I have a pretty strict policy around here regarding press releases: I don’t like ‘em, and I don’t run them on this blog.  But, for every rule there is an exception, and here is the one for this rule.  Hot off the heels of cooking an amazing beer dinner for Almanac, Flour + Water is back at it again with another Dough Room dinner for another lucky twelve beer lovers. When a Chron rising star chef asks you to help promote a beer dinner, you through your stupid rules out the window and plug it.  They’re teaming up with Linden St Brewing and Cherry Voodoo for what I’m sure will be an outstanding meal.   The dough room specialty is tableside risotto, which isn’t available on the regular dining room menu.  It’s amazing.

Here are the details:

“flour + water is pleased to collaborate with Cherry Voodoo Brewing & Linden Street Brewery to bring you a Local Beermaker Dinner on Monday, March 21, 6 & 9:20PM

Experience an evening with beermakers Yuri Green of Cherry Voodoo Brewing & Adam Lamoreaux of Linden Street Brewery, featuring a 5 course menu prepared by Chef Thomas McNaughton.  Both breweries are local gems tucked away in the city of San Francisco and just across the Bay in Oakland. The beers featured will include some Old California Style Lagers and a Belgian Tripel.  If we are lucky, these two may even bring a few favorites of their own.

The 5 course dinner, prepared in the Dough Room by Chef Tom, is $130 per person + tax & gratuity. There are 12 seats available at the chef’s table in our Dough Room for each dinner. By day, The Dough Room serves as a prep kitchen where we roll our fresh handmade pastas, and at night it transforms into an intimate private dining space available for parties of up to 12 people.

For reservations, or other Dough Room bookings, call 415.826.7000 or email events@flourandwater.com”

Of course, I was a little busy hosting the dinner to break out my camera, so I am extremely to David of beer47.com who not only attended the dinner, but picked up my slack as the “guy who won’t put his camera away.”  He was also kind enough to let me use his pictures here, but you should check out his own thoughts, as well as more pictures at his website.

The whole dinner was great, but a few pairing really stand out for me: The scallop ceviche was perfectly balanced, and Eddie and I collaborated to make the carbonated citrus, which really took to the the Almanac beer’s flavors and tied the plate together.  I’m also totally biased, since this was the first pairing we’ve ever served with our fledgling new brewery.  Another highlight was our “cheese course” which was put together with the help of Maison Mitchell tackled both pairing with a double IPA and creating a sauce from it. The funky taleggio was nicely balanced with the floral Double IPA, and stood up to the bitterness of a very tricky style to pair with food.  The spiced pineapple sauce gave the right balance of sweetness, and his agar-agar thicken sauce of the hoppy beer was one of the best examples of cooking with hops I’ve had.

All told, it was a great evening, creating a unique time and place where great beer and food are enjoyed with great company.  It feels alittle odd to try to write color commentary on my own dinner, so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Here is a photoessay of what it looked like, courtesy of beer47.com.

Scallop and Citrus Ceviche
sweet lime and coconut vin, ale carbonated orange, tangerine agrumato,turnip, jasmine citrus syrup
Almanac Beer Co. Summer 2010 Blackberry Ale

Uni with Soup Dumpling
house soy broth, elderflower mint gelee, sweet tea cornichon
Drake’s Brett Butler Barrel Aged Triple

Espresso Mole Pancetta in Edible Garden
espresso mole “soil”, baby radish, minutina
Dogfish Head Bitches Brew

Vadouvan Braised Shortrib
vadouvan coconut curry, lentils de puy, hedgehog mushrooms, baby carrots
SF Beer Week Collaborative Bourbon Barrel Imperial Common

Taleggio Mousse in Choux
madras curried pineapple compote, IPA sauce
Highwater Brewing Retribution Double IPA

Foie Torchon with Candied Mandarinquat
brioche, lavender vanilla duck egg sabayon
Firehouse Brewing Pete Support Belgian IPA

Finally, dessert: (not pictured) Humphry Slocombe Espresso Balsamic Ice Cream
floating in Speakeasy Porter infused with TCHO Chocolate

But in the meantime, let’s explore one of my favorite in-vogue topics: underground restaurants. They seem to be everywhere these days, and I’ve been to some very, very good dinners. Whenever I attended one, I usually came packing a selection of fine beers.  If beer was offered, it was almost always Tecate and PBR – a disservice to the food being served.   Luckily, a new underground gathering has formed centered around homebrew and great experimental food: Mission Gastroclub. (Hat tip to FemALEist for introducing me to them.)

