Before I get on with the 2008 Slow Beer Festival recap, I’d just like to say I amended the Malternative: Beer and Dessert recap adding what the most popular pairing of the night was. I’m not surprised by the result, only by how much the winner won by. I expected a little more from the other offerings but there’s a lot to be said for going last. Okay, I’ve said to much, just click here to get to the post.
Let me preface this current post by saying I am not a journalist. I don’t think I ever stated that I was or that I ever aspired to be one. I am just a guy who really likes beer and food and wanted to write about it. That being said, I will say that I am an awful journalist. I went to the 2008 Slow Beer Festival with a notepad and pen in hand expecting to document each beer we drank, all the food we ate, and how well or not well they went together. That all went out the window after 15 minutes.
Going to these different festivals and writing about beer is fun for me, that’s why I keep this blog. After about 10 minutes of trying to capture all this information, the Festival started to feel more like work and not very fun. As soon as that started to happen, I felt like the passion was disappearing. Since I’m not getting paid to cover the event, I stopped taking notes. If anything, I paid to get in… twice (myself and the wife), so I put away the notepad and pen and just had fun.
So far, the beer gods have been smiling down upon me as our trip to San Francisco went very well. Sammy and I found parking within Golden Gate Park just a short walk from the County Fair Building where the Slow Beer Festival was taking place. Just like the Barleywine Festival a few weeks back, the weather was awesome. With no fog in sight, the sun was happily blazing away with a slight breeze to cool us off at the same time. Part of the festival was outdoors so the wonderful weather was gift from the beer gods.
I must say though, when we first entered the main hall where all the participating brewers were, Sammy and I were a little underwhelmed. For whatever reason, Sammy and I were expecting a sit-down type of event where the food and beer pairings would either be served to us we’d have to get them. I expected a moderator to introduce each course with the appropriate brewery and artisan food producer talking about why each of their products goes well together.
This wasn’t the case at all. The main room featured all of the participating breweries stationed around the perimeter of the hall. Instead of one featured beer, they had line up of different offerings. Some breweries had as few as 2 of their beers on tap while others had 6+ beers. Not having eaten breakfast yet, Sammy and I were disappointed to see the only food in the room consisted of bread, cheese, salami, a very good beer based mustard with what tasted like either horseradish or wasabi (it had that kind of “heat” to it) and gelato.
Sammy and I both started with North Coast Brewing Company’s (NCBC) Blue Star American Wheat Beer. We wanted something light to start us off and since all we found were bread, cheese and salami, we figured we should pace ourselves. Upon further exploration, we found ourselves in the outdoor courtyard where the majority of the food producers were.
The thing that sealed the deal for us when deciding to go to this event was the participation of Hog Island Oyster Company. I had never really liked oysters before meeting my wife. I eventually grew to like them but it wasn’t until we took a trip to Tamales Bay Oyster Company that I really began to enjoy fresh, raw oysters. We immediately made a bee-line right for the oysters. There was only one Hog Island representative there and he practically spent his entire time there shucking oysters. You could have the oysters without garnish (OMG. They tasted so good! It was the perfect balance of sweetness and brine… yummy!!!), with various hot sauces or with their “hogwash” vinegar-based oyster accompaniment. I enjoyed the oysters best with a few drops of the hogwash but I had a few on their own. Good thing I had a glass of Oyster Stout from Magnolia Brew Pub. I’ve often read of oysters and stout as a traditional pairing and this combination sealed the deal. The only other time I’ve tried oysters and stout was at some seafood joint located in Santana Row where Sammy and I ordered a dozen oysters and Guiness. Can’t say I was impressed with that pairing but Magnolia’s Oyster Stout worked perfectly!
Hog Island Oysters Company also had their clam chowder available. Normally I expect clam chowder to be thicker, more creamy but the Hog Island variety was more soup like. Despite it being clam chowder, my bowl was primarily filled with bacon and kale. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some leafy greens and bacon, but when I get a bowl of clam chowder, I expect to see some clams in my bowl. I saw one. Good thing I got another bowl, this time with more clams. All kidding aside, their clam chowder was very good, different, but good. At this point, I was just hungry so I forgot to pair this with a beer.
