And last but certainly not least, the final Things We Love Summer Of Beer dinner hosted by Toro.
This is how all beer dinners should be hosted. This dinner was quite possibly the best beer dinner we have ever hosted. Toro not only brought it, but they have set a bar that all restaurants should strive to follow or achieve for any beer dinner being hosted.
Jen Fields, the GM and I got together and sorted out a plan to host the final Things We Love Dinner for the summer. We wanted to go big on this dinner. Price was not an object and the size was to be very limited. I am not going to lie, it was once of our more pricey beer dinners. But once you see what it entailed, it was well worth it. If you have never been into Toro before, it's a very quaint and small restaurant. They have two large high tops in the center of the restaurant and we put them together for a limited 20 person engagement. We wanted it to be exactly what the restaurant is, super casual and super chill with some of the best food in the city being served to you. Again following the mantra of Things We Love, we chose beers and ciders that the everyone in the restaurant agreed on, and Sous Chef Mike Smith, created a wonderful menu to compliment the choices.
In my evil mind, I wanted people to feel sorry for themselves if they missed this dinner. I wanted them to feel bad about not jumping all over this opportunity. Toro is not only one of the best restaurants in Boston, but they treated this beer dinner so well, you should feel sorry for yourself if you missed it. And let it be a warning to you to never miss a beer event at Toro ever again.
I don't want to spend too much time hyping this up. I want to get right into this recap and waste no time getting to the glorious food.
Welcoming:
Bud Light Lime Margarita with tequila, elderflower, grapefruit, and lime.
B.L.L tempura rock shrimp with lime salt, shrimp mayo, and charred jalapenos.
I don't need to get into the controversy that we stirred up by backing Toro's decision to use BLL in a swanky beer dinner. I already did that in way too much detail here. We did it to be cheeky on purpose. We did it because it was a pricey dinner and we were there to have fun.
Needless to say, this is was an awesome choice. The BLL margarita was delicious. The rock shrimp and shrimp mayo were wonderful with slightly spicy charred jalapenos, nice crisp but light batter and creamy mayo. It was on both plate and in drink, sweet and tangy flavors.
So much going on here. What we did for this course was highlight the comparison of a Belgian Geuze to this terrific Spanish cider Toro carries that drinks just like a sour ale or a geuze. We were really surprised at how much the cider was like a gueze and how terrific it was. We wanted beer geeks to know that something like this existed.
When Jen mentioned cheeses and charcuterie for this course, I immediately agreed knowing how acids and sour beers are perfect for cheeses and fatty meats. What I didn't know was that huge trays of meat and cheese would be coming out in bulk portions. Each one of the cheese and meat boards was served to every four people at the table family-style. We had agreed that family-style was the best way to serve this dinner. We have been big fans of this since the Journeyman dinner. But this was impressive.
Now, you will have to forgive me because I did not write down every cheese or bit or charcuterie. There was so much going on with both plates. But I encourage you to click on each picture and enlarge them to see the details on the boards. I was most impressed with the crab apple butter on the meat board. The little pink dollop in the center of the board. It was a well rounded condiment for all the meats. So fun to explore and try the different condiments.
This was our second go with a "Things We Love" concept at Hungry Mother. The idea of "Things We Love" is to not have such rigid guidelines for beer dinners anymore. No more themes, no more working with only one brewer, and no cheesy holiday schtick either.
It's about doing what we want do and featuring what we love at that moment. It allows us to encompass the best of a restaurant. In this case Hungry Mother. From the beers we love, to the food we love, and even a few cocktails.
This wasn't a dinner for lovers only. This was dinner for beer lovers, foodies, friends, and lovers alike. We wanted to host a dinner on Valentine's Day that wasn't your typical wine and fine dinning meal followed by ordinary sex, mediocre chocolates, and the obligatory red roses. No, our dinner was down and dirty, and about friends, beer, soul food, and awesomeness. If you were a couple at this dinner, I have no doubt you went back and had mind blowing, wake-the-neighbors kind of sex! Nothing ordinary about what we set out to accomplish with this dinner. That's how we roll.
I ran out of the house on my way to this dinner without my Nikon. These are iphone pics so please don't front about image quality.
Amuse Bouche: Vermont Cheddar Cheese Straws
Beer: Beer Cocktail: Vida Mezcal, grapefruit 'concentrate,' beer syrup, Miller High Life, salt.
These were small but tasty little snacks we were treated to as we sat down at out table. Awesomely rich cheddar cheese flavor and a High Life Beer cocktail. Ya betta ax somebody! You could imagine my great joy in seeing High Life 40's being poured from behind the bar to fill these glorious little beer cocktail treats. I loved it. It tasted great and worked really well the cheesy straws. A little snack but the exact right taste to the set the mood for the rest of the pairings to come.
First Course: Hoppin' John "Burger" with bacon, lemony mayo, b&b pickle, fingerling chips.
This was fun. A veggie burger with the consistency of a perfectly cooked medium rare burger. And it had bacon! I love sweet bread and butter pickles. This gave it the perfect hint of sweetness coupled with the malts from the beer. Some earthy flavors from the burger with the earthy micro greens and awesome little fingerling potato chips for a hit of salt. This was cool and fun. This beer was really good too and the perfect choice. When it comes to burgers you don't need to over think your beer. A good lager or a pale ale will suffice and this was perfectly malty and exactly what the earthy burger needed.
Second Course: Cornmeal fried Chesapeake Oyster with Virginia 'surryano' ham, pea tendrils, citrus-buttermilk vinaigrette.
Both of these were wonderful. Todd got the Oysters, but we ended up switching our courses midway through. I really liked the oysters course the best with My Antonia. That is a phenomenal beer from Dogfish Head. It's a beautiful Imperial Pilsner.
The oysters were big and plump and perfectly coated in cornmeal. The dry and crisp flavor of the beer helped balance the fatty creaminess of the oysters and buttermilk dressing. The citrus in the salad and the citrus flavors on the beer helped round out this course.
The duck course was rich and flavorful. Awesome cracklins' on the side for a play of textures. I did think maybe the hominy could have been a bit softer, but this course was rich and fatty and delicious. The beer was not my personal favorite, but how it paired with the course was dead on. It was funky, extremely bread-y, citrus, and peppery. A nice choice to help off set or cut though some of the rich fattiness of the duck. Nice big chunks of duck meat as well.
Third Course: Pineland Farms Boneless Beef Shortrib Steak with Maine shrimp, Tasso ham, and creamy grits.
Or
Barnegat Light Sea Scallops with crispy pork belly confit, escarole, red onion jam, lemon brown butter.
These scallops were unbelievable!!! So succulent and sweet with a gorgeous sweet and tangy sauce. My friend Paul and I, ordered the same thing and both of our faces lit up with the first bite. These scallops and that brown butter and onion jam were so good. The pork belly was perfectly cooked. That crispy top was fantastic and the pork belly was soft, rich, meaty, and fabulous. I thought I had died and gone to heaven with this course.
The Sculpin was great for this pairing. So many times with seafood, especially scallops, people think to pair lighter beers, less hops. Saisons and other boring repeated choices. The rich sweet scallops held their own and the pork belly was an added bonus.
The steak course was just as awesome. Perfectly cooked as you can see in the picture above. Creamy grits is a specialty of Hungry Mother. They do southern food so well. The richly spiced shrimp with IPA's are a no brainer, and of course steak and IPA's are great together too. The hops and the spiced shrimp really pulled it all together though. I only had a few bites so I didn't have enough time with this dish to fully evaluate it, but the few bites Todd slipped me were outstanding.
