Rod and Jess’ Blog

It has been a busy few weeks since the election with a lot going on around here.  We’ve been so busy that posting on the blog has fallen to the side while we work on other things.  I thought I’d finally update since Rod and I had our first married Thanksgiving yesterday!

A few pictures from our Thanksgiving:

Our table set with our Kate Spade June Lane china that we got for the wedding! The centerpiece is pumpkins and autumn leaves with a candle from IKEA.

Our paring beer for dinner, a french Bier de Garde that we picked up at Kahns.

All of our delicious food! We had turkey (Rod prepared it using the brine method), green bean casserole, mushroom and dried cherry stuffing, whole wheat challah bread, Pumpkin Soup with cranberry-chili relish, gravy, cranberries, sweet potato pie and pumpkin pie!

After we had our soup course we fed the dogs their Thanksgiving dinner. Here is Caroline and Mario with their Turkey and Pumpkin Puree!

Here are our Pumpkin and Sweet Potato pies. After dinner we rested a bit and had a piece of Pumpkin pie paired with Stone's Twelfth Anniversary Black Chocolate Oatmeal Stout! It was delicious.

All in all we had a great Thanksgiving at the Harbison Weaver household and it was a much needed restful holiday. 

Brugge White, New Albanian Thunderfoot and 1997 Lafayette Brewing Company Big Boris Barley Wine

To kick off the Microbrewer’s Festival this year, the Brewers of Indiana Guild hosted a Brewmaster’s Dinner on Friday night.  And what a dinner it was!  We all went into the dinner with a bit of confusion over how it would be carried out.  It turned out that local celebrity chef Greg Hardesty put together a great gourmet rendition of a picnic buffet.  The menu included:

- Salad of Indiana tomatoes and sweet corn with basil vinaigrette
- Wasabi scented fingerling potatoes with wilted Asian ’slaw’ greens
- Seven bean summer ragout with applewood smoked bacon
- Grilled Fischer Farms beef sirloin with mocha ancho chili glaze
- Grilled Fischer Farms pork loin with spicy salsa verde
- Bittersweet chocolate fudge cake
- Barley wine panna cotta with marron glace

On top of that, the following beers were available:

- Brugge White
- Half Moon Honey Rye
- Ram Buttface Amber
- Mad Anthony IPA
- Brass Monkey Green Tea Pale Ale
- Lafayette Brewing Company Common Ale
- Broad Ripple Brewpub Wee Alec Heavy
- Lafayette Brewing Company 1997 Big Boris Barley Wine aged in Oliver Winery Oak Barrels
- New Albanian Thunderfoot
- Three Floyds Hvedegoop
- Brugge Diamond Kings of Heaven 2008

I think Upland’s Preservation Pilsner may have been on tap earlier in the evening as well.  The whole event kicked off about half an hour late, due to an issue with Opti Park not having power provided and a loss of refrigeration in the beer truck (oh no!).  Luckily once everything got started, everyone had a great time.  I didn’t take notes on the pairings, but I’ll do my best to recall everything.

The tomatoes in the salad were incredibly ripe and the corn, sliced into 1 inch pieces, had a great balance of salt and pepper.  Everything came together wonderfully when mixed with a light basil vinaigrette.  Everyone at our table was in love with the corn.  The suggested pairing here was either the Brugge White or Half Moon Honey Rye, both lighter beers with notable sweetness to pair with the sweet corn and a citrus flavor to cut through the oil in the vinaigrette.

The seven bean ragout was a very fresh take on a the traditional multi-bean salad that many families prepare for pitch-ins and cookouts.  The green beans had a nice crunch to them and the applewood smoked bacon was a real treat that was a surprise, as it hid well within the multi-colored sea of beans.  Ram Buttface Amber was the suggested pairing here, chosen for its lighter, yet sweet malty characteristic that would pair well with the meaty taste of the beans.  I have to be honest, I didn’t try this pairing so I can’t say how well it worked.

