Beer Dinner

Toronado Belgian Beer Lunch This Sunday

by Jay Brooks on April 7, 2011 · 0 comments

I just learned that there are a few seats left for the annual Toronado Belgian Beer Lunch taking place this Sunday, April 10. For the third year — or is that fourth? — the food is being done by Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef. If you love Belgian beer, good food and especially pairing the two, you don’t want to miss this. And if you’ve never been to one of Sean Paxton’s gastronomic extravaganzas, you’re in for something special. Tickets are $150 each, which might sound steep until you consider that this is a twelve-course meal that includes 20 Belgian beers! Lunch begins at 11:30 and is expected to last until at least 4:30. You read that right, it’s a five-hour lunch. Call the Toronado to reserve your seat as soon as possible. You won’t be disappointed. Payment can be in cash or check (I believe on the day of the event) but best check that when you make your reservations. See you there!

2011 Toronado Belgian Beer Lunch Menu

Toronado owner Dave Keene with the Homebrew Chef, Sean Paxton, at an earlier Belgian Beer Lunch.

Pre-Lunch Reception:

Beer served: Van Steenberge Ertveld’s Wit

First Course

Belgian Sushi: Wit-flavored brioche infused with foie gras, roasted eel, Poperings Hommel Bier duck egg green aioli, pea shoots

Paired with DuPont Avril

Second Course

Charcuturie Platter: Duck rillettes braised in Russian River Consecration with a Supplication gelee, duck pistachio apricot infused with Sanctification terrine, pork/duck liver and Orval beer pâté, cornichons, heirloom radishes, house-made Goulden Carolus Noel mustard, currant & Consecration compote, and served with local The Bejkr breads

Paired with Chimay Grand Reserve 3 Liter and Duvel Triple Hop

Third Course

DuPont Avec Les Bons Voeux Poached Sole: On a bed of leek and turnip purée, topped with a lobster crawfish mussel Tripel Karmeliet waterzooi sauce

Paired with De Dolle Arabier and Moinette Blond

Fourth Course

Goat Butter Poached Sea Scallop: Smoked in Mort Subite lambic barrel staves, De Ranke Guldenburg demi glaze, celery root purée infused with Affligem Noel, fennel pollen

Paired with Petrus Aged Pale

Fifth Course

Seared Duck Breast with Sour Cherry Sauce: Sonoma County duck breasts cooked sous vide with shallots, thyme, with a dried sour cherries Hannsen Oude Kriek sauce on a bed of black barley simmer in Delirium Noel and TCHO cocoa nibs

Paired with Bocker Cuvee De Jacobins and Drie Fonteinen Oude Kriek

Sixth Course

Medium Rare Short Ribs: Cooked sous vide for 48 hours in Rochefort 8, caramelized shallots and thyme, served on a bed of Flemish-style mashed potatoes, with a fig, date Petrus Oud Bruin gravy

Paired with Echt Kriekenbier and Rochefort 10

Seventh Course

Crepenette: Westmalle Dubbel infused Spring Sonoma lamb, mixed with creamed leeks, wrapped in caul fat topped with a sirop de Liége (pears, date simmered in a Chimay Red ale syrup) and Belgian endive salad

Paired with Rodenbach Grand Cru 2008 keg

Eighth Course

Foie Gras: Lobes of foie gras poached in Boon Kriek, made into truffles and coated in Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus gelee, garnished with hibiscus sea salt

Paired with Malheur Brut Reserve 2006

Ninth Course

French Lentil Salad: Lentils simmered in Fantôme Saison, curry-scented green cauliflower, ‘wit’ candied cashews, mâche greens and toasted hemp seeds tossed in a Straus yogurt bergamot orange Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René dressing

Paired with Oud Beersal Oude Geueze Vieille

Tenth Course

Assorted Belgian Cheeses: Grevenbroecker, Wavreumont, “St. Maure,” Charmoix, Meikaas, and Kriek Washed Fromage served with pomegranate Supplication honey, The Bejkr Biologlque bread, hazelnut fig crackers, dried fruit, honey blood orange peel candied pistachios

