Beer & Food: Food & Beer

Note
Let me start by saying that I do not consume of much alcohol, but I've tried a few different types while in college. The only exception so far is beer. Since I am in France for the the summer, I figure I should take advantage of the low drinking age (18 years old; not abuse it) and try out different kinds of wines and beers (not really hard liquors = lame-o lol). Metz, France is very close to a lot of areas that have wine shops and breweries. I'm excited about seeing what types of drinks I like the most.

This week [so far] I had the opportunity to try two different kinds of beer.

Desperados & Doner Kebab

The first one I tried (my first beer ever!!!) is called Desperados. Don't be fooled by it's Mexican-inspired name (I don't know where the French got it from). When I traveled to Paris last week, I saw so many advertisements for this beer. I thought to myself, I've got to try it if it's so popular. It's actually an authentic, popular French tequila-flavored beer. Yes, I said it - TEQUILA FLAVORED.

Desperado is a 5.9% ABV (alcohol by volume) premium beer with a tequila flavor. I purchased a 33cl bottle for 3€ (~$4.30) at a local doner kebob restaurant called Mamresto in Metz, France (picture below; that was tasty as well). I'm sure you can get a pack of Desperados for a reasonable price.

I had never had beer or tried tequila before. I could only base what I thought it would taste like on what some of my more experienced friends had told me. When I first tasted it, it had a nice and easy feel to it. It wasn't bitter and nasty like I thought it would be. I could smell the lime or tequila smell of the beer. Overall, I thought it tasted good for my first beer. I'd definitely drink it again. I hear it's kind of hard to find them in the states. But if you ever come to France, make sure you try it out.

Check out the website for yourself: http://desperadosbeer.co.uk/

Panaché (aka Shandy) &Flammenküche with Choucroute
This is the second beer that I had at a restaurant today (7.6.11) in Strasbourg, a town in France about 2 hours away from Metz. For lunch, me and a friend ate at this place called Fischer where we ate Flammenküche from Alsace with choucroute. Flammenküche is a dish from Alsace that is like a small pan pizza composed of onions, sauerkraut (sour cabbage), lardons (ham), and crème fraîche (instead of tomato sauce. Choucroute is French for dressed sauerkraut, which is originally a German dish of shredded sour cabbage; it is usually fermented in vinegar to provide that sour taste that I like.

In France, this particular beer is called panaché ("mixed"). Panaché is a beer mixed with citrus-flavored soda, carbonated lemonade, ginger beer, ginger ale, or cider. The proportions of the two ingredients are adjusted to taste, normally half-and-half. It has a very low alcohol content but it's taste speaks volumes. The panaché was very smooth, tasty, and refreshing. It didn't even taste like your typical beer. It was nice and light, and is definitely a beer I would try over and over again.

While in Strasbourg, I also tried two types of gelahto. I tried melon (tasted like canteloupe) and run raisin gelahto (above, right: melon on top, rum raisin on bottom). The melon was very tasty and sweet. Now as for the rum raisin, my first reaction to tasting it was "WOW." Those grapes really packed a punch! I knew that the gelahto would have a rum flavor, but there was actually a lot of rum inside of the little raisins inside (I guess because the raisins absorb alcohol really well). The rum was really strong. After I ate all the raisins, the rest of the gelahto was fine (lol). The melon mixed with the rum raisin gelahto tasted really good though.