Brewer's Tasting Dinner Recap

Last weekend marked our fourth year attending the Oregon Garden Brewfest and its night-before event, the Brewer's Tasting Dinner (now in its fifth year as part of the festivities). The six-course dinner is an interesting mix of industry folks (brewers, bar/restaurant/business owners and media) and people who may or may not be attending the festival as well. One of the couples at our table this year had only heard about the dinner the morning prior on their local news of choice and although they had other plans preventing them from attending the festival they jumped on tickets to the dinner, driving down from Portland for the evening.

The first year the dinner was great, the second not quite as good and last year, well let's just say that if it had been the only year I'd attended I might not have gone again. But this year, wow!, a redemption in the food and the beers and even the service was a bit more coordinated. Grab a napkin for your drool, here's a recap of the meal.

First Course
Arugula and tangerine salad with toasted almonds and poppy seed dressing, fontina crostini

Worthy Brewing Coeur de la Peche

The beer, part of their Saison program and made with peaches and apricots, was something I was looking forward to but the Saison characteristics were a bit too pronounced for me to enjoy much of it on its own. The food however, especially the fontina crostini but also the poppy seed dressing, made a fantastic paring. Light and balanced in intensity, the meal was off to a promising start.

Second Course
Thai-style coconut and lemongrass soup with crab and chili

Fremont Brewing Interurban IPA infused with basil and lemongrass

The soup, similar to something I make at home, had amazing aroma and flavor with the only detraction being that unchewable portions of the lemongrass had not been strained out of the soup (something my dining companions commented on as well). The infusion of the beer was something done especially for this festival and in my view could have been done with a heavier hand as the flavor was mostly from the hop profile. No problem though, the beer was tasty and a great counterpoint to the soup, neither overpowering the other, instead complimenting and amplifying the spiciness of the other with each sip and slurp.

Third Course
Bacon and brisket hush puppies, Terry's BBQ sauce and tangy slaw

Silver Falls Brewery NW Red Ale

Here the food was the dish I was most excited about. I mean bacon and brisket? Yeah. Fresh out of the kitchen the aroma left my mouth watering and they were perfectly cooked, remaining moist and not at all greasy. The beer, heavy on the malt aroma and flavor, I wasn't a fan of on its own but it paired exceptionally well with the cornmeal in the hush puppies. More of the BBQ sauce would have been great as there was only enough for my hush puppies and I would have liked a bit more to drizzle over the slaw.

Fourth Course
Papparadelle with prosciutto, asparagus, hazelnuts and lemon

Ordnance Brewing Garden Beer

Pasta can be done well or pasta can be uninspired and forgettable. This was most definitely the former, being buttery and lemony (although it needed pepper). The pale ale was said to have been infused with spruce tips from the Oregon Garden and although I wasn't getting any spruce it was delicious and amazing for being a pale ale. In addition its brightness provided a compliment to the lemony pasta and balanced the rich butteriness.

<<<Here the dinner took a slight intermission while Gale Goschie, of Goschie Farms, came to the front to talk. She was a delight to listen to, talking about hop farming and being part of the next generation of this family-owned farm. As good as the food and beer had been she was definitely the highlight of the evening.>>>

Fifth Course
Herbed ricotta and spinach stuffed chicken breast and herbed potatoes white balsamic and plum sauce

Nectar Creek Cluster

Mag was correct in his observation that this was dish was comfort food all the way. The chicken, another potential hit or miss item, was very tender and although a bit over salted, was nicely balanced by the sweet, vinegary sauce and the mead. Speaking of Cluster, it was beautiful to look at but to drink on its own, is reminiscent of Kool-aid. Another successful pairing and a good thing there was only one more course to go as my belly was filling up.

Sixth Course
Tuxedo Mousse and cherry truffles

Three Creeks Brewing Stampede NW Strong Ale

Dessert was a beautiful presentation of a towering mousse creation with cherry-goodness truffles. The beer being a strong ale was expectedly malty, hoppy and big. Perhaps a bit strong for the mousse, even as full as I was I would have eaten a table's worth of the cherry truffles and drank a pitcher of the beer the pairing was so good. A perfect ending to dinner.

Pairing Girl Scout Cookes & Beer: 2015 Edition

After taking a hiatus in 2014 and propelled by a friend's niece selling Girl Scout cookies, I got back on the cookies and beer pairing horse with some friends over the weekend. This time around we used this article as a starting point for our pairings, using the specific beers suggested when possible; the rest of the time selecting beers we felt had similar flavor profiles.

The short version of the experiment was that we weren't in agreement with the article about many of the pairings and the beer that worked the best with the greatest number of cookies was Lindemans Framboise. While it makes sense from the perspective of it having a strong fruit flavor it was surprising that this very sweet beer and the sweetness of the cookies actually worked instead of just being an instant sugar high leading into a sugar coma.

• With the Savannah Smiles it was like eating a lemon cake topped with fresh berries; a pretty good transformation of these powdered sugar triangles.
• Drinking it with the Tagalongs, the chocolate-covered peanut butter patties, the fruitiness got along with both flavors better than suspected.
• Hands down though the cookie that it went best with and we all agreed was the best pairing of the night was with the Do-Si-Dos. Here the peanut butter sandwich cookies played the roll of the bread and peanut butter with the beer playing the roll of the jelly for the greatest not-pb&j you'll ever have.

The most difficult cookie to pair with anything was the Thin Mints. We didn't have access to any of the suggested beers but felt the style recommended, stout, was the correct path. Block 15 Interstellar Darkness was on tap and one we thought would work well with a number of the cookies. It was really close to working with the Thin Mints but it just couldn't to seal the deal. What did work was Oskar Blues Ten Fidy. This is a beer either you love all 10.5% of it or one that just the pour into the glass looks too much like actual motor oil for you to fathom drinking. If you fall in the former camp, grab a can and a sleeve of Thin Mints.

For as much as none of us were impressed with it on its own, the Savannah Smiles was probably the most agreeable cookie of the pairing. We kicked off the experiment with them and St. Bernadus Wit, chosen by Chris as a substitution for the WestBrook White Thai/Jester King Biere de Miel that were suggested. The mildly flavored, low ABV wit played well with the lemony cookies. Later on one of us got the idea to try an IPA with it. As it turned out Lost Coast Sharkinator, a hoppy white IPA, made for a nice pairing as well. And of course, as previously mentioned it was a slam dunk with the Framboise.

Right now you can't throw a stone without hitting a Girl Scout selling cookies and whether or not you really want them you'll probably end up with some. So make the best of it and have fun with your beer at the same time.

If you're so inclined, check out my pairing attempts from 2013.

Beer & Dessert

My last attempt at a beer and dessert pairing was with four kinds of Girl Scout cookies that spanned from really good to mediocre. Beyond that I've pretty much left it to the experts putting together beer dinners to present me with something that works well together. Last night I wound up with a completely unplanned pairing. This is how it went down.

A buddy and I went to Bar Bar and I tried to order some Corn Nuts to go with my beer but they were out. Bummed, I glanced back at their brief wall menu and the item directly below Corn Nuts was "brownie." What came out was not just a standard sized square brownie, but one that was probably a fourth of an 8x8 pan. The brownie was moist and delicious on its own but what really surprised me was how well it went with my pint of Lagunitas IPA. It was a random, delicious stroke of luck that I probably couldn't have done better had I planned it.