This is about sharing my adventures within the vast world of microbrews

Well, another month another beer dinner it seems. These things are happening too fast for me to keep up! First world problems aside, The dinner was fantastic. Maybe not quite on the same level as the Collage dinner in terms of the food, but I feel like the pairings here were superior.

I basically felt like this at the end of the dinner. I think people that were there will agree with me.

And now, time for food porn!

Blue Dot with Chicharrones and green curry aioli: This was a fantastic appetizer course! It was just sitting at a side table along with glasses of blue dot for people to munch on as they walked in and waiting for the real dinner to start. The batch of blue dot served was the same resiny batch that I had at the pub a while ago. It’s great and the hops stand up to the aioli superbly.

Bourbon Fred from the Wood: I’ve sung enough praises for this beer already. But it was paired with….

Frikeh Risotto: Chile, sungold tomatoes, and beecher’s flagship reserve. It was a great pairing. The spice and smokiness from the risotto matched the vanilla, caramel, and maple bourbon awesome of the Bourbon Fred. The texture of the risotto was amazing as well. I am not really educated on risotto, but after this dish I’m pretty eager to go on a risotto eating rampage.

Michael: I have not had this beer before, and was pretty anxious to try it. It’s Hair of the Dog’s take on a flanders red. It was tasty, and paired well with the dish that was served. However, the dish that this beer was paired with stole the spotlight.

Country pate pigs in a blanket: Grain mustard aioli and microgreens. HOOOOOLLY crap. The pate was amazing, and then Paul Kasten, the chef (crazy crazy guy, in all the best ways) decided to wrap the pate with bacon. Juuuust cause he can. But no, he won’t stop there because that’s not nearly enough, and decides to dip the whole sucker in tempura batter and fry it. The tartness of the beer played well with the metallic elements in the pate, but all I really want to do is get a huge roll of this and eat it while watching futurama. I would need at least 1 meter or the equivalent of 1kg to be satisfied.

Lila: Alan’s first take at a lager, and I have to say this is a fantastic first iteration. It was also delicate enough to not drown out the next paired dish

Grilled Oregon Albacore Tuna: cherry tomatoe agrodolce, new potato pierogi. This fish was amazing, and for some reason made me think about the food documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”. The pierogi was delicious, if kind of on the conventional side, but the tuna was stellar. Fantastic texture, and subtle in its flavor as only tuna can manage.

Fred: we all know about fred, and it was probably the most pedestrian beer offered despite having an ABV of 11%

Roasted Pork Loin: Succotash, pan fried padron peppers. I really like pork, I really really do. Everytime I eat pork at Wildwood I always tell myself that I need to stop overcooking my pork the way most people do. Medium rare/rare pork is so damn good. I think the fava beans that the pork was sitting on were the best though.

Otto: The beer that everyone was curious about. I swear to god it was Fred aged in Pinot barrels, but naturally I was wrong. So was everyone else. Turns out that Otto is Fred Eckhart’s original name (Fred is named after him). Fred is a bit of an older guy, and was born into a non-german friendly era, so being named Otto instantly meant that none of the guys on the playground were going to want to play with him. Therefore he went for Fred. Otto is a 50/50 blend of peach fred and cherry fred that was aged in bourbon barrels for some period of time. It was really good, with nice cherry/vinous qualities without beating you over the head with bourbon flavor. Bourbon Fred is tasked with that job. I tasted absolutely no peach, but whatever. I’ll take it.

Pan Roasted Duck Breast: carrot puree, crushed potatoes, spinach, and glace. This dish was awesome, partially because I think duck is the tastiest thing that flies. Being of Chinese descent, and privileged with lots of trips to China, I think I’m in a good position to say that I’ve had tons of things that are capable of flight. Duck is the best one. Apparently, near raw duck is amazing, and now I just want to find a duck and bite it. The cherry of the beer matched really well with the slight gamey-ness(?) of the duck breast, and the richness of both fit perfectly with the carrot puree.

Adam from the Wood: this is probably Hair of the Dog’s most famous beer aside from Dave. It is fantastic in its oak, bourbon, vanilla, and smoke character. Speaking of smoke…

Tobacco-adam Ice Cream: smoked salt, shortbread praline, and a roasted plum. Okay what?! This thing has nicotine in it. I think Paul is trying to turn all of us into junkies with this crazy dessert. The ice cream completely changed the flavor profile of the beer. This dessert/beer pairing was the most genius food-drink pairing I’ve ever experienced. I pretty much forgot about the plum, but that thing was also incredible.

I’m tired of typing now, but just to let you guys know, I went back to my apartment after this dinner and opened a couple more bottles. Such is the life of a beer geek.