The Society Dish

Culinary Companions for The Bruery’s Monthly Releases
July 2025 Edition

Welcome back to The Society Dish, The Bruery's monthly exploration of craft beer and culinary pairings. For July, we’re diving into six unique releases—each with its own flavor narrative, best expressed when thoughtfully paired with just the right bite. This month’s pairing guide comes directly from one of our in-house Cicerones, delivering restaurant-worthy insight and real-world accessibility. Whether you're in the mood to play chef or raid your pantry, there’s something here for every level of beer and food enthusiast.

Bakery: Rocky Road Brownie - Imperial Stout with Cacao Nibs, Vegan Vanilla Marshmallows, Walnuts and Vanilla | 9.5% ABV

Inspired by the classic dessert, this beer delivers creamy vanilla, sweet chocolate, and toasted walnut richness in each sip. It’s full-bodied, smooth, and finishes semi-sweet, with aromas of nutty cocoa and soft marshmallow.

Elevated Pairing: Medallions of gingerbread, foie gras and multicolored beets with a burnt orange cream

Rocky Road Brownie has a medium plus intensity due to the special additions of cocoa nibs, marshmallows, brown sugar and vanilla, so a rich and fatty foie gras based dish helps to match that intensity well. There are lots of compliments in this pairing – the gingerbread spice melding into the dessert medley of chocolate and vanilla in the beer, the nuttineness from the walnuts gives the earthiness of the beets something to play with and the sweetness of the brown sugar and residual malt sugars creates a decadent, rich sweetness when it meets the luxurious foie gras on the palate. The richness of the dish and the full and luscious body of the beer will help to create a wonderful and resonating textural experience. The brightness of the burnt orange cream gives the impression of chocolate covered oranges covered in a vanilla bean frosting, while the bitterness from the dark malts provides a nice contrast to the sweetness of the cream and fattiness of the rich foie gras.  The beer's elevated alcohol, carbonation and bitterness from the malt help to cut through all the fat and dairy in the dish which cleanses the palate, making each bite just like the first.

Simple Pairing: S’mores with a twist

Since we already have a very chocolate forward beer, instead of Hershey's chocolate, let's go with peanut butter cups to draw out more of the walnut character and let the beer act as both our chocolate bar and the marshmallow. We’ll follow that up with salted pretzels to enhance the beer’s sweetness and give us a chocolate covered pretzel impression. Lastly, spread some raspberry jam to provide some bright fruit character. A classic graham cracker “sandwich” lends hints of cinnamon and echoes notes of brown sugar in the beer. Once again, the beer's alcohol, carbonation and bitterness will help to cut through the mouth coating peanut butter cup and fruit jam, lifting them from the palate and cleansing it for the next bite.

Morning in Saigon - Imperial Stout with Vietnamese Coffee, Chicory Root, and Sweetened Condensed Milk | 10.1% ABV

Inspired by traditional Vietnamese iced coffee, this stout brings together Arabica and Robusta beans, layered with sweetened condensed milk and chicory root. Expect roasted nut aromas and a creamy, coffee-rich body with subtle sweetness. The mouthfeel is thick and velvety, with a warming semi-sweet finish.

Elevated Pairing: Traditional full English breakfast

Vietnamese Coffee inspired beer plus breakfast is a no brainer, but a full English breakfast adds an elevated twist. We still get sausage and eggs for breakfast, but we also get some roasted mushrooms and tomatoes, along with some beans and black pudding. The coffee with breakfast will resonate with many folks, but we are getting some compliments at very basic levels – the maillard browning we get on the meat, mushrooms and tomatoes is going to resonate with the dark malt character, while the subtle spices of the black pudding will provide a nice brightness to the coffee flavor. The nuttiness of the black pudding will create a huge bridge with the beer’s almond-like nuttiness. This beer has tons of cutting power with its elevated alcohol level and some added chicory like bitterness from the coffee, even with all this rich and fatty food the beer will scrub the palate, cleansing it for the next bite.

Simple Pairing: Salted caramel custard tart with a cashew crunch

Salted caramel is a natural fit as the caramel notes start to bend this Vietnamese coffee into something resembling a macchiato. The salt helps to contrast and therefore temper the bitterness of the coffee and chicory notes.  The cashew crunch gives us some texture that will give a nice contrast to the full body and creaminess provided by the condensed milk in the beer. This beer has tons of cutting power with its elevated alcohol level and some added chicory like bitterness from the coffee so even with a rich dessert the beer will scrub the palate, cleansing it for the next bite.

PB & Thursday - Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with Peanuts and Salt | 18.7% ABV

A sibling to our Black Tuesday line, PB & Thursday boasts massive flavors of peanut butter, dark chocolate, and oak. The aroma is rich with nuttiness and bourbon barrel warmth, while the flavor profile swings between sweet and savory, ending in a long, boozy finish. It’s big, bold, and unapologetically indulgent.

Elevated Pairing: Crispy pork belly sandwich with smoked cheddar, oyster sauce, black soy sauce and kewpie mayo

PB & Thursday is a big beer and needs something intense to stand up to it. Enter our take on a crispy pork belly sandwich. The key interaction here is the huge peanut aroma from the beer giving us this impression of the sauces melding with it to bend this dish towards something that reminds us of a Thai peanut sauce. Peanut butter and dark chocolate notes from the beer accept the smokiness from the cheese with open arms, while the crispy and caramel like exterior of the pork plays nicely alongside the vanilla and oak from the barrel treatment.

