Aristocrat Pub: Bier Brewery Beer Dinner

A week or so ago, the Aristocrat Pub held a beer dinner with Bier Brewery.  It was reasonably priced ($30) and we LOVE Bier, so we decided to give it a try.

This was different than the other two beer dinners we've been to, in that it was much less formal--there was no official menu posted beforehand and no assigned seating.  And it turns out that the Aristocrat mostly just used items off its normal menu, rather than create a whole slew of new dishes.  The surprise was that this actually worked pretty well!  Just about all of the dishes paired with their respective beer pretty beautifully.


The six-course meal started with a little crock of beer cheese, which came with crostini (they were thoroughly crusty and buttery) and granny smith apples.  This went really well with Bier's Special K Kolsch: a German-style ale very similar to a pilsner, but more aromatic and less bitter, and which is a great, clean, drinkable beer.  The beer cheese was good--would have been great with a soft pretzel (looks like it's served with pretzel bread on their regular menu)--but not warm at all, sadly.  I imagine it sat around waiting for the event to get underway.

Next they brought us Belgian Blonde (a light pale ale similar to a Belgian Triple, but slightly sweeter and with less alcohol, but still over 6%) to go with a kale and bean salad.  The salad was warm and surprising--there was a lot of acid in it, and quite a bit of heat.  I wasn't sure about it at first, because I'm not huge on beans, but I ended up eating most of the kale because it was pretty tasty.  I didn't see this one on their regular menu.  The beer was great.  I'm a huge fan of Belgian beers, and this was a solid Belgian Pale Ale.  Not bitter at all, with a smooth finish.

Our third course was a little crab cake, along with Bier's DFG IPA, an American Double IPA, which packs an alcoholic and hoppy punch!  I generally despise IPA's (I am not at all a fan of hoppy beers), but I actually, and to Tim's great delight, liked this one.  Probably couldn't drink a whole glass, but I did enjoy it, I'll admit.  And it went well with the dish.  The crab cake was really very good, which is saying a lot since I don't normally like them, either.  If you are looking for a mostly lump crab meat, hardly any filler, fresh, chunky crab cake, this one isn't for you...it was pretty creamy inside, but in a good way, and was fried crisp on the outside.  I really dug it with the chipotle mayo on top and greens with a tangy dressing on the side (and a squeeze of lemon).  Very satisfying couple of bites.  This one's on the menu.

Fourth course was portobello raviolis in a marsala cream sauce.  It doesn't look like much in the picture--it was VERY heavily sauced--but I love a lot of sauce, especially when it's as good as this one was.  The raviolis were meaty and mushroomy, and the sauce had that slightly sweet marsala wine flavor, and was well-seasoned.  It contained a few slices of button or crimini mushrooms, also.  This dish also suffered from not being very warm, but Tim and I both still loved this it--it was that good. I'm sad to say I don't see it on the regular menu!  They have other pasta dishes--maybe they'll add this one someday.  I know it seems crazy to consider going to a pub and ordering pasta, but this was really flavorful.  Yum.  The beer was their Belgian Dark Strong, a robust, malty, dark beer with a slightly sweet finish that balances out the high the high alcohol content (about 8.5%) nicely.  Again, I love Belgian beers, and this was in my wheelhouse.

Our next course was Bier's Chinookalicious with fish tacos.  I really enjoyed my taco.  The fish itself was cod, battered and fried crispy--I'm assuming it's essentially their fish and chips fish that's been re-purposed.  They break it up so you don't have one huge piece and it's easier to eat, then top it with a jalepeno slaw that was outstanding, and an avocado/cilanto/tomatilla salsa that adds nice tang.  I'd totally order these again some day.  Well balanced, good textures.  On the other hand, I am not a fan of Chinookalicious.  Many, many people LOVE it (Tim included), and they are entitled to do so, but this IPA made with Chinook hops is just too bitter for this gal.


To finish, we had a special beer--an Oak Aged Pumpkin Porter.  It deserved a great dessert, and was perfectly paired with a flourless chocolate cake.  I'm not normally a massive chocolate person, but it went so well with the beer, and there were some candied walnuts adding crunch.  It was a great way to end the night!  The beer was spicy in a fall pumpkin pie spice way, but with no cloying flavors--they were all mellowed by the oak barrel aging.  Really smooth, really delicious.  And special--this one is a rare seasonal they held back just for us!

Aristocrat is not one of our regular haunts--we've been there a few times, but never to eat.  It's got some tough competition, being just down the street from Twenty Tap and a myriad of other fantastic restaurants.  I venture to say that it will be more on our radar, now, though.  We had a lovely experience, and as at other beer dinners, we had entertaining conversation with the folks we were sitting next to.  All around, a lot of fun.  Give beer dinners a try!