Dessert: Flourless Taza Chocolate Cake with sorghum marshmallow and peanut butter creme anglaise and spiced tuille.
Lawd have mercy! That chocolate cake with peanut butter sauce and oozing sorghum marshmallow cream was effing amazing! It was the exact right thing with that very robust porter. I am not a Taza chocolate fan at all, but twice now, Hungry Mother has not only made me enjoy their chocolate desserts, but they have slapped me in the face with their Taza desserts and made me love them. This porter is full-bodied, chocolatel-y roasted, and delicious. To make that chocolate stand out more, peanut butter creme anglaise completely made that porter show its full roasted quality and allow the chocolate notes to come full forward. Normally if you pair chocolate on chocolate one will over take the other and allow other characteristics to appear. In this case the chocolate cake did not interfere with the beers chocolate character thanks to the peanut butter. Amazingly rich, and fabulous dessert.
Sex on a plate! Fo real!
The cheese course was right up Todd's alley. I found the cheese to be a bit too funky, and the beer too funky and lemony for me. But once again, for someone like Todd, whom loves the funk, this was a spot on pairing. The beer was heavily lemony, sour, mildly carbonated, and a bit earthy underneath all that lemon. Citrus cutting though that creamy and funky cheese. This is one of those times where similar flavors paired together work well. Funk on funk is a good thing. Grassy, lemony, creamy, earthy, beer and cheese.
And a little parting treat with our check, handmade truffles.
The black truffles were a feature on the cheese plate, but it was also offered shaved on the main courses. They are Tennessee grown black truffles from friend of Hungry Mother's, Tom Michaels. First commercial scale black truffles grown in the US.
Something to take note of. I always, always offer a vegetarian menu for my beer dinners. The menus may not always be posted because to me the meat courses just really bring it home for people, but you can always attend my beers and find amazingly paired vegetarian courses.
Vegetarians were treated to:
First Course: HOPPIN’ JOHN ‘BURGER’ lemony mayo, b&b pickle, brioche bun, fingerling chips Cottrell Brewing Company ‘Old Yankee Ale’: american pale ale (5%), Pawcatuck, CT
Second Course: WILD MUSHROOM & HOMINY STEW delicata squash, vidalias, poached ‘flying dutchman’ egg Hill Farmstead Brewery ‘Arthur’: barrell aged saison (5%), Greensboro Bend, VT
Third Course: SMOKED MAINE TOFU ‘SCALLOPS’ A LA PLANCHA white sweet potatoes, escarole, lemon brown butter Ballast Point ‘Sculpin’: india pale ale (7%), San Diego, CA
The same desserts were offered.
This dinner was amazing. It really is Hungry Mother + BeerAdvocate = 4 eva!
They really now how to make comfort food elegant and flavorful and truly wonderful. They respect beer and really get it. Their waitstaff is friendly and patient. They consistently blow me away and prove time and time again that they are whats up in this town.
I was sick and tired of beer dinners. Sick and tired of trying to come up with concepts for beer dinners. I had hosted a series of cool beer dinners in the past like the Aztec Beer Dinner, or Soul Food Brunch pairings, chocolate beer dinners, Russian beer dinners, even the now infamous Gallia Belgica.
All of those events were cool. No scratch that, they were amazing. But I now I am done with concepts or themes. I am done working with one sole brewer and only their line up of beers for beer dinners, and I am done with beer dinners that serve amazing food, but all anyone walks away with is, did they get enough of the geekiest beer being served that night.
I am through with coming up with beer dinners for beer geeks. A lot of them will never be satisfied and only want dinners that include full pours of Allagash Gargamel or something equally rare, they want the finest food to be served with it, and only want to pay $45 dollars max to be served like and eat like kings.
Sorry beer geeks, it's simply not about you anymore.
It's also not about the uber foodie either. I am frankly sick of them too. They don't have any idea about good craft beer (some of them anyway, not all of them), and they still turn their noses up at the idea that beer can be and is amazing with food.
Of course I am completely generalizing here, but you get the idea.
No Mas! No more creating dinners to suit other peoples needs. I wanted to create a series of dinners that highlight the things we love. From the restaurants, the chefs, the waitstaff, the style of food, and various beers. It may also include a wine versus beer tasting, a beer cocktail or spirit served with the meal, or even a beer battle itself!
The idea is to elevate the foodie to beer, and bring the beer geeks back down to reality with good solid beer and food offerings.
We had been discussing a possible beer dinner with Hungry Mother in Cambridge. A favorite restaurant who hadn't hosted a beer dinner before but was really contemplating the idea of working with us. I decided this was the right place to launch such an idea. Anyone who is local around here already knows Hungry Mother and how awesome they are. If you don't, drop whatever it is you are doing, shut your mouth, and go over there and have dinner immediately.
Their style is Appalachian-style southern food with local ingredients, and French techniques.
** When I say Appalachian, I mean App-il-lay-chin. The fine folks at HM will disagree with me until we are all blue in the face, but actually being from Virginia, and more the Appalachian Mountain chain extending way up into New England, I am right! Only in the deep corners of the south and the Blue Ridge Mountains do you call it "App-a-Latch-chan."
This is the kind of place that will serve you cheesy grits and bacon that will make your mama cry. They will serve it with a Hickory Dickel (Gingerale, George Dickel, a tiny hint of liquid smoke, and a bacon lardoon garnish. They will serve you a gorgeous country-style gnocchi with peas, mushrooms, and bacon, but serve you a Genesee Cream Ale with it. This is exactly our kind of place.
Together with Todd and Jason, myself, Alon and Rachel Munzer, Barry Maiden, John Kessen, and the various waitstaff and barkeeps, we created a fun menu to showcase the fun stuff Hungry Mother likes to create, and we all had a hand in picking our favorite beers for this menu. Beers that WE loved and it didn't have anything to do with whether they were super rare or super generic. It's all about what we love and what we wanted to share with our friends and patrons.
I want to highlight that at the very bottom of the menu listed all the things Hungry Mother loves.
Things We Love: BeerAdvocate, Deep Ellum, The Gallows, Carolina Chocolate Drops, East by Northeast, pizza, opera, Dylan & Mira, our lawyer, Jamison Farm, Tetris, Anson Mills, Eastern Standard, Muddy Pond sorghum, bourbon, hot dogs, Ridgeway Blue, rainbows and puppydogs, Kanye, days off, snood, golf, ukuleles, drinking, Strangeways Here We Come, (ex) data synapse, Joe-Joe's, Brazil, Hulu, bonfires on Wiborgs Beach, boo ya later.
We welcomed everyone to dinner with southern specialties of house made dilly beans, boiled peanuts, and homemade chips.
*Click to enlarge any image.
Great social foods to pick at and get introduced to your table. We sat a lot of people together in groups. The Dilly beans were spicy and tangy, the chips were crisp and addicting. I will take the word from everyone at the table that said the boiled peanuts were fantastic. They ate them all! I am a southerner who who doesn't care for boiled peanuts. I know, it's pure blasphemy. But it's a classic none the less and perfect for the table.
We also opened up with a beer cocktail of Campari, sorghum syrup, and Smuttynose Star Island single.