Each meal is four courses, served with a paired beer.  They aim to use homebrew whenever they can, but aren’t afraid to supplement with commercial beers when they need to.  The theme for the dinner I attended was “Breakfast For Dinner.”  Most of their dinners are one-offs, not be repeated.  Unlike a restaurant, which will tinker and toy with a dish over time, here it has one shot to shine, and then it’s gone.  This is good and bad – it create a high wire act of experimentation and excitement – but also means that a dish has more of a chance of arriving not quite perfected. In this underground environment, at this price point – it’s a good thing. I came looking for something new, something exciting, something in it’s incubation phase, just being explored and discovered – and that’s just what I found.

Pairing adventurous cuisine, classic homebrew styles and a very small informal space is an easy sell for me.  Doing it all for $30 a plate – even better. Well, enough preamble – let’s get into it.

A little background on underground restaurants: It is illegal to operate a restaurant out of your home and serve the public.  It is also quite illegal to sell or serve homebrew to the public. However, it is perfectly legal to operate an informal club and serve food to it’s members, with membership fees that happen to coincide with the cost of dinner.  It’s through this loophole that most of these dinners operate.  The team behind these meals is Eric – the brewer, and Neil, the chef.   Together they convert a surprising spacious Mission apartment into a brewpub for the night.  Their dedication to the craft is on display in a room lined with homebrew equipment.

When we walked in, Eric (and his enormous beard!) greeted us with pours of a homebrewed IPA.  It was balanced with a nice malt backbone and bracing bitterness.  It’s certainly one way to wake a palette up in the morning (and by morning, I mean dinner.)

First course: French Toast (cinnamon bread, egg), bruleed banana, coffee infused maple syrup.

We started off with that brunch standard: french toast.  The coffee infused syrup was a nice touch, and the toast had a well-earned crust on the exterior, with a custardy interior. Since the dinner only serves 14, all of the food was cooked to order, and served fresh off the griddle.  While it wasn’t an exciting dish, it was tasty.

The beer pairing with Lost Abbey’s Red Barn – a classic Saison.  The light malts and yeast worked to balance to the eggy french toast.

Next, glasses of Oscar Blues’ Pilsner, Mama’s Little Yella appeared before us.

Second Course: Chilaquiles made with house-fried chips, house salsa verde, soul food egg sunny side up, queso fresco, crema

Now we’re talking. A deconstructed and rebuilt Chilaquiles.  Now, mexican food officinados are now doubt looking that that plate and thinking “that’s clearly not chilaquiles.  that’s breakfast nachos!” And they would be right.  But semantics aside, it was an outstanding dish.  The housemade salsas were bright and balanced, taking on a slightly mediterranean influence more than Mexico. Eggs were perfectly cooked, and fresh, hot from the oil chips were delivered during the meal to make sure everyone got enough.

The pairing wasn’t as special as the dish – the pils brought to mind Mexican lagers – and pretty much started and stopped with that reference. It didn’t add much, but they didn’t take away either.  I would have preferred the IPA we were served at the door to bring our the herbal qualities of the salsa verde.   But no matter: great things were afoot for the next course.  Homemade Bacon! Eric’s beard quivers with excitement.

Third Course:  English Breakfast with house blood sausage, house-smoked bacon (honey brine), roasted heirloom tomato,  pickled scotch egg, sauteed mushrooms

This English Breakfast set the bar for the night.  It was an indulgent plate of homemade charcuterie experiments, and those experiments payed dividends. The tomato provided a nice acidic balance, and the beans something to mop up the fat.  As for the meat: the thick cut back was smokey and well cured, with an outstanding texture.  The pickled scotch egg combined two bar snacks into one (had the yolk been a tad less done, we’d really be talking about something) and finally, the blood sausage, hiding in the back, out of focus in the picture above.  The sausage was cut, and seared, giving each slice a crust on the outside, just barely holding the insides together.  It was rich was fat and texture, and the single best bite of the meal.

All of this was served a homebrew smoked porter.  Smoke in a beer is a delicate balance, and they got it just right.  It can easily run away with the beer, rather than playing a supporting role to the underlying darks malts, as it does here.

The reaction to this dish was jubilant.

Finally dessert, which was unfortunately my least favorite of the night.   There’s a good idea hiding in this dish, it just needed more tinkering.

Fourth Course: Waffle with fig jam, blueberries, chocolate.

The waffles weren’t done to order (like most other dishes) and it showed in the final texture. The fruit and chocolate weren’t the best of friends either.

The beer it was served with was great, and showed the inspiration (but not the execution) for the dessert. Eric’s dark quad was sweet, with tons of dried fruit and dark candi character.  Loaded with layers of raisins, figs and bit of cocoa, it was sweet but balanced with a bit of alcohol heat from it’s 10% ABV.  This beer served as my dessert, and a great last taste before heading back out into the mission night.

