Happy Fourth of July from San Diego Beer and Wine Tours!
Oh, hey! It’s nearly July 4th already? How did this happen so fast? It feels like just yesterday that we were waiting up to see in the new year, and here it is Independence Day.
We love the Fourth of July. It’s nice and warm, the day is long and punctuated by food and cold drinks, and at the end of it we get fireworks! Usually, we put up a guide to pairing wines and beers with your barbecue foods, but this time, we’ve scoured the web to find ways for you to work your favorite drinks into your favorite summer recipes.
If you’re grilling beef, accompany it with a porter or stout reduction sauce to simultaneously tenderize it and bring out the smoky tanginess of the beer. Reductions are super easy and really delicious – all it means is that you boil out some of the water, thereby reducing overall volume and concentrating flavors to make, yes, the perfect sauce. When you use beer or wine as a reduction base, you also boil out the alcohol, so it can’t get you (too) drunk – it’ll just make you really, really happy.
You can use equal parts water and beer or broth and beer, and whisk in your flavors (garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, whatever you like) to taste, then boil everything down until you have an incredible sauce. Try out this amazing stout pan sauce or an incredible porter reduction recipe to start and just go from there!
If you’re trying sauces and reductions on for size for your chicken or fish dishes, you might want to go lighter. Try a honey-IPA combo for chicken, and go for citrusy with lighter-tasting fish, like a solid Hefeweizen. If you’re a vegetarian, use darker beers with mushroom dishes, and lighter ones for other vegetables – or just experiment until you find something you love. Experimenting with food and drink is the best kind of science!
If these beer reduction recipes whet your appetite, come sate it with us. We’ll be offering beer, wine, and food tours to give you even more pairing and reduction ideas. Give us a call and book a tour with us at (858) 551-5115 and we’ll talk food and drink all day long.
Happy eating and drinking, bottoms up, and happy Fourth of July! Let freedom ring and your belly growl.
Brooke B., Freedom Fighter