For Ryan’s birthday this year, I knew I wouldn’t have time or energy to cook a big fancy dinner since we would be getting home from Alaska late Sunday night with his birthday the next day. So when Broken Barrel announced they were having a beer dinner the week of his birthday I knew it would be perfect!
The dinner was Belgian themed and consisted of five courses, each paired with a beer. Between each course, Kevin (the owner) came in and talked about the food and beer that were about to be served. Additionally they had a welcoming beer called Unibroue Ephemere Apple which was quite tasty. A little sweet with a dry finish.
For the first course, we were served a spinach salad with strawberry vinaigrette. It also had blueberries and candied walnuts in the salad. I’m not normally much of a salad eater but the strawberry dressing was absolutely delicious! The beer it was paired with was Blanche de Bruxelles which had a bit of a fruity smell to me but did not taste too sweet. Really it tasted like it could have been paired with many different foods and still been very smooth.
For the first course, we were served a spinach salad with strawberry vinaigrette. It also had blueberries and candied walnuts in the salad. I’m not normally much of a salad eater but the strawberry dressing was absolutely delicious! The beer it was paired with was Blanche de Bruxelles which had a bit of a fruity smell to me but did not taste too sweet. Really it tasted like it could have been paired with many different foods and still been very smooth.
For the second course, we had a “scallop lollipop” – three scallops (each on a skewer/stick) served with a creamy white wine sauce. The beer to pair with it was supposed to be the Triple Karmeliet but two of the beers accidentally got switched so we had the Stone Cali Belgique instead. The Stone Cali is much stronger and was picked to go with the spicier third course while the Triple was a bit smoother to go with the light and creamy scallops. The scallops were absolutely delicious! Even though I knew I would get too full if I ate all three…I didn’t share these with Ryan, LOL.
The third course consisted of fried pork wantons with a spicy cabbage slaw. The wanton filling was fairly simple but there was a thin chile sauce spread over the wantons that soaked through the wrapper and into the pork; it really enhanced the flavor.
The fourth course was a lobster roll on a very soft white bread. The lobster had a very light mayonnaise based dressing on it and no other toppings. The roll was served with these tiny shoestring fries. The fries may look dainty but they really tasted great! I could have eaten a whole plate of them! The lobster was tender and I really liked how the sauce wasn’t overpowering – it would be a great sandwich for a summer day when you want something cool and refreshing. The beer for the fourth course was the Saison Dupont which honestly doesn’t really stand out in my memory. Not that it was bad, just that thinking back I remember what all the others tasted like but not this one. Oops.
We barely made it to the fifth course – we were getting pretty full! I wish you could smell how amazing this dish smelled: grilled peach cobbler with ice cream, paired with Maggie’s Peach Farmhouse Ale. The fruit in the cobbler was cooked perfectly and the sweetness was nicely balanced by the cobbler topping (perfect topping by the way). I normally am not a huge fan of hot fruits other than apple but holy cow that was delicious. And you know I love anything a la mode, heehee. The beer was very interesting. The beer has the most pungent peach smell you’ve ever smelled – it smells more like a perfume or a concentrated candy syrup than a beer. Having smelled it, I was a little worried it would be too sweet for me but surprisingly the beer really just has a hint of peach. I was shocked at how smooth and dry the beer was after how sweet it smelled!
Overall it was a really fun couple of hours with delicious food, some new beers I might not have tried otherwise and lots of fun! I heard they are going to have another beer dinner next spring and I hope we get to go and that you decide to join us!