First course:
Miss Lewis' Tomato Aspic with Deviled Quail Egg and Bacon.
Beer: Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project American Darling, 7% abv
I think this was my favorite course. The aspic was soft and extremely flavorful with tomatoes. The deviled quails egg was cute and packed just the right amount of pop of creamy texture and flavor contrast for the beer. The bacon was just an awesome hint for the plate that tied every thing together. Really, who can deny a lovely piece of bacon? They should have had a piece of bacon on every course served for this dinner.
The beer was perfectly fresh, crisp, and delicious. Just a tad too hoppy for the aspic though. Not enough to clash, but while pilsners and lagers are excellent for tomatoes, the added hop bite of American darling, almost proved to be to much. But as a hop head, I never mind big hops.
HM always offers a pork plate of some sort. This was the perfect portion size for wonder flavors and two different variations of pork. Paired with the most classic beer for pork, Schlenkerla Marzen larger. Smoked beers are made for pork dishes. It's a simple pairing but packed full of flavor and proved during this dinner why we love it.
Third Course:
Catfish Caveach picholines, capers, poblanos.
Beer: Allagash White, 5.2% abv
Caveach is basically a method of pickling fish. It was fantastic catfish too. It had a lovely earthy rustic taste to it and the Allagash White really went perfectly with it. The tangy capers and vinegars tastes were smoothed out by the lovely and soft flavors of the wit bier. The soft texture and hearty flavors of the catfish were fantastic.
Fourth Course:
Shrimp and Grits with HM tasso, cornbread croutons, and rosemary.
Beer: Cape Ann Fishermans IPA, 5.5% abv
You can't have a real southern meal with out grits. HM always has a grit offering in some way. Shrimp and grits are a classic southern, soul food offering. These grits were slow cooked, creamy and deliciously buttery. The shrimp and sauce was extremely flavorful and worked well with the malty IPA. Malty and hops are good for rich sauces like this. I really didn't want this course to end.
Fifth Course:
Fried chicken picnic with "kohlslaw", compressed watermelon, and Texas Pete.
Beer: Narragansett vs. Genny Cream Ale
Yes! Yes, we did go there with fried chicken and cheap beer at a fancy beer dinner. Genny Cream Ale is a favorite of the HM staff, and Narragansett is a Todd favorite. We thought, why not battle them out and see which cheap beer is the favorite among crowd?
The best part of this was serving the chicken in paper baskets and the beer served in cans with paper cups on the tables. As soon as the beers were delivered, the cracking noises in sync around the room from the cans was amazing. It was super fun and had everyone engaged. I have never seen that many smiles for cheap beer in a long time. It goes to show you that there is a time and a lace for every beer. Only one person wasn't really thrilled with the cheap beer choices because he prefers Budweiser for his cheap beer of choice. I am a PBR girl myself, but I didn't let that stop me.
Before I announce the winner, lets talk about the food. Compressed watermelon? Yep vacuumed sealed so that all the juices compressed further into the melon. Sprinkled with salt to give it an awesome contrast to the insanely sweet and delicious melon. The "kohlslaw" was light and creamy and packed a delicate hit of flavors.
The fried chicken was perfectly southern. Juicy and that right bit of nearly burnt skin flavor. It tasted just like my mom's pan fried chicken and no one beats my mom's chicken! I was surprised to find out it was not pan fried. Close enough though. They deep fried it in a deep fryer but set the chicken high in the fryer like it was pan frying.
Winner: Narragansett!
But winner by a slim margin. The way it worked for me and a lot of people tended to agree was that the Genny Cream Ale was perfect right after the grits and worked extremely well with the "kohlslaw." But it was the 'Gansett that over took every thing by working perfectly with the watermelon and fried chicken.
Very fun course.
Sixth Course:
Pulled Jamison Lamb with hominy tortilla, corn and tomato chow chow.
Beer: Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, 8% abv
Wonderfully tender lamb. Flavor explosion with the southwest-style flavors perfectly matched with the malty and bitter Hop Rod Rye. This was one of the best matched courses with the beer. Unfortunately this was also the course where we all realized that this we may have been in over our heads. We still had desserts and cheese coming!
Seventh Course:
Meadow Creek Grayson with green tomato and sour cherry jam, crystal malt, and house made beer bread.
Originally we had planned for the beer to be Cerise from Founders. The reason being is that that beer tastes exactly like cherry pie filling! Something so southern, and cherries were in perfect season. However, there was none available and I think it worked out for the better.
Cisco Cherry Woods was available. It too had a delicious cherry pie filling taste, but with a much more crisp and delightfully sour bite to it. Not too sour where it burns your throat going down. It was very enjoyable and delicious. I am not usually a fan of sour ales, but this is one I very much enjoyed and could drink more than one glass of.
The sour notes and carbonation cut right through the cow's milk cheese allowing for an excellent pairing.
The beer bread was homemade and soft and the sour cherry jam was actually pretty mild. I think most people were expecting more of a cherry pop to the jam, but it was soft and mild because of the green tomatoes. If if had been more sour, the beer and jam would have over powered the pairing. I really enjoyed the sweet little accent of the crystal malt sprinkled on the plate as well.
Eighth Course:
Chocolate cake, sorghum buttercream, Benne brittle.
Beer: Left Hand Milk Stout 5.2% abv
Yes!! Chocolate cake covered in chocolate. A sesame seed brittle on top and Left Hand Milk Stout served in coffee cups. I loved that detail. HM has such cool flare.
This cake was rich and balanced by a lovely sorghum buttercream filling. It was very reminiscent of a New England whoopie pie. Rich chocolate flavors, butter sesame brittle, and rich, bitter, chocolate-y beer.
When we realized we were in trouble with the lamb course, this surely sent us all over the edge. And we still had one more to go.
Taza is a local favorite of HM as it is with many local shops and restaurants. It's a natural fit for those shops and restaurants who keep it local and source ingredient from their area and local producers. I am personally not a huge fan of Taza Chocolate, but just for this once I didn't mind it. The cookies were soft, buttery, and had that perfect balance of salt by being topped with sea salt. Sweet and salty always works. The cookie dough covered up the flaws I normally find in Taza Chocolate.
The cocktail was a nice way to end the night. We were all so full and in full on food coma mode. The cocktail was soothing and settled our full bellies.
And there you have it. Hungry Mother's first beer dinner showcasing their favorite things with a combination of our favorite beers. From the details of the paper in the fired chicken course, to the mini mason jars filled with gorgeous tomato aspic, to the coffee cups filled with milk stout, they really knocked this one out of the park. For their first ever beer dinner, they really seemed to get it. Look for more events with BeerAdvocae and Hungry Mother in the future. I know I certainly can't wait to work with them again.
The idea that having a fun and a well received beer dinner without serving the most rare and geekiest of beers was made abundantly clear with the super fun fried chicken course. A successful event that proves we need to listen to ourselves more. Trust our own ideas and go with what we know works and what we love. It's up to you to come with us or not. As you can see, if you don't, you might be missing out on some really amazing food and some real good times.
After the Knighting ceremony of Todd and Jason Alstrom, Charlie Papazian, and Greg Koch by theKnighthood of the Brewers' Mash Staff (Belgian Brewers' Guild), we were invited to have lunch with Michel Moortgat of Duvel, the next day. We were told meet at a certain cafe and have some beers and then lunch.