Wasabi was the star of the show in the fingerling potatoes and slaw greens.  Not an overly strong wasabi flavor that the trademark green pile next to your sushi provides, but a very well balanced wasabi flavor in a slaw style sauce mixed in with the potatoes and slaw vegetables.  The wasabi hid itself well up front, while the vegetables showed off their flavors, then slowly worked its way up to a noticeable, yet reserved presence.  I’m not ashamed to say I ate the excess sauce by itself off my plate.  Tippecanoe Common Ale and Upland’s Preservation Pilsner were recommended pairings here, chosen for their ability to not cover up the delicate wasabi flavor.

Both the pork and beef were being freshly grilled throughout the dinner.  The sirloin came up at a perfect doneness every time.  For those of you who don’t know what the perfect doneness for a steak is, it’s medium rare, and that is not up for debate.  Both the pork loin and the beer sirloin were well spiced and showed off how great Fischer Farms meat is.  The ancho chile glaze had a hint of chocolate that made it taste like a cross between mole and adobo.  Pairing this chile sauce and tender meat with the LBC Big Boris Barley Wine was amazing.  The buttery caramel flavors in the barley wine intertwined with the tame heat and chile sweetness of the sauce and amplified the flavors in the sirloin.  The green salsa with the pork loin was an extremely tasty combination of tomatillos, chiles, onions and fresh cilantro.  Mad Anthony’s IPA was one suggested pairing, offering up the standard “hops cut through spicy heat” pairing, but a much more complex and impressive pairing was created with Three Floyds Hvedegoop.  As with most Three Floyds beers, there was a noticable hop character that blended more than it overpowered the spiciness of the salsa.  There was a very distinct malty sweetness in this beer that brought out sweet notes in the tomatillos and pork loin.  I’m not sure what this beer is normally listed as, but I would call it an American ESB and it was great.

Dessert consisted of a very tasty brownie, made with Thunderfoot Cherry Imperial Stout with bittersweet chocolate chips mixed throughout.  It should go without saying that since the brownie was made with Thunderfoot, Thunderfoot would be a good pairing.  Imperial stouts carry a heavy roasted malt and chocolate flavor that always pairs well with chocolate and even more so with bittersweet chocolate.  The panna cotta was very light, creamy and topped with slivered almonds.  Broad Ripple Brewpub’s Wee Alec Heavy was the suggested pairing here, and what a pairing it was!  The sweet, malt flavors of the scottish ale created a root beer float experience when mixed with the cream in the panna cotta.  Quite a nice surprise, indeed!

Another highlight of the evening was the surprise of Brugge’s Diamond Kings of Heaven 2008.  This is a beer normally released for competition and rarely ever served.  Last year’s Diamond Kings was Jess and I’s drink of choice at the end of every Great American Beer Festival session.  At 13%+ ABV, last year’s Diamond Kings was a fairly intense, yet delicious Belgian Strong ale.  This year, Diamond Kings comes across as a much more drinkable Belgian Sour Ale, thanks to the surprise interaction between 20 pounds of Indiana Persimmons and the fermenting ale.  Ted (Brugge’s brewmaster) explained that he thought the skins of the persimmons created a more bitter and sour flavor as they desolved off of the fruit during fermentation.  Jess, Dave, Nate, Mike, Gina and I all agreed that this was one amazing beer and one perfect finish to a great dinner and evening.  If they do this again next year, I strongly recommend attending!

I have to figure out a shorter title for these brewer’s dinner posts.

We were up at the northside Rock Bottom today, using up our mug club cash and found out they just finalized the menu for their Summer brewer’s dinner.  As you may know from the belated Spring brewer’s dinner post I just did like 2 minutes ago, the Summer brewer’s dinner is quickly following the Spring one this year!  It looks like they’re only doing 3 courses this time, but still using 4 beers.  The price has also dropped to $25 to adjust for the reduced number of courses.

If you haven’t been to a brewer’s dinner, maybe this $25 price point for a salad, entree, dessert and 4 beers will encourage you to try one out!