I’d hate for my criticism to feel like I’m disparaging the over-all meal.   Quite the opposite – given the price, the space, the beers, and the people – this is an exceptional meal.  Currently a puny seventy-five people are signed up for their list serve announcing dinners. With that number, the reserved seats usually sell out in around eight minutes.  Such is the dedication and excitement that Eric and Neil’s underground restaurant engenders in its customers. Diners feel a sense of ownership over these meals, that they create a succeed in creating a sense of place and community. The tables are alive with chatter and excitement though every course, and no nit-picking food details could ruin that. (Case in point: while taking pictures, two other diners offered lighting equipment to help out, because they were eager and proud as the guys behind the stove.)

So, given the already quick reaction time it takes to secure a spot at these meals, I implore you: please don’t go.  They’re too popular as it is. Don’t follow them on twitter. Don’t sign up for the email listserve. And don’t compete with me for those fourteen spots when they open up.  I like it just the way it is, delicious successes and less-than-successes and all.

Dinner at the historic Anchor Brewery, hosted by Fritz Maytag and Ken Grossman of Sierra Neveda?  Sign me up!  The mind boggles at such a coming together of minds and brewing talents. The dinner was in honor of the launch of Fritz & Ken’s Ale, a collaborative Imperial Stout that marks the first of serveral forthcoming brews to celebrate Sierra Nevada’s 30th anniversary.

Unfortunately, the excitement and romance of a beer dinner hosted surrounded by copper fermentors has to give way to reality, and the logistical and physical difficulties of serving a dinner in a brewery.  Overall it was an amazing experience – Fritz and Ken told great stories in between courses and special beers were dug out of their respective back catalogs.  The food was decent-to-great, with some variation from course to course, but overall pretty impressive given the catering setup they must have been dealing with. The pairings were frustrating: great beers were constantly mismatched throughout the dinner, and the flavor profiles could have used a little more attention to detail  - these choices were especially frustrating, since an ideal choice was often a course or two before or after.

But enough with the hemming and hawing – let’s get into the good stuff:

Dinner started with a selection of passed appetizers, served with Anchor Steam and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Fritz and Ken made great hosts for the night, acting as story tellers in between courses, regaling a captive audience with stories of starting the breweries, and just how hard it was to find good beer back when they got going.

Jay Brooks was seated closer to action than I was, and caught some of the stories on tape.  You can see his full account of the evening here:

Oh, and there was dinner!

First Course: Crisp Poached Farm Egg, peppered salmon bacon, poached asparagus, meyer lemon.

This dish was OK – the plating left a lot to be desired, but the the asparagus was well cooked, the fried egg oozed perfectly when cut open (not an easy task).  I found the salmon bacon less successful, but someone who like really briny fish might be more of fan.

The first course was paired with Sierra Nevada Weizenbock – a special collaborative brew made with the input of german brewers.  This is a super classic style, and Sierra Nevada adhered to tradition – it has a great clove and banana aroma, and nice wheaty finish.   The pairing worked fine, but wasn’t anything to knock your socks off.  But it’s just the first course, where they had the opportunity to play with more delicate flavors.

Next, we were poured a small taste of Anchor Steam Almost-Beer, fresh from the fermentor. It was still slightly sweet, with just a touch of natural carbonation, and hazy from the suspended yeast.  I loved that they served this to us – it really took advantage of being in the brewery – where else would one try this?

Our next course was my favorite of the night: Malted Barley Cake with ragout of Sonoma duck and morels, pea puree.

A “mountain of morels” would have been a better descriptor.  This dish was an abundance of riches: sweet, smooth pea puree on the bottom, a crispy fried barley cake (think risotto, with barley) and a giant pile of earthy morels to balance the sweetness below.   Texturally and flavor wise, they really knocked it out of the park.  This course was paired with Anchor’s Humming Ale.

I didn’t really care for Humming Ale when it was first released.  Maybe I’ve softened, or maybe the beer has improved a little with age, but I like it more this time than I have in the past.  It has a slightly astringent hop bite, with a long finish.  I don’t find the aroma to be particularly floral or citrus – rather it has a more distinct sharpness to it.   As for a pairing, it was OK – but with a hearty dish like this could have used a dish with a bit more body and malt backbone.  Like for example, the beer we were poured immediately following this course as a in-between courses sipper: Sierra Nevada’s Estate Ale from 2009

The hops have faded since this beer was first released, but not completely, thanks to careful handling at Sierra Nevada.  It has a thick, slightly sweet malt back that reminds me of the balance of a more east coast traditional IPA.  A outstanding beer, aging nicely.

Next up: Beef Shortrib “Carbonnade” with cippolini onions, favas, spring carrots, smoked potato puree.

This deconstructed plate was a bit disjointed, but all was forgiven for a perfectly cooked short rib.  The meat was juicy, and the steak fell apart at the mere suggestion of a for approaching.  The fat from the beef was distributed back into the well-braised meat, and nicely seared to finish.  As for the beers, this was probably the best pairing of the night: Anchor Porter and Sierra Nevada Hoptimum Double IPA.

