Pairing craft beer with food marks start of new culinary adventure

The KoelBrett Apricot is a mixed-fermentation beer featuring multiple wild yeast strains and bacteria as well as a generous addition of apricots. With a lovely amber color, the beer emits strong funky and barnyard-like aromas followed by a pleasantly tart and smooth finish with 6 percent ABV.

"After the lamb, you probably still feel quite spicy, and after a couple of sips of the beer, the spicy feeling starts to go away," says Selent. "Then you are ready for the remaining dishes and your mouth is fully refreshed."

The tofu soup with vegetable is a challenge as soup is not usually paired with any drinks.

So Selent solves the puzzle by pairing it with Adulating Buddha Wheat which is a light flavored, easy drinking beer which is quite fragrant thanks to the use of American hops.

"I did not think the beer was going to take anything away from the niceness of the soup, but it would just be a sort of a nice little complement to go along - a nice light beer with a light soup to get started," says Selent. "And maybe those fruit flavors of the beer would come out a little bit as you're eating the soup."

To pair the mushroom fried rice, Selent decides to go creative by choosing the Three Door Triple, which is a Belgian triple that Great Leap Brewing makes every year for their anniversary on Oct 10.

"The beer is around 9 and 10 percent ABV, and it's sweet, fruity and also slightly spicy," says Selent, who thinks it complements the fried rice which includes sweet Sichuan sausage.

As for the dessert platter, the mango sago cream and the swan-shaped sweet pastry, Selent uses a special beer to finish the dinner - Jackie O's/GLB Distant Corners, which is brewed with white rice, black oolong tea and Sichuan peppercorn and fermented in oak barrels.

He thinks the beer has a lot different flavors which is a match for the tropical fruit-based dessert.

The Chinese used to drink the same beer through a whole meal, or sometimes change to baijiu (white spirit), however Tracy Wang, the brand manager of Great Leap Brewing who co-organized the pairing dinner thinks there is a potential to enjoy a variety of beers, even craft beer during dinner.

"This is an opportunity to get drunk and have fun with your friends in a different way, where you're challenging your palette rather than just simply filling your stomach," says Wang.