Beer vs. Wine at the Lyric Opera Smackdown

In my capacity as a restaurant critic, I get lots of opportunities to engage in unique dining opportunities. I had such an moment this past Saturday at the charity “Smackdown” for Austin Lyric Opera.

The idea was to serve four dishes and pair each dish with a particular wine and a beer. The judges, including myself, Twin Liquors CEO David Jabour, Todd Boatwright of NEWS 8, and Marla Camp of Edible Austin Magazine were charged with choosing which libation went best with which dish.

As a professed wine guy, I thought it would be a slam dunk for the vino. But I was wrong! I found myself voting for the Hoegaarden, a beautiful Belgian beer to pair with the Ceviche from El Sol y La Luna over the Muscadet. Call me biased, but in my opinion, Ceviche just calls out for beer. The Muscadet usually goes fine with seafood but ceviche is in a class by itself because of the marinade.

The second dish was a Chile Relleno stuffed with goat cheese from Malaga. In this case I went with the smooth white wine.

The third dish was a lobster with gnocci in a heavenly sauce prepared by North. I went with the Affligem Tripel, a stout Belgian beer with an alcohol content of 8.5%. The wine was a Prosecco which, in my opinion, just didn’t hold up to the heavy sauce. Had the lobster been served in its primal state, steamed with drawn butter, I probably would have opted for the wine. But here, the beer, surprisingly again, really worked as a companion.

The fourth dish, from Cantina Laredo, was a beef skewer with peppers and chimichurri sauce. Here I chose the big red Argentinian wine called Clos de la Siete. It was perfect with the beef.

But all in all, I was surprised how inclined I was to go with beer pairings with some of the dishes. It had honestly not occurred to me other than with BBQ, burgers, and Tex Mex.
One learns something every day.