Quebec beer: Try these 10 delicious pairings featuring all-local ingredients
Quebec’s reputation for making great beer has been well earned! Over the years, Quebec brewers have acquired enviable expertise. Today they produce high-quality beers that have received many awards, both at home and internationally. Whether you’re looking for a beer that’s light and delicately effervescent or one that’s heavy on the hops and strongly bitter, Quebec produces something for every taste.
For a truly local sampling, beer specialist Philippe Wouters suggests a few pairings of Quebec beer with locally sourced foods that will send you on a trip across all the flavours of Quebec.
Cheers… and enjoy!
Philippe Wouters | Docker Session IPA
A lighter version of an IPA, Docker Session IPA goes well with delicate meat such as veal. For a fresh-tasting accompaniment, pair this mellow, generously dry-hopped beer featuring citrus notes with these lemony veal brochettes.
Goudy Stout | Brasseur de Montréal
Pairing beer with dessert is simply delicious and is totally worth a try! Partner some chocolate brownies with this black beer that features coffee notes lent by roasted malt. A truly sublime discovery!
Trois Pistoles | Unibroue
This beer with fruity notes almost looks like port. Dare to sample it with a raw milk cheddar like the one made by Le Cru du Clocher. You’ll notice how the more character the cheese has, the more this complex beer shows off its true colours.
Terrible | Unibroue
For a gourmet pairing, provide a cheese with real personality, like Le Sœur Angèle. It has enough character to back up this round, very malted, dark brown beer with caramel reflections. To perfect your tasting session, bring the cheese to room temperature and serve Terrible between 10°C and 14°C.
Éphémère Sea Buckthorn | Unibroue
Sea buckthorn berries taste a bit like passionfruit. They do a wonderful job of perfuming this beer, which also offers a light acidity and lovely golden colour. The aromas of Éphémère are brought more to the fore with fresh Quebec cheeses like regular haloumi and red berry fruit like raspberries and strawberries.
Éphémère Apple | Unibroue
It’s true that pairings with salad are rare, but they can also be delicious! In this case, this fruity white beer’s aromas of apple are perfectly enhanced with this salad of Chinese lettuce and apples
Superpils | Le Trou du diable
Aromas of bread and herbs develop marvellously well in this beer when paired with a bloomy rind cheese featuring hints of cream and butter. Try Roubine de Noyan soft cheese as an accompaniment for this beer that dances between notes of malt and herbaceous hops.
Les Quatre Surfeurs de l’Apocalypso | Le Trou du diable
Prepare this recipe for sweet and sour chicken wings and treat yourself to the sublime harmony of spicy meat paired with bitter beer. Enjoy the aromas of resin, litchi and pear offered by Les Quatre Surfeurs de l’Apocalypso.
MacTavish | Le Trou du diable
Match the bitterness of this legendary beer featuring notes of cream and nuts with a cheese like Le Mont-Jacob. You’ll find yourself transported by the sweet flavours of malt and tropical fruit lent by the hops used to make MacTavish.
Shawi Beach | Le Trou du diable
Extend the aromas of a blue cheese like La Tomme de Brebis with the bitter hops flavours of this thirst-quenching amber beer. You’ll enjoy its aromas of white grapefruit, cedar and long pepper. A perfect pairing for thrill-seekers.