Goose Island’s Sofie pairs well with (almost) every food.

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  Sofie

  Sara Mays and Zach Weiss333.rb.ft.beer.sb.sofiex476.jpg148442691
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  Asparagus

  Zach Weiss333.rb.ft.beer.sb.sofie.asparagusx476.jpg148442592
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  Cherry Pie

  Zach Weiss333.rb.ft.beer.sb.sofie.cherrypiex476.jpg148442653
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  Blue Cheese

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  Chocolate

  Zach Weiss333.rb.ft.beer.sb.sofie.chocolatex476.jpg148442675
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  Caviar

  Zach Weiss333.rb.ft.beer.sb.sofie.caviarx476.jpg148442616

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Sofie

Sara Mays and Zach Weiss

Goose Island’s Sofie is a Belgian-style farmhouse ale that’s sparkly, a little citrusy and great with food. But is there anything it doesn’t go well with? We present some extreme ingredients—along with a glass of Sofie—to our tasting panel to find out.

First up: asparagus. The vegetable has a bad rap for beverage pairings; it makes good wine taste terrible. But with Sofie? “That’s actually passable,” Mosher says.

Cherry pie? “I don’t mind it,” Mosher remarks, “especially if you get it with the crust.”

Time for the big guns: aggressively pungent Roquefort cheese. “That just kicks Sofie’s ass,” Beier says. The cheese is so strong “it makes Sofie taste like [Goose Island’s] 312,” Mosher adds. Ouch.

A Vosges chocolate bar made with wasabi and sesame seems like a predetermined failure, but “the chocolate almost works,” Beier says. “It’s definitely better than the cheese,” Hatch adds.

Then, the panel finds the pairing of a lifetime: Sofie and caviar. “The caviar’s so salty and the acidity of the beer really punches the salt out,” Mosher says. Beier echoes Mosher’s surprised satisfaction: “I would never have thought!”