Serving two beers with a course is dangerous – it leads to inevitably comparing the two, and there being a lesser pairing. Not so here – the two, completely different beers brought out two completely different pairings. The Anchor Porter played to the carmel flavors in the beef, and brought out the sear.  In contrast, the spritely Hoptimum Double IPA contrasted more decidedly against the texture and fat of the meat, and brought out the more herbal notes of the veggies below.  Both went nicely with the caramelized onions.

With with that, we were done with the savory side of the meal. Onto cheese – Fritz’s namesake blue:  Maytag Blue Panna Cotta, Walnut-pepper brittle, and warm cornmeal madeleines.

What a creative, fun course.  The just slightly sweetended panna cotta still packed most of the punch you’d want from the cheese.  The madeleines were warm as advertised, and balanced with the sliced kumquats.  So what to pair?

For the record – Brian Grossman – big fan of this course.

Our servers produced another dual pairing:  Vintage 2000 Anchor Our Special Ale and Sierra Nevada 2005 Bigfoot.  The aged Bigfoot was an outstanding pairing, showcasing barleywine’s natural home with big cheeses. The vintage ale was good, and nicely aged – spices fading, just a hint of oxidation, but neat to try none the less.  Sadly, it couldn’t stand up to the cheese.  I would have loved to have seen the dueling aged barleywines poured here and have Anchor’s Old Foghorn make an appearance.

Actually, Old Foghorn was about to make an appearance… sort of.

Our last course was Warm TCHO Chocolate Old Foghorn Cake with Carmel, Old Foghorn Ice Cream, Raisin Compote.  It was poured with the special beer this whole evening was all about: Fritz & Ken’s Ale, a smokey and rich Imperial Stout.

The cake featured notes pulled from Old Foghorn in both the ice cream and the sauce… perhaps too well.  It screamed for a barleywine pairing.  Luckily, there were a few drops still left from the pervious course in my glass.  This is not to slight the stout at all – it’s aggressively smokey, and just a little rough around the edges – perfect for laying down for a few years to age.  I’m a big fan.  This just wasn’t the course for it.

So – all told, how was the dinner?  As a meal and pairing dinner, it was a bit uneven – some pairings needed work, although you can’t slight them for holding back on fun beers.  As an experience, it was exceptional, and great fun.  Because at the end of it, what everyone (myself included) will remember is listening to Fritz ramble on about the birth of modern brewing, while sipping beers pulled from the back of the cellar.

]]> http://beerandnosh.com/2010/04/anchor-sierra-nevada-beer-dinner/feed/ 3 http://beerandnosh.com/2010/02/mostly-barrel-aged-beer-dinner/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mostly-barrel-aged-beer-dinner http://beerandnosh.com/2010/02/mostly-barrel-aged-beer-dinner/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:59:15 +0000 Jesse http://beerandnosh.com/?p=2303

After weeks of planning, hours of tasting, and an unknowable number of phone calls to brewers confirming their beer would be there, the “Mostly Barrel Aged Beer Dinner” went off without a hitch.  As usual, Scala’s Bistro and The Sir Francis Drake pulled of this huge feat without breaking a sweat.

“Enough preamble, get to the food porn!” you’re saying.  I hear ya.  I’ve got a lot of pictures, so pour yourself a big beer, get comfy, and let’s jump right into the good stuff, shall we?

I poked my head into the kitchen before things got going.  Pastry Chef Tim Nugent‘s team was getting the housemade pretzels ready, and topping them with volcanic salt.  These were then paired up with a beer mustard, made from Sierra Nevada’s Old Ale (more on that beer later.)

You know you’ve got a good dinner on your hands, when the staff is taking pictures of their own handiwork.

Meanwhile, the savory team was scooping out canelles of a chicken liver mouse  - which Eli later declared, tastes like grandma’s recipe.

Beers were chilling.  We started with the beers pretty cold to make service easier.  By time they reached the table, most beers were being served only “cool” – so that all of the delicate nuances of the barrels came through.  Cold beer tastes like nothing. If you want it to stay that way, serve it cold.  Otherwise, bring it up a few degrees to reveal all the hard work the brewer has put into their brew.

Vina, our rockstar private dining coordinator reviewed our menu with the wait staff.

Upstairs, it turns out people were ready to go.  By time we “opened” the doors at 6:30, most everyone was already there.

We kicked off the night with some exceptionally good and rare beers. Shmaltz Brewing offered up a taste of their Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner.  In their typical style, it was slightly twisted and amped up by the addition of rye and extra hops for aroma. Valley Brewing poured a spectator sour, made with pomegranates and lots of lacto with a bretty, farmhouse finish.  The “Bill Brandbic” was made in honor of Bill Brand – who is sorely missed, and surly would have loved his namesake “Calambic.”

