It's on. And Jim Koch, founder of The Boston Beer Company and Samuel Adams beer is calling it. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but he is arguing that beer deserves a little more respect - at least as much as wine. I'm no stranger to microbrews. For a few years I was far more interested in handcrafted beers than any wine, and I agree that there are some outstanding beers on the market. But to say that "beer has become the new wine" might be pushing it a little.

From The Canadian Press:

"It's where wine was 20 years ago," he says. "It's at the very beginning of appreciation and enjoyment of beer in a different way. It's not just for refreshment. It deserves a place at the table alongside great food and good wine."

Last month I read an article about beer and cheese pairings. People really are starting to take it seriously and consider how the various flavors of beer contrast with flavors of various cheeses.

In the Canadian Press article, Koch also maintains that beer pairs better than wine with certain cusines such as Moroccan and Ethiopian:

"The one common element of all these new cuisines is, they are beer cuisines. Wine is very challenged," says Koch, founder of The Boston Beer Company and Samuel Adams beer. "Wine doesn't pair well with those big, bold, spicy flavours. . ."

Meanwhile, Americans were increasingly fascinated by the flavours of Asia and Africa, flavours that challenged conventional thinking about wine pairings. Wine connoisseurs would argue the point, but Koch says grapes just aren't up to the task.

"It doesn't have the malt body to stand up to the heat and the spice," he says. "It has relatively narrow range of flavours that are really best suited to more elegant, delicate, you know, Cordon Bleu and northern Italian-type dishes."

To me, overcoming that challenge is part of the fun - part of the experience of drinking wine. When you have a complex Thai dish and you discover that, say, a Lambrusco pairs quite nicely, it makes your meal even better! I'm not trying to come down on beer - really, I'm not. But I'm not ready to give up on challenging food and wine pairings yet, either.