So Milwaukee's a bit of a beer town and lots of restaurants here have been doing beer dinners. Last night one restaurant, Hinterland Gastropub, hosted something of an All-Star beer dinner.
The five restaurants that do Milwaukee's best beer dinners collaborated on one huge event. It was a five-course dinner with each course dreamed up and prepared by a different chef (Course 1 was done by restaurant A's chef, course 2 by restaurant B's chef, etc. ) and each course was paired with a different beer.
Anyway, I wanted to post some of the brilliant and very unexpected pairings.
First course was a shellfish chorizo (that's right) grilled octopus and grilled leeks. The chorizo was spicy and cumin-y and wonderful. This was paired with Goose Island Sofie. I never in a million years would have thought to pair a Belgian style farmhouse ale with Mexican style sausage, but the pairing was incredible.
Next was a butternut squash soup with pork, beef and veal meatballs. This was paired with some cask-conditioned 2012 Hopslam. Another brilliant pairing with the hoppiness working wonderfully with the sweetness in the soup and the spiciness of the meatballs.
Next was Hinterland's Maple Bock. (It's a regional gastropub so I don't know if it's available outside of Wisconsin) Anyway, it's a great bock beer with just a hint of maple and smoke. This was paired with a slightly maple-y goose breast and collard greens.
Next, short ribs and pork belly paired with Alpha King. Awesome.
Finally, we had a peanut butter torte and roasted banana paired with Founder's Imperial Stout which was amazing too.
Anyway, I was just so surprised and impressed with the chorizo/Sofie combination and the Hopslam/butternut squash soup that I had to post for the HBT folks. Cheers!
The five restaurants that do Milwaukee's best beer dinners collaborated on one huge event. It was a five-course dinner with each course dreamed up and prepared by a different chef (Course 1 was done by restaurant A's chef, course 2 by restaurant B's chef, etc. ) and each course was paired with a different beer.
Anyway, I wanted to post some of the brilliant and very unexpected pairings.
First course was a shellfish chorizo (that's right) grilled octopus and grilled leeks. The chorizo was spicy and cumin-y and wonderful. This was paired with Goose Island Sofie. I never in a million years would have thought to pair a Belgian style farmhouse ale with Mexican style sausage, but the pairing was incredible.
Next was a butternut squash soup with pork, beef and veal meatballs. This was paired with some cask-conditioned 2012 Hopslam. Another brilliant pairing with the hoppiness working wonderfully with the sweetness in the soup and the spiciness of the meatballs.
Next was Hinterland's Maple Bock. (It's a regional gastropub so I don't know if it's available outside of Wisconsin) Anyway, it's a great bock beer with just a hint of maple and smoke. This was paired with a slightly maple-y goose breast and collard greens.
Next, short ribs and pork belly paired with Alpha King. Awesome.
Finally, we had a peanut butter torte and roasted banana paired with Founder's Imperial Stout which was amazing too.
Anyway, I was just so surprised and impressed with the chorizo/Sofie combination and the Hopslam/butternut squash soup that I had to post for the HBT folks. Cheers!