Besides the pretzels, we also enjoyed some additional passed apps:

White bean puree with white anchovies.

Goat cheese crustinis.

Chicken Liver Mousse.

One of the real highlights of collaborating with local brewers is having them on hand to talk about the process of making their beer.  Here’s Steve, explaining his love of fermenting pomegranate juice.

First up at the table was an amuse bouche: Ggolden beet & malt soup with hoppy creme fresh.

Next up were pours of Firestone Walker’s Lil Opal aged in Viognier Barrels. A light, crisp beer, the barrels added a hint of tobacco and a nice touch of oak.  To go with it: Yellow Tail King Fish: Fresno Chilies, Ginger, Basil, Rice Crackling.

Having such a delicate beer allowed us to present a equally delicate course.  In this case, it highlighted amazingly fresh and buttery fish.

Next up Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu.  This sweet, sake influenced beer  was an ideal pairing for crab, which really benefitted from the boost in sweetness.  Plus, in the right light, this is one pretty beer.

The pairing: Crab Toast: Miso Beer Dressing, Celery Root Remoulade, Meyer Lemon, Chervil.  The carmel notes of the toast were a great match for the beer.  Plus the miso brought out the association with sake in the beer.

Next: Lamb Merguez Crepinette: Harissa, Preserved Lemon, Sun Choke, Star Route Farms Winter Greens, Brewer’s Malt Blend Crackers.  We paired this with Speakeasy Brewer’s Reserve Old Godfather Barleywine.  This special barleywine has a amazing nose on it, with lots of apricot and fruit. To stand up to this beer, we used lamb with a pungent harissa sauce to cut through the beer.

We also served the dish with a malt cracker.  The malt was sourced at Speakeasy, and was special blended by their brewer to mimic the malt of the pairing beer.  I love having a full bakery at our disposal.

Our last savor course of the eventing: Housemade Duck Liver Ravioli with 15 yr Old Balsamic, Duck Chicharrones, Brown Butter, Beer Braised Carrots.

To pair, we offered Sierra Nevada Brewing’s Old Ale.  This Scotch Ale and Russian Imperial Stout blend spent some time in a Bourbon Barrel.  The addition of the stout gave it a great mouth feel, and a nice, long chocolate finish.

People seemed to be having a good time.  These barrel aged beers have a bit of a kick.

Everybody loves Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream:

Ah, Cheese.  What’s the point of doing a beer dinner, if you aren’t going to have a cheese course?  We started with the beer – I worked with Brian (below) and my team of beer palates to built a great, pinot noir inspired stout blend.  We used a base of Pinot Barrel Stout, them added Bretty Blond for some edge, and a touch of port barrel with blueberries stout for a nice vinous finish.

To pair, Chef Jen selected Tomme de Montagne, a beer washed cow milk cheese with enough funk to stand up to the beer. For an extra savory edge, the cheese with served with a bit of olive tapenade.

Finally, we had reached the first of two desserts.  We started with Triple Rock IMAX Double IPA, served brilliantly fresh.

Rodger joking introduced it as the “light” beer of the evening. We served this hop bomb with crepes with blood oranges and kumquats.  The two citrus fruit provided a foil for the DIPA, and brought out the citrus aroma and bitterness of the blood orange.  A malt syrup provided the much needed balance.

Finally, we had arrived at the big finish for the night: Fifty Fifty Brewing’s 2009 Eclipse Stout Barrel Flight.  Todd explained how they aged in a variety of barrels - Jack Daniels Barrel, Elijah Craig Barrel, Heaven Hill Rye Barrel – and that they normally blend at this point.  However, this year, the beers we so distinctive, they decided to offer them as different versions.

To pair, a flight of chocolates – with chocolate marshmallow, salted carmel, and a piece of bitter dark chocolate.

Finally, five hours later, we were done, and very very full.

I want to give a huge thanks to the staff of Scala’s – who both in the kitchen and on the floor, delivered a great meal to the brewers and lovers of fine food and beer.

And to those who attended: how was your meal?  Leave feedback in the comments below!

One of the highlights of putting together a big beer dinner is getting to work closely with local breweries to select a special beer to pair. In this case, I was welcomed back at Drakes Brewing in San Leandro. Host by Brewmaster Brian, we had the rare opportunity to taste from their barrels, and put together a custom blend just for the dinner.  Last year’s blend went on to be known as “It’s Fity” and was poured at a huge range of beer events all year.  This year we were looking for something darker and richer to pair with a cheese course late in the meal (see the full menu, and get your tickets, right here.)

This year Brian and I were joined by Elianna, Jason and Morgan.  First step: move those barrels.

Once we had access to these long aging barrels, we pulled samples.  This takes a while, since everything has to be sterilized in between each step, as well as we have to create a syphon to get the beer out.  It’s worth the effort.

