Blood Sausage & Stout

Food pairing is not just for wine anymore!  The wide array of beer styles commercially available now allows for some interesting food pairings.  One of my favorite websites for food and beer pairings is New Brew Thursday.  Since I enjoy it, I figured it could become a regular feature on the blog.  So...the inaugural food and beer pairing today will be Blood Sausage and my Imperial Stout.

First, a little about the stout:

This is one that was recently entered into a local competition (the same one where my IPA won second place in best of show).  This recipe was still fairly young when entered.  It was brewed in June and then bulk aged until late October at which point it was bottled.  It was entered into competition in late December and received a 36.  Not the best I would have hoped for, but still high scoring and a beer of this stature requires long aging periods to fully develop.  It now has more age in the bottle and is coming together quit nicely.  Being that it was my first "big" beer, I did not know how the efficiency would react with such a large grain bill, now I know to expect poor efficiency.

Delicious!

Brew Type: All Grain	Date: 6/23/2011
Style: Imperial Stout
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Volume: 6.50 gal	Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %	Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal)
Actual Efficiency: 66.78 %

Ingredients

Amount	Item	Type	% or IBU
15.00 lb	Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)	Grain	88.24 %
0.50 lb	Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)	Grain	2.94 %
0.50 lb	Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)	Grain	2.94 %
0.50 lb	Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)	Grain	2.94 %
0.50 lb	Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)	Grain	2.94 %
1.75 oz	Summit [17.00 %] (60 min)	Hops	73.9 IBU
2.00 oz	Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min)	Hops	-
1.00 items	Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 min)	Misc

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.082 SG (1.075-1.115 SG) Measured Original Gravity: 1.073 SG Estimated Final Gravity: 1.021 SG (1.018-1.030 SG) Measured Final Gravity: 1.014 SG Estimated Color: 38.8 SRM (30.0-40.0 SRM) Color [Color] Bitterness: 73.9 IBU (50.0-90.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 29.8 AAU Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 8.00 % (8.00-12.00 %) Actual Alcohol by Volume: 7.71 % The blood sausage I am pairing with the stout is of Eastern European origins.  It is referred to as kaszanka.  Unfortunately, I do not have any pig or beef blood readily available, so this sausage was purchased already made from Global Foods in Kirkwood, your one-stop-shop for that hard to find food. The dark malt flavor matches perfectly with the rich, creamy, fatty flavor/texture of the blood sausage.  The stout was mashed at a low temperature (151 degrees) so it's not an overly thick/sweet stout.  This works out well with such a fatty/rich food.  I would definitely suggest this pairing!  Any commercial American Stout or Russian Imperial Stout would be a good substitute for my recipe.  I would however avoid any sweeter style stout, like the obvious milk stout versions. ENJOY!