(I just have to add a special thanks to my husband, Tim, for helping me with the beer descriptions!)

Websites:  The Aristocrat Pub and Bier Brewery

Black Market: Holiday Beer Brunch

Last weekend, Tim and I had the pleasure of attending Black Market's Holiday Beer Brunch.  This was the 3rd year for the event, and the first year we've been able to make it.  We had a great experience!

The morning started with a "Reception Beer," to be drunk while we waited for our first course.  Three Floyds Alpha Klaus was the  choice.  It was pretty good, a solid porter.  It was relatively hoppy for a porter, but it finished clean so I didn't mind that (normally I do not care for hops much).  During this time, we got to know some of our neighbors at the large communal table where we were assigned to sit.  The entire place was packed, from the communal tables to the few four-tops around the room.

About a half hour into the event, our first course finally arrived.  It was a twist on biscuits and gravy--a light, buttery, flaky biscuit tinged with citrusy orange, which we then covered in ham and mussel gravy from a family-style communal bowl.  Really wasn't sure about this combo when I read it on the menu, but it all made sense on the plate.  The gravy was creamy and rich, just as you'd expect, but instead of making it with sausage they made it with meaty chunks of ham.  Then they tossed it all with mussels, which also went well with the gravy.  The whole thing was really, really tasty, and went well with the Dark Horse 4 Elf that it was paired with.  The beer is a "winter warmer" style and had a ton of spice.  I really liked this one, and I know Tim did, too.

The next course was goose.  Yes, goose.  I'd never had goose before, but it was pretty good!  They confit-ed the legs, then roasted and sliced the breast.  They were served with a cranberry relish as well as some whole cranberries that were super sweet and tart, plus a "savory bread pudding" that was essentially traditional dressing, and some cracklings made from the goose skin.  Oh, and it was all on top of some greens (we think kale).  The confit leg meat was amazing, and tasted a lot like duck confit that I've had in the past.  The breast was extremely meaty--it looked more like beef than poultry, really.  It was fairly gamey but not overpoweringly so.  The cranberry cut through some of the richness, and the cracklings added nice texture.  All in all, an interesting and satisfying plate of food.  It was paired with Anchor Christmas Ale (link is to the 2012 version--it changes a bit every year).  The Ale was dark and had a lot of "Christmas" spices that complimented the holiday spirit of the dish.

The third course was the cheese course--Stilton, whipped with cream to make it not-quite-so-pungent, was served over poached pears with spiced walnuts, what seemed to be candied dates, and bit of granola.  It was really interesting--the cheese, even with the cream mixed in, was pretty strong, but the sweetness of the fruits and nuts and the oaty-ness of the oats came together with the cheese very well.  It was served with Gouden Carolus Noel, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale.  This beer was a 10%, and as such was pretty strong and a bit alcohol-y tasting, but it was spicy and fruity and went really well with this course.  It had a raisin/prune flavor going on.  Very interesting.

Finally, we reached dessert.  The course was described as "Chocolate Ganache with Holiday Sweets," and indeed, that's what it was!  In addition to a dollop of the smoothest, shiniest chocolate ganache I've ever had the pleasure of eating, we received a little tower of spice cake, some English toffee shards, and a peppermint shortbread cookie.  All delicious, and all even better when dipped in the ganache.  The beer for this course was the reason that many people attend this brunch--it was the 2012 Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus.  The octane on this one went up even higher--14%--so we received a small portion.  Whoa howdy, was this a sipper!  It was sweet and almost syrupy with some raisin (again) and caramel notes.  I enjoyed it, but the small portion was plenty.  As you can imagine, it went very well with dessert.

At the end of the brunch, Chef Micah came out and announced that someone had a sticker on the bottom of their plate, and that that person was going to win a special prize.  Low and behold, that lucky person was yours truly!!  Santa came out to deliver my prize--a magnum of Anchor Christmas Ale and a bottle of Ninkasi Brewing Co Sleigh'r.  Tim and I were pretty psyched!  We'll be saving those for Christmas or New Year's, I think.

Overall, this was a great experience.  I tried some new things, I enjoyed the pairings, the atmosphere was jolly, and it was just a lovely time.  We hope to do this again next year!

Website:  Black Market

Recess: Brooklyn Brewery Beer Dinner

Last night, Tim and I had a really great experience at our very first Beer Dinner at Recess.  I didn't initially think I'd write about it, since I've reviewed Room Four and Recess so many times, but it was such a wonderful time that I wanted to share.


