Burritos are better with beer

It turns out that you don’t actually have to wash down Mexican food with margaritas. Some of these tasty craft beers they make nowadays go absolutely great with chimichangas and everything else on the menu.
    Bangkok’s famed Mexican-food restaurant Senor Pico at the Rembrandt Hotel treated patrons last week to a “beer pairing” feast. Bangkok-based distributor Beervana provided the American craft suds.
    The hotel’s new executive sous chef, Jesus Nino from Barcelona, Spain, laid on a five-course banquet that amply demonstrated his skill at combining simple ingredients in extraordinary ways.
    We began with “organic” Tasmanian salmon in a ceviche – the fish was marinated in grapefruit juice and served with an actual beer sorbet. That was matched with Deschutes River Ale from the Deschutes Brewery in the Pacific US state of Oregon. The blonde ale was refreshingly fruity and had a slight toasty note that cut into the fattiness of the salmon. And the grapefruit was a nice complement to the beer’s citrus tang.
    Next up was understated Mexican rice stuffed into a poblano green bell pepper, served with mussel cream, strong and sensually pleasing. Deschutes Inversion IPA – 6.8 per cent alcohol by volume – offered a prominent citrus and hops nose, perhaps too bitter to drink on its own but an ideal partner for the spicy pepper and savoury sauce.
    Chef Jesus next wowed the guests with quesadillas stuffed with gigantic mushrooms, goat cheese and dried fruit and sprinkled with honey vinaigrette. The sweet, cheesy plate found a perfect match in Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale, whose fresh, earthy character and balancing malt parried the sweetness of the fruit and stuffiness of the cheese. This beer is decent on its own as well as with various styles of cuisine and it’s no wonder it’s the second-best-selling craft beer in the US.
    Smoky, spicy yet cleansing Rogue Chipotle Ale from Oregon’s Rogue Ales was poured next. It’s made with Harrington, Klages and Maier Munich malts, Cascade and Willamette hops and the fiery Mexican pepper and yielded a tingling finish in the mouth. Chipotle Ale pays homage to the 16th-century Spanish author Juan de la Cueva, who “predicted” it in a story about a Mexican dish that combined seedless chipotles with ale.
For our meal we had the ale with flavourful, hearty braised Australian Angus beef served with tomato salsa and pinto-bean puree. The beef’s smoky scent accentuated the suds and its smoothness and “crispiness” in the mouth softened the meat’s flavour, making the dish pleasant and well rounded despite being heavily seasoned.
For desert there was a chocolate brownie cleverly accompanied with coffee ice cream, raspberry coulis and jackfruit cubes. Along with it came Deschutes Black Butte Ale that added even more flavours – hints of chocolate, rich roasted barley, molasses and a lingering hop bitterness.
It was too bad the dinner was only a one-off event, but you can always find a selection of Beervana imported beers at Senor Pico. Just ask the waiter for help making the matches.

Por favor!
    
Senor Pico is at the Rembrandt Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 18 and open daily from 5pm to 1am.
Book a table at (02) 261 7100.
Find out more about Beervana at www.SeekBeervana.com.