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What is better than a couple of pilsners with a toasted cheese sandwich? I cannot think about anything, at this moment, that sounds better!

This is what I did for this #BeerSaturday, I cooked up a nice toasted cheese sandwich and I cracked open a couple of beers. The maltiness and the slight bitterness from he pilsners paired so well with the bread that I craved more afterwards.

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The art of pairing food with drinks is somewhat lost. So many people drink fizzy drinks with their food and for me personally it overwhelms the subtle taste of food, even fast food! Taste and smell is so intimately connected with memory, and for me some fast food chains are a direct link back to that nostalgia. But when my mouth is coated with the sugary drinks that they offer, I cannot taste anything else. (This is obviously a very personal and subjective opinion, one that other people will obviously differ from.)

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In any case, I paired these beers with a buttery toasted cheesy toasted cheese. The crispy fried bread on the outside with the melted cheese on the inside did wonders with the beers that completely refreshed my palate with each taste. Yet, the incredibly well balanced maltiness worked so well with the myriad of other tastes that I allowed myself to experience.

Herewith then are a couple of my tasting notes as I drank these beers.

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Folk & Goode Pilsner

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Pilsner | 5% ABV | ?? IBUs

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The beer had a very hoppy nose as I poured it with slight alcoholic notes. I think it was bottle conditioned so there were also strong yeasty notes.

The first taste was surprisingly, but well received, bitter. It was "crisp" and "refreshing", if I can use these terms again.

Even though on the bottle they say that there is not a lot of hoppiness to the beer, I found the opposite to be true. But in a good way, I loved the added hoppy notes. They also aimed for a malty sweetness which I did not get.

It was slightly cloudy, and as I drank the beer, the hoppiness came through stronger and stronger.

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Striped Horse Pilsner

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Pilsner | 4.5% ABV | 33 IBUs

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The pour did not yield too much on the nose. Subtle hints of malt and no real bitterness from the hops. It actually reminded me of their lager, with nothing new added to the mix.

The first sip was refreshing and signaled a good beer. But it was nothing special. The hops and the malt was perfectly balanced, yielding a very predictable beer (which is not always a bad thing!).

This beer had much more malt characteristics compared to the previous beer.

In the end, the beer was a bit flat, and did not really work that well for me compared to the last beer... But I am getting ahead of myself!

I cleaned my palate with a bite of my toasted cheese. On towards the last beer.

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Cape Brewing Company (CBC) Pilsner

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Pilsner | 5% ABV | 30 IBUs

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The pour yielded an incredible maltiness. I loved the first smell of this beer, and I could tell it would be a good one. There was no real hoppiness coming through.

The first taste confirmed the malty nose, and it tasted like the mash tun I so fell in love with when I started brewing beer. The taste had more bitterness and hops to it than the smell alluded to.

It was an incredible beer. From all three, I really enjoyed this much more than the others.

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Postscriptum, or One last sip, one last bite

There is always space for that one last sip, that one last bite, just to hook you onto the next time. The next round of beers, the next meal. Food and drinks, when they are well paired, can complement each other so well. It is a lost art, I think.

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I hope that you had a good beer or three for #BeerSaturday.

For now, happy drinking and keep well!

All of the musings and writings are my drunken own, and the opinions are my own. The photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300.