It was a great evening. 150 + people in attendance. I was very happy with the fact that we had a more than a dozen CRHBC members in attendance. Way to support the industry, guys! I didn’t think to take notes while I was there, but realized afterward that this would be a great thing to post here…so here goes.
We started the evening with Redwood Lodge’s Helles paired with a chicken and tarragon sausage served on a bed of lentils. This was quite nice. While the chicken sausage was quite dry (which stands to reason), tarragon is an interesting herb, and it melded interestingly with the young bock.
Next was Lumber Baron’s Hefe with a German sausage (shoot…I forgot to write the name down) and German potato salad. This was a great pairing. Weissbier has a natural, tart acidity to it, which greatly complemented the vinegar dressing in the potato salad. It was really nice. The Hefe, in my opinion, was spot on.
We then had Lumber Baron’s ESP paired with some good ol’ quasi traditional English bangers and mash and with a little dash of onion jelly. The pairing was quite nice. The two really complemented one another nicely. The ESB had a sweetness to it that was cut quite nicely by the garlic and onion components of the mash.
Next up (I believe) came an oatmeal stout paired with fresh Italian sausage (lots of fresh fennel), which was served with sautéed peppers and bowtie pasta. Beautiful! The stout had a wonderful, rich black licorice note to it that matched beautifully with the fennel in the sausage. This was probably my favorite pairing of the evening.
OK..at this point, I’m sure that the order is mixed up, but you get the idea…
I forget the next beer (it may have been Lumber Barons’ Irish Red), but it was paired with fresh chorizo and black beans and rice. Quite spicy, but very nice.
The last pairing for the evening was a spicy, hot sausage paired with Lumber Barons’ IPA. For some, the sausage was too hot and was only aggravated by the bitterness of the IPA; but anything spicy combined with IPA is an incredible pairing in my book.
While there was some difficulty with the sound system, and numerous tables of people there to drink beer (as opposed to taste, it was a wonderful night. Don’t forget to come next month. Lumber Barons’ has a tasting the third Tuesday of every month. I forgot to write down next month’s topic, but I will keep you posted.
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The one you forgot with the German potato salad was a traditional German Bratwurst and it was delicious. If you haven't been to one of these tastings you are missing out! I went for the great beer on St.Paddy's day but the food blew me away. I will be going to more. As Lee said other then the sound problem and the people there just to party, it was a great time. I can't decide what was my favorite pairing the Bangers and mash with ESB or the Brat and Hefe. The Andoule and red Beans were nice and spicy too.
ReplyDeleteNext month is April 22nd and will be Belgian beers
The nice thing about this was that it shows the true versatility of good craft beers with food. My favorite was the andoule and red beans. I'm a hophead and a chile head. The bitterness really balances the heat Enough said, everyone enjoyed it.
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