The Ultimate 101 Guide to Dessert and Alcohol Pairing!
A match made in heaven
The love story between alcohol and desserts is an eternal affair. For me, alcohol and desserts represent the holy matrimony of the man and wife of food and beverage.
Alcohol has a sturdiness and charm that is spellbinding like Paul Newman’s million dollar gaze. Desserts on the other hand, are elegant (like Newman’s soulmate, Joanne Woodward) — together, they are quite the iconic pair!
Just as there are cardinal rules to pairing drinks with food, there are guideline when it comes to pairing desserts and drinks. It’s not just about matching flavours but about creating a combination that is a tastebud-teasing force to reckon with!
This guide will take you beyond the Indian flavours and into the vast world of coupling desserts with alcohol.
What makes a happy marriage
The recipe for a good marriage depends on how well the two people complement each other. In the case of desserts and alcohol too, this stands true. What’s missing in a dessert can be compensated with alcohol and vice versa. These basic tips will get you started with the aesthetics of matching desserts with alcohol:
Desserts and Whiskeys
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Whiskey Teacake[/caption]
Pairing desserts with whiskeys is tricky because both of them are high on flavours. The textures can create a ripple of delectability or a disastrous mismatch, based on how you pair the two.
The Peated Malt has a unique smoky flavour which is an acquired taste. Let me warn you, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. The upside of drinking this Whiskey is that it makes for a perfect match for dark chocolate-based desserts. Lighter Scotch blends go perfectly with fruity desserts. The complex flavours of the fruit accompany the pleasant and smooth aftertaste with much grace. On the other hand, a Bourbon Whiskey has the ideal sweet hints that make a pecan pie or cheesecake taste phenomenal. Grained Whiskeys augment the flavours of desserts that have meringues or a citrusy tinge to it.
In a nutshell, while pairing desserts and Whiskey, the Whiskey mustn’t overpower the texture or the taste of the sweet dish. Rather it must complete the balance of flavours.
Desserts and Beer
Desserts and beer together is my favourite pairing of all times. It’s probably due to the similarity in the taste notes of the two that the relationship is a beautiful one.
Stouts and porters have coffee-like, chocolatey notes that are almost ashy, and they enhance the taste of chocolate-based desserts. Caramel and toffee-based desserts can be tricky when coupled with beer due to their extreme sweetness. For this reason, light beers with sweet and caramel notes are your best bet. German wheat ales or English ales are flawless with fruity desserts.
To sum it up, beers that are paired with desserts should either be as sweet as, or sweeter than the dessert that it is paired with.
Desserts and Wine
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Red Wine Gateaux[/caption]
Wine and desserts are perhaps the most common sort of combination. They are every gastronome’s fantasy.
Champagnes and Sauvignon Blanc are perfect with fruity desserts. However, there is a larger variation to explore with wines. For this reason, an intense wine goes with desserts that have an intense flavour.
The bottomline is, a dessert wine should be sweeter than the dessert you are indulging in.
If you’re trying to end your meal on a sweet note, every sip of alcohol that you drink should balance and complement the dessert that you’re savouring.
Happily ever after
Dessert and alcohol pairing is a connoisseur’s art. Only those who have a great knowledge of desserts, alcohol and more importantly flavours, can craft the perfect masterpiece. With the unlimited ingredients, flavours and textures at hand, sky’s the limit. There is a myriad of options to choose from and if you’re an aspiring bon vivant, don’t be anxious to explore these!
Pairing these two crowd favourites could be the perfect experimentation ground for various combinations. Let’s just say, if I were to put dessert and alcohol through a compatibility test, the result would inevitably be ‘…And they lived happily ever after’!