We didn't know lunch was going to be such a fancy ordeal. I certainly didn't know as I showed up in capri pants with Chuck Taylor's on and no socks! My version causal and European casual should be explained in the fine print of all events we're invited to.
Also, in not being prepared for such an exquisite meal, this post is full of lame quality iPhone images. Had I known what we were in for, I surely would have brought my big camera with me. I did manage to get some fairly decent shots however. Enough that you will still be jealous and you will understand the general idea of how fantastic the meal really was.
We were then taken from the cafe to this gorgeous restaurant called Comme chez Soi.
It all began in 1926 when Georges Cuvelier, a brave inhabitant of the
southern Belgian Borinage region escaped the coal mines to open a small
restaurant in Brussels. A regular customer told him each visit : "Georges, in your restaurant we eat like at home." It did not take long for him to come up with the name "Comme chez Soi".
When the restaurant moved to its present location on Place Rouppe,
Georges Cuvelier's daughter married Louis Wynants, a pork-butcher from
the Flemish town of Tienen. Louis Wynants took the quality of the
kitchen to higher levels.
Their son was Pierre Wynants.
He studied at famous restaurants throughout Europe and met
Marie-Thérèse. From this union came two daughters, Laurence and
Véronique.
Laurence, the eldest, has married Lionel Rigolet, a young culinary talent who rapidly became a key element for the thouse.
The couple now has little Jessica and Loïc, a fifth generation...
They opened their famed private dining room to us, set in their kitchen to watch the chefs prepare the food and then serve it to us. On the walls were autographed placards from Leonardo DiCaprio, Catherine Deneuve, and Woody Allen to name a few.
We were given printed menus with the chef's signature on it. The lunch prepared for us was a sample from their regular menu only tweaked with beer.
We opened the lunch with pours of beers from Liefmans Kriek, and a new sweeter, fruitier, yet still tart Lambic from Liefmans. As well as being serves shrimp bites and mille-feuille of salmon.
Tiny, little shrimps rested in the center of these crispy rings. For such tiny shrimps, they packed quite a bit of flavor. Nice little decadent noshes with a very rich and fruity beer to kick things off.
Then we were served a trio of tastes. Melon sorbet, kriek gelatin, topped with Jamon Serrano or Jamon de Iberico. Don't quote me on the ham. It was a cured Jamon of some kind, but I didn't write down the exact name. Delicious non the less.
The center was a cool gazpacho with a prawn and cabbage topping. And the last taste was a cabbage roll with lamb. All fantastic with the Liefmans Kriek and the newer sweeter Kriek.
First course:
Marckerel fillet marinated with yuzu, squid salad with olive oil, and a coulis of sweet peppers.
Second Course:
Catfish with lemongrass, butternut mash, and baby carrot coulis.
Third Course:
Grilled chicken stuffed with shitake and tarragon and a Maredsous sauce.
Fourth Course:
Selection of Belgian and French cheeses with a beer glaze garnish. (Look at the detail in the beer glaze.)
Dessert Course:
Fruit Consomme with mint, and Kriek sorbet. (Kriek sorbet in a bath of fruit consomme with mint, a molding of fruit and gelatin with fruit leather on top, and a praline garnish.)
And last but not least, we were treated to "Delicacies" of Pate de Fruit, Chocolate filled with a soft passion fruit filling, housemade nougat, Macaroons, white chocolate, and filled micro pastries.
I would only be able to top a meal like this if I could return the favor for Michel Moortgat if I were to take him to Craigie on Main here in my neck of the woods. That's saying a lot.
I spent a great evening last night with the fine ladies of Cambridge Common who threw a wonderful beer dinner featuring Stoudts Brewing Co. and special guest Carol Stoudt.
Carol Stoudt is an amazing lady with lot's of history that all in the beer industry are envious of. She was there before most of the craft brewers on the scene today. Not only was she brewing beer when there was hardly anyone else out there doing it, but she was woman brewing beer when there were virtually no women on the scene!
She is pretty much an icon and idol, and listening to her talk about beer and talk about the industry from where it was to where it is now, was definitely inspiring.
Kate Baker and Suzanne Schalow making the introductions.
Check out Carol, what a fox. She is just awesome!
The menu and welcoming beer. Stoudt's Gold, a Munich-style Helles, 5% abv.
I am not usually one to throw back a nice cold lager. I haven't really progressed to them yet. I know that sounds funny, but my palate started backwards. From big sweet Belgians, to super malty double IPA's. Now I want everything dry and crisp. So when I drank this beer last night it was a nice welcomed change to the normal range of beers I drink. It was fresh, clean and delicious. A great way to start this dinner.
First Course: Ploughman's Platter with Grafton aged cheddar, homemade pickles, peppadew peppers, peach chutney, and rustic bread.
Beer: American Pale Ale, 5%
This was a great pairing. The acidity on the pickles was tamed by the peach chutney, the peppers gave off a bit of heat, and the cheddar added a creamy texture and sharp taste. The beer with it's sweeter malts rounded everything out. A simple offering with a lot going on on the palate.
Second Course: Gorgonzola and chive deviled eggs.
Beer: Double IPA, 10%
Don't be fooled by this pairing. Sounds like a simple course, except this one really hit home for nearly everyone at this dinner. Double IPA's and creamy blue cheese such as gorgonzola work based on the alpha acids in the hops cutting through the creamy fatty texture. The steel-y malts interact with the taste of the blue cheese. Adding creamy whipped up yolks to the equation and now the malts of this beer made the offering more like a sweet nectar and not overly bitter.
Everyone pretty much said we should have been sat with a huge platters of these deviled eggs and started off with the DIPA. A little bit of a blurry beer pic, but then again I am not that great of a photographer.
The American Pale Ale also worked out well with these eggs. I still had some left over and tried it. The carbonation acts the same way as the acids in hops. Cuts right through and then the sweet malts do the rest.
Third Course: Choice of Half roasted chicken with white asparagus and warm German potato salad.
Beer: Heifer-in-Wheat, 5%
Or
Pork medallions with a mustard cream sauce and scalloped cauliflower and potato casserole.
Beer: Scarlet Lady ESB, 5%
I went with the Pork but I did get a picture of the chicken as well.
This was so good. The pork was juicy and rich with the mustard cream sauce. The scalloped potatoes and cauliflower were creamy and awesome. It worked out really well with the ESB. At first sip of the ESB it seemed pretty tame and mild. That's because the beer before was a big DIPA. But then with the food it really brought out the hop character and also nutty malts. This was comfort food and certainly was big, filling, and very tasty. I loved it.
Fourth Course: Chocolate bread pudding with vanilla bean sauce.
Beer: Fat Dog Stout, 9%
This was just too much!! The entree course had already sent quite a number of us over the edge, and then this thing came out. I was feeling okay after the entree, and when they sat this in front of me, without thinking I systematically ate it all. And then I hit the wall with food coma.
The sweet sauce was like a frosting you put on cinnamon rolls. It was sticky and delicious. The bread pudding was nice and soft and chocolate-y. Of course chocolate and vanilla are both made for stouts. The first sip of the stout was sweet and rich, and then with a bite of the very sweet bread pudding, the bitter qualities and rich roasted notes came through making it another amazingly delicious pairing.
Simple comfort foods and fantastic beers from Stoudt's really knocked this dinner out of the park. I live a good life where I am fortunate to be invited to events like this. Where I get to imbibe on great beer and delicious food and hang out with some amazing people in the beer industry. As Suzanne Schalow always says; "I am living the dream baby!"