I am on the Recess/Room Four mailing list, and had gotten several messages about this beer dinner.  It was super intriguing to us, but we had decided to be smart and not spend the money ($75 per person--yikes!).  For Recess, it's a pretty good deal--a normal meal there runs around $56/person for 4 courses and no drinks.  This was 5 courses and 6 beers.  Still, it's expensive.  But when I saw on Facebook Monday afternoon that they still had some spots left and mentioned it to Tim, we decided to just go for it since we've never done something like that and the menu looked incredible.  I'll be focusing on the food rather than the beers, since that's where my greater interest lies.

We arrived at 6:30, and were promptly handed our "reception beer"--a can of an English style Summer Ale.  It was great.  Light and ridiculously drinkable in an almost lager-ish way, it had a slight fruitiness from the hops but without being bitter like an IPA (key for me).  We both really enjoyed it.

Around 7pm, we were invited into the dining room to take our seats.  Everyone was seated at two long communal tables.  We weren't sure whether we'd like that, but thankfully we were seated next to a friendly couple who we ended up having a ton in common with (the craziest connection?  Our youngest and their oldest sons are in the same preschool class!).  So that aspect of the evening was really fun.

For our first course, we were served a "shrimp cocktail" with probably the most outstanding, tender, delicious shrimp I have ever had.  It was so well cooked!  In the glass was scallop ceviche in a cold tomato broth with avocado, jalapeno, and cilantro.  It had great flavor (excepting the cilantro, of course), with a low amount of heat.  The shrimp was the standout to me, although Tim loved the scallops.  The beer that course was Fiat Lux, which is a Belgian Witbier.


The second course was one of my favorites.  The large pieces of fish in the picture are kampachi crudo, which I had concerns about (I've never been a large-thick-pieces of raw fish person), but which turned out to be incredible.  It was served along with small thin slices of Mojama Tuna, which was kind of like tuna jerky and added a great saltiness.  On the side were two fried oysters (probably the only less-than fantastic part of this dish--there was too much breading and not enough salt involved), and some cucumbers that had been marinated in Tabasco and something creamy (mayo?).  There was also a red pepper gelee, almonds, and green onions, and under the crudo was a mix of what seemed like fennel and a few other finely chopped veggies, which had a pepperiness to it. Greg Hardesty said that with that dish, they wanted to explore several forms of peppers (gelee, hot sauce, and whatever they used in the veggies).  With that course, we got Sorachi Ace, a saison beer. I really enjoyed that one.

 
Our fourth course was roasted lamb rack.  As you can see, it was perfectly cooked.  It was served over what they called a "picnic salad" with grilled corn, broccoli, cauliflower, dried blueberries, and sunflower seeds, all in a slightly sweet mayonnaise based sauce.  The salad was so great, I could have eaten a plate of just that!  Creamy and sweet from the mayo, with all those wonderful textures...yum.  Also on the plate was a salted caramel made from a reduction of the beer we were drinking with this course--Local #2, which was a dark Abbey ale (in the background of the pic--at this point I realized how many pictures I'd be taking and started to combine drinks and food in one pic).  This was a standout dish--my one desire, though, was for just a touch more salt on the  lamb.  Our tablemates pointed out that the salted caramel provided a nice saltiness, and it did help, but it still needed just a touch more salt.  Recess is usually so great about seasoning their meat that it let me down just a touch.  Tim and the others seemed happy with it, though.


The fourth course was another standout.  It was a cheese course called raclette.  It's a Swiss (i.e., from Switzerland) cow's milk cheese that is traditionally set by a fire so that it begins to melt, and then it's scraped onto your plate.  To make things easier, they melted it in ramekins for us and served it with bread from Amelia's Bakery, house made pickles, boiled fingerling potatoes, and Walla Walla onion petals.  This was definitely another of our favorites.  The cheese was pungent and sharp, and so satisfyingly melty.  This course was served with Monster, a barley wine.


Our final course was dessert.  THIS course was definitely my favorite.  The heart of the dish was an amazing little glazed cherry cake doughnut, which sat atop a cherry puree.  It was dusted with powdered sugar and "macadamia snow" (ground macadamia nuts), and was served with Fernet ice cream.  Fernet is most commonly served in espresso in Italy--it's an herby spirit.  It made an AMAZING ice cream.  A bite of everything together was like the best cake and ice cream you've ever had.  The course was served with Black Chocolate Stout.


At the end of the evening, Greg Hardesty came out and announced that he had a $100 gift card if anyone could guess the theme of the music they had been playing all night.  When everyone shouted out "bands from Brooklyn!" right away, he said that instead he'd give it to anyone that could name the one musician they'd played that most people don't realize is from Brooklyn.  Tim was able to quickly and correctly identify Barry Manilow (who knew?!  So grateful for my musically knowledgeable husband!), and we scored the gift card!  Needless to say, it made our last minute decision to attend all the more sweet.

Website:  Recess