Paired with Liefmans Cuvee Brut and Orval

Eleventh Course

Crêpe: Boon Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait beer curd, Hanssens Oudbeitje rhubarb jam, Westmalle Tripel chamomile syrup wrapped in a Sara Buckwheat Ale crepe

Paired with De Struise T’sjeeses

Twelfth Course

Chocolate Pot de Crème Deconstructed Pie: Speculoos cookie crust, Belgian dark chocolate infused custard, Chantilly cream

Paired with De Struise Pannepot 2007, Scaldis Noel 1998 Magnums and De Struise Black Albert 2009

The Homebrew Chef cooking with nitrogen behind the Toronado bar.

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Dinner With A Trio Of Lambic Legends

by Jay Brooks on June 10, 2010 · 2 comments

in Beers,Breweries,Events,Food & Beer

Tuesday night in Philadelphia, I was fortunate to get an invitation from Tom Peters to attend his Lambic Dinner at Monk’s Cafe. The dinner included three of the best lambic brewers from Belgium: Frank Boon, from Brouwerij Boon; Armand Debelder, from Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen; and Jean Van Roy, from Brasserie Cantillon. It was an awesome dinner with some just spectacular beers.

Tom Peters, Frank Boon, Jean Van Roy, Fergie Carey and Armand Debelder at the main table.

It was an eight course beer dinner prepared by guest chef Brian Morin, who cooks at the beer bistro in Toronto, Canada.

Tom Peters with guest chef Brian Morin.

You can see each of the eight courses below in the slideshow of the Monk’s Lambic beer dinner. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each photo.

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The World’s Biggest Beer Dinner

by Jay Brooks on April 13, 2010 · 2 comments

in Beers,Events,Food & Beer

Saturday night, the last night of the Craft Brewers Conference in Chicago — it being a World Beer Cup year — there was an awards banquet where the medals are handed out to a packed crowd of brewers and beer industry people. This year’s banquet, with 2,000 people, is believed to be the biggest beer dinner ever done — somebody call Guinness. At five courses, that’s 10,000 plates. The amount of food used reads like those lists you see for Oktoberfest. The dinner used 600 gallons of beer to pair with the courses, 200 gallons of beer to cook with, 400 pounds of butter, 300 loaves of bread, 500 pounds of onions, 600 pounds of pork belly, 160 pounds of mushrooms, 275 dozen eggs, 160 pounds of malt and 6 gallons of honey. The meal was created by Sean Paxton and Randy Mosher, with the recipes and cooking by Sean Paxton, a.k.a. the Homebrew Chef. It was impossible to capture the whole banquet space with a photo, so below is a short video of the beer dinner’s setting, shot shortly before it began.

Randy Mosher and Sean Paxton.

Here, Sean and Randy explain the beer dinner we’re about to enjoy.

The five courses are detailed below in the slideshow. Despite the size of the dinner, the service was surprisingly swift and before we knew it, it was time for the World Beer Cup award ceremony to begin.

After the dinner; Matt Brynildson, Nancy Johnson and Sean Paxton.

Below is a slideshow of the World Beer Cup dinner. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each photo.

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Join Me For A Beer Dinner At Anchor With Sierra Nevada

by Jay Brooks on March 24, 2010 · 3 comments

in Beers,Breweries,Events,Food & Beer

Join me for a five-course beer dinner at the Anchor Brewery in San Francisco celebrating Sierra Nevada Brewing‘s 30h anniversary and the release of their first collaboration of the year, Fritz & Ken’s Ale, which is a stout.

There are only five seats left for the beer dinner, which will take place on April 1 (no fooling). Here are the particulars.

