Cabin Fever
We know choosing foods to pair with your beer can get a bit tricky during the winter months, when rich, dark, flavorful seasonal beers are in season. So, our Sous Chef, here at Boundary Bay Brewery, came up with a few suggestions to help you find just the right flavors to compliment the craft beer you’ll be serving.
CraftBeer.com recommends matching strength with strength and suggests pairing assertive beers with strongly-flavored foods.
Our Cabin Fever is the most popular of our big beers. It’s our Winter Seasonal ale with a dark red-brown color and a very rich malty flavor. Try it with an apple, cheddar and sorrel turnovers for a savory pairing, or go sweet with a dessert pairing of chocolate espresso torte.
If Cabin Fever’s not quite your thing, try our Old Bounder. It’s a rich, full-bodied barley wine that has a copper color, a smooth caramel sweetness and a balanced hop character. Which makes it a perfect partner for dark fruits like figs served with nuts and blue cheese (or another cheese with big flavor, if you prefer). For a sweet pairing, check out the Cranberry Panna Cotta recipe below:
Cranberry Panna Cotta
Old Bounder
for panna cotta
4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
6 tablespoons cold water
for cranberry sauce
1 cup fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup port wine
1 tsp orange zest
Mixture of 1 tsp arrowroot powder and 1/3 cup water (for thickening)
candied orange peel for garnish
panna cotta recipe
1. Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
2. Lightly oil eight custard cups.
3. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
5. Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours.
6. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving plate, and garnish with sauce and orange peel
cranberry sauce
1. Cook the cranberries in the sugar and water until soft.
2. Add the orange zest and wine
3. Slowly whisk in your arrowroot/water mixture until desired consistency. Be sure to use low heat.
4. Try not to reduce the sauce after adding the port. It is easy to turn this cranberry-port sauce into a port wine reduction!
