Dreams Really Do Come True

Last night, Tap and Mallet in Rochester, NY hosted a celebrity guest
near and dear to my heart.. the one, the only, Mr. Garrett Oliver.
Brewmaster at the Brooklyn Brewery. Author of The Brewmaster's Table.
Editor of The Oxford Companion to Beer. Yes, Garrett Oliver. The event
was a 5 course beer pairing dinner and it most certainly did not
disappoint. Let me preface this by saying that Mr. Oliver's book The
Brewmaster's Table has been a huge inspiration in my beer pairings and
the way he writes about food is my favorite form of poetry. When I
heard that Garret was coming to town and saw the menu for this dinner,
Allison and I immedietly rushed to buy tickets. For the next two
weeks, we read and reread the menu and the excitement mounted. On the
day of we spent an hour picking out an outfit classy enough for the
honor of dining with Garrett yet not too fancy to think that we were
stalkers. Finally, we arrived, found our place at the table, nervously
figeted until.. in walked the man, the myth, the legend. Dressed
impeccable in navy slacks, a white and blue striped button down, with
a navy Brooklyn blazer, Garrett strode in was handed a summer ale in a
tulip glass, tossed jokes about where he was seated and took his place
in the front of the room.



To start the evening the lovely crew at Tap and Mallet gave us a
veggie tray with some sort of phenomenal dip.. I believe it was an
aioli with a delightful lemon flavor and some herbyness.. I think it
was dill. This was paired with Brooklyn's Summer Ale, an English Style
Pale Ale. The whole experience was light and refreshing as was
listening to Garrett speak about some of his beer travels, some beer
history and the history of food becoming too over processed. He joked
about Kraft singles and Kenny G, holding the attention of the whole
room.



The first course was a Micro-Nicoise Salad with Cider-Dijon
Vinegarette. Now, I don't know about you, but I did not know what a
nicoise salad was until the plate arrived. On it was a few wedges of
iceberg lettuce arranged around and atop it were sliced potatoes,
green beans, hard boiled eggs, kalamata olives tomatoes, smoked salmon
and a spicy goat cheese all topped with a delicious vinegarette. The
combo of all these goodies was divine. I found myself pondering what
things would be best in the same bite.. salmon and potato, egg,
lettuce and tomato, goat cheese and green bean, egg and olive. Every
combo was a delight.. and the best part, The Beer: Sirachi Ace Saison.
Now, this past year I have been quickly developing a large piece of
heart and palatte for Belgian beers particularly saison and I will say
this is one of the better I have drank. The sirachi hops used to brew
this beer were apparently a fluke in hop breeding and were not totally
popular because they had a scent of lemongrass and dill. The smell and
taste of these flavors were present in this beer in just the perfect
amount to the point that I could sip it all the day long. With a nice
carbonation and refreshing flavor, this was the perfect match to the
salad. At this point in the evening Garrett introduced us to his new
word.. PreSad. He uses this to describe when you are sad before
something happens because you know the good state you are in is going
to end. For example, when they made Sirachi Ace as a specialty beer,
they were always PreSad just before it ran out, so they would make
more. Finally, they realized it was too good and they needed to make
it all the time. So, if you come across some, buy it, drink it, thank
me.



Next up, Pulled Pork and Kimchi Pierogies with a Spicy Chili Sauce
paired with Blast Double IPA. These were not what I expected but still
amazing. When I hear pulled pork, I always get excited. These did not
have the usually barbeque flavor of pulled pork in fact the pork
flavor was slightly masked by the Kimchi a Japanese cabbage salad, but
that was A-ok because the kimchi blended with the spicy sweet chili
sauce to give it this fabulous Asian flavor. As Garrett says, "some
people think that an IPA is not a good match for spicy food because it
accentuates the spice, but what's wrong with that" (loosely quoted). I
totally agree. This delightfully hoppy IPA brought out the great spice
and was a wonderful pairing.



The third course took us to lamb. Moroccan Lamb Chops with Mint Yogurt
Sauce paired with Mary's Maple Porter. Lamb is not my favorite meat
but this was cooked to perfection. It had a really nice spice to it
that was cooled by the mint sauce and I found myself gnawing the bone.
The Maple Porter was fermented with real maple syrup from the family
syrup farm in Syracuse of Mary (quality control girl at Brooklyn). I
would be proud to have this beer named after me. It was a really solid
porter with a subtle maple flavor but not a lot of sweetness. On their
own, the beer and food for this course were superb, however I can't
say they complimented each other. The coolness of the mint sauce was a
strange combo with the porter. The lamb with another sauce I think
could have matched well with the porter. If I may be so bold, I might
suggest scotch ale like we did at our beer dinner in the summer of
2011 with the lamb burgers with mint aioli.. but who am I.



Now.. The Jem. In every beer pairing dinner, I have experienced there
is always one pairing that wows everyone. Takes their breath away,
makes you think you could never eat that dish without the select beer
and vice versa. This was that pairing. Arancini with Tomato Gorgonzola
Cream Sauce paired with Wild Ale.

First, the food. Until I recieved the menu for this dinner I did not
know what arancini was, so I did what any person would do I googled it
and found it was risotto balls, breaded and fried. Immediately, I was
intrigued. This wonder grew when I was given some mushroom arancini at
the Wishing Well Restaurant in Saratoga last weekend (I may or may not
have pretended I was trying them for the first time 10x so I wouldn't
be judged). These were sausage arancini although that flavor was
masked by the little pocket of smoked mozarella in the center. Nothing
like a suprise pocket of cheese to win this girl's heart. The sauce
also added a divine flavor I can't even begin to describe. The beer is
a rare one of Brooklyn that is aged in whiskey barrels and fermented with Wild Yeast. It topped out at about 9% so it was
strong in both flavor and alcohol. The way it smoothly rolled across
your tongue was not something I will soon forget. The flavors of the
smoky arancini with the strong sweet ale played together so well that
I would be willing to arrange a play date for them at my table
everyday forever.
When we finally arrived at dessert, the Tap and Mallet chefs continued
to bring their A-game. Cheesecake Rangoons. Imagine little crispy
fried dough pockets filled with cinnamon cheesecake and smothered with
raspberry ganache. I literally had to lick my plate for this one.
Garrett paired this one with a Black Ops stout, a lovely smooth beer
that is bottle fermented with champagne yeast. After dinner, there was
a chance for autographs and photos with Garrett and then we all
floated home on a cloud and dreamed of the magic.