For reasons that even I don't quite understand, I developed a rather severe craving for cashews during the month of April. It started with picking them out of a bag of mixed nuts and developed into a month-long search for the perfectly salty, texturally ideal and most richly flavourful nut I could find. In short, cashews became for me a sort of mini-obsession.
All of which led to the chance discovery of this month's TOTM. During one of my late afternoon cashew snack-breaks, I also uncapped a bottle of Salvator, the chocolaty, caramelly doppelbock that long ago set the standard for all to follow. While I would normally be inclined to enjoy the 7.5% alcohol lager later on in the evening, I had been writing about the style and so built up in myself a strong desire for a glass of the stuff.
One sip of the doppelbock followed by the taste of a couple of cashews was enough to tell me that I had just happened upon a delicious food and drink pairing. Being one of the nut world's richer treats, the cashews were up to the full-flavour of the beer, while the malty character of the beer wound up complementing perfectly the buttery texture of the nuts. It was an ideal combination of flavours, and one I will certainly revisit again. Especially since I still have about a pound of various brands of cashews taking up space in my kitchen cupboards.
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