After all the samples were down, we were finally able to start tasting.  We started by taking all of the sample, and making up tasting notes for each one.  It’s amazing the differences that exist from barrel to barrel.  Like micro-ecosystems, each one has it’s on personality, quirks, and tendencies – and that’s before you even introduce the beer.

After quite a bit of tasting, the favorites at the table emerged:  a Pinot barrel stout has a huge oak character, and was really light on the brett.  A similar Merlot barrel stout – same batch – also was light on brett, but with a more fruity, less oaky backbone.  A brett barreled blonde was young, with a nice spritely character.   Two BrettAmbers, both with very different sour character – number one was farmhouse comfort, while number two was aggressive, bordering on hints of vinegar.  A barrel IPA had just a hint of hops still left in it.

After many, many, many blends, we finally were getting closer, but missing that last, little touch.  Brian went back to the barrels to get more of the favorites, as well as introduce or or two more to the party.  It was then that we found the lynchpin to hold the blend together: a port barrel blueberry stout that had just the right amount of funk, and a great, rich silky mouthfeel.  Combined with the a large amount of pinot barrel stout for oak, and a little brett blonde, we finally found the perfect balance between brett, roast, oak, funk and flavor.   It has a unique character that really well represents the exciting stuff going on in the Drakes barrels – they are alive with wild bug, and change overtime, evolving as the beer ages in the grape infused barrels. We re-blended, remeasured, and confirmed all the details, before bottling off a few samples of the chef. It’s named “Barrel Noir.”

Now all we need is a great cheese to go with it.

This special blend will be served with the cheese course on February 10th at the Scala’s Mostly Barrel Aged Beer Dinner.  Tickets on sale now.

Below is our menu for the Scala’s “Mostly Barrel Aged Beer Dinner” for San Francisco Beer Week.  We’re excited about this combination of local food and local beers.  The beers represent a wide selection of “mostly” barrel aged beers.  We’ll be exploring beers that have spent time inside a barrel, and the flavors they imparts.  Barrels of all sorts are included, ranging from bourbon to wine to port.   The effects of these barrels offers a huge variety of flavors, from the farmhouse funk of brettanomyces to the silken vanilla flavors from a bourbon barrel.  Alongside is an indulgent meal designed specifically to pair with these beers from Chef Jen Biesty and her kitchen.

Brewmasters from many of the breweries will be joining us to talk about their creations, and the process that lead them to your glass. Many of these beers are rare or limited releases, and some, such as the blend from Drakes, are specially blended just for this event.   It’s going a night not to be missed, for beer and food lovers alike.

MENU

When: Wednesday, February 10th, 6:30pm

Cost: $100 including all tax and service (plus $3 ticketing charge. Sorry.)

Where: Scala’s Bistro Renaissance Room at 432 Powell Street.

Tickets required, as space is limited.  Purchase your tickets here.

Beer & Nosh is proud to be a part of this year’s SF Beer Week, and it is going to be a doozy. We’re collaborating with some of our favorite breweries, restaurants and ice cream makers to make sure it’s something special.

Tickets are onsale now.  Click here for all of the details.

]]> http://beerandnosh.com/2010/01/sf-beer-week-2010/feed/ 0 http://beerandnosh.com/2009/11/monks-blood-dinner/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=monks-blood-dinner http://beerandnosh.com/2009/11/monks-blood-dinner/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:33:21 +0000 Jesse http://beerandnosh.com/?p=2157 One of the things I most admire about The Homebrew Chef is Sean’s insistance on continuing to innovate and experiment. I’ve attended more than a few of his dinners now, and I never see dishes repeated – quite the opposite really.  While Sean has a few favorite tropes (and who doesn’t, really?) he always pulls out new, exciting stuff that makes it worth eating, worth getting excited about, and worth making the trip out to 21st Amendment on a cold monday night.

In collaboration with Magnolia, 21A created the BRU/SFO, which near as I can tell, serves no other purpose than letting the brewmasters go nuts with Belgian style ales – a style that neither brewery regularly specializes in, but both adore.  The Homebrew Chef dinner was designed to pair up 21A’s BRU brews with food.

I think that’s about enough preamble, don’t you?  Let’s get to dinner.

Speaking of Sean’s favorite tropes – we started out with a cheese plate, with alllll the fixins.

Cheese Plate featuring: House-made Pork Pate – Local Sonoma Pig infused with Noir de Blanc and Dried Apricots, Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg and Allspice Corned Pig tongue, Flemish Style Cured Halibut, Spiced Nuts, Local Breads

This beast was served with two beers - The Beer Hunter ’07 – a strong dark belgian beer with some age on it, and Brew Libre! Ou Mourir, a belgian-yeast version of 21A’s namesake IPA.

This would probably be a good time to mention – this post is going to feature a LOT of beer-porn.

