Be Brave: The Art of Beer & Food Pairing

"The freedom in beer pairing is much, much bigger than with wine."

Rob and Bronwyn Kabboord have been responsible for some of the most enjoyable – and often spectacular – beer and food pairings I've experienced. And I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of others out there who can say the same.

During their time running Merricote in Westgarth, they combined Rob's incredible dishes and a legendary cheese trolley with Bron's award-winning wine list and an adventurous, expansive approach to beer rarely found in restaurants, whether here or overseas.

With Rob opening Rühe, a 24-seat bistro in Kyneton, with sommelier Daniel Saligari in August, and Bron now eight years into her time alongside Annie Smithers at Trentham's iconic du Fermier, we invited them into the studio for a warm and wide-ranging chat.

The conversation spans the breadth of drinks and food pairing, beer's position in the hospitality and fine dining worlds, their careers and beer epiphanies, pioneering beer dinners, beetroot hotdogs in the gardens of New York's legendary Stone Barns, vintage Orvals at the world's best beer restaurant in Belgium, chocolate cigars and Cantillon.

For anyone keen learn more about pairing drinks and food, there's also plenty to be gleaned when we surprise them with a couple of beers and let their creative juices flow.

If you missed the previous episode, we've tweaked the format of our podcasts. From now on, Thursdays will be Weekly News shows, still featuring the occasional guest, and every other Tuesday we'll publish long-form interviews, panel discussions and other more timeless shows.