Beer-Pairings Wonk Joe Burgers Tries a Little Bit of Everything

Joe Burgers isn’t a professionally trained beer expert (aka a cicerone). He didn’t go to culinary school or start his own brewery or spend time working the line in high-pressure kitchens. In fact, his day job is in group health and life insurance — nothing “super interesting,” he says. But Burgers’ job lets him work from home and gives him the freedom to chase his passion: craft beer pairings. He shoots a lot of the images that pop up on his Instagram account, Baker and the Beerd (@bakerandthebeerd), on his lunch breaks at home. He also works part time at Yazoo as a bartender on Saturdays.

Burgers is a bassist who toured full time for about five years and defines himself as what people in the music biz call a “good-hang” guy — easy and pleasant to be around on the road. He also played bass in a Nashville-based instrumental metal band called Muir. (Fans of post-rock bands like Explosions in the Sky and fellow Nashvillians Hammock should check out Muir’s 2015 EP If We Are Still on Bandcamp.) So why’d he give that up?

“I got tired of being broke,” he says.

Even so, he developed what you might call a particular set of skills thanks to all that time spent on the road.

“In that process of touring, everyone starts on cheap, bad beer,” says Burgers. “And then you have your buddy who’s like, ‘Hey, while you’re in our town, I’ll take you to our brewery where we always go.’ So I had my first imperial stout in Providence, R.I. … Then that turned into, ‘I’m just going to drink local beer wherever I go.’ Once you get past the Taco Bell two-dollar budget and you can start getting some decent food, you’re like, ‘Well, I’m already traveling, so I might as well eat all this crazy local food and drink local beers.’ ”

As his social circle moved more toward craft beer and away from making music, Burgers decided to teach himself more about beer and cheese and meat. 

“How people actually experience beer usually is in the setting of food,” he says. “It’s fun to go to a brewery, but the first question is, like, ‘Do you guys have food?’ And when I go to [get food], my first question is, ‘Hey, where’s your draft list?’ Chefs are focused on food, and brewers are focused on beer, but consumers are focused on how it is together.”

We at the Scene invited Burgers into the office one afternoon and asked him to pick out four all-local pairings for us. See our photos of those below, complete with Joe’s descriptions.

Yazoo Embrace the Funk Foudre Noire (Blackberry & Raspberry) with Vegan Pop Tart from Beca Lewis Skeels

“Foudre Noire is a dark, strong ale soured with Embrace the Funk’s house-mixed culture in a custom-built French-oak foudre (a large wooden vat), then conditioned on blackberries and raspberries. This beer is tart and sweet with an 8.9 percent alcohol by volume that’s hidden by an intense dark-berry nose and flavor, followed by subtle notes of dark chocolate, oaky vanilla and spice. I paired this with one of baker Beca Lewis Skeels’ vegan pop tarts, filled with blackberry, blueberry, chocolate and vegan cream cheese. Sour beers can taste amazing, but they can also exhaust your palate with intense tartness. While berries and chocolate amplify the flavors already present in the Foudre Noire, cream cheese is the yin to the sour yang, bringing everything into balance. Beca’s rotation of vegan baked goods is available at cafes like Falcon Coffee Bar and Nectar Urban Cantina.”

Bearded Iris V. Fudge w/Strawberries with Dutch Chocolate CBD Donut from East Park Donuts and Coffee

“V. Fudge w/Strawberries is an imperial oatmeal stout brewed with a decadent mix of Olive and Sinclair cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, lactose and strawberry purée. The rich taste of a stout really opens up around 55 degrees, so take this one out of the fridge a half-hour before serving to experience the full depths of its creamy Neapolitan flavors. East Park’s brioche base is not as sweet as most doughnuts, making their Dutch Chocolate CBD Donut a perfect complement to a fairly sweet beer. The chocolate icing is dosed with 15 mg of CBD — the legal, non-psychoactive element found in cannabis — and I can’t think of a tastier way to relax. Chocolate-pearl toppings add a tiny bit of crunch to a dessert that could perfectly end your Saturday night or start a lazy Sunday morning.”

Southern Grist Canela Oscuro with Hot Chicken Donut from Slow Burn

“Canela Oscuro is a Mexican-mole-style stout from Southern Grist Brewing. Brewed with cinnamon, vanilla beans, cacao nibs and dried chili peppers, this beer takes a more balanced approach than Grist’s typical “pastry stouts,” with a medium body and moderate 6.7 percent ABV. Canela Oscuro delivers a nicely spiced sweet flavor without a heat burn, which is what makes it a particularly good pairing for Slow Burn’s Hot Chicken Donut. This dessert could only be born in Nashville, with two tenders of signature slow-burn-level Nashville hot chicken sandwiched between two halves of a glazed doughnut, creating a sweet-heat combination that is not for the faint of heart, but is uniquely satisfying for adventurous eaters.”

 Barrique Dry Hopped Saison with Green Hill cheese from Porter Road Butcher

“Barrique is a new name in Nashville, but these barrel-aged beers are brewed and blended by an experienced craftsman, and slowly being released around the city. This saison was open-fermented, then dry-hopped with Azacca hops before aging five months in French-oak chardonnay casks. A slightly funky, earthy flavor is accented by light tropical citrus notes. The mild-but-wild character of this beer is great for a double cream cheese like Sweet Grass Dairy’s Green Hill. I baked this cheese in a small cast-iron skillet, and served it with fig jam on baguette. Sweet and creamy cheese-bakes with a lighter-bodied beer are interchangeable for a great appetizer or dessert.”