Three short primers on pairing beer and food as the grilling season begins

Would you like some suggestions on pairing beer and food?

Would you like to see how others have paired beer and food?

And how to pair the right beers with grilling cuisine?

I've been writing about these topics for the Weekly Surge and Blogcritics.

Allow me to point you to three articles available online and free of charge.

1. A Perfect Pair: Matching Brew and Barbecue, Other Grilling Too

2. Brewmaster Dinners Offer Pairing Advice

3. Call That A Bargain

Enjoy your summer -- and your beer!

Peter Reinhart wins another James Beard Award!

Peter Reinhart, my friend and an editorial adviser for LiturgicalCredo.com, won another James Beard Foundation Award last night in New York City.

His book, Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor, won in the Baking and Dessert cookbook category.

Read excerpts of Peter's writings, and find links to his books, here.

Peter teaches at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C.

See all of last night's James Beard Award winners, here.

Congratulations, Peter!

-Colin Foote Burch

There's a scallop in my beer

In Great Britain, a brewer has produced a beer using scallops. I thought I had heard it all.

The Shepherd Neame brewery's Scallop Stout is like Guinness, and made with traditional methods, except a handful of scallops are thrown in for an hour, according to the Web site Metro.co.uk.

"There's a hint of smokiness and a slight taste of the sea but no fishiness. I can find no scientific reason for why it works, but it does," brewer Stewart Main told the Web site.

Shepherd Neame, based in Kent, is planning to release a crab beer and a winkle beer, too.


(For news and commentary on religion and culture, click here.)

There's a scallop in my beer

In Great Britain, a brewer has produced a beer using scallops. I thought I had heard it all.

The Shepherd Neame brewery's Scallop Stout is like Guinness, and made with traditional methods, except a handful of scallops are thrown in for an hour, according to the Web site Metro.co.uk.

"There's a hint of smokiness and a slight taste of the sea but no fishiness. I can find no scientific reason for why it works, but it does," brewer Stewart Main told the Web site.

Shepherd Neame, based in Kent, is planning to release a crab beer and a winkle beer, too.


(Also check out this post about Aquinas Wines.)