Everything on the cheese plate was outstanding, especially the cured halibut – it had just a hint of brininess, and a great texture. My favorite pairings centered around the Belgian style IPA, a very in-vogue style at the moment (i have a similar homebrew on tap at home.)  I thought the hops were a particularly strong pairing with the Humboldt Fog cheese, where the tangy cheese and the piney hops balanced each other.  It also was really great against the pickled pork tongue.  The tongue took on a lot of salt, making it almost have the texture of country ham.  The hops, supported nicely by the malt backbone balanced it nicely.

The next beer to come around was the VIA, a lighter belgian ale.

Sean paired this up against his Waterzooi, a seasonal twist on a classic belgian fish stew.

Waterzooi with PEI Mussels, Prawns, Pumpkin, Fennel, Purple Potatoes, Cippolini Onions and Herbs in a Enkel Spiked Cream Broth

The star of this plate was unquestionably the lobster broth.  Rich, balanced, with a indulgent lobster flavor, I want to take a bath in it.

Our next beer was St. Martin’s Abbey, a belgian Abby style beer – darker, with more carmel notes.

This was paired with:

Ravioli Filled with St. Martin’s Abbey Braised Lamb Necks, Caramelized Shallots, Thyme and Chanterelle Mushrooms and Dubbel Reduction

It’s not really fair, since I’m a sucker for lamb neck.   The filling was great – the beer braised lamb really shown through, and tied the filling back into the beer pairing perfectly. The pasta dough was thin, but with just enough tooth to hold the whole thing together.  A simple looking, but technically complex dish that really highlights the beer it was paired with – this was my favorite course of the night, and one that I think highlighted the relationship between food and beer, and how it can be deepened by using beer as an ingredient in the food.

Next up: the namesake beer of the night, Monk’s Blood.  The 21A boys were very excited to introduce their new baby.

The nose on Monk’s Blood is all fig.  The beer itself is very smooth, a bit heavy, with a nice complexity in the finish.  There’s a lot going on in this beer, and it is a great addition to the canned beer world. It’s also a stellar dinner beer, with a enough heft to stand up to big, rich seasonal fall dishes.

Duck Legs Slowly cooked in Monk’s Blood on a Bed of Ginger Butternut Squash Purée and Glazed Brussels Sprouts.  Served with Pomme Frites with Monk’s Blood Aioli

Who doesn’t love a good duck leg?  With it’s great, game-inflected flavor, it’s a natural fit for this beer. The brussel sprouts provided some much needed veggie relief, but for me, the star of the plate with the squash and ginger puree.  The ginger had a great, bright flavor, and really popped against the rich leg meat and thick beer – a great contrast, and very seasonal. The fries were crisp, and nicely accented by the monk’s blood aioli. Jay in particular, loved his fries.

For special treat, Sean produced some Monk’s blood from the batch brewed earlier in the year, that had been stored away in a bourbon barrel.

The earlier batch was noticeably sweeter, but also had been really smoothed over by the time on wood.  The bourbon nose was a great accent to the flavors that were already present in the beer – one of the great surprises for the night.

Our last beer and course came around, and the food coma induced crowed sat up at attention one more time.

Belgian Quad Spiked Waffles with TCHO Chocolate Whipping Cream, Cocoa Nibs, Noir de Blanc Poached Dried Cherries

Our last beer was Baby Horse, a belgian quad with a huge phenolic nose, and lots of banana and clove character.  It wasn’t my favorite for the night, but it may have just been that I was too full by this point.  I thought the bourbon barrel monk’s blood was a much better fit for dessert, and brought out the cherries and chocolate on the plate.  Our waffles were crisp, although they lacked that “just out of the iron” freshness that you look for at brunch. No matter – I was too full to care anyway.

All in all, a pretty solid showing from the Homebrew Chef.  I’m more and more convinced that his mission – to have beer fully realized as an ingredient in the kitchen – is a worthwhile one.  Integrating the beer into the food reveals new pairing options, and make more a more exciting, complete beer dinner.

Thanks for a great meal Sean!

But let me start from the beginning:

The dinner was held in the Marina neighborhood of San Francisco, all the way at the northern tip of the city.  Camera in hand, I readily fit into the tourist-laden area.  But with views like these, I also understand why they are all there.  Cue the gratuitous Golden Gate bridge pictures.

We were hosted by Ana Mandara, a stylish French Vietnamese restaurant.  After checking in, we gathered in a private bar area, and patiently waited for a casked pour of Limb & Life – a second runnings beer, brewed from residual sugars left over from making the initial big beer.  Since it clocked in at about 5% (rather than the more traditional 2-3%), Sam affectionately called it an “Imperial Small Beer.”  This special batch was cask conditioned, with an extra helping of dry hops.  It was stellar, with a great, creamy mouth feel, nice bitterness on the nose, and nuanced brown malt backbone.

