Modern Gentleman Media

A recent conversation with friends got us talking about the differences between men and women’s ideal vision of beauty in their own gender. While many women would kill for the beauty and elegance of icons such as Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly, most men would prefer the Jolies and Foxes of the world. Same goes for women. A lot of guys think that a Schwarzenegger body will lead to female admirers but every single woman I know would gladly trade the Governator for someone like Hayden Christensen. The idea isn’t to make you go against your style principles but if you wish to attract women, a little open-mindedness can’t hurt…

The Prep

The character of Chuck Bass has put preppy style back on the map ever since he first appeared on hit TV show Gossip Girl. The modern day gentleman proved to all sceptics out there that preppy could also be manly. This regal style also has a boyish charm to it, which women find irresistible. And you don’t have to be an Ivy League student or a Country Club member to pull it off; all you need is a few key pieces – college blazers, tennis sweaters, rugby shirts, khakis, etc. Turn to Brooks Brothers catalogue for further inspiration.

Beware of the Carlton Banks look: high waist pants and shirts buttoned up to the neck.

The Nerd

Women love nerds. They really do. The high school fairy tale of the cheerleader going out with the loser isn’t pure fantasy. Perhaps it’s the works of our motherly instinct but we definitely have a thing for the underdog – it’s the only explanation for Michael Cera’s extraordinary rise to Hollywood royalty. Yet some men are reluctant to adhere to the current nerdy trends; this must be due to some obscure quarterback complex… Be confident, say yes to thick rim glasses, vintage cardigans and videogames t-shirts, and you’ll surely score points with the female team.

Beware of the Bill Gates look: cellphone attached to belt, too-short hem pants, etc.

The Disheveled

Women are complicated; we want a man that looks good without looking like he tries too hard. The Italians have a word specifically for that: sprezzatura. It means “artful dishevelment” and suggests that men should never look too perfect. My boyfriend is clueless to why I prefer a light stubble beard to a close shave or a messed up shirt collar to a crisply pleated one… It’s the unstudied nonchalance of that look that makes it so appealing; it’s all about contrast. With this carefree style accessorizing is also key to showing off your personality – colourful scarves, beaded and leather bracelets, etc.

Beware of the Pete Doherty look: Kate Moss’s infamous ex-boyfriend’s rags and unkept allure could easily have him mistaken for a demented hobo.

We’ve had a pretty amazing summer, but it seems like Mother Nature is catching up with us. This past weekend was grey for most parts and pouring rain for others. But this should never discourage you from grabbing a great beer if that’s what you’re craving.

Beer isn’t made just for the hot sunny days, there are beer styles and flavors that match practically any scenario. So what are the best beers to cheer you on that rainy, overcast, or miserable day?

Stout: The St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

At its World Beer Championship debut in 1994, this 5% Stout from Quebec received the 2nd highest ranking out of over 200 beers at the competition. Its claim to fame is the remarkably creamy mouthfeel that’s silky and smooth. There are few beers in the world that can match the flavors, texture, and drinkability of this amazing stout from Canada.

This ink black beer pours out easily with an oily consistency that forms a dense mocha brown head as its crown. The nose is all soft roast with hints of cocoa, espresso, dark malt and cookies. As you enjoy this beer, smooth waves of baker’s chocolate, coffee beans, cocoa powder and dry roast entice and refresh your palate.

It’s available all over Canada, and is quickly making it’s way South as well. Try it with hamburgers, sausages, roast beef, soft cheeses, and cheesecake, chocolate and fruit desserts.

American Style India Pale Ale: Duggan’s No. 9 IPA

American Style, yes – but brewed in Canada. This is a richly malty, crisply bitter, and satisfyingly zesty India Pale Ale. It combines two amazing worlds; rich malt depth, and fresh quenching hops.

From this 6.2% beer pours a rich amber brown, red brick body and a thick cream colored head. The nose is rich with sweet malts and fresh bitter hops, caramel, toffee, hints of oak and crisp pine. The waves of smooth caramel malts wash widely across your palate and show a creamy balancing act of gooey, sweet malts and fresh, clean hops.

This beer transcends all seasons and will help you beat the rainy day blues every time. The No. 9 is perfect with pub fare, red meats, sandwiches, and yes, cheesecake.

Strong Lager: Christoffel Nobel

Bierbrouwerij Sint Christoffel in the Netherlands is producing this remarkably unique pilsner style beer. They’ve left it unfiltered, unpasteurized, and it’s fermented in open tanks. All this creates a spicy, yet clean and refreshing beer with characteristics that are very hard to combine. At 8.7% this beer demonstrates a new meaning of crisp and soothing refreshment.