This was our first event after landing in Anchorage, Alaska. We literally flew into town, got showered up, and were back out for beer and food.
Billy Opinsky, the owner of Humpy's Great Alaskan Ale House, owns and shares a kitchen with another bar called SubZero Micro Lounge. Anyone who know beer in Alaska, knows Billy O. He is a kind and generous proprietor of two Anchorage's mainstay's and is extremely knowledgeable about craft beer. After our week in Alaska, I can safely call Billy O, my pal!
SubZero was the scene for the "Break Into The Cage" beer dinner. Billy Opinsky broke into his stash of rare offerings of Belgian beers kicking off a week of beer events for the Great Alaskan Beer And Barely Wine Festival. There were some excellent surprises in store and some other offerings that were not so much.
Welcome Beer:Castelain 2001 Blonde Biere de Garde, 6.4%, France
This one came out a little chunky, but tasted amazing for nine year old beer. I felt like it held up well.
The French are known for their farmhouse style ales. Very classic, wild farmhouse ales. As pretty as Biere de Garde's are though, I am looking forward to France finally competing with the Italians and making more varieties of craft beer. But having said that, I have never been to France. There could be a beer revolution going on there right now.
First Course: Artisan greens with pomegranate, tossed with meyer lemon, olive oil, and geuze, topped with gorgonzola and crispy pancetta.
This was an excellent pairing. The sour gueze went right to work on the earthy greens and the blue cheese. The pomegranate seeds added a touch of sweet tart to the plate. And of course the pancetta, that's always a welcome guest to any dish.
I liked this course a lot because reinforces the power of a good pairing. I am not a fan of sour beers. If the ph is off, they become undrinkable to me. It's not the flavors of them despite how funky they can be, it's the physical effects they cause to my body. Like instant heart burn. If they are too funky, they wild bacterias cause instant bloating. An uncomfortable issue to talk about with beers, and in the middle of a beer dinner discussion, but it still happens. These aged beers were certainly funky but I was able to handle them okay with food.
It proves to me that food and beer really change one and other. Beers you may not like, end up being wonderful with the right food. And once you accept that factor that food changes the experience all together, it reinforces a mantra that I have been repeating over recent months: You don't not need to give a person "training wheel" beers in order to make them a convert. People think non beer drinkers should be weened into beer versus giving them the best beers no matter what style they are. All it takes is an expertly matched pairing. The same can be said about me who has professed a dislike towards sour beers. Food changes everything for the better.
Second Course: Seared Foie Gras resting on red cabbage braised in Hanssens Kriek with a blackberry compote and fresh berries.
This was an amazing dish. Huge pieces of wicked soft foie gras. Absolutely sinful and artery clogging. Just the way I like it! The red cabbage and the blackberry compute was fantastic.
The beer was not so much for me. Despite it's gorgeous red color and crisp carbonation still hanging on, there was a funk going on that I just couldn't get passed. It was little rough on my esophagus as well. All the other geeks at the table were going bonkers over it. This was one I just couldn't agree with. I wound up drinking the Boon Oude Geuze with it and it worked just as well. Same basic principles of the high acid content cutting through the rich fats as well as the carbonation.
Despite a super funky beer, this course was amazing.
Amuse Bouche: Crostini with a gouda spread, spring onions and chutney.
Now this was a Cantillon I could handle. Cantillon is world renowned for their lambics and gueze's. But they are also know for being some of the most sour beers you can get. These are some of the worlds prettiest beers, but the some of the roughest on me. Luckily not this one thanks to aging rounding out all the dramatic sharp sour edges. Big lovely peaches and apricots in this muted sour beer.
It went perfectly with the little nosh of gouda crostinis.
Intermission Beer:Unibroue Edition 2005, 10% Abv, Dark Belgian Strong Ale, Quebec, Canada.
Sadly from this point on I can only post the picture from this beer dinner. I had to head back to the hotel and sleep. I had a headache so bad. We landed that afternoon and went right to the dinner. This was the kind of headache that wouldn't go away without a few hours darkness and sleep. Luckily I woke up feeling great the next and had a glorious breakfast of King Crab Leg Cakes Eggs Benedict. But bad luck for me, I missed the bread pudding dessert. Todd finished taking pictures for me.
Third Course: Deconstructed venison stew with root vegetables.
Beer:Thomas Hardy's Ale 1996 Old Ale 11.7% abv, England (Retired)
Fourth Course: Pistachio crusted lamb resting in Duchess de Bourgogne demi glace with potatoes au gratin.
I love bread pudding. What a shame I couldn't make it all the way to the end. But from everything I did have, it was an incredible meal. Todd said the rest of the meal was fantastic. I got to meet and hang out with some really great people. And I got to bad mouth Sarah Palin with some like minded Alaskans.
Thank you Billy O for kicking off our week in Alaska with an amazing beer dinner.
Okay I am finally ready to blog about Savor in D.C. I have been avoiding this blog post. Not for any reason in particular though. I just haven't felt like blogging until after the American Craft Beer Festival was over. For those of you who don't know, I manage the BeerAdvocate.com beer festivals and help organize them as well as staff the volunteers for the festivals. The ACBF needed over 300 volunteers. So there was a lot to do and I just didn't feel like blogging. But now that it is all over, I am back!
The deal with Savor. Savor was created to highlight food and beer pairings at a finer level by the Brewers Association. They began this event last year over a 2 day period showcasing fine foods paired with exceptional craft beers. This year they only had the event on one day.
As someone who hosts beer dinners for a living through BeerAdvocate.com, I am always interested in the various interpretations and presentations of beer and food combination's. Also, BeerAdvocate.com happens to be one of the sponsors for this event. And for what this event costs ($95 a head) it's good to be a sponsor.
Here is a list of the participating breweries this year.
When we first arrived, we were hustled around the side of the National Building Museum to the VIP entrance and didn't have to wait in the massive line.
I was able to get inside with only a few moments to snap some pictures before the guests entered.
Cheese and accouterments.
Flying Fish Brewing Co. Abbey Dubbel with Moroccan Spiced Lamb Burgers and Exit 4 American Trippel with Cherrywood Grilled Steak Skewers.
Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA with Grilled Beef Skewers with Fire and Spice. Merry Monk's Ale Belgian Style Tripel with Flautas De Pato.
Smuttynose Brewing Co. with Passion Fruit-Mango Mousse cups and Gravitation Quad with Black Bean and Shitake Mushroom Quesadillas.
Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. Xtra Gold American Tripel with Maryland Crab Cake Sliders (I am giggling at the "Contains Shellfish" warning on the sign. Their effing crab cakes! Come on people.) Captains Reserve Imperial IPA with Maytag Blue Cheese.
Boscos Brewing Co. Ghost River Hefeweizen with Chicken Breast A La Blanche De Chambly (Sauce is made with Unibroue's Blanche De Chambly, a white ale made in Canada.) Ghost River Golden with Grilled Beef Skewers with Fire and Spice.
A few extras I spied lingering around. Kingsbury Chocolates Espresso cups. I am not sure which cheese this is. It's either gouda or gruyere with roasted red peppers. The chocolate was by the Great Divide Table though not the right pairing it went with the Espresso Oak Aged Yeti (Imperial Stout) that Great Divide had.
More beef skewers. Boring. But the beers were not boring at all. Sexual Chocolate is awesome.
