PUHI — For Puhi Wine Garden owners Colette and Bruce Savage, beer-pairing and tasting is something to be done with passion and fanaticism. Cheeses and vegetables were on-hand to pair with the six featured pours last Saturday. “We carry a
PUHI — For Puhi Wine Garden owners Colette and Bruce Savage, beer-pairing and tasting is something to be done with passion and fanaticism. Cheeses and vegetables were on-hand to pair with the six featured pours last Saturday.
“We carry a really unique selection of specialty beer and have quite the following of aficionados,” Colette Savage said at the annual beer-tasting she hosts in her boutique wine shop for residents and visitors alike who are over 21.
The event is designed to teach those who attend about what goes into full-bodied brewing, she said. The beers featured, from Canada and Germany, were heavy and rich, and likened by attendees to “malt-y” and “wheat-y” elixirs of sorts.
Celebrator, a doppelbock, one of the beers sampled, is recommended to be served with roast goose, cured ham, smoked duck or beef filet with Dijon sauce, and also is summarized as a great pairing with a cigar or après-dinner pastry. Hailing from Bavaria, it was originally brewed at a monastery in northern Italy and was a known favorite of Michael Jackson.
Other featured beers included the Schneider-Weisse Aventinus and Original wheat beers brewed by owners who are said to be descendants of Georg Schneider I, said to have saved wheat beer from “dying out,” according to Bruce Savage. The Aventinus is said to pair well with roast meat and fruit and chocolate, while the Original is said to go well with any hearty food.
The Canadian brews seemed to be the favorites, including Unibroue, a brand deeply rooted in Quebec culture, which brews the Trois Postoles, the Maudite and La Fin Du Monde (End of the World.)
Said to have champagne-like bubbles, La Fin Du Monde, the top pick, is summarized as having a floral bouquet, aromas of honey, spice and coriander.
The Wine Garden tastings have drawn in as many as 50 people, Colette Savage said, most of whom are residents.
Those wanting to attend the next beer-tasting will have to wait another year, however, wine-tastings occur at the shop once a month, she said.
