Red goes with beef and white with chicken, but what about brown? We’re talking whiskey, and it’s one of the latest food trends in restaurants, including Easy Bistro & Bar, where chef/owner Erik Niel says there’s “been a massive increase in the popularity of bourbon over the past 10 years. It’s become a mainstream idea to pair whiskey with food.”
It’s an art that’s kind of tricky – not nearly as easy as pairing wines with food. But, Niel says, “it’s still a lot of fun and is a way for people to experience some of the unique flavors of whiskey and understand why whiskeys taste the way they do.”
The bar at Easy stocks more than 300 whiskeys from around the world, each with its own characteristics, such as their tannins and the type grains used in making them – corn, malt, rye and wheat among them. Educating patrons about which ones go best with what foods is something Niel hopes to accomplish.
I’d always thought of whiskey and bourbon as a drink to be enjoyed on a cold winter’s night sitting beside a roaring fire.
“But what if someone handed you a s’more to go with that whiskey?” he asks. “That would be an OK thing, right?