Nice fatties. Chesapeake Bay oysters.
Espresso Sambuca Parfaits
Crystal shot glasses layered with Sambuca flavored cream
Spiked with chocolate bits
Topping an espresso pudding
Garnished with striped chocolate sticks and a delicate chocolate wafer.
That is Alec Lopez's hand from The Dive Bar and The Armsby Abbey holding this cup for display. I wanted to explain what this was according to the description. This was more like some espresso jello with cream on top. While it tasted fantastic, the texture was a little creepy.
This was to be paired with Schafly's Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.
Jicama and Green Papaya summer rolls with Schafly's Oak aged Barleywine.
Sprecher Abbey Triple with Vegetarian Samosas.
Breckenridge Brewing Co. 471 IPA with Andouille Sausage en croute.
Sierra Nevada Brown Saison with Shrimp Satay and ginger.
Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale with Southwestern Black Bean Soup.
Heiner Brau Maerzen with Pulled Pork BBQ sliders.
Avery Brewing Co. Brabant Barrel Aged Wild Ale with Open Faced Tenderloin Paninis. Since the ones at Avery were decimated, I found them again at the Capitol City Brewing Co. (Arlington) paired their Amber Waves Ale. They even had the Scallop Burgers with Cilantro Lime Mayo too.
And who could pass up Russian River? I just wanted the Pliny the Elder. I didn't care about the pairings, plus they looked like shit by the time I got over there. I just wanted to say hi to Natalie and Vinnie. Vinnie Cilurzo is arguably the man who created the Double IPA craze in the states and makes one of the best in the country.
And last but not least Allagash. I started with the Passion Fruit-Mango cups and I ended with them. They were delicious and pretty.
Over all the experience was good, but I have to say the food was rather disappointing. The event cost $95 per person. And the food was repeated over and over at various tables. I only took pictures when I saw something new. But the amount of beer and brewers and repeated food was staggering.
The food quality was okay, but I still think that even if they had no choice but to repeat the food, it should have been awesome. It was okay but basically it was wedding appetizer food and nothing was really extraordinary.
The beer and the selections were great. But this event is supposed to be a food and beer event. If I were a foodie, or a novice to beer trying to understand this event or the hype around food and beer, I wouldn't get it. I would think this is one expensive ass happy hour.
I am not trying to impugn the efforts that the Brewers Association went through to make this event happen, but it could have been 100 times better and I will tell you why.
Last year they had much more variety or maybe it was just a higher caliber of food. But the problem with last years event, it was held on two days and at times where everyone was starving. 5pm on Friday, 12 and 5 pm on Saturday. As soon as everyone entered the venue the food was wiped out. All the pairings were wrong on each table because they had to scramble to replace what was wiped out with pairing food from other places.
Again as a novice to beer or foodie, I wouldn't have understood it. Since nothing matched, and everything was replaced with Elbow chocolates and duck purses. It would have just seemed like an expensive way to spend the afternoon with snacks and beers.
This year they had one shot to get it right. One session, 7:30 until 11pm. They handled the amount of food okay but it wasn't all that for the price. I suppose if you look at it as an all you can eat and drink for $95 bucks, I guess that's a good deal, but the purpose of this event wasn't supposed to be a free for all. It was supposed to be an awesome food and beer event. It was only okay and only the beer was stellar.
The side events around Savor were much better. The Lupulin Reunulin event at RFD the day before Savor was awesome. BeerAdvocate.com had held a pub crawl all day leading up to this event. This event was a speaker panel of the "Big Dicks" moderated by the ever so lovely Julie Johnson of All About Beer. Ken Grossman and his son Brian of Sierra Nevada joined in on the action too.
The "Big Dicks" are a bunch of brewers we like to call the cool kids, the popular guys in the industry. Sam (Levi's) Calagione of Dogfish Head, (Pretty Boy) Adam Avery of Avery Brewing Co., Rob (Dirty) Tod of Allagash, Tomme (You ruined my beer, now I hate you!) Arthur of Lost Abbey, and Vinnie (Where the fuck is RR in Mass.?) Cilurzo of Russian River (not pictured because his ass was late to the party). Everyone talks about their beers, everyone wants to meet them and hang out with them.
It's all good fellas and all in love. Really, I am good friends with all of them, but I have to bust their balls. Each one of their nick names is an inside joke. Except for Sam who really was a Levi's Jeans model back in the day. It's okay to ask him about that too.
With this event we tasted 16 beers and listened to this panel discuss the beers and drink them together. It was an awesome event. We noticed everyone around us was smashed by the end of this event, and I couldn't help but think what pussies when I had been on a pub crawl all day and was barely buzzed. I had to laugh at that.
One guy nearly got his ass kicked by me during this event though. He was rudely shooshing us and I mean being a straight up bitch about it, those who were standing in the back of the room. It was a social event, drinks were flowing, how can you expect people to be dead silent? And on top of that it wasn't even that bad or loud. I told this douche bag, whom was so rude and pretty much deserved a beat down, that he was rude after the event. He got holier than thou saying he spent $40 bucks to get into the event. Big Hairy Deal! I spent $40 bones too. So did everyone else. I made Alec Lopez and Sherri Sadowski owners of The Dive Bar and The Armsby Abbey, laugh out loud when the crybaby was still crying about the price, I told him "I will fuck you up" right to his face. I meant it too. He was such a bitch for that. Alas he didn't spoil the night, the mood, or all of my fun.
I am not really that hardcore to fight a guy, but I did want to dump beer all over this guys head. Sadly though, it is true that I do have a foul mouth.
But that night was not about crybabies. It was a fun gathering of friends and industry folk. Lots of laughing and information about these beers being discussed. And the "Big Dicks" cutting it up on stage.
After Savor on Saturday, it was also Adam Avery's 50th 43rd birthday. I left Savor early with the Ladies Of Cambridge Commons from Boston. We went and got a drink or six. Then Todd Alström (my husband) called me to tell me everyone was at Matchbox. So I headed over there.
On the way over I got into a dance battle with some Queens on the streets of D.C. They were clearly humoring me, but then we broke out into Voguing and the shit got serious fast. But I won! Ya Betta Ax Somebody! Totally true story. I battled and won for my peeps!
Then I met up with Sherri (I thought her name was hot ass bitch the entire weekend. She is gorgeous!) and Alec again. Greg Koch of Stone was there along with Adam Avery, and a bunch of other people at Matchbox. Poor Adam though. A crazy girl grabbed a hold of him and really became aggressive with her um "affections" towards him. Yeah her husband was standing right behind her while she told everyone at the bar that she would totally Bone Adam and that her husband wouldn't care because Adam was a celebrity and they loved his beers. Yeah her husband looked rightfully upset and "unthrilled" with his wife. As were we all. Poor Adam indeed. What a way to spend his birthday! Surviving a near rape. It's what you get though when you're Pretty Boy Adam I suppose.
We had a great laugh at his expense for that though. I will owe him some drinks for that.
All in all the weekend was good. I preferred the events before and after Savor the most and the company we kept. Not to mention the great new people we met. Savor was okay, but they better make next years flawless. The beers were the only thing holding it together this year for an other wise very expensive, yet mediocre food and beer event.
Last night was a special night for beer lovers and long time friends in the industry of beer and restaurants. Two long time friends, Dann Paquette of Pretty Things and Danny Valachovic the owner of Vee Vee in Jamaica Plain. Together they hosted a wonderful evening of beer and amazing food.
