BetterBeerBlog

The British Bankers Club in Menlo Park had a second Beer Dinner; this time, featuring the beers from Lagunitas Brewing Company. I had attended their very first beer dinner featuring the beers from English brewery Morland Brewing (aka Greene King). Even though I had a great time, I was very critical about the first beer dinner. There were many things that I felt could be improved upon and honestly, part of me wanted to attend this second beer dinner to see if any of these issues had been addressed.

First Course

Food: Pan Roasted Duck Breast with White Truffle Mashed Potatoes and a Balsamic Brown Sugar Reduction
Beer: Czech-style Pilsner, 5.4% ABV

Tasting Notes: The duck is moist and rich without being greasy or fatty. The balsamic sauce is a little on the sweet side while retaining all the characteristic flavors of balsamic vinegar. The potatoes are chunky and herbed while the greens have a little bit of spice heat on them.

Czech-style Pilsner pours out a brilliantly clear gold color with a short lived white head. The aroma is slightly sweet and has a lot of pils malt character with bright, slightly spicy hop aromas. The flavor is slightly sweet, bready, lots of pils malt with a little bit of cracker while hop flavor has a light spice and earthy character to it. Hop bitterness is medium/medium-high. This is a medium-lo/medium bodied beer with high carbonation and a crisp, dry finish. This beer is also the only lager Lagunitas brews and they try to keep close to traditional as they can using Czech yeast and Saaz hops for this beer.

Duck is bold choice for a first course. It is a strongly flavored meat, that in lesser hands, could end up either greasy or pungent. I really liked this course, I felt the duck was well cooked paired well with the pilsner. The beer’s carbonation helped to cut the richness of the duck while the greens had a peppery character that complimented the Saaz hops in the beer. I was feeling very good about this first course and had high hopes for the remainder of the dinner.

Second Course

Food: Grilled chicken terrine with a smoked paprika oil
Beer: Hop Stoopid IPA, 8% ABV

Tasting Notes: Up until I wrote this post, I had no idea a terrine was just a form of “meatloaf”. Damn those French and their fancy-schmancy words. I find chicken to be a neutral tasting meat to begin with. That being said, I had some difficulty picking out the flavors of the individual ingredients of the dish; the overall flavor profile could be best described as “muddled”. I did pick up a slight smoke flavor though.

Hop Stoopid pours out a brilliantly clear, pale amber color with a thin, short lasting white/off-white head. The aroma is very floral with grapefruit and citrus aromas. The flavor of the beer is hop forward; the hops have a tropical fruit, grapefruit, piney and resiny character to them while the malt flavors, caramel and toasty in character, definitely play second fiddle in this beer. Hop bitterness is high, lasting but not harsh on the palette. This is a medium-high/full bodied beer, highly carbonated with a slightly dry finish. According to Chris, the Lagunitas rep hosting the dinner, Hop Stoopid is made with hop oils for bittering.

As far as a pairing, the terrine and Hop Stoopid weren’t as successful as the first course. The muddled flavors of the terrine were rendered even more plain by the bright flavors of the beer. I also felt the intensity of the beer was a bit stronger than the dish, overpowering it slightly.

Third Course

Food: Chilled fennel & pea soup with fresh crab and chives
Beer: Lucky 13, 8.3% ABV

Tasting Notes: The soup is predominantly pea flavored with a bit of black pepper flavors and is salty. The table had trouble picking out the fennel, chives and crab in the soup. Pretty straight forward dish.

Lucky 13 pours out a clear brown color with amber highlights and an off-white head. The beer is slightly sweet, with roasted malt flavor and hints of caramel while the hop bitterness is assertive. The aroma echos the flavor. This beer is medium-high in body with matching carbonation and a slightly dry finish. Originally a 13th anniversary beer, it proved to be so popular that it was made into a seasonal beer.

As a pairing, this combination was a miss as well. I had some difficulty trying to reconcile the flavors of the beer and soup; I looked for similar, or at least complimentary flavors, and even considered contrasting the flavor profiles of each. It just didn’t make sense.

