'Tis the season for holiday dinners, and last Monday night Joe, the Reverend and I indulged in a delicious five-course food and beer adventure at our local Flying Saucer. They brought in a rep from Boston Beer to present a Samuel Adams Holiday Beer Dinner. (I sincerely want this person's job.) Here's what we had:
We started off with a flute of Infinium, a collaboration between Boston Beer and Weihenstephan Brewery in Germany. Infinium, 10.3 abv, is a "champagne-like" beer marketed as the first new beer style to be developed under the restrictions of the Reinheitsgebot in over a century. Reinheitsgebot is the German purity law enacted in 1516 (although overturned in 1987) that required all beers be made with only water, barley, hops, and yeast.
Infinium comes in what looks like a champagne bottle and is sort of in between a champagne, a dessert wine, and a Pilsner. You get the body and mouthfeel of a beer, some of the hop character of a beer, but it's very dry like champagne. But then, because of the processes and different types and ratios of only those four ingredients, I could taste peaches and apricots - reminicent of dessert wine. Totally yummy, and probably what we'll toast with at our New Year's party.
So Cheers! and on with dinner...
First Course: Samuel Adams White Ale (a Belgian-style wheat beer brewed with 10 unique spices. This unfiltered brew has a hazy white appearance from the malt proteins which give this beer a crisp, malty, cereal finish and smooth mouthfeel) served with spring mix salad tossed with mandarin oranges, pomegranate seeds, spiced pecans and pomegranate vinaigrette.
We could really taste the tamarind spice (sort of a sweet/sour flavor...it really hit me in the back of my upper palate - like where you feel a cough drop's vapor - right up the back of my nose.) and the citrus in the beer. I didn't think it went with the sweetness of the salad ingredients, but the Reverend liked the contrasting flavors. By the way, if you've never tackled a pomegranate - they're in season. They're are a lot of work, but they are wonderful. Don't wear a white shirt.
Second Course: Samuel Adams Winter Lager (a wheat bock brewed with cinnamon, ginger and orange peel) served with cilantro-jalapeno latkes and a tart sour cream.
This was a great food/beer pairing. The sweet spiciness of the cinnamon/ginger combination launched the cilantro/jalapeno into another realm. I was doin' a little chair dance of deliciousness.
Third Course: Samuel Adams Chocolate Bock (yeah, I know...a beer on the dark and malty end of the bock beer spectrum. Instead of dry hopping, they added cocoa nibs to the storage tank. This year the nibs are from Tcho Chocolate. They are a blend of Columbian and Ecuadorian cocoa beans...I frankly didn't care where they came from, I was just happy they ended up in my beer) served with braised short ribs, hand rubbed with smoked paprika and spices, slow-cooked in Chocolate Bock, then glazed in a sweet chipotle sauce, served with a dollop of polenta.
Christ Almighty. There is a God and He's come to earth in the form of a short rib and chocolate bock beer. The beer was not as dark chocolately as the Harpoon we had the other night; it was more milk chocolately. And combined with the spices from the rib, the bock's underlying flavors spread out across my tongue and I think I actually drooled a bit. Undoubtedly THIS was my favorite pairing of the evening. Well, so far.
Fourth Course: Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig Ale (a spiced brown ale that the SA folks like to call the Christmas Cookie beer) served with a small wedge of brie, apricot preserves, multi-grain crackers, dried cranberries and almonds.
The Fezziwig (Yes, Virginia, that IS a character in Dickens' A Christmas Carol) tasted like a malty, bready cookie - sweet-ish and savory. And with the cheese and preserves, it was a great choice after the bock and rib flavors.
Fifth Course: Samuel Adams Holiday Porter (a traditional, no frills porter. Roasty, with a pronounced bitterness from traditional UK hops, it is a big beer for the colder months) served with coffee ice cream sundaes topped with caramel and chocolate sauce and honey roasted pecans.
Do I even have to try to describe what we tasted here? Melt in your mouth flavor, paired perfectly with the ice cream and toppings. A great wallop of my favorite flavors. Please, sir, may I have some more?
All of the beers were served in 5oz snifters (except for the Infinium) and the courses were small plates, sort of one of each. Just enough beer with just enough food. It was a fabulous dinner, and we begged them to do it again with other brewers. I'll keep you posted.
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