Maui Beer Dinner

The Flying Saucer in Addison recently had the Maui beer dinner. I loved that Garrett Marrero, the owner and head brewer of The Maui Brewing Company was the speaker.  He flew in from Hawaii.  He was fun and interesting to listen to.  I will admit that while I enjoy Maui beers, they haven't been on my top favorites list.  But, when Garrett explained about the breweries sustainable practices and how all the special ingredients are local, that bumped them up in my book!

We started off with the Big Swell IPA as the social beer.  I forget what a nice IPA this beer is.  No special ingredients, just a solid IPA.

Next, we had Maui Mana Wheat, served with an ahi tuna poke on a crispy wonton with grilled pineapple and watermelon on the side.  I think this was not the original beer pairing for the course, but it still worked together.  The pineapple infused in the beer was a nice complement to the grilled pineapple.

The next course was coconut lobster bisque served in a coconut, served with Maui La Perouse.  I don't remember having this beer before.  It is a nice Belgian wit made with mandarin oranges and I really liked it.  But, the star was the soup!  Presentation was incredible and I stopped using the spoon and just drank from the coconut!

This was followed up with a BBQ pork shoulder sandwich with a cherry-chipotle sauce with apple-bleu cheese slaw and herbed potatoes and served with Sobrehumano Palena'Ole.  Another beer I don't think I have had before.  It is described as a Liliko'i and cherry red ale.  It is a collaboration beer with Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales.  The beer was a great pairing with the BBQ sandwich.  The chipotle added a touch of heat to the sweet cherry in the BBQ sauce.  I didn't taste any of the bleu cheese in the slaw, but the apples were a nice sweet taste with a nice crunch for texture. Herbed potatoes, how can you go wrong?

We finished with a coffee infused chocolate mousse served with Maui Coconut Porter.  I love porters and have only had the coconut porter previously in a can.  This time it was on tap and honestly, I liked it better.  This could be of course because the chocolate mousse was FANTASTIC!  It was capped with a dark chocolate layer.  YUMM!

Kevin is the man behind the food and pairings.  He just gets better every dinner he does.  And all this is without a real kitchen!  I know the real reason why, but ... PLEASE GET THE ADDISON SAUCER A REAL KITCHEN.