By Greg B.  By now, though you may not have believed me in my earlier posts, you have probably realized that yes, this man does grill almost every meal outside during the summertime.  And why not?  The smokey delicious smell and taste you can get from charcoal is excellent, the foods are relatively healthy (I say relatively because, while I do make a lot of seafood and veggies… bacon on the grill is fantastic) and the cleanup is so much easier!  But this time I saw a bag of mussels in the store behind the glass and figured ‘wow, I should grill some mussels, those will taste great!”.

I was sorely mistaken.

When I got home, I realized that the bag was almost entirely bad.   2lb of mussels, I went through every one (enduring the stench of bad mussels… no wonder the woman at the seafood line at unsafe safeway placed this bag inside another plastic bag before giving it to me, they smelled terrible) and I found 4 mussels that were closed… the rest were open and stinky. Not willing to put my health on the line with any of those, I decided I’d still go through with my easy recipe, just my main meal would have suddenly become a lot smaller.  But I still had some bread and of course, liquid bread in the form of beer.

The prep for this was easy, I started the grill, and as the coals lite I made a quick butter sauce in the house on the stove.  I melted about 3 tablespoons of butter with a little bit of garlic powder and some black pepper, as well as thyme leaves.  I sliced some of the sunflower seed bread I had, and I chilled a beer from Weyerbacher that I had never tried, but was looking forward to sampling (I love Weyerbacher beers).  Then, I placed the mussels out on the grill, closed the lid and let them cook with the lid down to ensure a bit more ’smokey’ flavor.  This only took about 6 minutes or so, before they were all open and cooked, then, as per the picture, I just combined in a bowl, poured the butter sauce over them, poured the beer and sat back to enjoy my sunday dinner.

First, the beer review.  Weyerbacher always makes some serious beers, and this is no different.  The Zotten is a Belgian-style pale ale, and they hit it square on the nose.  The beer pours a thick, translucent amber color with some reddish hints.  Very minimal head, but a good amount of carbonation in the beer.  It smells of Belgian yeast and spice, but smells a bit more sweet and fruity than your average ‘abbey’ ale.  The mouthfeel is impressive, it’s sweet but also refreshing, creamy, but carbonated.  It hits all the categories in all the right places.  It tastes fantastic, with the yeast, spice, fruit and a hint of alcohol at the end.   Definitely a 3.3/5, with 6.0% abv.

However, this beer begins to explode in how great it is with food.  You may remember back in the fall, how Weyerbacher made the old Heathen, and I discovered that this beer went perfectly with crepes and pies and all sorts of desserts.  Well, that tradition continues, but with the seafood.  The only real shame is that I had 4 mussels, and not 40 to enjoy with this beer.  With the buttery fatty sauce, the beer suddenly has the sweetness to match, but also the sharpness from the hops that lay in hiding, waiting for their opportunity to come out and cut through something, anything.  The spices in the beer match the thyme and pepper, and the creamy but carbonated mouthfeel cleanse the palate entirely between bites.  This beer turned my then meager meal into a gourmet experience, and I was happy to be along for the ride.

So to cap this Sunday experience, the mussels, though 99% of them were bad, provided a nice little snack with which to allow the Weyerbacher Zotten the chance to strut it’s stuff on the palate.  If you’re in a store, I fully recommend this pairing, and certainly the beer!

Try the beer with: salads, fish (but not too delicate, like scallops), stinky cheeses and even Cheddars.