After a brief chat by Sam & Ken about why were were all they, we were sent down to find a seat in the main dining room. In a happy accident, they only had part of the restaurant reserved, which meant that Sam & Ken couldn’t get up and give big speeches. Instead, they would have to use their inside voices, and travel table to table.  The result was a much more personal dinner – sales guys, brewers, and brewery owners rotated tables with each course, answering questions and entertaining the guests.  It was great, since it allowed our table to institute a troublesome hazing ritual for every guest to our corner.  Sorry Bryant.

Our first course was Seared Rare Ahi Tuna with Hearts of Palm, Jicama Salsa, Orange Vinaigrette.  The tuna has a nice spicy rub on the edge, and an even sear.  The crust on the fish also overwhelmed any flavors in the salad or vinaigrette.  It was a safe, but enjoyable course. It was served alongside Sierra Nevada’s Kellerweis and Dogfish’s Festina Peche.

This is where some of my issues with this beer dinner started to emerge, and my disappointment started.  It centered around two main complaints:

One – the beers being poured were off the shelf beers, widely available at a well stocked corner liquor store in San Francisco.
Two – the pairings were flat.  Neither beer did anything for the menu items.  It felt tacked on, as if they had already decided to serve this dish, and were just shoe-horning in the beers to fit.

In this case, the tart, acidic bite of the Festina didn’t do anything for the fish, and clashed with the spicy crust. The same with the Kellerwies, whose overwhelming phenolics didn’t match up the fish at all.  Which is a real shame: both of these beers are good, and can easily be paired with seafood, but instead of seared spicy tuna, if you play to the citrus flavors and go with a flakey white fish with butter and lemon – then we’d really be talking.  If if you’re going to stick with the tuna, match up against the spice with some with hops in in.  Torpedo poured against Ninety Minute here would have been more interesting for the beers in relation to each other, and the tuna’s crust.

Moving on: Five-Spiced Crispy Skin Poussin, Sugar Snap Peas, White Corn Pilaf, Sweet & Sour Sauce.  Served with Dogfish Midas Touch and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Sadly, the story  here is much the same as before.  The food was well prepared, but marred by an overly sweet peanut sauce below  - at least the skin was up to snuff as it was claimed in the title of the dish.  Midas Touch is a great, interesting beer was completely out of place.  It’s overly sweet complexion has to be treated carefully, and served it was a sweet sauce was impossible to each together, with just sugar on top of sugar piling up. The pale was passable, but come on – it was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, the grandpa of craft beers.  It what you order when you don’t have any other choice in a place with a poor beer selection.  It is most certainly not what you offer up at a $100 a seat beer dinner.

Finally, we had a pairing that worked: Wokked Tournedos of Beef Filet Mignon, Peppercress, Red Sweet Onions.  Served with Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale, and Dogfish Head’s Palo Santo Marron.

The Palo Santo’s dark, woody flavors were a great pairing for the soy in the beef.  The sauce really brought out the richness of the beer, and complimented it to make a outstanding pairing. The Celebration worked fine, but much in the same was the Pale Ale did earlier – as a balanced beer that will compliment most any plate of food decently.  Both beers are widely available in twelve ounce bottles around the bay.

Finally we were at dessert, and the big beer we’d all been waiting for: Life & Limb. We had a choice for dessert – I opted for the Flourless Coconut Rum Cake.  Others had the Valrhona Dark Chocolate Semifreddo.

This beer is really something. It has a deep rich malt backbone, and light fruit esters from the yeast – the result of, as Sam so eloquently put it “our yeast strains doing it!”  I thought that the rum cake was the superior dessert, with a slightly toothsome flan texture, the rum was a great fit for the malt bill. The chocolate was rich and silky, and brought out the cocoa notes that are in the beer as well.  The problem is, it all just felt so safe.  Why not try something new? But why didn’t they make a desert and replace the rum with Life & Limb? Make a malt crumble using the same malts that are in the beer? Something, anything?

This gets at the core problem I had with this dinner.  Yes, the food was well prepared, and the beers well brewed.  But it felt as if there was a distinct lack of effort put into the meal.  The food all felt like it was right of the regular menu.  Not a single dish was cooked with beer from what I saw. Of the eight beers served, six are widely available. These are two of the breweries most obsessed with perfection, with creativity, with pushing the limits – why wasn’t any of that reflected in this dinner, outside of the Life & Limb beers themselves?

I know I’m being a tough critic, but for the cost of a meal like this, I have expectations to be wowed just a bit more, and be impressed.  Both breweries brew a huge range of exciting beers that they didn’t bring to the table.

Ken and Sam – congrats on brewing a very special beer together, it’s great, you should be proud of yourselves.  I just wish the dinner matched it, and it’s all the more frustrating, because I know it could have.