Lagers are clean, fresh, and crisp flavored beers. Their typically transparent body comes from a bottom-fermenting yeast and long periods of cold ageing (lagering). The Nobel is clean, fresh, crisp and smooth but shows significantly more complexity and character than most of its Pilsner counterparts. The nose is all herbs and flowers with fresh hay fields and earth. It brings a pale malt sweetness that’s balanced with fresh grassy and bitter hops, a clean dose of bright pepper and muddled spice. Its finish is dry with a crackling sensation and enough power to cleanse and quench any food you pair with it.

Try the Nobel with anything spicy or greasy; Thai, Indian, Mexican and Chinese food are excellent. So are nachos, burgers, fries, pizza, pastas, and light pastries.

We all like to believe that once we’ve made a mistake, we’ll never make it again. As many times as we tell ourselves, “That’s the last time I’ll do THAT”, inevitably, we do it again. The words “Donald Trump” and “bankruptcy” used to a recurring headline. There are so many paths and variables to success. Each stumble brings with it a new learning experience, allowing us to make those mistakes less frequently.

The self-imposed hurdles I’ve faced over the last few weeks seem to have a recurring theme of professionalism in a digital age. We’ll start with the least embarrassing, and work our way up. Don’t forget to comment below, or tweet us with your own personal “Lessons Learned”.

The Mentor (Use your network)

I recently reached out to my social media network for help in dealing with a difficult client. The support, suggestions and advice was overwhelming, and greatly appreciated. The most incredible response came from a professor I had in university. As a professional in the field for years, he should’ve been the first person I asked for guidance.

Lesson Learned: The formal education you get in class is only part of the university experience. Developing a network of individuals, with unique (or similar) expertise is equally important. Don’t forget the people who were actually teaching you! They’re the ones you can learn from the most. Even after graduation.

The Guest (Sleep on it)

Preparing for an interview with a guest can take a lot of coordination. You need a clear head when communicating, and you probably don’t have it at one in the morning. This is especially true when communicating digitally, because so much falls between the cracks. We try to recreate personal interaction with emoticons and anagrams, but it’s not the same as a genuine smile, or laugh out loud. (Side note: Have you ever actually rolled on the floor laughing?)

Lesson Learned: There’s a time and place for everything. Once you’re in bed, and the lights are off, that’s neither. So put it on silent, or set your Blackberry to disable alerts after a certain time. Nothing productive happens via e-mail at that hour, and they’ll probably only get it in the morning anyway.

The Consultant (Communicate effectively)

Twitter and LinkedIn are great ways to meet people and develop professional connections. So how do you turn these tweets and e-mails into coffee or drinks?. VERY CAREFULLY. Take all the things that can go wrong in person, and multiply that by infinity because you only have 140 characters. So at the very least, GET THEIR NAME RIGHT! Mispronouncing a name is correctable, misspelling it? Unforgivable.

Lesson Learned: Choose your words carefully. Do your research, and have an idea of the person’s industry and personality. Never blame or trust auto-correction or spell check. Make sure you proof read any form of communication for typos, grammar, and tone. If you don’t need it, take it out.

What lessons have you learned, or re-learned, lately?

LinkedIn has become one of the go-to social media platforms for professionals. While other platforms are comprised of a more wide-ranging community, LinkedIn is designed for the business crowd. If taken advantage, LinkedIn can be a powerful networking tool and an excellent avenue for personal promotion. Here are 3 tips for achieving that goal.

1. Keep Your Profile Current and Detailed

Similar to other social media platforms, some LinkedIn users will simply create an account to see what the site has to offer and forget about it. It’s crucial to ensure that the information you’re displaying about yourself is current and detailed.

Develop your profile by detailing your past work experience and education. List any and all important responsibilities, duties and tasks you’ve had to perform. Don’t be too modest while boasting about the results. Emphasize your personal participation within the context of your team’s results.

Next, create a short description for the ‘Specialties’ section. These are your proficiencies at a glance, so list form is fine.

Finally, create a personal brand statement. This statement is usually the section that other users will read first. Employers hire people they want to work with. Be creative, engaging and don’t be afraid to try something new and different. Be specific, memorable, and above all, fun. A detailed profile helps LinkedIn recommend employment opportunities to you in the ‘Jobs’ section.

