Beer vs Wine: Round 3

That sounds like a really good time. I am terrible at this sort of thing, but here are the ideas that came to my mind. The only ones that I am really confident in are the first and last. The in-between ones include a lot of flavors that I personally find difficult to pair outside of what you'll read as suggested pairings.

I'm spit ballin' here.

1) Saison; literally the first thing that came to my mind, might play well with the lemon, the lightness could be good for your first beer and the carbonation might cut through that sweet, sweet avacado/crab/mayo fat.

2) Amber; something a little sweet to offset the tomatoes, but not too bright-tasting to give you respite from the acidity of the sauce and whatnot.

3) Dat Westy; this and the fourth course are the hardest for me to think about. I include this one on the assumption that, based on the ingredients, it will be a more sweet, spiced chili than a spicy one. With a lot of spiciness, I don't know that this would be such a great pairing.

4) Stout; But I don't know. I just say that cause others do and people like stouts.

5) Earthy Double IPA; this one is solid,at least for my palate. I love IPAs with sweets and with caramel (I just recently tried them with caramel and they are fucking divine together). Both the cake and the ice cream would be awesome with an IPA. Something about the heavy, butter-heavy cake screams IPA to me. The bitterness and carbonation will really cut through the sweet, cleanse the palate, and give a nice contrast. That said, if you were to do a DIPA with the ice cream and a coffee stout or Utopia or something big with the cake, that would likely be good as well.

Post how it turns out. I'm kind of jealous.

 

Most of your cellared beers that you listed are very strong to pair with food. I would save them for the dessert course or drink them as a digestif. Here are my suggestions:

Course 1: Saison or Hefeweizen. Both styles are extremely versatile with food and will pair well with a light course that has a bit of spice. Go for a saison if you can.

Course 2: Belgian Dubbel or Amber Lager. You want something here that is light-to-medium bodied with a touch of sweetness and low bitterness. Honestly, don't get discouraged if you lose this course. Tomato sauce is the only thing that I believe pairs better with wine than beer.

Course 3: Porter. Normally I would recommend an IPA or Pale Ale with chili to balance with the heat, but the chili you described seems to lean towards a lot of deep, rich flavors. Stone Smoked Porter would be great here, they even brew a version with chipotle peppers that would be excellent to use. If your chili is on the spicier side, do not hesitate to use a hoppy beer like an IPA.

Course 4: Brown Ale or Dopplebock. You want the beer to match the tangy sweetness of the barbeque sauce. An American Brown Ale has the right amount of hops and roasted malt flavor to do that.

Course 5: Stout, Imperial Stout, or Fruit Beer. Now is the time to break out one of those Bourbon County beers or the Serendipity. I'm kinda thinking the Serendipity would go great with the vanilla and caramel flavors, but try both of them before you serve the dessert and see what works best.

Enjoy and please post your results. This sounds like a lot of fun!

 

HA! Porter and and American Brown Ale. You nailed it.

 

I'd definitely test it out in advance, but I'd think about gueuze or a tart farmhouse / saison for this course, or maybe a gose. If I were pairing wine with it, I'd be looking for acidity to balance the fat and savoriness of the cheese, and maybe a little salinity or minerality to complement the capers, olives, and anchovies. Similar characteristics in a beer would probably pair well, with the advantage of high carbonation in the styles I mentioned, which I often feel is nice when pairing with fatty dishes.

 

Course 1: American Blonde Ale, Hefeweizen, Munich Helles/German Pils Czech Pils. If you are really adventurous and like Old Bay give Flying Dog's Dead Rise a shot, but it will throw a lot of spice in there.
CRAB-STUFFED AVOCADOS- ingredients: mayonnaise, lemon juice, prepared horseradish, chopped fresh chives, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, cayenne pepper, salt/pepper, lump crabmeat and avocado

Course 2: Dang these pasta dishes... a decent light lager, simple pale ale with maybe a little bit of hop aroma to accent the cheese, but nothing too large.
It is manicotti stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, with a spicy roasted tomato puttanesca sauce with capers, olives and a tiny bit of anchovy.

Course 3: Vienna Lager, Bock, Munich Dunkel - for the experimental route I would be curious about a Biere de Garde on this one. Personally this is a dish I wouldn't have for myself since I really dislike beans and sweet potatoes. But your sweetness and earthy quality makes me want to bounce in a malt funky way.
Smoky Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili
Ingredients include but aren't limited to: chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, unsweetened baking chocolate, ground cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, black beans, sweet potatoes. Tomato based

Course 4: American Porter, Belgian Quad
Baked beef ribs with a BBQ sauce. Tomato base with brown sugar, worcestershire, dry mustard, vinegar and chopped onion. (I have never had baked ribs before)

Course 5: Crack open your Firestone Walker with this one. Maui Coconut porter is jumping out at me for this one interestingly enough...
Dessert: Brown Butter Triple Vanilla Cake with Caramel Filling and Brown Sugar Buttercream icing
Flavors: Caramel, Sea Salt and Vanilla

 

1) Crab-stuffed avocados: saison, for all the reasons @TheDoctor listed.

2) Manicotti:
* Orval: It should play nicely with the pasta shell, cheeses, capers, olives, and anchovy. The dry, funky, and slightly hoppy characteristics should also play well with the spiciness and acidity in the sauce.
* Rodenbach Grand Cru/Duchesse/Cuvee des Jacobins/other Flemish red: I'm leaning toward Duchesse here due to its sweetness, but that depends on how strong the sauce is.

3) Chili:
* Weihenstephaner Korbinian: it's big enough to go with a hearty dish and the sweetness will do well against the spices. The only part I'm uncertain about is the smokiness of the black beans, which leads me to...
* Aecht Schlenkerla Eich: a smokey doppelbock, it has some of the same benefits as Korbinian, but its smokey qualities might pair better with the beans

4) Ribs:
* Gueuze: you can go as funky as you want here depending both on the quality of the ribs and the palate of your guests. It should provide a good cut against the fattiness of the ribs and sauce.
* Belgian Quad/BSDA: should complement the fattiness of the ribs and the sweetness of the sauce. It's also a big enough beer to handle both

5) Cake:
* Fruited (preferably berry) stout or sour: this sounds like an incredibly sweet and rich dessert. I wouldn't pair something like NG's fruit beers with it, but something like a unsweetened Kriek, Framboise, Jester King's Atrial Rubicite, De Garde's fruited Berliners, etc should work well. The Backyard Rye might do well here too, but that sort of depends on how present the berries are at this point.
* Spiced imperial stout (Huna, Mexican Cake, Abraxas, etc): the extra spices and the chocolatey bitterness from these beers should complement the flavors in the cake
* Coffee stout: similar to the above, but trading extra spices for extra coffee. This has the possible bonus of being a more familiar after dinner pairing with a dessert.