Greeting Beer
2007 Brewer’s Cup Gold Medal winning Bottom’s Up Kolsch

Fresh Berry Salad
A mix of greens tossed with a citrus vinaigrette, hearts of palm, fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and garnished with shavings of pecorino cheese and fried artichokes.
Paired with Double Barrel Pale Ale

Beef Tri-Tip Steak
A tri-tip steak grilled to a perfect medium rare and served with a dried cherry and pistachio sauce and an olive tapenade risotto.
Paired with Heartland Red

Berry Sorbet
A sweet treat to end the meal.  A sorbet of berries served with banana scallops.
Paired with Razzmatazz Raspberry Wheat

Now that title was a mouthful!  Jess and I have been going to Rock Bottom Brewer’s Dinners downtown for a couple years now.  We finally decided it was time to give the northside location a shot.  Liz, the brewer up north, typically brews solid session style beers to style guidelines.  If you’re not familiar with beer terminology, a session beer is basically something that’s enjoyable to drink and you can drink quite a few without worrying about getting drunk.  She won a couple medals at last year’s Brewer’s Cup at the State Fair, so she definitely knows what she’s doing.  Overall the dinner proved a little more straight forward that some of the creations we’ve experienced downtown, but every course was delicious and the pairings were good.

A deconstructed caeser salad with an American wheat ale

I must say, this salad was a knock-out start to this brewer’s dinner.  The deconstructed take on the Caesar salad was pulled off very well.  The grilled lettuce was very slightly wilted and the tamarind created an excellent spicy character not usually found in Caesar dressings.  The wheat was light and refreshing with nose full of orange zest.  Citrus notes of lemon and orange were well balanced and a very slight tartness finished at the back of the mouth.  Tamarind typically complements citrus flavors and this was no exception.  The spicy character of the black pepper and tamarind in the creamy dressing contrasted well with the lighter mouthfeel of the wheat ale while the watery aspect of the lettuce complimented it.  Overall this dish was the most creative take of the night and the most complex pairing.

Pancetta-wrapped shrimp with a mound of couscous and the American Dream Pale

Typically Rock Bottom brewmaster’s are given freedom to brew whatever they want at their restaurant.  This year, in an effort to deal with the hop shortage, Rock Bottom came up with 4 recipes for the American Dream pale ale and divided up the recipe among their locations.  Luckily, the downtown and north side locations each brewed a different variation.  Jerry’s version at the downtown location proved to have a much stronger grapefruit hop punch while Liz’ variation was more balanced pale with the same grapefruit hop notes.  Pale ales and seafood are a common pairing and this dish easily worked on that level.  The barbecue sauce was sweetened with mango and was pleasantly spicy.  The heat of the barbecue sauce was matched nicely by the sharp hops.  I did find that by the end I was wishing the sauce over the shrimp was a bit more generous, but then again, I’m a sucker for good condiments.

A generous mound of tender beef short ribs

The brown at the north side rock bottom tastes like creamy dark chocolate with hints of coffee and almonds.  The nose is creamy like a milkshake.  The short ribs were marinated in coffee and covered in a coffee beef gravy.  The ribs were amazingly tender and flavorful.  This dish was probably my favorite of the night.  The malt flavors of the beer blended well with the beef ribs and coffee notes were amplified in the beer.

Cinnamon bread pudding with a balsamic reduction

The final dish was billed as cinnamon french toast but it was served in a bread pudding style.  The cask conditioned stout had a nose of rich creme brulee and tasted of vanilla, sugar and milk chocolate.  The stout was very sweet and had a matching creamy mouthfeel.  The cinnamon in the bread pudding revealed spiced notes in the stout and the vanilla brought out a lactose characteristic similar to that of a milk stout.  This bread pudding was very similar to one which we’ve had a downtown brewer’s dinner that we liked a lot.

This brewer’s dinner actually occured on June 11, better late than never I guess!  If any of this looks good to you, they’re doing another one in July!

This  year’s brewer’s dinner opened up as a few others have in the past, with an immense number of reservations and a large number of no-shows.  That most likely means that the Summer brewer’s dinner will likely require a credit card for a reservation.  It kind of stinks that people treat reservations for an event like this with such disregard, but such is life.  There was still a decent showing with about 30 or so people in attendance.

Spring Brewer’s Dinner menu

The menu this year was slightly modified from the menus sent out previously advertising the event.  The courses were as follows:

Flank Steak Lettuce Bib Wraps served with Alt Bier
Marinated flank steak grilled to medium rare, topped with almonds, water chestnuts and served with sauteed papaya and coconut cream sauce.

