He Said Beer, She Said Wine: Impassioned Food Pairings to Debate and Enjoy — From Burgers to Brie and Beyond by Marnie Old & Sam Calagione
Xanaboo Review
by Adam Booher
He Said Beer, She Said Wine is a beautifully illustrated, coffee-table quality book that begins with a novel premise - a well-known Sommelier (Marnie Old) and the founder and owner of Dogfish Head brewery (Sam Calagione) draw the battle lines to debate which is the better beverage - wine or beer. They each put forth strong arguments, interlacing historical facts with excellent food pairing information and sample tasting menus. It also serves as a great primer on how each beverage is created, and explains the subtleties and nuances of each specific style of beer and wine. Taken strictly as an educational text, He Said Beer, She Said Wine provides a thorough overview of beer and wine. Building of that foundation, Old and Calagione proceed to explain how to pair beer and wine with different food categories, and provide details on how to host beer & wine dinners.
While at times Old & Calagione each take a tone of condescension and disdain towards the other’s beverages, the mood of the debate is fundamentally good-natured, and the reader can sense the underlying affection and respect between the two authors. Old and Calagione teamed up in the late 1990’s when they realized they each had a message they wanted to get out. Old’s goal was to “dispel the myth that wine was elitist and overly complicated…” while Calagione wanted to tell the world there is more to beer than “generic, industrially produced light lagers.” Amusingly, these fundamental goals - to dispel the myths that wine is elitist and that beer is generic - become fodder in the debates between the two authors. Calagione is quick to point out that the finest wines cost thousands of dollars, whereas the best beers can be obtained at your local liquor store. Old responds by pointing out that top wines command these prices due to “a symptom of its success”, whereas there just simply isn’t the demand for the world’s finest beers, so prices stay low.
The first third of the book sets the stage for the debate, giving time to each author to make the arguments for their beverages. In the section “Wine Primer”, Old explains how wine is made, details the various flavor factors, explains the difference between Old and New World winemaking, and reviews the major red and white wine styles. She offers information on wine styles by region, and concludes with instruction on how to properly taste wine. Calagione follow the same outline. He explains how beer is produced, reviews Old and New world brewing, and goes over the major lager and ale styles. He details beer styles by region and concludes with how to properly taste beer. This section of the book provides valuable information about wine and beer, giving the reader clear, detailed information that sets the foundation for the next section of the book - Food Parings.
Old and Calagione explain how their beverages pair with an abundance of food categories: Cheese, Vegetables, Sandwiches, Pizza & Pasta, Spicy Food, Shellfish, Fish, Poultry, Meat, Fruit Desserts and Other Desserts. Within each food pairing category, each author explains how their beverages compliment the taste profiles of the foods in the category, and presents six specific wines or beers to pair with six dishes. For example, in the Wine & Fish Pairing section, Old chooses a Chateau Villa Bel-Air Graves Blanc to pair with Sole with Lemon Butter, while Calagione pairs it with a Russian River Damnation. After each individual pairing review, Old and Calagione meet up to debate “Which Drink Wins”. It is left up to the reader to pick the winner - each section featuring a score card, listing each dish, and check boxes for the reader to select their favorite. While this exercise may be asking a lot of the reader - one would have to buy 66 bottles of wine and 66 beers to score everything - Old and Calagione move on to explaining how to host beer vs. wine parties. From creating ballots to communicating the rules, the authors give the reader all the tools to successfully host their own debate. The book concludes with a sizable selection of sample recipes, from “fig compote & red onion confit” to “chocolate pecan upside-down cake”, each with a recommended wine & beer pairing.
In summary, Old and Calagione each pay their respects to their opponent’s beverage. Neither concedes defeat, but each admits, begrudgingly, that on occasion they could find themselves reaching across the aisle for an acceptable alternative to their preferred beverage.
The style and layout of He Said Beer, She Said Wine is one of the main differentiators between this book and other food pairing books. Bright, vivid photographs leave the reader salivating over food dishes. And beware - the pictures of the beer and wine may cause the reader to take frequent breaks to refill their beer mugs or wine glasses. Throughout the book, little stylistic details jump out, enhancing the reading experience. In beer specific sections, a small pile of bottle caps adorns the lower left corner of the page. In the wine sections, wine stain rings are featured. In the “Other Desserts” food pairing section, a mostly bare pie plate is in the background, and in the “Fish” section, red fish netting is featured. Because the same attention to the stylistic details was paid as was to the functional content, He Said Beer, She Said Wine comes across a hip, cool, easy-to-read and highly informative textbook/cookbook, perfectly covering the fundamentals of beer and wine appreciation and food pairings.
