Beertasters "Wunderbeer 4, Autumn" at Five Bar

Beertasters' event "Wunderbeer4" hosted by Five Bar in Mt Lawley was billed as a tribute to Autumn. We were moving on from the lighter refreshing beers of summer towards the darker stouts & porters of winter by tasting the amber, red & browns of Autumn. The beers were matched to foods by the kitchen at Five Bar, see the menu above.

First up we were served slice of Pork Belly on a bed of Spaghetti Veg with a Smoked Orange Sauce. This German inspired dish was matched with two traditional German beers for a side by side comparison, "Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel" & "Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen".

Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel (ABV 4.7%)
Weltenburger claim their Barock Dunkel is the world's oldest dark beer. It pours a lovely dark amber with a creamy head. It has an almost sweet toasted malt aroma (some burnt caramel). A medium bodied beer with almost no carbonation. A very nice German Dunkel but the weaker of the two beers with this dish.


Aecht Schlenkerlra Rauchbier Marzen (ABV 5,1%)
I am usually not a fan of smoked beers but the matching food made this Rauchbier an exception. It has been flavoured by exposing the malt to the smoke of Beech logs at the traditional Schlenkerla-maltings. This bottom fermented Rauchbier had an almost bacon like smokiness, lovely dark colour with a reddish hue at the edge of the glass. This beer was perfect with the pork belly, the orange sauce and smokey beer combined famously in the mouth. A really good match!

The next dish to be served was a Spiced Lamb Ragout served with home made Turkish Bread. This Middle Eastern spiced dish was to be matched with " Green Flash Hop Head Red" and the traditional English "Fuller's 1845 Strong Ale".

Green Flash Hop Head Red (ABV 7%)
This is a very highly regarded beer from a highly regarded brewery. Green Flash, in typical American craft brew style, have taken a quite malty beer and packed it full of hops. In this case Columbus, Nugget and Amarillo hops (with a generous dry hopping of Amarillo hops). The Caramel malt gives this beer a lovely reddish brown colour and adds to an almost sweet aroma. The hops really do dominate this beer giving it a spicy resinous hop aroma and taste. The  Spicy Lamb Ragout seemed to accentuate a fruity hopiness in this beer, a terrific match!

Fuller's 1845 Strong Ale(ABV 6.3% )
This traditional style Strong Ale is brewed with a variety of pale malts and an amber malt for colour. It is bottle conditioned and flavoured using the very English Golding's hops. On its own this is a fine Ale, a lovely dark amber colour and an enticing spicy fruit aroma. With the Spicy Lamb the beer lost its flavour and masked the spiciness of the Ragout making it taste merely salty. Probably the least successful match of the evening.

It is very difficult to match beers with desserts, the flavours often compete or even clash in the mouth, these matches proved a triumph. We were served a Chocolate Parfait Slice matched to the fabulous "Nøgne Ø Imperial Brown Ale" and a Champagne Fruit Salad (topped with a Saison Fizz) matched with "Liefmans Goudenband".

Nøgne Ø Imperial Brown Ale (ABV 7.5%)
This brew was originally brewed at Copenhagen's Nørrebro Bryghus as a collaboration with that brewery. Brewed with a variety of malts ( Maris Otter, Wheat, Brown, Amber, Munich and Caramel) and hopped with Columbus, Chinook & Golding's hops, this is one fine and tasty brown ale. A super malty aroma loads of toasted caramel and chocolate with a slight floral hop aroma. This beer really complemented the Chocolate Parfait nicely.

Liefmans Goudenband (ABV 8%)
I wouldn't normally associate a Belgian sour beer with dessert but the crispness of the Champagne Fruit Salad with a whisked Saison topping really worked well. The Liefmans has an unusual malty aroma and a nutty, raisin taste. It has a slightly sour finish produced by the specialist malts and yeasts used to brew this beer. Liefmans actually recommend pairing this beer with goats cheese!

To finish the evening we were treated to Pont-l'Évêque cheese served with a tart strawberry puree and fresh Pear slices. The cheese was matched with the superb "Mikkeller/3Floyds Boogoop Buckwheat Wine".

Mikkeller/Three Floyd's Boogoop Buckwheat Wine (ABV 10.4%) 
Pours a cloudy reddish amber colour with a beautiful chunky head. A predominately hop aroma with loads of fruit, I get hints of pine and citrus on the nose but I also get some caramel malt. This beer hits the mouth sweet but does have a complex slightly bitter hit in the finish. Cut through the intense flavour of the cheese nicely and complemented the slices of pear beautifully. I love experiencing the combination of changing textures & flavours when they work. A very good way to finish the evening!