Simple Pairing: Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits with a dollop of mascarpone cheese and a triple berry jam

We all know those Pillsbury biscuits in the canister that pops when you open it. Layer in some mascarpone cheese – use cream cheese if you can find mascarpone – then spread your favorite triple berry jam. You can stop there but for the adventurous, let’s add some smoked paprika. This will give an impression of a spiced version of nuts you get at the bar with the chocolate notes and the cheese creating a chocolate ice cream like experience and finally the jam and peanuts creating the all too familiar PB & J we know and love. This dish has some creamy and dense elements but our big beers have plenty of carbonation, bitterness and elevated alcohol to simply lift it off your palate so that each bite can pop just like the Pillsbury canister. 

Honey & Dunn: Apis Grand Cru - Mead Barrel-Aged Rye Stout | 15.9% ABV

This collaboration with Honey Pot Meadery matured in barrels that once held meads like Maple Blossom and Banana French Toast. The result is a layered rye stout with aromas of fruit, honey, and chocolate. The palate is lush with sweet berries, subtle spice, and deep chocolate, and finishes long and warming.

Elevated Pairing: Pineapple & Maple glazed ham with sweet potato casserole and carrots

This pairing is meant for those bigger holiday meals when we gather with family and friends for occasions such as Thanksgiving or Easter. We already have huge honey notes from the mead barrel treatment so we are going to add to that complexity by going with a maple glazed ham, along with some pineapple to add some brightness to a very rich and decadent beer. Sweet potato casserole with some bruleed marshmallows on top give us some sweetness and earthiness to play with the honey character from the beer. Finally a side of butter basted pan roasted carrots finished with a sprinkle of rosemary to add more brightness to contrast the decadent and deep flavors of the beer. This beer has high alcohol content, medium carbonation and tannins from its barrel treatment to help this indulgent experience be lifted from our palates and refreshing it for the next bite.

Simple Pairing: Fried Chicken and Waffles with Birch Syrup

Instead of the traditional maple syrup we are going to sub that with some Birch Syrup – if you can only find maple syrup that is just fine. Birch syrup has a much more complex flavor profile adding notes of molasses, pilonchillo, figs and dates to the party. Along with the complex flavors from the browning of the waffle and crispy layer surrounding the chicken, the alcohol warmth and honey flavor from the beer can help create a hot honey like impression without having to suffer too much. With the beer’s own sweet raspberry and blackberry notes creating a nice bridge with the fruit notes from the birch syrup. There is a great balance that is struck with the sweetness from both elements, along with the beer having a thick and luscious finish that is complimented by the sticky and viscous birch syrup. This beer has high alcohol content, medium carbonation and tannins from its barrel treatment to help this indulgent experience be lifted from our palates and refreshing it for the next bite.

Girl Grey - Belgian-style Ale with Milk Sugar, Almonds, Earl Grey Tea, and Vanilla | 8.5% ABV

Created in collaboration with Top Chef’s Brooke Williamson, this Belgian-style ale brings an Earl Grey tea twist to the table. Its aroma recalls a tea latte with lemon, while the flavor layers floral, citrus, and almond on a creamy, medium-bodied base. Balanced and elegant, this is a beer for slow sips and thoughtful pairings.

Elevated Pairing: Fried Calamari, lemon slices with an old bay seasoning dip

I was able to visit Chef Brooke’s restaurant, Playa Provisions, to find the perfect pairing for this beer. The beer has bold Earl Grey tea notes and secondary notes of walnut meal, with subtle hints of citrus in the background. This pairing helps to bring forward those citrus hop notes with the fried lemon slices, trust me this was better than I thought it would be and it is the anchor to this pairing. It adds the intensity necessary to help stand up to this complex beer, while the tempura batter latches onto the almond meal character like a match made in heaven, while the earthy Earl Grey tea and Old Bay seasoning dip come together to create a complex menagerie of spices that will have you coming back for more. The beer's elevated alcohol level, tea-like bitterness and carbonation cut through the creamy richness of the dip with ease making each bite seem like the first.

Simple Pairing: A white pizza with mushrooms, garlic, mozzarella, provolone, lemon ricotta, and fresh chives

Beers like Girl Grey that have lots of earthy character as well as spices from the tea addition are going to love cheese – so pizza seems like a no brainer. I think going with a white sauce will help create an easier bridge than marinara. The Earl Grey character will be the highlight of the pairing, complimenting all these milky cheeses elegantly, while the lemon ricotta can help to draw out some of those citrus like hop notes in the beer. The beer’s milk sugar will help make sure that the tea-like bitterness isn’t too harsh of a contrast with all the richness in this pizza. Mushrooms and garlic provide some earthiness and bright spice that will welcome the tea notes, while the crust will play with the almond notes in the beer like a great musical duo. There is lots of fat and creaminess in this dish and thankfully we have a beer that has cutting power on all fronts – alcohol, bitterness and carbonation – all helping to lift the creamy cheese off the palate.

Whether you’re diving into indulgent stouts or sipping tea infused bees with your pinky up, there’s always a way to elevate your experience with the right pairing. July’s lineup is bold, diverse, and packed with flavor—perfect for experimenting in the kitchen or relaxing with a thoughtful snack. Until next month, cheers from The Society Dish team!