Don’t forget to create a public profile URL to easily share your profile link with others. Head over to ‘Edit Profile’, scroll down to ‘Public Profile’, and click ‘Edit’. Select what sections you want to be visible, and start sharing.

2. Recommendations

One of my favorite LinkedIn features is the recommendation system. Consider this the LinkedIn equivalent of a Facebook ‘Like’, in a much more detailed and professional way. Recommendations enhance your profile by allowing other users to substantiate your work experience and support the professional specialties you’ve listed. This feature is especially important if you link your account to a social media aggregator, or use it as part of an online portfolio. Like a reference, make sure the strongest and most specific to your profession are showcased first. You can also ask past professors, classmates and society members to recommend you based on your interaction and experiences with them. These character references should support that “water cooler” image we mentioned earlier.

Remember, if someone takes the time to recommend you, ask them if they’d like one back!

3. Be Active in the LinkedIn Community

It’s called a community because it’s a forum for interaction and engaging conversations. Join groups and participate in the discussions. If you’re particularly interested in a given topic, create a group and administer it. By keeping the discussions relevant and lively, you increase your chances to be noticed by users who also want to expand their network. Groups are also an excellent way to find topic-specific webinars and live events.

Take advantage of the ‘Answers’ section under the ‘More…’ tab where you’ll find a wealth of knowledge for specific questions you may have. Simply type in a question and let others in the community share their professional experience and wisdom. This feature is especially useful for new entrepreneurs, or any young professional in the early stages of their career.

Overall, LinkedIn is an excellent tool to develop your professional reputation and should be used consistently to gain the most out of its many features. By taking advantage of these tips, you increase your chances to get noticed and make a memorable impression.  Take your time, be as detailed as possible and keep your profile up-to-date. You won’t regret it!

There are over 40,000 different bottles of beer available in the world today. How do we know which we should be enjoying straight from the bottle, and which deserve to be poured into a glass?
Based on these 3 different types of beers you’ll know what to do next time you crack open a bottle of cold, bubbly goodness.

Bottle Conditioned Beer (Must Pour)

Before these craft beers are bottled, the brewer adds a bit of sugar (called priming sugar) to the beer, and sometimes a touch of extra yeast. This will be mixed in, and then the beer will be bottled without the use of carbon dioxide. Unlike most beers, these bottle conditioned beers are not filtered, pasteurized, and are left with the full gamut of their flavors intact. These beers absolutely must be poured into a glass to fully appreciate all the character that they will possess. They will have a rounder and more natural mouthfeel, a smoother and bigger flavor, and are at the forefront of the craft beer world today.

Craft Beer (Pour)

Brewers of craft beer, or real beer, design their many brews to have unique, distinct, and delicious flavors. They design beers with rich characters that astonish and excite people. They brew it is because they love it and are whole-heartedly passionate about real beer.
One brewer says to the next brewer, “Let’s make a beer with chocolate, raspberries and oatmeal!” The other brewer exclaims “awesome!” This is how real beer is created. Because these beers are designed to enthrall you with lush aromas and rich flavors they should be poured into a glass so you can fully enjoy all that the beer has to offer. However, if you have no glass available, you will not be ruining your beer by enjoying it straight from the bottle.

Commodity-Grade Beer (Don’t Pour)

These are the beers that we’re most familiar with. They invade all of our sporting events, TV commercials, and print ads. They have been created to be accessible, inexpensive, last for a long time on the shelf, and are the lowest common denominator of the beer world. The brewers of these beers understand that unique flavors potentially eliminate consumers who don’t like that flavor.
Pouring a mass-market beer into a glass is really just going to expose its weakness – a lack of actual flavor. So if you must drink one of these beers, you’re better off chugging it back, straight from the bottle, with hoards of scantily clad women around.

During a recent trip, I was irritated at the sight of sloppy travellers around me at the airport. It reminded me of exam sessions in college, when students suddenly think it is acceptable to go to school in their PJs – comfort doesn’t necessarily imply baggy sweatpants and old t-shirts. Sure a plane ride isn’t synonymous with a night out on the town but that doesn’t mean you should look like you’re heading to the gym. Not only is dressing nice at the airport respectful for other travellers, it actually influences the type of treatment you receive from the flight staff. Whether you’re heading to one last summer escapade or to an upcoming business trip, you’ll want to start your trip off in style.