I refilled my glass with Anderson Valley Brewing Company’s (AVBC) IPA. I have their Hop Ottin’ IPA linked but I don’t think that was the one I had. I remember the AVBC representative say that this particular beer was 9% ABV, so more than likely it was their 20th Anniversay Imperial IPA. What I also found interesting about AVBC was they source everything they use to make their beers from California. I find it very cool to “keep things local”, so to speak. Buying Californian helps California out and because of that, I will be looking for their beers next time I hit BevMo. I think I tried to pair this beer with the sausage and bratwürst from Fatted Calf but that didn’t go as well as I wanted it to. The beer over powered the sausage and the flavors weren’t complimentary or harmonizing.
What did work out with AVBC’s Imperial IPA was the skewer of marinated Gambone mushrooms and Silver Mountain cheese drizzled with salsa verde. Wow. What an awesome pairing. The Silver Mountain cheese is quite robust, it’s firm in texture and the flavor is like a sour cream and onion explosion in your mouth. By contrast, the Gambone mushrooms were buttery and earthy with a chewy texture. Binding it all together, besides the skewer, was the salsa verde wich added just a touch of herbal goodness to bridge the two flavors. The Imperial IPA stood up well to the cheese sexplosion. It’s strong hop flavor and bitterness and 9.0% ABV helped to cut through the Silver Mountain cheese while the malt balanced out with the mushrooms. The IPA hop aroma did well to integrate with the flavors and smells of the salsa verde.
The rest of the day gets a bit hazy for me. We drank a lot more beers that I didn’t write about and were disappointed when Russian River had run out of Sanctification (or was it Beautification?). Sammy rushed over to the Russian River table when I told her about Sanctification and returned with a cup full of foam. That’s all they had left!
As good as all the beers were and as tasty as all the food was, both things can be exponentially improved with the proper company. Thankfully, I had my wife there but we were fortunate enough to have made friends with Brian and Joy. Brian is more of hard liquor connoisseur (scotch and tequila) while Joy, a native Hawaiian, is a fan of pah-leh ah-leh, or pale ale as us main landers call it. Both are really cool people to hang out with and we are very glad to have met them. I haven’t been going to San Francisco as much but now, in addition to the fine breweries and brew pubs, have two more reasons to visit.
Before heading home, Brian and Joy recommended visiting Swan’s Oyster Depot for more oysters. Since it was Sammy’s Birthday, we both decided to make the trip. If you haven’t been there, it’s easy to miss. Swan’s Oyster Depot really is a hole-in-the-wall type of joint consisting basically of one, long marble counter top running almost the complete length of the restaurant with seating provided by stools. We ordered the crab salad, a cup of chowder, and a dozen oysters divided between four types. The crab salad was consisted of fresh but cooked crab meat over a bed of lettuce topped off by salad dressing. It was good enough to have without the dressing but the dressing take anything away from the salad either. Surprisingly, there was a lot of crab. Some places skimp out on the crab, not this joint! Real crab too, not the red, white, pinkish fake stuff. The clam chowder was thick, creamy, and chock full of clams while the oysters were unbelievably good. I only noticed Anchor Steam and Bud light as the available beers and knowing that I’d be driving home, I opted not to order a glass. While pricey, I found our modest meal to be worth every penny.
Speaking of driving, I like to think I can get around San Francisco but in reality, I just know how to get to the places I’ve previously been to. Which isn’t saying much, really. Thankfully, Sammy brought along her Garmin GPS navigation system and it made life so much more enjoyable when you know where you are and where you are going. If you don’t have one already, I would suggest picking up a GPS navigation system. Sammy’s is similar to the one linked in but it’s not this exact model.
We had a lot of fun at the 2008 Slow Beer Festival and I, for one, cannot wait until next year’s event. Hopefully some of our other friends can make it but we’d like to see our new friends there next year as well.
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