Primordial is the place to go when you want craft beer after an Urawa Reds game.  To celebrate a big W, you have to load up on meat, and Primordial doesn’t disappoint.  With a large variety of steaks on the menu, including Daisen chicken and lamb chops, you will definitely be able to regain your energy after a few hours of cheering for your team.  The beers that they have will definitely match up with the food to make your taste buds cheer as if they just won the World Cup.

Taihei went bold and simple with the Angus Outside Skirt Steak.  It was a hefty 140g of meat that teamed up with pickled carrots; mashed potatoes; and a green salad with a cream and nut dressing.  All of this was presented on the field of a cutting board.  The steak was seared on a skillet and cooked rare before being cut into bite sized pieces.  It was all topped with black pepper and parsley.

For the beers, porters are the go to choice for steak.  Marca‘s Coconut Porter was on the menu and the coconut within the Porter made for a dynamic choice of roasted malt and sweet notes.  Kyoto Brewing Co.‘s Summer Splash was also on the menu.  It is a pale American Wheat Ale that had citrus and peppery notes.  Like two duelling teams, they had their strengths and weaknesses with the steak.

The Coconut Porter’s sweet coconut and roasted malt notes played defense when paired with the steak and side dishes.  The sweet character of the beer paired beautifully with the pickled carrots that also had sweet notes from the grain mustard that complemented the coconut.  The dressing of the green salad jumped with the Porter to score a header as the nuttiness of the dressing was complimented by the coconut flavours.  With the steak, the Coconut Porter was passing the ball between flavours as the sweet coconut flavours balanced the pepper on the steak while the roasted flavours diced with the umami of the meat.

The Summer Splash was a hodgepodge of notes, like a balanced team.  There was the defense of balanced malt character; the tactical citrus notes of the midfield; and the subtle punch of pepper like a forward going to the goal.  Each part played a role when paired with the steak with the citrus notes cutting into the meat to refresh your mouth while the malt coated your mouth to defend you from getting tired of eating it.  The pepper notes helped seal the deal of making the steak taste delicious.  The sides were also the same in that each of the different aspects of the Summer Splash played with our taste buds.  The citrus and pepper balanced the sweet and sour of the pickled carrots.  These two parts of the Summer Splash also created a midfield trap with the dressing of the green salad.  The dressing was prevented from overpowering the beer, and vice versa, the entire game making this pairing an exciting taste.

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