Fresh Fruit Salad served with Belgian Tripel
Grapefruit, mandarin oranges, kiwi and mangos drizzled with tangy honey soy dressing.

Tuna and Salmon Spring Rolls served with Maibock
Fresh Saku tuna and salmon wrapped with sticky rice, pickled ginger, wasabi and sliced carrots.  Served with Thai peanut sauce.

Candied Fruit Egg Rolls served with Saison
A succulent fried egg roll stuffed with apples, pineapples, craisins, brown sugar and oats.  Served with vanilla ginger ice cream.

A very classy touch compared to the usual brewer’s dinners

The decor at brewer’s dinners is usually very festival and whimsical, but for whatever reason they decided to make this one a bit nicer.  We thought the improved decor was a nice touch.  The centerpieces would probably be a nice touch for our mantle.

Flank Steak Lettuce Bib Wraps with Alt Bier

The first course made for a very good appetizer.  The medium rare flank steak was marinated in coconut rum and when wrapped with the papaya sauce and carrots inside of the lettuce wrap it paired excellently with the beer.  The coconut cream sauce was decadent and very tasty, but it slightly overpowered the beer pairing.  The Alt Bier was a great example of the style and was perhaps the best beer of the evening.  The flavor profile contained a dominant malt presence with strong chocolate tones, a creamy mouthfeel and accompanying nutty notes.  The finish was very light and had a hint of cherry on the back of the tongue.  Overall it was a relatively sweet beer and very refreshing.  Jerry brewed this style a few months back and both Jess and I agreed this round was noticeably better.  When paired with the wraps, the nutty presence was amplified by the grilled beef and the sweet coconut sauce brought out a bitter character.

Fresh Fruit Salad

The second course was somewhat surprising for a brewer’s dinner.  The salty sweet honey soy dressing did an excellent job contrasting with the fruit while still complementing it greatly.  The Belgian Tripel was a 4 month aged version of Jerry’s Tripel this past Winter.  The beer contained banana, clove and coriander flavors with accents of honey and Granny Smith apple skin.  The sweeter fruits in the salad brought out hoppy and wheat characteristics while the more bitter and sour fruits brought out a spicy finish.  Jess noted that it tasted a lot like Unibroue’s La Fin Du Mon.  This dish made me wonder if Unibroue’s Ephemere would pair well with kiwi.  My initial guess is yes.

Tuna and Salmon Spring Rolls

The main entree of spring rolls really showed off the versatility of the Rock Bottom chefs.  We would have never guessed that they could pull of sushi so well.  The peanut sauce was real peanut sauce and not the typical peanut butter base you’d normally find at even some Asian-themed restaurants around town.  The Maibock was extremely malty and sweet and seemed to have a slightly minty finish, though that could have been brought out by the lingering kiwi flavor on our tongues.  The spring rolls brought out spicy notes in the beer and the ginger paired especially well.  The peanut was also a nice complement to the sweet, malty character.

Candied Fruit Egg Rolls

Rolls of apple pie!  That’s exactly what these tasted like.  The Saison had an intense banana taste and a very heavy, wheat-like body.  There was also a hint of lime that made for a very drinkable beer.  After a few bites of the apple pie egg rolls, a matching apple character emerged in the beer and a lactose-like creamy sweetness pulled through.

Overall this was another great beer dinner by the guys at the downtown Rock Bottom.  In comparison with other Rock Bottom brewer’s dinners, it seemed like the portions were a bit smaller, but the creativity was stepped up a bit.  Rock Bottom continues to be one of the best values in town when it comes to beer and food pairings and this dinner did not disappoint.  We’re going to try to make the north side brewer’s dinner in a couple of weeks to see how Liz’ pairings compare to Jerry’s.   We stayed around a bit and talked with Jerry and Iain Wilson of the Orland Park Rock Bottom after the brewer’s dinner.  Iain pulled our chile beer recipe out of us and said he’d like to try it in a cask up at his locaiton.  Watch for his peanut butter beer at this year’s Microbrewer’s Festival!