Fourth Course

Food: Polenta encrusted basa filet with sweet and sour eggplant relish and fingerling potatoes
Beer: IPA, 5.7% ABV

Tasting Notes: The fish was a little over salted but well cooked. The eggplant relish was a little sweet and had some spice heat to them as well. I found the potatoes to be a little overdone but provided a textural contrast to the relish.

The IPA pours out a clear, pale amber color with an off-white head. The beer is balanced, for the style anyways. There are toasted malt and caramel flavors along with a piney, resinous hop flavor with some citrus character. Aroma is similar. Hop bitterness is medium-high. The beer is medium/medium-high in body and has high carbonation with a slightly dry finish and an astringent mouthfeel.

I felt this pairing went relatively well; the hop bitterness matched the intensity of the spice head while the malt character of the beer is complimentary of the polenta encrusted filet.

Fifth Course

Food: French chocolate olive oil and sea salt tart with a lemon creme fraiche
Beer: Fusion 2, 6% ABV

Tasting Notes: This was probably the first dessert I’ve had where the main flavor wasn’t “sweet”. The tart was salty, nutty and chocolatey; it was thick, viscous and crunchy at the same time.

Fusion 2 poured out a dark brown color, clear with an off-white/beige head. Very roasty malt flavor with a slight nuttiness. Hop flavor is surprisingly bold with a resinous and piny hop flavor. This is a medium bodied beer with medium carbonation, a dry finish with an astringent mouthfeel. Unfortunatley, I didn’t note what intensity the hop bitterness was. Brewed in the style of an brown ale, Fusion 2 was much more hoppy than a more “traditional” brown ale (What a surprise. Lagunitas making hoppy beers?). Fusion 2 was a “single shot” beer, which means there are no current plans to brew it again. What I found interesting was this was the first time the Lagunitas reps hosting the dinner would be tasting the beer as well.

As a pairing, it made a lot of sense to pair an English-style dessert with a popular style of English beer. The roasty malt and nutty flavors of the beer compliment the chocolate and mimic the nutty flavors of the dessert respectively. The intensity of the dessert matched that of the beer as well.

Upward Trend

Overall, I think the Lagunitas Beer Dinner was a significant improvement over the Morland Beer Dinner. More things went right than wrong but the things that went wrong were significant.

Firstly, I’m glad to see a menu was printed. It’s one thing to see a menu online but who’s going to bring their laptops to dinner to keep the menu available? While half of us at the table had smart phones capable of doing so, I feel it would distract from the company at hand. The only other thing I would like to see on the menu is the paired beer listed as well.

Speaking of pairings, I think there was a much more cohesive flow to how each course came out. The lag time between when we received our beers and the food was very minimal and helped establish that those two things went together. Kudos to the BBC staff for keeping on top of things.

Now this is just speculation but I think two of the beers were served with the wrong dishes. Specifically, I believe that Lucky 13 should’ve been served with Course 2 (Grilled Chicken Terrine) while Hop Stoopid should’ve been served with Course 3 (Chilled Pea Soup). I’ll explain further.

Normally, when one plans a beer dinner, special care is devoted to the serving order of the beers. Typically beers are served from lower alcohol to higher, least bitter to most. This is done to prevent the guests from being completely hammered right off the bat as well as preserving their palettes. Once a person experiences a certain level of hop bitterness, anything lower than that level will not really register. Now these are not hard and fast rules but based upon my research, the beer dinners I’ve attended and personal experience, this order seems to work out very well.

That being said, having an IPA (Hop Stoopid) come out before a maltier beer (Lucky 13), and then followed up by another IPA is a curious serving order to say the least. Looking at the Lagunitas 2010 Beer Line Up descriptions, Lucky 13 is described as “Big on Amarillo Hops and Rich Dark Malts for a Round and Huge, Smoky Flavor”. Doesn’t that sound like it would go well with grilled chicken terrine and a smoked paprika oil? Because of the full pours we were given, we had the opportunity to go back and try some of the beers with other dishes and Hop Stoopid did pair much better with the chilled pea soup and Lucky 13 was better with the grilled chicken terrine.

