Boulevard Hibiscus Gose + Low Country Boil On the Grill

Summertime  and  the  livin's  easy! 
Cue  this  post's  theme  music!

Summer weather inspires me to prepare meals that must be done outside with a cold beverage in hand. I was daydreaming about crawfish and seafood one day when I was on Pinterest and came across a "low country boil" recipe. Basically, you use a giant kettle on a burner outside to boil shrimp, crawfish, potatoes, corn, onion, etc. and dump the contents out onto some newspaper and go to town! Accompanied by a ice chest full of cold session beers. 

This all sounds great....if I had the space/time to do it! So I decided to try an easier alternative: create a smaller portion of these ingredients for 2 people and do foil packets on the grill. Yes! 

Lana  Del   Beer's  Low  cOUNTRY  fOIL

Ingredients

1 andouille sausage link
16 small shrimp (I used shelled/deveined frozen shrimp..fresh shrimp is encouraged!)
1 lemon sliced into 8 slices
Old Bay 
salt/pepper/garlic powder
Sides: corn and potatoes

Heat the grill to medium heat. While it's heating, slice andouille sausage into 1/4 inch rounds. Take half of the sausage and spread in middle of piece of aluminum foil. Top with 8 shrimp. Top with a little EVOO. Season with Old Bay (as much or little as you like) and garlic powder. Next, top with 4 lemon slices. Salt and pepper the contents and wrap aluminum foil up tightly like a little packet. Repeat with another piece of aluminum foil. Place on grill for 20 minutes. Take off grill and let rest 5 minutes. Serve in the aluminum foil with a piece of crusty bread (trust me, you'll want to savor the juices at the bottom). 

Now, you could try adding corn and/or potatoes to the foil. I did them separately to make sure both were fully cooked when my packets were done. I cleaned the corn, left the husk on, wrapped it in aluminum foil and placed in on the grill at the same time as the foil packets and left it on for 25 minutes. Potatoes I normally bake for an hour at 475 degrees, but do your preferred method of making a 'tato!

As you can see, there's a lot of flavor in there! The result is a lemony, savory broth from the andouille sausage and lemons. The sausage is sweet and spicy while the shrimp is soft and fresh. I love Old Bay, so there's a zing of flavor from that bad boy!

My favorite part of this dish is the pop of lemony freshness that adds a brightening element. Just a hint of tartness balances the sweet sausage and seafood.

Now, beer options: where do you go? My initial thought is a clean snappy pilsner or a session IPA. For example, Wiseacre Tiny Bomb or Oskar Blues Pinner. But I wanted to get creative...so how about a gose? Flavors of sea salt, coriander and tartness might do the trick and tickle the tastebuds!?

Boulevard Hibiscus Gose! A low alcohol, slightly tart and refreshing brew that is steeped with dried hibiscus flowers at the end of the boil to create a floral note and a gorgeous baby pink hue in the glass. A perfect summer sipper!

The tart flavors in the beer and the dish complemented each other perfectly allowing the savory element of the dish to shine while it allowed the floral, sea salt, malt profile to stand out and add that extra zing to the dish. 

This beer proved to be an excellent "quaffer" to my Low Country Foil! I think with food like this, you need a good quaffer....especially if it's meant to be eaten outside (can you say, "easy cleanup"?). And the flavors of both mediums weren't too strong, allowing the beer and the food to just say, "Hey! How you doin'!?" to each other. 

I will also say since my favorite element of this dish was the lemon factor, it made sense I wanted to keep that flavor present throughout the dining experience. If you would like more of a cutting, clean beer to act as an agent to cleanse the palate and/or cut thru the richness of the dish, I would suggest the Pilsner or IPA. I have a Deschutes Fresh Squeezed on hand I would like to experiment with.....but it's all trial and error to find what YOU like!

Tis weekend eve, so tonight I shall toast to that. Cheers, friends!

LanaDelBeer