Question to you: Good beers from unfamiliar ethnic places?

As many of you know, I write a beer column for Food & Dining magazine, and it’s time again to string a few words together.

The idea this time around is to (a) consider good beers from unfamiliar places in the context of ethnic food, and (b) relate them in some fashion to availability in Louisville.

I’m going into this assignment thinking that it may not be an easy task. In general terms, the most interesting ethnic cuisines come from places with the least interesting beers, and often times if the beers are worthy, they’re not readily available here.

As a point of departure, my question to forum readers is this: Which other ethnic eateries in Louisville have beer lists that exhibit the same adventurousness as Maido Essential Japanese?

For a beer aficionado, Maido stands out from the pack because it offers authentic ethnic food (i.e., Osaka tapas), but does not offer a beer list filled with taste-alike Japanese golden lager beers. Rather, Jim’s beer list boasts hoppy microbrews and Belgians (among others), and these match marvelously with Maido’s cuisine.

Ironically, given Maido’s proclivities, Japan now has quite a few innovative microbreweries.

Ideas, anyone?

Roger,

I agree with you that this may not be an easy task, but it is an interesting topic.

I guess it depends on what qualifies as "unfamiliar" cuisine. Places like Cafe Lou Lou, Ramsi's OTW, Monkeywrench, Sergio's (and on and on) serve a melange of ethnic cuisine and their beer lists seem to mirror that diversity.

On the other hand, it seems to be the conundrum that restaurants that are more ethnically focused usually seem to have a more focused beer list along the ethnic lines of their cuisine. And as you know, they are usually the light yellow fizzy kind.

The question then is: when and why does a restaurant like Maido sacrifice a bit of ethnic identity in order to cultivate a more "adventureous" one? But now I guess I'm just reiterating your question.

To take a stab, I'm not sure of their beer lists overall, but Ya Ching, Saffron and Vietnamese Kitchen do sell a little of our beer, which I like to think of as "good!" Perhaps they have some other

That is a big task indeed.Unfortunately, great food and artisian beer don't go hand in hand in Louisville for the most part.Off the top of my head,Maido has a great beer selection. Del a Torre has a very small list of hand picked beers from Europe ,nothing from Spain though.I was very impressed by Jack Fry's carrying Orval.Palermo carries a small selection of goodies,including Kostrizer Black and Xingu Black.Ramsi's Cafe has another small selection of hand picked beers from around the globe.

Italy is going to be a beer superpower in the next 10 years.Breweries are springing up like coffee shops.Their styles are new and fresh.There is so much potential for a great Italian beer list if someone would just take the chance.Malthus,Baladin,Scires *Italian Rodenbach*,Birrificio,Montegioco, and Birra Troll.All could be carried inside of Louisville.

I think you hit the nail on the head with Maido.They have the best ethnic food for a place that would be a destination for a beer advocate.It should be a crime not to carry Hitachino in a Japanese joint.It's not only from Japan.It's one of the best Breweries in the world.

By the way,I read your article in the LEO about Madison,WI. I was there a week and a half before you went !Sounds like you had a great time like I did. Great Dane was the first place I visited,even brought back some Hopjack Double IPA cask Ale in a growler for my friends. Visited New Glarus ,Capital,Ale Asylum,and Great Dane while I was there.New Glarus was absolutely beautiful, was like a trip to the twilight zone ,though.My trip home was quite a bit more expensive in gas than on the way in.I had around 7 boxes full of beer in the trunk.Had to put our luggage in the back seat ,haha.Next time you go to Madison.Look up a restaurant called Eno Vino.If you like Tapas , you will love this place.There is also one of the best antique stores in the country.They have a whole floor dedicated to books.Left with a box of books predating the 20's.Most were history, and auto-biographical.Great city.

I hear you are having a beer pairing dinner on Oct 29th.It's definately marked on my calender.Andy and Ryan can cook .Looking for a sour?

In fact we met today, and a sour is being sought. Andy said he'd be talking to you, as I mentioned New Glarus as a possibility ...

I'd gladly give you all of them in my possession for such a great event..Was a one time Unplugged Enigma Oak aged Flemish Sour brewed with a small amount a swiss cherries.I have around 10 I think.Hope it's enough.It's very very good and different.Probably why I bought so many.Don't see to many American Sours around much.I have so much respect for you and what you do.

Well, I have two Enigmas in my possession, and we'd probably need roughly 100 ounces if attendance is as projected. You'd not have to deplete your stash entirely.

Andy reads the forum, so let's wait and see if he weighs in on this.

In fact we met today, and a sour is being sought. Andy said he'd be talking to you, as I mentioned New Glarus as a possibility ...

I tried to get ahold of Andy earlier today, see if he was interested in going with us to NABC.


When he returned my call, we were just walking in.
Ironically, i made my earlier call was when he and Josh were meeting with you.
He and I missed crossing each others paths by less than an hour.





Kudos to the kitchen and to Jesse for outstanding brewing as usual.


...and speaking of New Glarus, just finished some Dancing Man the other day actually.
(freebies from a coworker, who's got family in Green Bay)