Bringing it all back full circle, having the beers printed on the menu along with their paired dishes may have helped avoid this error. Again, this is only conjecture on my part but I think I have a solid case.

“Full pours” was one of the main marketing points for this beer dinner. In many of the beer dinners I’ve been to, small pours (4-6 oz) have been the norm. I believe this is so guests can enjoy the beers with the food without getting wasted. I can see how BBC would hype up “full pours” in an attempt to not only differentiate themselves from other events but also to give the best value.

While I still disagree with full pours, at the end of the day it is up to the individual guest to decide for themselves how much they will be drinking. Because I was driving that night, I left a lot of beer on the table. It was a conscious decision on my part to do so and while I dislike wasting anything (food, especially beer), it was the right thing to do.

I would suggest the BBC change up their serving glasses. Pint glasses, while good for the casual consumption of your favorite beer, does nothing to enhance the character of the beer. I would suggest they switch to using wine glasses which would help capture the aromatics of the beer and improve its flavor. Moving away from pint glasses into more formal glassware increases not only the enjoyment of the beer but, as uppity as this is going to sound, gives the event a more formal air - this is a special event - and not your typical “let’s go to the pub because we’re too tired to cook tonight” dinner.

A slight criticism must be noted as to where dinner was served: outdoors. The previous dinner was served upstairs and I saw no reason as to why they changed this up. The BBC did have a slight funky aroma in the upper area but I’m not sure if it would be enough to warrant moving the entire dinner outdoors. Worst case, they could reserve the slightly raised section in the lower dining area for the dinner. The number of people who attended could have easily been accommodated in either space. Had this been a typical June evening, the weather would’ve been warmer and this whole point would be rendered moot. As it was, the evening was a little chilly and not everyone dressed in layers. At the very least, the outdoor tables allocated to the dinner could’ve been situated beneath the patio heat lamps. To our server’s credit, he did offer to move our tables over but the dinner was more than halfway through and we toughed it out.

Speaking of people who attended the dinner, it seemed that half the people who made reservations decided not to show up. This is disappointing I’m sure not only for me but for the BBC as well. I’m not even sure if they made any money on the dinner. My suggestion for the BBC would be to take down a credit card number for everyone who makes a reservation and to charge them regardless if they show up or not. I understand “life happens” and emergencies may pop up; nothing a quick phone call can’t remedy. But to completely disregard and event and no-show is… disappointing.

Overall

Despite the low attendance and possible switching of beers, the Lagunitas beer dinner was a vast improvement over the Moylands beer dinner. While the dishes varied in success, I could see a marked enthusiasm behind their preparation. It seemed like more thought was put into this second dinner and even the Lagunitas reps commented on how excited BBC Executive Chef, Tim, was in preparing this dinner.

A specially planned, 5-course dinner with full pours for $45 per person, in my opinion, is a solid value. I’m glad BBC is doing what they can to remain in this price range as I think this make the event more accessible to the general public. As much as I really enjoyed the Firestone Walker Beer Dinner at the Duck Club, at $75 per person, I can only go a couple times a year without it becoming fiscally difficult.

I wish the BBC much success with their beer dinners because I would love to have more events like this in the South Bay/Peninsula. I think it’s important to support craft beer in your immediate neighborhoods (not that Menlo Park is “immediate” for someone who lives in San Jose). I tire of people saying that there are no quality craft beer events in the South Bay/Peninsula, yet when one pops up, these same people fail to show their support. I’ve said it before, if you want these types of events, you need to ask for them. Better yet, when they’re available, show your support by going.

I am looking forward to the next BBC beer dinner. I’ve seen enough improvement to know this is something worth supporting and I hope to see more of you readers at the next one.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 11:14 am and is filed under Beer and Food Pairing Event, Beer and Food Pairings, Craft Beer, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.