We were introduced to the newest arrival of Dann's beer collection called Baby Tree. A Belgian style Quad with plums/prunes.
Dann Paquette has a long standing history with the Boston area as a brewer. He has a long love and passion for Belgian beers which has inspired him and many of his beers over the years. For many who know him, he is considered one of the most creative and brilliant minds when it comes to brewing beer. He will never admit to that however. But for the rest of us, we know.
He was a Brewer for Concord Brewing Company where he was the creator of Rapscallion and Blessing among many others. He also brewed for The Tap in Haverhill, Ma. where he created Leather Lips IPA. Since then Leather Lips has been brewed by others and now bottled. It's good, but not as good as when Dann made it.
Dann then met the lovely Martha, his now wife. She is from York, England. They moved to the U.K. He then brewed for Daleside Brewery where he became familiar with brewing the classic British styles, such as milds and bitters.
Today Dann and Martha are back in the Boston area. They are back with a mission of beer. Their concept is called Pretty Things. The name derives itself from their unique perspective of the ingredients that make beer. The small things that may not always be seen from the eye, such as yeasts and bacterias that are found in beer, and the the hops that grow from the dirty Earth, to the grains. All of these sometimes unsightly things that come together and make pretty things like beer. Such a fabulous way to look at it.
Dann then teamed up with Danny Vee a long time friend, whom recently opened up a new restaurant in Jamaica Plain. It is a modern American food focusing on grains, local fresh vegetables, and seafood.
When we arrived at Vee Vee, we were greeted with St. Bernardus Prior 8, a Belgian dubbel and chef Seth Morrison's selection of house offal as little appetizers and amuse bouche. The beer was chosen by Dann as a beer that has inspired him as a brewer.
This included: Fresh New England oysters, clams with kimchi, fried lamb tongue and cheeks, lamb hearts, and lamb kidneys.
We were then seated and Dann and Martha welcomed us and gave us an introduction to their beers and company story.
[Caption this contest for image two. LOL!]
The First Course:
Seafood Course: You'll be seated social-style and dig in to the "Bayou Bake", a Louisiana-style clambake. Communal bowls of wild shrimp, crawfish, crab, oysters, clams and mussels along with andouille sausage and new potatoes cooked in a beer broth. (Jack D'Or beer broth.)
Beer: Pretty Things Jack D'Or: Saison Americain 6.5%
Side Note: Please click the links to the beers. The Pretty Things website has the full story of the beers and the reasons for the names. It's well worth the read and better than I can describe them.
The beer is a very crisp and clean Saison. It is not cloying with too much spices as some tend to have. Nor is too funky with wild yeast strains as some of them can be. This beer is refreshing with nice carbonation and beautiful hops that give it a nice balance of bitterness.
These lighter styles of beer work awesome with seafood. Jack D'Or is no exception. It's clean and fresh hop flavors play nicely with the flavors of boiled crab. The sweet malts and light spicy notes of the beer allow things like Old Bay which the fish boil was seasoned with, to come out and not fight with one and other. The sweet shrimp and flavorful crawfish all work similarly with the beer like the crab. The clams were nice and salty which added an extra pop of sweetness from the beers malts.
This was truly an awesome course. It was served family style, allowing all of us at the table to dig right in and get our hands dirty and force us to be social with the newly met friends at our table.
Second Course: Spring Lamb In Three Parts
The lamb is a local fresh spring lamb bought through a co-op of local farmers. From Vee Vee's Website:
At Vee Vee, we source our meat from a small cooperative in Vermont, which practices humane and sustainable methods of farming.
Beer: Pretty Things St. Botolph's Town, a rustic dark beer 5.7%. Served with all three courses.
A.) Loin of lamb, sliced and served with a salad of lamb's quarters.
This was a roulade and the lamb was rare and so beautiful and delicious. It was rolled with a salted lamb sausage. The greens were fresh local wild greens with some radishes and lightly dressed in oil and lemon.
The greens were nice and earthy and added a nice fresh taste with the lemon that had a unique way of working with the rustic brown ale flavors of roasted, sweet malts. The roasted malts tend to have a toffee, chocolate, and coffee notes, combine that with the earthy flavors on the greens and salted flavors of the lamb and you have one hell of a combo. The beer is a surprisingly bitter beer with a dry finish despite the initial onslaught of huge toasted malt flavors.
This was * "a playful little dish" * and the lamb was so soft and absolutely divine.
*Quote from American Psycho that was totally appropriate for this course. "New York Matinee called it 'a playful but mysterious little dish'."
B.) Roast leg of lamb, served with spring vegetables: favas, fiddleheads, snap peas...
The tender and beautifully soft lamb again was deliciously and perfectly cooked. Salted and presented with spring veg. and snap peas. This pairing brought out a different effect of the malts. It was sweeter and caramel like, less roasted flavors. The beer also brought out the very subtle rosemary that seasoned the lamb. Generally with lamb, rosemary is a no brainer, but this was subtle and pleasant. The lamb being so fresh and juicy, it didn't need to be masked by heavy rosemary.
C.) Beer-braised Lamb Shank & Shoulder Stew, with garlic and Cranberry beans.
This was presented to us and then a St. Botolph's Town/Lamb stock broth was poured on top. It also had braised leeks. This part of the course in a way, got the shaft. It was beautiful and tasted amazing. But by the time we got to this course, we were becoming very full.
This cassoulet had the most tender chucks of lamb shoulder and again this lamb with the most soft texture and delicious flavors really shined though. The flavors from this rich stew again added another unique perspective as the broth brought out richer and deeper flavors of the beer. Less sweet malts, but more rustic earth notes. More raw grain flavors.
Truly a unique and wonderful experience to be able to have three courses in one setting with lamb that bring out all the different intentions with this beer in pairing it with food.
Last but not least,
Cheese Course: A selection of farmhouse cheeses and accompaniments will bring this springtime feast to a close.
Beer: Pretty Things Baby Tree, a Belgian-inspired Quadrupel 8.6%
This was the first time I had tasted the beer. It was very clean and refreshing for a Belgian-style Quad. The plums/prunes where apparent along with deep berry flavors. The plums left a delightful lingering taste on the palate and the beer finished clean when normally big Quads tend to hang on in the mouth feel with a lingering cloying effect. This was fresh and quite different.
The cheeses were a German Kasse (aged cows milk, similar to a gouda, but more dry and aged) which I never got the name of, and Tallegio (an Italian cows milk cheese, soft and funky with a washed rind.)
I missed the whole presentation of what was on the plate. And frankly I had no interest in the kasse because the tallegio was paired with a raw honey comb and was absolutely perfect with the beer. I wanted to focus on that.
It's not like me to deny myself cheese and I am not about to fake it in my review that I tried the kasse pairing. But as far as the kasse and fruit compote, the reason it would work is because Kasse tends to have sharp rich flavors. It's aged and has crystallized whey crunchies in it. The rich flavors like similar to gouda have a rich flavor and strong sharpness as well as a creaminess despite the aged dry texture that the sweet fruits in the beer marry well to each other. The fruit plays with the cheese and the crisp nature of the beer and the hops cuts through the oils and allows more of the grass and raw flavors to come out on the cheese. The fruit compote only enhances the fruit that is already in the beer and tags along with the malts in the beer.
