Menu
Travelling to Japan is a fantastic experience that I highly recommend to everyone. Tradition and innovation, attention to detail and the pursuit of perfection are among key aspects that I greatly appreciate about Japanese culture. Beer and food are no exception: the Japanese produce both with extreme care and dedication. I have had wonderful beers in Japan and delicious dishes. Without a doubt, I can say that Japanese cuisine ranks among the best cuisines in the world.
Focus of thisBlog article is Wagyu beef, a top-quality, succulent, tender and mouth watering delicatesse originated from Japan and is now bred in other countries.
I became interested in Wagyu beef during my trips to Japan and here in Switzerland where I live, after meeting a passionate Swiss farmer of Wagyu beef: Konrad Balsiger from the Kedaka farm. Konrad and I met and over a beer we shared our passion for great food and drinks. I enjoyed listening about his fine Swiss Wagyu beef.
Being both craft producers, we found it natural to taste Kedaka’s Wagyu beef with some of the Fermento beers we found particularly suitable, as well as a special beer sauce made with one of the selected beers. Tradition or Innovation? Surprisingly, you will find that it is both. I want to share this fantastic experience for the senses and perhaps this will break one of the biggest taboos of our western culture, namely that wine is the only exclusive drink to be consumed with such a fine meat.
Beer and Wagyu beef - from legends to real life
The legend I have always heard is that Wagyu cattle regularly drink beer and are also massaged daily with it. At this condition, I believe that many of my acquaintances would also aim to have such a privileged life.
Intrigued by cows drinking beer, I asked my Japanese friends and did some research to discover that the agricultural practice of using beer for this purpose was traditional and today is only sporadically practised by a small number of Japanese farmers. Beer is occasionally given to cows before a meal, mainly to increase their appetite and thus produce more meat.
In reality, it is the Japanese people (and not the cows) who drink beer with Wagyu beef. This is the preferred choice for grilled end barbacued Wagyu beef. IIn contrast, Japanese sake is the preferred alternative for traditional Japanese dishes, because this rice-based drink would enhance the umami (savoury) taste of the Japanese dish seasoned with soja sauce and dashi (Japanese broth). Beer is therefore the traditional pairing for Wagyu beef and only in recent times have Westerners combined wines (e.g. Merlot) with Wagyu meat.
Top quality wagyu beef in Switzerland
Kedaka has exploited Wagyu beef to the fullest, raising the world’s most premium breed of beef in Switzerland, the land most vocated to cattle farming. Switzerland has very high standards for meat production and the cows are kept in loose housing, fed with hay and grass from the meadows of the beautiful Swiss mountains.
Kedaka cows live three times longer than conventional Swiss beef cattle, eat only local feed, half of which is organic, and drink the purest spring water of the Swiss mountains. Even if there is no beer to drink for the beef cows, theyenjoy the spent grains, left over from the brewing process before fermentation begins. This is a sustainable practice that we have also implemented at Fermento brewery, where spent grains are not wasted but used as cattle feed.
All this makes Kedaka a highly sustainable farm with animal welfare standards far above average. The result is a meat of the highest quality, rich in protein, vitamins and with a high content of unsaturated fatty acids (the good ones), up to 30% and more compared to other beef.
Wagyu beef literally melts in your mouth thanks to the marble-fine fat, which makes this meat a premium delicacy. I had a steak with Konrad and, while eating it, I was silent (which rarely happens to me), as my soul travelled between the Alps of Switzerland and the Japanese lands of Kobe. Honestly, I say that this kind of experience is very rare and should not be missed under any circumstances.
My craft beer and Wagyu beef pairing
Although I swear Fermento beers are not given to cows as a drink, I paired Fermento Liberica stout with Kedaka’s Wagyu beef and found this combination simply phenomenal, the best this meat deserves. The roasted malt, chocolate and coffee notes of the beer are in great harmony with the roasted meat, making Wagyu beef even more delicious.
Amber Ale is also excellent when meat is marinated with herbs and spices. This beer is hoppy and not bitter, giving the right balance to the spices (e.g. pepper) used for marinating.
Moreover, the alcohol and gas of both beers together are gentle and ‘blend’ well with the fine, delicate fat of the meat. They ‘tie’ with the buttery sensation of the fat in the mouth. In this respect, I find that beer combines much better than classic red wines, because wine only has the high alcohol to support this effect.
The fine bubbles of craft beer also enhance the flavour of meat. Liberica stout and Amber Ale, have very fine gas bubbles produced by the yeast. This is one of the main differences between these craft beers and most industrial beers, where artificial carbon dioxide is added after fermentation. The artificial gas creates large, aggressive bubbles that not only spoil the combination with the Wagyu beef, but also give a sense of filling and bloating.
A delicious Fermento beer sauce for the Kedaka Wagyubeef
Inspired by the umami taste of soja sauce, we at Fermento, together with our partner Gipfelhirsh crafted Thoring Thol, a beer sauce made from Liberica stout. Reduced after boiling and without alcohol, the sauce also contains balsamic vinegar, tomato concentrate and fermented habanero. The mixture of these ingredients is fantastic and gives the sauce a balance of umami, salty, sour, sweet and a spark of spiciness. These flavours blend harmoniously and enhance the already delicious flavours of beef.
This beer sauce is perfect when used as a fresh sauce on the plate to gently dip pieces of beef, in the same way as the Japanese eat their sushi with soja sauce. Beer sauce can also be part of a marinade sauce, alone or together with Liberica or Amber Ale. Rather than tendonising the beef, the marinade in this case serves to add the flavour of hops or malt to the meat. And if you want to give the beef a caramel touch, the beer sauce can also be lightly cooked with the meat in the last minutes of the grillingorroasting. The caramel and sweet notes are very pleasant with roasted meat.
A journey of pleasure for your senses
There is only one way to travel to Japan and Switzerland at the same time, and that is to close your eyes and eat a Kedaka Wagyu beef. Every bite is a taste of Japanese and Swiss culture. And to upgrade your trip, treat yourself to a touch of beer sauce with your meat. Pair it with an excellent glass of Liberica stout or Amber Ale, to your preference.
Enjoy the experience as I did and share in the commentsbelow your feelings on this extraordinary journey of pleasure for your senses.
2 Responses
Thank you very much for this amazing article. As I’m Japanese, I connect sincerely to all those information provided and I could really see real Japanese spirit and harmony of our culture and cuisine in the project done by Fermeno Brewery. Please keep going with a great journey of beer culture endeavour! Best of luck!
Thank you very much for your feedback! Indeed, we have a great appreciation for Japanese culture and food: great spirit and harmony are also part of the way we do things. Our beer sauce has a harmony in taste and pairing with food. Great beer and food are another way in which we are close to Japanese culture.