Here are two outstanding resources for learning about beer and food pairings.

• Principles of Matching
• Craft Beer and Food Pairing Specifics

Learning how to put them together, the WHY in the pairing and the flavor information of the two is enormously helpful in this exploration.

explore beer and food together

By all means, try any kinds of combinations you like. Be aware there are a lot of resources that can be helpful in your culinary pursuits.

Most importantly, have fun with it. It’s beer and food. Include friends and you’re sure to make it great. Don’t worry if the house is picked up or if the food is fancy enough.

Simple is good, quality always shines through and you’re friends will be grateful.

Hats off once again to the BA for this incredible site, CraftBeer.com, for these resources. Dig around the site – there’s waaaaaaay more where these came from.

If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll see some hot buttons in marketing beer to women.

Focus on the beer, not sex

Today I’ll offer smart solutions for those 6 points.

1. De-sex beer. Take away any inferences or sexual overtones. What our culture could use, since it’s not a very healthy sexual representation and very lopsided towards objectified women, is non sexual advertising and marketing. A great product should stand on its own merits. Period. If you have to use sex to sell it, I’d make a stab that the product ain’t that great to begin with. Clever – great! Humor – good choice. Just make sure you remove sex.

2. High quality delicious beer is made for everyone. Beer is genderless – approach your marketing efforts this way, targeting beer enthusiasts in general, and you’ll be successful. I’d point to Schlafly, Boulevard, and Ninkasi as great examples of focusing on beer, not sex.

3. See #2. Beer enthusiasts come with female plumbing and male plumbing. Ignore the plumbing and go for taste buds.

Good example of classy, non gender specific label

4. Beer names and labels need to be thoughtfully considered. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s clever if you turn a ton of people off – unless you flat out want to turn them off (and ruin sales potential). Mistress, girls, chick, babe, and any sexualized reference of women is a bad choice, no matter who you are and how big or small your beer world is. Men aren’t labeled as such; don’t make the huge mistake of intentionally insulting 50.9% of the (entire) population with a insensitive or inappropriate name. There are millions of words – find some that work and still remain true to your brand. This includes images by the way.

5. There IS a market for craft beers for women – those beers are known as craft beers. Yes, I just repeated the obvious because it still needs to sink in with many. Craft beer should be marketed for all. Yes, you market different for different market segments – including men and women. That said, when’s the last time you heard some one say “I want a really crappy beer”?? Quality is genderless; treat your customers with enough respect that you assume they all want quality craft beers. The key here is education internally and externally.

6. All craft beer enthusiasts want layers of flavor, complexities and characteristics. That’s part of the beauty of beer. With four foundational main ingredients, those four in concert with whatever the recipe allows for already encourages incredible variety for people to enjoy.

So the message du jour for breweries wanting to attract female beer enthusiasts: market your beer on its own merits - high quality, local, value, good business practices (yes, for you), and they will patronize you.

Building on yesterday’s post per a men’s beer tasting and pairing at Standing Stone Brewing Company in Ashland Oregon last week…

Course 4

Barley wine with a Marion Berry salad. The slightly fruitier flavors, medium body, mid octane barley wine paired well to bring out the medium flavors of this salad. Marionberries are of Oregon so it also featured a local fruit with the local fresh beer.

One guest shared he had poached some scallops in a barley wine with yummy results. Good suggestion.

Course 5

Double India Pale Ale with hearth baked pretzel and Marionberry mustard. Sweet and hot, chewy and crisp. All words to describe the flavors in this course. We had a contrast of the house made agave ketchup as well.

There aren’t a plethora of Double IPA’s yet and the crew at SSBC is really proud of the one they make. (Vinnie’s is a really nice choice too.)

Course 6

Wandering Aengus Cider with fresh cheeses. I chose a cider on purpose to get people to rethink what else can also be compatible in tastings. Ciders are a great gluten free choice as well. The fresh cheese we chose included the very local and award winning Rogue Creamery Cheddar, made just for SSBC. Mmmmmmmm.

The lushness of the crisp and still fruity cider worked nicely with the cheeses providing both complement and contrast. Parmesan and a provolone were also available. The creamier ones were the best fit here.

More on what else we covered at the event tomorrow.

BellaOnline has a(nother) good piece on flavor and learning. Take a read. Carolyn says it well.

This past weekend I had the pleasure and privilege of hosting a beer & food tasting. The groups are always engaging, enjoyable and fun.

Why?

Well, because the audience I am targeting – female consumers – are so interested in being heard ala beer, that they are engaging, enjoyable and fun. They wanna know.

One combination I like to feature is an IPA with sharp cheddar cheese – and when in season – grapefruit as well.

The citrusy flavors and aromas of a good solid IPA pair beautifully with these food goodies. American beers that utilize Cascade hops will for sure find this to be true.

It’s eye opening, an ‘Ah-ha!’ moment for all who try it.

Message today – pair common foods with your beers. The educational opportunity is huge. Its take home value is also huge.

Fancy is fine later. Start basic (not condescendingly though).

Don’t you want their business?

Photo courtesy of Flickr by portlandbeer.org