Fresh, Flavorful Food & A Beer to Match It

A meal that packs a lot of complex flavor needs a beer that can either match some of those flavors, or contrast with them. With a recent meal, I paired a beer that was able to do both. The dinner was shrimp quesadillas with avocado salad (a recipe found in Sunset magazine) and the beer was a delicious black IPA by Shmaltz Brewing Company. The beer, named Death of a Contract Brewer Black IPA, was part of a shipment from a beer club membership, an excellent gift highlighted in my previous post.

Shmaltz was started in California in 1996, and recently moved to New York. The owners were contract brewers for many years and finally opened their own brewhouse in 2013. Their line of He'Brew beers playfully celebrates their Jewish heritage, and Death of a Contract Brewer includes a story that is in line with their familiar shtick. This 7% ABV beer is brewed with 7 different malts and 7 different hops, and was made to commemorate Shmaltz's move into their own facility. I chose the beer for this meal because I wanted something with a dark enough malt base to stand up to the spiciness and smokiness of the shrimp mix, and strong enough hop character to cut through the richness of the cheese and avocado.

The shrimp were marinated in a mixture of garlic, cumin, paprika, pepper, and cayenne, and then cooked with corn and green onions. This mixture was then loaded onto flour tortillas with shredded cheddar and jack cheeses, and the quesadillas were then grilled on a panini press. Meanwhile, we made a salad of sliced avocado, tomatoes, onion, cilantro and lime juice to accompany the quesadillas. As you can imagine, the meal had so much bold and fresh flavor. The shrimp carried a little bit of heat, which the dark, roasted malts in the beer cooled down momentarily. Then the aggressive hop flavors picked up on the spiciness again and provided a clean, crisp finish with a lingering bitterness. It was a wonderful, flavorful meal savored with each bite and sip.