Over all this was a wonderful experience. A very long night, but spent well with good friends, new friends, wonderful food, and extraordinary beers.
Dann Paquette has come back to the Boston area with a vengeance. A breath of fresh air to our brewing community. New ideas, new approaches to how we look at beers and styles.
Dann's beers are incredibly drinkable. From the nice surprise and pleasant hop kick in the saison, to the roasted malts that are very typical of American style brown ales in a beer made to be an homage to the English styles he loves, and the very clean and less sticky Belgian-style Quad. There is definitely love and well thought out care to these beers. You can expect more greatness from Pretty Things in the future to come.
As for Vee Vee, wonderful! You must go there and visit. Even if it is all the way out in JP, it's well worth it.
{Image from my own collection while visiting Redoak in Sydney, Australia. A proper beer and cheese pairing.}
More old school notes on how to pair beer with cheese. This was one of the first times I was invited with Robert Aguilera to help teach a class on pairings. These beers were my favorite at the time. Ellie's Brown Ale is still one of my favorite beers.
1. St. Peters Porter, England with Pesche di Crema (peach cream) and Robiola di Serola (Asti, Italy)
2. Ellie's Brown Ale, Avery Brewing Company Boulder, Co. with
Senepata (quince and mustard paste) and Taleggio Castagna (Lombardy,
Italy)
3. Mocha Java Stout (Z Street), Mercury Brewing Company Ipswch, MA.
with Venchi hazelnut 56 cocoa bark and Tronchetto di Capra(Ornavasso,
Italy) and Robiola Monte Rossa (Val d'Aosta, Italy)
4. Peche MortelImperial Coffee Stout, Brassierie Dieu Du Ciel,
Montreal , Quebec with Venchi Gianduja (hazelnut paste and chocolate
mixture dipped in chocolate) and Alpe Piana (Ornavasso, Italy)
5. Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout, Great Divide Denver Co. with Venchi
85 puro Robusto chocolate and Venchi Hazelnut Gianduja (gianduja blocks
with whole Piedmont hazelnuts) and Pecorino Frabasano (Ornavasso,
Italy) and Croste Di Pane (Ornavasso, Italy)
6. Samael's Oak Aged English Style, Ale Avery Brewing Company,
Boulder Co. with Venchi 75 puro chocolate with chilli pepper flakes and
Gorgonzola Dolce (Lombardy, Italy)
These are some old school beer and cheese notes from 2006. This was from a pairing I helped organize back in my Formaggio Kitchen days. It's all about Dogfish Head beers. This is basically the definitive guide to a good portion of DFH beers and their matches with cheese. It's a bit of a battle between the cheeses. I no longer have my list of what was voted the favorites. But this would make for a great taste test for some of you out there who love beer and cheese pairings or are new to the game. Feel free to comment with your winning selections if you do try some of these.
I worked on these pairings with Allen Reitz, Sam Caligione, and my friend Robert Aguilera who is one of the "Illest Motha Fucka's from here to Gardena" when it comes to cheese and fine gourmet condiments and food.
Sam CaligioneDogfish Head
Robert AguileraFormaggio Kitchen
Dogfish Head - 60 Minute IPA
A
session India Pale Ale brewed with Warrior, Amarillo & "Mystery Hop
X." A powerful East Coast IPA with a lot of citrusy hop character. 6.0BV
Morbier
Semi
soft cow's milk cheese from the gentle rolling pastures of the Jura
Mountains in France. This cheese is most recognizable for its layer of
ash in the middle of the cheese. A technique that harkens back to the
days when you had to keep a rind from forming on one side of the cheese
in order to add another layer after the morning milking of the next
day. This cheese is nutty, yeasty and dense with a shortbread biscuit
flavor finish.
- Vs. Gorgonzola Piccante
Large
format crumbly cow's milk blue cheese from Lombardy, Italy. The cheese
that adorns many a pear walnut salad, this forty-pound wheel has more
earth and clay flavor to buffer its spicy overtones. Dogfish Head - Raison D'Etre
A deep, mahogany ale brewed with beet sugar, green raisins, and Belgian-style yeast. As complex as a fine, red wine. 8.0BV
Charollais Fermier
Raw
Goat milk "chevre" from the Burgundy region of France. Its dry, crumbly
nature would lead you to believe that this goat milk cheese would be
"gamey". Quite the contrary, it is sweet, peanuty and a thick palate
hugger.
-Vs.
Comte Le Fort
Twenty-four
month aged cow's milk cheese from the high mountain pastures of the
Jura, France. The humid, cold former ammunitions fort that this
"gruyere" style cheese comes from helps give this large wheel its
sweet, caramelized milk flavor and its lingering wild onion finish.
Dogfish Head - Chicory Stout
A
dark beer made with a touch of roasted chicory, organic Mexican coffee,
St. John's Wort, and licorice root. Brewed with whole-leaf Cascade and
Fuggles hops, the grains include pale, wheat, roasted & oatmeal.
5.2BV
Croste di Pane
A
flat cow's milk cheese from the Piedmont region of Italy. Called "bread
crust," this cheese does have a biscuit flavor with a clay-cream
finish. A rare one.
- Vs. Calcagno
Sheep
milk aged one year from the Salerno region of Italy. Made in the same
style of Parmigiano Reggiano, this southern Italian cheese has a fair
amount of sweetness with a citrus finish.
Dogfish Head - Burton Baton
A
blend of oak-aged English strong ale and our 90 Minute IPA. Citrus
notes from Northwestern hops meld with vanilla notes from the oak. 10.0
ABV
Triple Cream Cow's Milk
The
specifics will come at the class, but expect that the flavor will be
buttery, creamy with a little limestone flavor finish. The Champagne
area of France, where the best triple-crmes come from are best with
bubbles, but they will also do with extreme beers.
- Vs. Laguiole
Cow
milk cheese from the Auvergne region of France. Similar to English
Cheddars, this 60-pound wheel always brings spice to its buttery sharp
flavor.
Dogfish Head - Midas Touch Golden Elixir
This
recipe is the actual oldest-known fermented beverage in the world! Our
recipe showcases the known ingredients of barley, white Muscat grapes,
honey & saffron found in the drinking vessels in King Midas' tomb!
Somewhere between a beer, wine and mead, this smooth, dry ale will
please with Chardonnay or I.P.A. drinker alike. 9.0BV
Bleu de Basque
Sheep
milk blue from the Pays Basque, France. Sweet and spicy with a creamy
texture. Most similar to English Stilton in its flavor profile, it
strays only in the dense sweet butter flavor that always dominates
sheep milk cheeses.
- Vs. Cap Gris Nez
Washed-rind
cow milk cheese from the Flanders area of France. A tradition that
dates back to the middle ages and the blessed cheese making monks of
Belgium. Yeasty, vegetal and quite aromatic. You might even want to
pair Scotch with this one.
Dogfish Head - Festina Lente
A
neo-lambic ale that goes through both a yeast and bacteria fermentation
and is then aged on oak chips and 400 pounds of Delaware peaches. This
beer is very tart and complex. It is bottle-conditioned in champagne
bottles. 7.0BV
Bouq Emissaire
Vegetable
ash covered goat's milk from Quebec, Canada. Thick, creamy textured,
lemony goat's milk with a salty finish. Take your time with the
pairing. Let it warm up in your mouth with the Festina and enjoy the
meld. (This perfect pairing needs no other.)
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