When it comes to tops, your go-to shirts should be the V-neck and the polo. Thanks to their great versatility, these classic styles make perfect travelling attire. Tucked or untucked, worn under a suit in the boardroom or with shorts on the beach, these lightweight shirts can suit all climates and occasions. Hesitating on color? When in doubt, choose black. Whether day or night, summer or winter, you can’t go wrong with this timelessly elegant hue.

If you’re travelling for work or leisure, you should always pack a suit jacket. From meetings to fancy dinners to cool night strolls, they’ll always come in handy. For the most flexibility, choose a jacket that isn’t too structured, in a casual fabric like cotton or linen, and prefer solid colours to patterns. Wearing your jacket on the plane will keep you warm while being incontestably more chic than a hoodie – plus, you won’t have to worry about it getting misshapen in your suitcase.

Make sure that the pants you travel with aren’t too tight and that they’re made out of a breathable fabric. Although jeans are indispensable, avoid wearing them onboard – unless you’re taking a very short flight. Instead, go for stretchier khakis or corduroys. When packing, remember that three pairs of pants are all you need – formal trousers, jeans and a third laid-back option (such as shorts).

If there’s one pair of shoes that’s an absolute must, it’s the leather loafer. The fact that these laceless shoes can be so easily slipped off/on will spare you the hassles at security – which will be highly appreciated during multi-stop trips. Well-fitting quality loafers will stay just as useful throughout the rest of your trip. Mountain trekking or ballroom dancing, there is no place these comfortable and classy shoes won’t take you.

Every modern gentleman knows that when travelling, carryons are non-negotiable. Endlessly waiting for checked-in (and too often, lost) luggage isn’t your thing. While worn-out duffel bags are quintessentially cool, they’re not very efficient during slow waiting lines. Rollers are the way to go. Look for ones with solid and durable wheels and with a handle appropriate to your height. Although they make you feel organized, bags with complicated subdivisions are useless. What you need is different sized pouches (for travel documents, toiletries, electronics accessories, etc.) which you can then toss in your carryon.

And don’t forget to tone down your metal gear (belt buckles, shoe clasps, jewellery, etc.) – you won’t feel so sharp when the metal detector keeps on ringing…

Bon voyage!

Summer’s in full swing and the smell of barbeque wafts through the air. Nothing says summer like a BBQ, with cold beer and good company. How can you ensure that your BBQ remains healthy while still delicious? Here are a couple of pointers to make sure it’s a hit for your friends and not for your health.

Colour and Timing:

Before you scoff at these “healthy” alternatives think about this. Food tastes better when it looks good. And parties are more fun when people mingle. Men always tend to get pounds and pounds of meat, and forget that veggies will spruce up all the charred meat on the menu. They’ll also keep hungry mouths fed. No more lineups behind the chef!

Choose Lean Meats:

Make sure to choose leaner options or leaner cuts. Search for steaks without fat marbling, or, read the nutritional label common to most hamburger, hotdog and sausage packages. Meats low in fat can help to reduce cholesterol levels, as well as preserve those 6 pack abs you’ve been working on all winter long.

Really impress your guests with homemade shiskabobs. Go to your local grocery store and buy some chicken, lamb or beef. Chop the meat into chunks and slide them onto skewers (nothing fancy, the standard ones will do). Every 2^nd chunk, add onions, tomatoes, or red, green and orange peppers. This’ll add flavour, colour, and serve more than straight up meat kababs.

Add a Homemade Salad:

The beautiful thing about salads is that they’re an expression of your creativity. Get baby spinach as a base, and toss in peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, apples, oranges or even various nuts.  It’s 2010, and “No Calories” no longer means “No Taste”. So go with the light version, no one will even notice the difference.

Sweet Potato Fries for a Side Dish:

If you love french fries as much as I do, the idea of hamburgers or hotdogs without them disgusts you. If french fries are a BBQ must for you too, think about choosing sweet potato fries. Make them fresh, or get them frozen, either way they’re an easy way to shave off some of the fat that plagues regular French fries. They’re also “in” right now. Hansel would approve.

Don’t Forget the Water:

Cold beers are great, but don’t forget the water. You’d expect it at a restaurant, so treat your guests with the same respect. It helps with digestion by fueling the metabolic reactions needed to process your delicious food. If plain water doesn’t do it for you, try adding lemon to it to add some flavor on a hot and humid day by the grill.

Choose Light Beer:

No BBQ’s complete without throwing back a few cold ones. You’d be surprised how many beers now are available in a “light” version. Just ask our resident beer guru, Stephen Rich!

