Going Suds Up: Your Weekly Beer and Soccer Pairings

By Kirsten Schlewitz

(Editor's Note: Check out the "Going Suds Up" archive for other great beer recommendations. Obviously the games have come and gone, but the beer is still fresh!)

Alright, everyone, it’s time to start preparing for the World Cup—by practicing getting up early. And drinking. Drinking while up early. It really does take some preparation. But don’t despair! Even if you haven’t been in training for South Africa, you can still get into shape this weekend. So set your Saturday alarms for 7:30 CDT and tune into ESPN2 to watch the United States take on Australia in their last friendly before the World Cup begins.

With this early hour, you’ll want to have a breakfast beer to help fortify you for the day ahead. Stouts are traditionally considered a quality breakfast beer (perhaps because they taste of coffee) and there are even stouts that call themselves “Breakfast Stouts.” While it’s highly likely you’ve thrown back a Guinness or two in your lifetime, I’m here to prompt you to move on from this standard stout. In addition to the fact that Guinness brewed here is hopelessly inadequate when compared to it brewed in Ireland, the beer reminds me of the way that Ireland were knocked out of the World Cup. Suffice it to say you won’t find me reviewing French beers.

This Saturday, put down the pint of Guinness and find yourself a bottle of Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. Pour it into an English pint glass so you can see how pretty it is: almost black in color with a thin cream head (probably couldn’t put a shamrock on this one). This stout has an intense aroma of toasted malt, espresso, chocolate, cinnamon, spicy hop and licorice. Its taste is quite breakfast-y, with oatmeal, as the name suggests, but it also includes mocha, maple, and caramel, all balanced with spicy hop. The smooth finish with a bit of an espresso linger round out this excellent breakfast beer. Plus, it’s Californian, and Bocanegra, Bradley, Bornstein, Edu, Feilhaber, ‘dolo, and Donovan all have California connections.

DVRing the US match but still, for some reason, find yourself up early on Saturday? Perhaps your other half won’t let you watch the USA without him/her, and him/her is a sleepyhead? Check out espn3.com at 7am CDT to watch the Netherlands vs Hungary. I am a big fan of all things Oranje, but in no way am I going to encourage you to drink Heineken. Seeing as I’m sweating in New Orleans right now, I decided to take my hostess up on her offering, but there’s not much taste or smell to the beer. In good news for beer drinkers (although possibly not good news for those who appreciate true trappist beer) De Koningshoeven brewery is now a subsidiary of Bavaria-Netherlands, which means that you can hoist a bottle of delicious beer in support of Holland.

Choose the Koningshoeven Quardrupel to pour on Saturday morning—but a warning, at 10%, you’ll definitely be needing an afternoon nap. You should use a trappist glass for this one, and be careful not to drain the bottle completely—trappist-style beers are typically bottle-aged and have yeast and sediment lingering at the bottom. It pours orange brown with no head. Wonderfully, this one smells like a caramel apple, and tastes slightly of banana, as most Belgian styles do, as well as apple and caramel.

Meet Kirsten:

Ever since Brazil caught my eye during the 1994 World Cup I’ve considered myself a soccer fan, but it wasn’t until the summer 2008 that I decided to find a club. I focused on the Premier League and eventually chose Aston Villa. Initially drawn in by the pretty clarets and blues, I found I liked their organization, their owner and their manager. I fell hard and now it’s too late—I can’t give them up. As for MLS, that was easy, as I live in Seattle. I also support Exeter FC, SSC Napoli, FC Koln, Estudiantes Tecos and Tooting & Mitcham FC, all for a variety of reasons including cider, tattoos, scarves, owls, and a soccer player texting while on the pitch. I’m the Managing Editor of SB Nation’s Aston Villa site, 7500 to Holte. I also will be contributing to Two Footed Tackle after the World Cup.

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