Join two of the original craft-brewing pioneers for an intimate one-night-only celebration of beer and food at the historic Anchor Brewery in San Francisco. Anchor Brewing’s Fritz Maytag, and Sierra Nevada’s Ken Grossman will be celebrating the release of their collaboration beer, Fritz and Ken’s Ale, in honor of Sierra Nevada’s 30th anniversary. Come and join us for a 5-course dinner packed with unique rare and vintage beers, seated amongst the kettles in the legendary Anchor brewhouse.

Reception starts at 6:00 PM on April 1st, 2010 at Anchor Brewing Company, 1705 Mariposa Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

Five-Course meal, 11 interesting beers, and souvenir glassware.

$100 tickets, limited to 60 seats, no tickets available at the door.

Tickets must be purchased online, they won’t be available at the door. You can get them at ClicknPrint Tickets. I’ll see you there.

Ken Grossman and Fritz Maytag in the Anchor brewhouse, where the dinner will be held next Thursday.

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Drinking Life & Limb

by Jay Brooks on November 12, 2009 · 3 comments

in Beers,Events,Food & Beer

You probably remember the big news back in August when Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada announced they’d be doing not one, but two collaboration beers. The main one is called Life & Limb, while the second is Limb & Life, a small beer made from the second runnings of Life & Limb.

To launch the new collaboration, a beer dinner was held last Sunday at Ana Mandara in San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. Both Sam Calagione, from Dogfish Head and Ken Grossman, from Sierra Nevada were on hand for the dinner.

Ken Grossman and Sam Calagione

Limb & Life, the draft-only “Imperial small beer,” was served with hors d’oeuvres while Ken and Sam talked about their collaboration together.

The five-course meal had two beers paired with each dish, one from each brewery. We started with Limb & Life and then Life & Limb was served as the last beer of the evening, with dessert. In addition, at the end of the night we finagled a bottle of Life & Limb to compare with the draft version. Personally, I preferred the bottle. Bottle-conditioning gave it a richer mouthfeel and added complexity.

I was fortunate to sit with Sam and Ken for the dinner, as they discussed the project. While Sam has done many collaborations with both domestic and foreign breweries over the years, this was Sierra Nevada’s first one. If you can find a copy of All About Beer magazine from around this time last year, you can read my feature story on collaboration beers. I love the growing trend of collaboration beers, especially when, like this one, some thought is put into it. This makes the results more meaningful, and not simply a marketing effort. Everything about it was well done, especially the artwork for the label, done by a children’s book illustrator.

Below is a slideshow of the Life & Limb beer dinner. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each photo.

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Firestone Walker Beer Dinner: The 2nd Last At Cathedral Hill

by Jay Brooks on October 3, 2009 · 0 comments

in Beers,Events,Food & Beer

Last night was the second to last beer dinner that will take place at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco. The hotel is scheduled to be torn down on Halloween to make way for a new hospital. The Beer Chef, Bruce Paton, put on four wonderful courses paired with the beers of Firestone Walker Brewing in Paso Robles, California. Brewer Matt Brynildson was on hand to talk about his beers.

The Beer Chef, Bruce Paton, with Firestone Walker brewer Matt Brynildson.

Below is a slideshow of the beer dinner. After clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, you can also click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify who and what’s in the photos.

The final beer dinner at the Cathedral Hill Hotel will take place on October 23. Keep an eye on the Beer Chef website for details.

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Russian River Beer Dinner

September 19, 2009

Last night the third-to-last beer dinner was held by Bruce Paton, the Beer Chef, at the Cathedral Hill Hotel. The dinner featured the beers of Russian River Brewing. We also had a surprise guest, Jeff Lebusch, founder and original brewer from New Belgium Brewing, who along with his girlfriend and other friends, had been sailing [...]

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The Countdown Begins: 3 To Go

September 8, 2009

There are only three more beer dinners left that will be held at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco. For the past eight years, the Beer Chef, Bruce Paton, has done over 60 beer dinners featuring beers from around the corner and across the world. But what you probably didn’t know is that many [...]

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