Choose Frozen Yogurt over Ice Cream:

Finally, the best way to cap off a BBQ on a beautiful summer day is with some ice cream, right? I love ice cream, but recently I’ve made the switch over to frozen yogurt. It tastes delicious, is available in just as many flavours, and fulfills your ice cream craving without all of the added calories, fat and sugar.

What are your signature BBQ secrets?

If you’re a Twitter “pro”, you’re tweeting every day, hour, or even every minute. Action is better than inaction, but sometimes we stumble. Sometime it’s best to Tweet nothing at all. Here’s a basic breakdown of how to Tweet. Got something to add? Do you disagree? Take a look and our list, and comment below. Or Tweet us!

Lookin’ Good

Your twitter account is an extension of you. You wouldn’t plaster full frontals of Pamela Anderson on your door, don’t do it on your Twitter profile. Keep it clean…unless it suits your personal brand. The Internet isn’t anonymous anymore, it’s the complete opposite. Represent yourself appropriately, whether it’s a cool and interesting picture of you or a professionally taken picture. Also, try to match the background of your Twitter profile with your picture to bring everything together.

Talk the Talk

The description box gives you 160 characters to say whatever you want. In the business world, this is called your elevator pitch, a quick introduction to who you are. 160 characters fills up fast, so make sure it’s what makes you unique, and worth following. It’s like meeting someone for the 1^st time, so make a great impression. Which brings us to…

Post Awesome Tweets

Think about your latest Tweets. That’s what a new, potential follower is going read to decide if you’re worth following or not. If you’re all about fashion, 1 of your latest tweets should be about fashion. It’s okay to tweet about that awesome dinner date at Dorsia but there needs to be a balance.

Seek those opportunities by tweeting content that would grab the attention of your audience and start conversations. The people that “get” Twitter are the people who actually “get” to know people through Twitter.

Stay away from spammy, shotgun spray links like, “CHECK OUT MY SONG!!! Your sister loves it, your mom loves it and YOU WILL LOVE IT! IT’S JUST AWESOME! I LOVE ME http://bit.ly/isuckattwitter”. With these Tweeps, my cursor “magically” finds the unfollow button all by itself! It has a mind of its own, you know.

@Replies and Mentions

On Twitter, you have the ability to reach out and talk to people and talk by mentioning them through “@” + their Twitter handle. For example, if you wanted to talk to me on Twitter, you would Tweet:

“@NehalKazim I love The Hangover! I’ve seen it at least 5 times ”

When a person @replies to you, it’s called a mention. It’s like a Facebook poke, but not pointless. Mentions are a great way to introduce yourself to people. Stay connected with a fellow event attendee. Did a presenter or presentation blow your mind? Mention them and give them some love.

If there is more than one person in the conversation, you can:

1)     Post a tweet with mentions back to back:

“@gavinroyseal @philadrien I couldn’t agree more. Ryerson University is the hub of Canadian entrepreneurship.”

2)     The other way you can do it is by using “cc”:

“@therealcabbie I’m teliing you man! @drakkardnoir fell of the stage!! cc @gerrydee”

To Follow Back or Not to Follow Back…

I follow people based on two criteria:

-        Do they share the same interest as me? If a person in a digital space follows me, I’ll probably follow them back to grow my network. People overflowing with positivity and excitement about what they’re doing? I follow these people in a heartbeat for inspiration.

-        Do they have a profile picture? This may seem silly but there are a lot of bots and spammers that takeaway from the awesome experience of Twitter. If the picture shows that the person is normal and won’t kill me in my sleep, they’re good. Same goes for spammers who send generic automated messages.

-        Do you they have conversations with other people on Twitter? One of the things that frustrates me is the fact that there are people who share really witty and amazing content that I would love to share laughs with but they don’t talk to anyone. This excludes people like @ConanOBrien, @KanyeWest, or @Jesus_M_Christ.

Tip: Don’t follow people just to get followed back; you’re missing the point!

Hashtags

Hashtags are 1 of the most entertaining parts of Twitter. Here are my favourite ways to use them:

-        Events. More and more events have official hashtags. Use these to connect with people at the event, but don’t overdo it. For people not at the event, it can get very annoying and irrelevant with tweets like, “That line was awesome! #pcto10”

-        Jokes. I overuse hashtags when it comes to jokes. Using hashtags like #justsayin, #itoldyouso, etc are a great way of adding “by the way…”.

-        Random. You can make up whatever you want with hashtags to add a little zing. A few examples are #whatgoesaroundcomesbackaround and #karmaisabiatch.

