28 Jan A Beer and a Variant For Each Course Was Where This Redemption Alewerks Dinner Began
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap
It was dark and stormy night…..well, it was cold as heck and flurrying anyway. But inside Redemption Alewerks it was warm, bright, and bursting with good food and beer. The night of Thursday, Jan. 24th marked the first beer dinner for Redemption, but it won’t be the last. A sold out crowd was treated to a unique evening of food and beer, with a lot of good socializing added in.
People started to arrive around 6:15 pm for the five course meal, each course being paired with two Redemption beers. There were couples on hand, and couples of couples; there were young’uns mixed with older young’uns. Beer geeks mixed with foodies, even some couples who apparently attend alot of beer dinners. A few attendees were Redemption regulars looking for some special Redemption beers. By 6:35 or so the taproom was packed; the taproom was closed for the private event in order to use the entire space for the dinner, and every inch was needed.
Dan Gohr, conspicuously not wearing his Redemption Alewerks bowling shirt, welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming out to support craft beer in general and Redemption in particular. This evening was a bit of a departure for the folks at the Alewerks, and they were taking a bit of a risk. Everyone knows that Redemption makes great wings, really great wings, as well as totchos to die for and those pork shank Hog Wings, but this was a step up for Chef Eric Huse. This was a chance to move out of his comfort zone and highlight the quality and attention to detail that Redemption pays when it comes to their food. It was something that needed to be done.
Salumi paired with a scotch ale and a scotch ale refermented with blackberries and aged in a whiskey barrel. And that was just the first course. image credit: Walter
The other aspect of the evening was the beer. Most beer dinners are engineered in order to highlight the flagship and seasonal beers that a brewery produces, although some do produce a special beer or two just for the dinner. In the case of Thursday night, every course had a beer that you could get nowhere else – ever. They were designed especially for the dinner, as a way to highlight and pair with the food. What’s more, each course had two beers to drink, each doing something special for the food, and the food bringing out something special in the beer.
Five courses with two beers per course could be a bit overwhelming to produce for a single event, so Dan took a Redemption core beer or seasonal, and then put a twist on it by aging/refermenting it on fruits, spices, hops, etc. In that way, everyone got to see both the base beer and how the variants changed with the addition of new ingredients. Also, the base beer interacted with the food in one way, while the variant beer brought something else to the table and worked differently with the food. It was an ingenious idea that doubled the beer fun of the evening.
At about 6:40 pm the staff of Redemption got to work pouring and serving. I though perhaps they had too much help on hand for the event, but it turns out that pouring and serving a hundred beers/course is a lot of work, and that doesn’t count preparing, plating, and serving the food. At a few points in the evening Dan made remarks about the beer and the food, but mostly this was a chance for guests to discover the food and beer for themselves. The tasting notes helped, but Redemption allowed people to experience these new things on their own and then discuss them amongst themselves.
The first course was a charcuterie plate with calabrese salumi, manchego cheese on crisps, walnuts and a cherry compote. This was paired with the Ol’ Smitty’s Wee Heavy. The variant beer was that same scotch ale aged in whiskey barrels and then refermented with a fresh pitch of yeast and fresh blackberry puree. The malt and tiny bit of smoked peat of the scotch ale contrasted well cherry compote. The salt of the salumi, nut, and cheese was great with the whiskey and blackberry of the variant beer. Where the base beer was crisp, but rich, the pectin the variant made for a much bigger feel, and worked well with the salumi as well.
Crab cake with lobster mornay paired with a crisp pilsner and a variant dry hopped with Czech Saaz. Best beer of night for me. image credit: Walter
The second course was a salad. I don’t know how many die hard craft beer geeks see salads on a regular basis, but this was a good one. The apricot vinaigrette over arugula, spinach, shaved fennel and apples along with some white cheddar was set off by the Absolution DIPA that had aged for more than a year and a half. The bitterness of the hops in the double IPA worked so well with the pepperiness of the arugula; they each complimented the other. Again the variant beer worked to enhance certain aspects of the beer and the food, in this case being the Absolution refermented with apricot and then dry hopped with Rakau hops from New Zealand. The earthiness and fig notes of the dry hop were great with the sweetness of the spinach and the licorice of the fennel. I am such a fan of New Zealand hops, it was great to see them shown off here.
The occasional question from the guests was discussed by Dan, such as how long beers stayed in barrels and what it meant for the beers to be refermented. But for the most part, as people finished one course and were discussing their thoughts on the food and the beer, the beers for the next course would start to appear. In this case, the next beers were the uber-clean Rhapsody pilsner and a variant dry hopped with Czech Saaz hops. This was my favorite beer of the night. What the Saaz did to mellow the fruit of the pilsner and to set off the sweetness of the crab cake with lobster mornay was something to behold. Yep, your read that right, an almost completely crab-containing crab cake with lobster sauce.
The crispness of the pilsner worked great with the salt and sweet of the seafood, and again the bed of arugula acted as a contrasting spice background to develop another layer. Overall, I’d have to say this was my #1 course of the evening. The portions of beer and food in each course were about right, enough to enjoy and leaving you wanting just a bit more, but adding up to a large meal in totality. Each ingredient had a purpose and they all worked together to build something bigger. A case in point – I learned that I love hoppy beers with cheeses.
Puff pastry with baked brie, chocolate and mixed berries. Paired with a milk stout and a variant with coffee and cocoa nibs. Who knew that I would like coffee with dessert? image credit: Walter
The manchego of the first course worked with the wee heavy, but the white cheddar of the salad plus the DIPA and the cotijo cheese of the main course with the Deliverance IPA were a new experience for me – or at least I hadn’t ever taken the time to notice it before. As far as that main course I just mentioned – roasted and pulled pork shoulder with achiote paste and citrus marinade for color, sweetness, and earthiness served over white rice with pickled onions and hot peppers. The IPA was then set off in the variant beer aged on orange peel and Idaho 7 hops for weeks.
The bite of the hot peppers and the pickled onions was such a good contrast for the tenderness and umami of the pork shoulder, and the contrast to the bitterness of the hop in the beer was accentuated by the variant having a different sort of bitterness form the orange rind. The dry hop took a back seat to the orange rind and to the acid of the pickles, but it was there in the background.
The evening finished up with a dessert offering of puff pastry with baked brie and mixed berries, set off by a dark chocolate sauce. Paired with this was a classic dessert beer, the Genesis Milk Stout on nitrogen, and a variant of that beer aged with coffee and cocoa nibs. As far as the pairings went, this was the best of the night for me. The coffee with the pastry was fantastic, and this is from a guy who doesn’t drink coffee. The aroma of the chocolate on the dessert and the cocoa in the beer was good as well, and the roast of the milk stout really complimented the bit and acid of the mixed berries.
I have to admit that I don’t usually think very deeply about my food and how it is working with my beer; I’m usually just focused on the beer. But in this case, being presented with a certain beer for a certain food helped me to hone in on the details and discover more than I normally would. For not having experienced many beer dinners, I’d say this one opened my eyes a bit. Having two beers/course was a great idea, but it would have fallen flat if the choices for beer ingredients and foods to work with them weren’t so spot on. Who knew that I would be the guy saying, “I can’t wait until Redemption decides to do another beer dinner.” It’s just another way to love Indiana craft beer.
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