Food And Beer Pairing

I was recently asked if I'd share my favorite food and beer pairing as part of a blog shout out to the The Desert Hops International Beer Festival which is being held today, at the The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. I'd never heard about the festival before, but my first reaction was "OMG where's my admission ticket?" 

For me, going to a beer festival is second to going to a good writer's conference. Can you just imagine combining the two events? That would be incredible. Just think of how many writers and agents we could pair up or just how many books could be published....or... yeah, maybe not. :P 

Anyway, I wish I could tell you that I have some fantastic and exotic pairing of food and beer, but for me, simple is best. What I'm not a fan of, is sweet flavored beers and don't really like the weird fruit beers be it watermelon or pumpkin, and God forbid you add a peach or grenadine syrup to your beer like they do here, yuck! I figure if you're going to add syrup to your beer, you might as well order a cocktail. To each their own. 

Basically, I prefer a good beer with a dish of salty carbohydrates. Because let's face it, there's nothing better than a nice cold one and pizza, or chips, or just plain old peanuts. But better yet, beer on a hot day, in the back yard, cooking BBQ, and hanging out with family and friends. I think that's what I associate beer with the most, sharing it with friends and enjoying the simple things while we talk about how better the world would be if we ran things.  

So, when it comes down to it, I'm much more of a have-a-couple-cold-ones-at-home-with-friends-while-watching-Arrow kinda gal. 

So here is my favorite beer / food combination to date: 

Abbaye des Rocs (9 %), a strong Belgian ale with a rich dark amber color and full body taste that lingers in your mouth afterwards. In other words, it tastes awesome. Now take a beer like this and pair it up with a perfectly cooked steak with sautéed mushrooms, along with a side of potatoes loaded with bacon, onions, and melted cheese all cooked in an iron skillet. There, a slice of heaven... unless you're a vegetarian who doesn't drink alcohol. Then, this would be hell. :o  (Actually, there is a beer called Hell, just sayin... :)  )

So even if you're not much of a beer drinker, I'd be willing to bet, with all the different microbreweries producing such a wide range of craft beers from around the world, there's a beer even (or especially) for you. :) 

******
So do you have a favorite beer/food pairing? Or maybe you have another drink/food pairing you'd like to share. I'd love to hear about it!


#BrewLV