I love beer dinners. Not only do you get to eat and drink, but you get to eat great food and great beer and meet great people. I was recently invited to a beer dinner in Cherry Valley California at The Grand Oak Steak House featuring Inland Empire Brewery. They have been putting on a few beer dinners to try and show the owners that beer dinners bring people in and bring return business (which we agree with).
This dinner had pairings with Inland Empire Brewery current beer selection. The pairings were–
1. Blonde and butter garlic herb popcorn paired with IE Blonde.
Note: A nice light pairing that went over well. Who doesn’t love popcorn? Who doesn’t love it when it’s got some great herbs, salt and butter with a nice light smooth Blonde Ale?
2. Smoked Salmon with arugula Parmesan cheese. They used some local olive branches for the smoke and served the salmon cooked medium. It was paired with with a nice English style pale ale.
3. Sun-choke soup- a hearty root vegetable soup that was similar in texture to artichoke soup. It had nutty tones that worked well with a nutty Brown Ale.
4. Squid, Chirizo chips, potato salad–My favorite course of the night paired very well with an herbal flowery IPA. The spice was just enough to add warmth and compete with the IPA.
5. Tiramisu and Porter for dessert! The porter was a perfect compliment with an esspresso like bitter flavor that cut the amazing tiramisu
A special treat from Josh the Bar Manager was his homemade bacon infused vodka! It was very…BACONY and bacon makes everything better.
Links
www.hsresort.com/thegrandoak
www.iebrew.com
