Abbey
Winner of four World Beer Cup medals and eight medals at the Great American Beer Fest, Abbey Belgian Ale is the Mark Spitz of New Belgium’s lineup - but it didn’t start out that way. When Jeff and Kim first sampled the beer at the Lyons Folks Fest, reviews were mixed at best. One of founder Jeff’s first two Belgian style homebrews (along with Fat Tire), Abbey is a Belgian dubbel (or double) brewed with six different malts and an authentic Belgian yeast strain. Abbey is bottle-conditioned, weighs in at 7.0% alcohol by volume, and pairs well with chocolate (or boldly served by itself) for dessert.
Chef Todd Davies, Partner of Tap House Grill, recommends:
Crispy Cajeta cheesecake, platanos, fosters style. Cajeta is a sweetened goats milk. Make a cheesecake (eggs and cream cheese), cook and cool, freeze, cut into strips, roll in a flour tortilla, then cook the peeled plantains in the cajeta and finish with a little abbey. The banana flavor of the abbey, complemented by the cajeta, and the plantains -- delicious!
Melissa Newell, Owner of Terroir Restaurant, recommends:
This golden brown colored beer, slightly sweet on the palate with a nose of ripe bananas immediately brings to mind one specific dessert...a roasted banana tiramisu with crystallized ginger. However, this multi-dimensional beer will pair beautifully with many a savory dish, as well. For instance, a gourmet grilled cheese consisting of pesto, fresh goat chevre, caramelized onions, and tomato marmalade or a vegetarian cassoulet (sauté of garlic, butternut squash, chard, caramelized onions, pinto beans, and white beans baked as a casserole with a topping of gremolata). Both of these dishes have complementary sweet primary ingredients (caramelized onions, butternut squash, tomato) to pair well with this beer. While this beer does not have quite the body of the Trippel, it is sure to complement any of these lighter styled, but still rich, dishes.
Derek Kennedy, Cheese Aficionado, recommends:
The sweetness of this true to Belgian-style Abbey asks to be either cut through or played with. One way to make a precision incision is a goat Chevre where the simple structure of the cheese will slice itself deep into the body of the beer while still maintaining the life of the brew. A play date can be achieved by finding one of Abby's cousins, the Belgian Trappist cheeses, still made by monks in Chimay or Maredsous.
Lauren Salazar, our sensory specialist, recommends:
Prosciutto wrapped dates, strata (kale, sausage bread), stilton.
