Hosting a beer pairing dinner for friends

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snowveil

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So I've decided to give a third beer dinner a go in early December. The last two times were a lot of fun (and a lot of work) so I'd like to do it again. This will be the first year that I'm including some homebrew :mug:

I'm shooting for 5 courses. I tested the shish kabobs last night so I'm really solid on those. I live in an apartment so unfortunately have no access to a grill (unless you count the george foreman)

Appetizer: Sean Paxton's Brewers crackers topped with corriander, lemmon pepper, some cheese (suggestions here please) and dried tomato. Paired with a Saison.
First Course: ????????
Second Course: Pork Tenderloin/Chicken/Pineapple/Bell Pepper Shish Kabobs marinated in IPA and Mango Chipotle Sauce. Paired with IPA (yooper's DFH60 with some Nelson Sauvin in the dryhop)
Third Course: Roasted Garlic BBQ chicken pizza with mozzarella and smoked gouda. Paired with a smoked porter.
Dessert: Warm Blondie with Vanilla Iced cream. Paired with a Barleywine.


For the unknown course I'd like to keep it to something that can be done on the stovetop. A soup, stew, or something along those lines. No seafood, and I'd like to keep the recipe *somewhat* simple. I'm going to have my hands pretty full with the others I think. I'm also not against re-arranging the order of the 3 courses if you can see a reason to.

As for the Crackers, I really don't know what sort of cheese would blend well with a saison. Something sharp I guess? Any suggestions would be hugely helpful.

Also, I'm not 100% set on the barleywine. I feel like the rich mouthfeel and heavy caramel and toffee notes would go really well with the vanilla and caramel flavors of the blondie but I'm open to other suggestions. I was also thinking maybe a scotch ale would work.

Thoughts?
 
I think a vegetable focused soup would be good - a minestrone or a corn chowder, for example. A malt forward amber ale would be nice with a creamy chowder, perhaps.

Sounds like a blast!
 
The dinner was last night and it went off (mostly) without a hitch.

Pappers, thanks for the suggestion on the soup. I wound up going with a butternut squash soup alongside a sticke altbier. Went together well.

I also made some baguettes that day and made some bruschetta along with the crackers. Also made the pizza dough for with some smoked porter wort that I brewed on thursday.

If anyone hasn't done one of these before, do it! It's a lot of fun coming up with pairings and introducing some friends to a wide variety of beer styles. It also helps you to kind of push yourself to better appreciate good beer and good food (and the work that goes into it) :)
 
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