Had a recipe for mac and cheese that I wanted to try out. A little different as it’s jalapeno popper mac and cheese and wasn’t sure what beer to pair with it so I did a little research. I read that brown ales, marzens, and English pales work exceptionally well with mac and cheese, but since mine had a little heat in it I went with the maltiness of a brown and used up my last Rogue Hazelnut brown nectar (www.rogue.com). I thought I used quite a bit of jalapeno for this dish and the maltiness of a brown ale was to tame the heat, and maybe it did a bit too much as there wasn’t as much heat as I was hoping for.

The cheese sauce was very creamy which also works in favor in using a robust beer such as a brown ale to cut through that sauce a bit. I used a ton of monterey jack cheese and mixing it with the pepper mixture really brought out the nuttiness of the rogue brown ale. I think the nuttiness would have stood out more if I would have used a sharp cheddar or gruyere, but I didn’t, so piss off.

Overall a very good and hearty dish. Very filling. The rogue brown works well and is now available in six packs around Eastern Iowa. Let me know if you give it a shot. Here’s the recipe: http://tvfoodanddrink.com/2012/02/superbowl-sunday-mac-and-cheese/