Customer Reviews

He Said Beer, She Said Wine: Impassioned Food Pairings to Debate and Enjoy: from Burgers to Brie and Beyond

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really like the concept of this book, and I was hoping to read some intriguing arguments on beer vs wine when it comes to food. Now I will admit, I lean toward craft beer- but I enjoy wine as well. Not even halfway through the book, I am extremely annoyed with Marnie Old's attitude and snobbish tone of her arguments. To make matters worse, she has very little knowledge on beer, which voids many of her arguments. A perfect example is the cheese pairing chapter. Ms Old makes the argument that wine has the acidic backbone to counter many cheeses. Sam points out that there are several acidic beer styles such as lambic, berliner weisse, etc. He is correct and these beers also pair well with cheese. She responds with "so your argument is that only rare, wine-like beers stand up to a good cheese? Can I quote you on that?" No only are these beers NOT wine like (no grapes, and they are carbonated!), they are NOT RARE and extremely easy to find, unlike some of the wines she recommends. What a weak and petty response, as I expect better from a "leading wine educator." The book is filled with more examples like this. If Ms Olds wants to properly advocate for wine, she should at least have some experience and knowledge on beer to make substantive arguments. It's painfully obvious that she is close-minded, thinks wine is vastly superior, and looks down upon craft beer (even though she has very little knowledge on the subject). Both beer and wine are wonderful beverages to pair with food. I was hoping for more insightful, thought provoking debate on the subject, but Ms Olds turned turned many chapters into talk radio-esque debate. Maybe the publisher can try this again with Garret Oliver and a more experienced Sommelier, because Sommeliers are supposed to be educated in beer and spirits in addition to wine. Ms Olds is obviously not, or played hooky during that part of her education.

Well, I'm a beer guy, and my girlfriend's a wine person, but we both appreciate the other person's beverage of choice. So I was intrigued by the premise of this book, sort of a good natured battle of the sexes over wine and beer.

The book starts off with a brief, accessible primer on beer and wine, and how to taste and appreciate the various qualities of each beverage. I found this section pretty helpful and informative, and never felt like I was reading something "dumbed down" for my benefit.

The main section of the book covers various food categories, like cheese, vegetables, fish, spicy foods, meats, and fruit desserts. Then for each food category, there's an intro on how to pair wine with this food item with specific wine pairings for food within the categroy. Then, there's an intro on beer pairings for the food category, with specific beer choices for the same food items within the category to contrast with the wine choices. Each food category ends with a wisecracking conclusion between Sam and Marnie about why they think either beer or wine is better for their particular pairings.

I found this format and the content worked well, and helped to define the various strengths and weaknesses of each beverage in pairing with foods. Paring wine, instead of beer, with spicy foods seems like a losing battle, and some of the beer pairings with food traditionally served with wine seemed to be an awful stretch. There's a lot here I could use next time at a restaurant or serving food at home. Sometimes the witty banter between Sam and Marnie was entertaining, sometimes it just cames across as a tired Venus and Mars act.

Part of the strength of the book is also a bit of its weakness. Sam and Marnie know so much about their respective beverages that some of their specific beverage choices are probably not going to be readily available for a lot of readers. I'd love to try lobster with Marnie Old's choice of Domaine Matrot Meursault, a white Burgandy from France, but I'm not sure I'm going to find that very easily. Her secondary choice for lobster, Tasmanian Sparkling Wine, hardly seems like something I could find at my local liquor store, either. Perhaps I shouldn't just pick on Marnie, since there were plenty of beer choices that I'm going to have a lot of difficulty finding. But I would have to say if Marnie is trying to make wine more accessible to beer people, she could start with making a few less exotic wine choices in her pairing recommendations. Most of Sam's first or second pairing choices seemed more readily available.

But the good news is that both authors give the reader plenty to work with, and indeed, they do seem to succeed in getting beer fans to appreciate wine more, and wine people to understand beer. Will I be hosting my own wine vs. beer party, as the authors are so helpful to describe at the end of the book? Well, maybe.

I'd give this 3 1/2 stars, which rounds up to four stars.

Accessible, an enjoyable read, and very informative. Wine snobs may sniff, but this book is aimed at those of us who enjoy wine and beer and know just enough to get us in trouble. We forget that only in recent years (and mostly in the US) has wine taken on an elitist air of sorts; for generations it has been an everyday beverage around the world, and this book makes you feel that both beer and wine deserve more frequent and prominent places at your table.

The concept is interesting. The idea of debating which beverage pairs better with different types of food is neat. However, some of the food chemistry is blatantly incorrect. Someone please tell Marnie that all salts are not bases and table salt NaCl is neutral. The "witty repartee" tends to be more entertainment than informative. I do believe Calagione states his arguments better and with less attitude. BTW: In my house, "She" drinks beer.

I received this book as a gift and couldn't be more pleased.
It's fun and informative without being stuffy. I found He Said Beer, She Said Wine to be very easy to read (unlike one review I read). It's clear, concise and visually appealling. I look forward to hosting the party and highly recomend it as a gift.

interesting book. shed new light on the different and unique qualities that beer and wine have. i look forward to looking for some of the qualities next time i am looking to pair a beverage with my meal

I really like Sam Calagione. What he has done with Dogfish Head is really cool. I have read his other books and enjoy his insight voice. This book kind of wavers though. There is a lot of, what seems like, forced bantering between the wine and beer viewpoints, along with really basic wine/beer knowledge. On the other hand, a good portion of the book is set aside to food pairings, discussing taste, and how each should accompany a meal. This is what I came into the book wanting, the other superfluous stuff I skimmed through. I wish less space had been used for wine vs. beer bantering and instead a collaborative effort between the two authors for recipes, extended taste comparisons, more intensive style discussion, etc. That said, I'm still happy I bought the book and would encourage others to do so.

Great reference book. Makes date night more interesting. My husband really liked his Christmas gift. Will use for years to come.

He Said Beer, She Said Wine considers the concurrent history of beer and wine, how each is paired with different dishes, and offers suggestions for specific pairings with foods, including recipes and menus alike. From antiquated rules and why they fail to work with today's different or fresh ingredients to sidebars of wine and beer characteristics and why they work, this is a fine addition to any food and wine collection, going beyond just suggestions to consider the history and culture of beer and wine pairings with food.

I was surprised, at first, at the modern design of the book regarding mixed fonts and many pictures. It reminds me of how magazine and newspaper articles are formatted thought, so it feels very familiar and accessable to me. I like it.

This is a book that's full of information. It would be easy to overwhelm a reader with knowledge all at once. The light style and gentle banter encourages me to read further on than I might if it resembled an encyclopedia in style. I will be keeping it around as a reference book as well as skimming through it for fun.

Both Marnie and Sam really know their stuff!