Fine (?) Living Network Beer Pairings

During a commercial of the Ravens/Steelers game, I surfed around (as is a guy's wont, prerogative and duty) and came upon a show called Beer Pairings. It was on a channel up in the 120's, I think, called FLN--the Fine Living Network.

There was this knockout blonde gal named Stephanie (Metzdorf?) in some lady's crab shack in Florida, getting ready to sample her Stone Crab Claws. If you were a guy, Stephanie was definitely worth watching, though her comments about the beer pairing were eminently forgettable. If you were a stone crab claw fan, they, too, were worth gawking at--big, fat and succulent.

But if you were a true beer aficionado, you couldn't have been blamed if you gagged when they paired the dish up with Corona--complete with lime. Most beer geeks would have immediately paired that crab with a good hefeweizen, kolsch, helles or pilsner.

Later segments, to the show's credit, used Sam Adams with filet mignon and Pilsner Urquell with a rib-eye. Though there were certainly other choices that would have worked, those pairings weren't unacceptable.

Since Stephanie was clearly a beer neophyte, and since it is likely that few true beer nuts ever heard of this show, and it may have been designed for the neophyte interested in how beer works with food. In that sense, the show deserves credit.

They even had Stone Brewing's Greg Koch on sharing his insights about beer and food, and he was, as expected, spot on. He touted, appropriately, Victory Prima Pils with one dish, and he scoffed at wine and cheese, claiming correctly that most cheeses are disasters with wine, though I hear almost any merlot goes exceptionally well with Velveeta... (Just kidding, winies.)

If you really know your beer, you'd probably think this show was pretty elementary. But let's not criticize to harshly any honest attempt to get average people to think about beer and food pairing. There should be more shows like this.

And maybe Stephanie would consider having a true beer nut accompany her on her travels?

That would be Fine Living for my Network.