Beer and Food Pairing: Morimoto Soba with Sushi

Looking for a great beer to pair with sushi? You are in luck. Rogue Ales out of Newport Oregon has teamed up with Chef and Restaurateur Masaharu Morimoto, best known for his appearances in Iron Chef, to develop a line of specialty beers to specifically pair with his Japanese fusion style cuisine.The beers include Morimoto Imperial Pilsner, Morimoto Soba and Morimoto Black Obi.

My personal favorite, the Morimoto Soba Ale is brewed with roasted soba, a buckwheat grain which is a staple in the Japanese diet and used to make the traditional soba noodle. Buckwheat is known for its nutritional value, being high in potassium, phosphorous, vitamin B and protein. The best part of all though, is that it  is virtually fat free!

The beer itself is light and crisp, especially for an ale, and has a slight nutty finish. When you think of the typical beers that are served with sushi, often Sapporo, Kirin and Asahi come to mind; light lagers with limited taste. While they still may be refreshing and great in their own way…the flavors of sushi, with accents of wasabi, ginger and sodium filled soy sauce tend to overpower those light beers and make pairings complicated with fuller bodied ales. Thank goodness for Chef Morimoto, Rogue Ales, and ingenuity.

Morimoto Soba Ale, $7.75