Psst…I want to share a secret with you. No one really knows how to “use” Twitter. There are no rules. Period. So, be yourself! But like all forms of digital communication, be aware of how you WANT to say or show something about yourself, and make sure you don’t miscommunicate that because of something like not having a profile picture.

So? What are your Twitter “rules”?

Too often today beer plays second fiddle to wine and other beverages when considered for meal pairing. I’m going to go out on a limb and say something rather bold – real beer is a better pair with more varieties of food than wine is. There I said it. And it’s true.
For example, what wine would you put with a spicy Indian dish like vindaloo? There is none. Some will say a Riesling because it’s cool and lightly sweet but that doesn’t really pair! For spicy foods you need something quenching and robustly bitter. Something that’ll cleanse your palate of heat and refresh your taste buds for the next bite – so go for an India or an American Pale Ale. Spicy foods turn red wines hot and white wines end up tasting like gasoline.
Commodity-grade beers don’t have distinct flavors and won’t pair well with food, even the premium commodity beers, like wine, they just don’t work. So what does work? Craft Beer.

Brunch

Brunch is a sweet combination of breakfast and lunch foods, your accompanying beer should be equally light, but flavorful. Wheat beers are the best choice as their soft effervescence and gentle fruity-vanilla flavors will work with practically anything you bring to the table.
An amazing twist on the classic Mimosa (orange juice and champagne) is orange juice and Blanche De Chambly, by Unibroue. This is a remarkable combo, and works even better than champagne. The beer’s soft and delicate sensations, creamy vanilla and clove flavors work so beautifully with juice – it’s a match made in heaven.
Try Hacker-Pschorr Hefe Weisse, Muskoka Hefe-Weissbier, Dinison’s Weissbier, Erdinger, Schneider Weisse, Mill Street Wit, or the Weihenstaphaner.

Dinner

You say, “Dinner?” most guys think, “Meat.” There are few things as amazing as a properly roasted turkey or beef brisket. So what’s the best way to enjoy them?
The flavor of dark, amber or roasted malts match roasted meats perfectly. They are gently sweet, bring warm caramel flavors, but are balanced with bitter hops and a juicy mouthfeel. This balance is what makes the pairing so perfect, and the carbonation of the beer helps scrub your palate clean for the next taste.
A huge range of beers can fit into these categories, but some of the best are dark Belgian Ales and American Pale ales. Their creamy mouthfeel but crisp and lightly effervescent texture creates the perfect sensations to balance slightly complex malt flavors, aromatic hops and mouth watering savory flavors.
For soothing malty ales try Chimay Red, Unibroue Maudite, Innis & Gunn, Brakspear Triple, Paulaner Salvator, Affligem Dubbel, Neustadt 10W30, Hockley Dark, Mill St. Tankhouse, Muskoka Darlk Ale, Cameron’s Dark Ale,or St Ambroise Oatmeal Stout.
For quenching hoppy beers try Fullers ESB, Pilsner Urquell, Green King IPA, Skslfti, Liberty Ale, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Rogue Dead Guy Ale, Southern Tier IPA, Anchor Steam Beer, Black Oak Pale Ale, Flying Monkeys Hoptical Illusion, Dougan #9, or Chrsitoffel Nobel.

Dessert

Dessert is where beer can really shine. Whether the dessert is light, dense, chocolaty, fruity, cheesy, creamy, warm, hot, or cold there’s a beer to fit it perfectly! That being said, the range of flavors that work with dessert depend on the dessert itself.
Chocolate desserts range from dense or light cakes, to mousses, puddings, ice creams and more. The obvious choice is a stout, and better yet, why not try a chocolate stout! These beers are creamy and elegant with smooth roasty flavors and delicate hints of cocoa and chocolate. You can also find Belgian style stouts that have a richer malt flavor and show a touch of effervescence.
Try Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout, Lion Stout, Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence, Rogue Shakespear Stout, or the Southern Tier Crème Brulee Stout.
Cheesy deserts, like cheesecake, can have so many flavors piled onto it. Chocolate, peanut butter, caramel and other very sweet cheesecakes work perfect with the stouts just mentioned. But one of the most classic styles is fruit flavors. And in comes the world of fruit beers.
The sweetness of a fruit beer can pair off the creamy and earthy flavors of a cheesecake so magnificently, and the carbonation scrubs your palate clean for the next bite.
Try Mort Subite Frambroise, Unibroue Effemere Pomme, St. Louis Gueuze, or the Lindemans Peche.