Umami Flavors and Beer at the Great American Beer Festival

I spoke at the Great American Beer Festival Taste Pavillion on 9/26/2009 about Umami Flavors & Beer. The comfort food I prepared was Nueske's Applewood Smoked Bacon wrapped around a fresh organic fig stuffed with Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue Cheese, broiled until crisp, cooled and tempered in Tcho 68% dark chocolate.

This was served on the plate as a component, and deconsructed with
a rasher of bacon, a few chips of chocolate, a piece of 2 yr old Shelbourne Farms Cheddar, and the flavor map for tasting Umami with the 4 beers from Rogue:
Somer Ale, MaierFest Lager, Morimoto Soba Ale, and Chocolate Stout.







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Thanks to everyone who contributed and assisted with this tasting -- Carrie, Liam, Marlys, Jeremy, Cary & DavidG, Bradley & McKenzie, Carolyn for her heartfelt introduction, Chefs Sean & Bruce for your words of encouragement, and the students from Johnson and Wales who assisted plating, serving and pouring beers to a packed house.