Beer Dinner - Lavery Brewing Company

 
If you know me or anything about me, you know I love craft beer, and equally love hosting beer dinners.

Yesterdays craft beer dinner was a four course meal with beer pairings from Lavery Brewing Co. out of Erie, PA.
First Course we enjoyed an excellent Salmon Gravlox with small rye croutons, shaved pickled egg, dehydrated lemon wheels and a citrus honey mustard. Created to pair with the Imperial Red Ale. 

Chef and I are humble enough to admit when we didn't have it perfect. The beer excellent. The dish amazing. The pairing? Not bad, but a small miss in our opinion. We had hoped for a touch more heat from the curing process that could have been elevated by the hop forwardness of this American Red Ale. From a tactile perspective it was dead on, and again it was nice, not perfect. Sorry.

Course number 2 however, incredible!

A bowl of warm caramelized scallops and cauliflower were served in a bowl with our house bacon and leeks. Table side the potato soup was poured over the garnishes  to create a waft of smokey, sweet aromas from around the edges of the soup. The Imperial French Style Ale that the dish was created to pair with is an 11.5% monster that can't really be categorized due to its complex ingredients and massive hopping that is both sweet and hoppy. The pairing was absolutely incredible. The richness of the soup, the smokey notes of bacon, the bite of the leeks were just the right combination to hold hands with this "Triple IPA?" "Hoppy Saison?" 

The entree course, I thought was equally successful. As you can see from the menu, as an Irish-esque Brewery, we designed an Irish inspired menu, and what better month for it, than March? Their Dulachan is an excellent 5.6% IPA chock full of big hop aromas and flavors and named after the Irish Grim Reaper.The dish was a variation on corned beef, where Chef Critchfield sent brisket through a schedule of brining, drying, rubbing and slow roasting. It was then thinly sliced and served with traditional colcannon, fried leeks and an sauce made using the breweries 1847 Rye Stout. The bitter and creamy sauce was lightened by the citrus notes in the beer and the leeks paired perfect. The brisket, while less "corned" than traditional, was just enough meat to let the colcannon shine as the perfect partner to this beer/food match up.

Lastly we reach dessert! I absolutely love this smoked porter and I was so happy with the pairing tonight. Chef used our signature bread pudding to create a sticky toffee pudding with a toffee sauce, caramel brittle and vanilla ice cream. There is a very dry, smokey and actually some toffee note in the beer and the two complimented each other tremendously.

If ever there were brewers/owners/people you wanted to hang out with or host a beer dinner with, its Jason and Niki. Is it too soon to say "I love you guys?" Probably, but you get the gist.


Then the wheels came off!! Niki noticed that I didn't list the AbV of each beer on my chalkboard list of 20 taps, mayhem ensued! - AGtheDir

I'll be sure to share some findings more often and as always, Drink Good America! And for additional fun with beer, food and service, be sure to check out the other blog with Hunt Chef and I