December 18th - Fitger's Wildfire Lager and Surly Smoke

Another week in the Month of Awesomeness finished up with a double shot of beer.  Surly Brewin'g's Smoke Lager was the main entry of the day but an even bigger drinking vessel was consumed first, Fitger's Wildfire Lager.

A few of us spent a weekend at the North Shore of Lake Superior last month and the trip really kicked off with an afternoon (ok, late morning into afternoon) of drinking at Fitger's brew pub in Duluth. I got through pretty much every beer that I wanted to try that day except the Wildfire Lager. I did have a sample of it and it was hot. I mean damn spicy hot.

They make it with peppers, habeneros and hatch I believe and it doesn't give just a tingly sensation like all other pepper beers but this stuff is like drinking Tabasco sauce. The flavor isn't as intense as Tabasco but the heat is definitely there. I was the only one in the group intrigued by it but the responsible side of me (there actually is one) kicked in and said I had enough at that point. So I did the next best thing and bought a growler.

Fast forward to yesterday. I knew I'd need help with the growler and I also knew it would pair perfectly with food so I enlisted the help of my friend Noe who has been a big help in my Mexican cooking skills. He really liked the beer like I knew he would and he was surprised at the heat that came from the beer. What we both really liked was the pepper flavor that is very prevalent in this beer as well.

Needless to say it paired very well with the tamales, carnitas and chorizo that we ate for lunch. One pint was plenty for me so I decided to save the rest of the growler to make my own carnitas tonight with it. I'm really looking forward to it, especially since I'm making my carnitas with my new favorite pepper, pablanos. I love the smokiness you get from them and can't wait to see how the beer and the peppers work together.

The next beer is a style that's a usual suspect when Noe and I get together for beers and dinner, smoked beers.  It's a style of beer that I'm not crazy about by itself but is one of my favorites when paired with food. This was a bottle from my cellar and not from the upcoming release and while the smoke faded slightly, the presence still left made for a nice glass of beer to finish up the meal with.