Chefs Association of the Pacific Coast / SF Brewers Guild Beer Dinner
The epically-titled “An educational evening of Beer and Cheese with the Chefs Association of the Pacific Coast and the San Francisco Brewer’s Guild” Beer Dinner, put on by Bruce Paton, Beer Chef, was last night. Though the beers served were mostly pretty easy to find for those of us living in the SF Bay Area, coming as they did from SF breweries, there were a couple on the list I was looking forward to trying - 21st Amendment’s Imperial Smoked Porter, and Magnolia’s Deep Ellum Dubbel. I love me some smoke, and I love me some dubbels. Also, all those cheesy dishes sounded awesome.
As usual, the food was great. One of the appetizers was particularly creepy, but delicious - chunks of marinated, slightly spicy chicken impaled on plastic syringes containing some sort of (I assume cheese-based) white sauce. You squeeze the plastic hypodermic, and the sauce is injected into the chicken. Very creepy. Very delicious. I had two. I only allow myself two of one appetizer, so that makes it my favorite, I guess. There was also a tiny, flaky pastry stuffed with some sort of cheese/cream/pesto concoction that was awesome, tiny pork sliders, a weird pasta/cheese/meet thing that reminded me flavor-wise of a super fancy cheeseburger with some sort of fancy salami or something (I’m way out of my league with fancy cured meats, so I should probably say nothing further about it). I think the weirder appetizers were my favorites, generally.
As for beer, during the reception, they were pouring the Bear Republic Oktobearfest, Gordon Biersch’s Hefeweizen, Beach Chalet’s Hop Patootie, and San Francisco Brewing Company’s Obama Bock (I think it was the SF Brewing Company). They are listed in order of how much I dug them. The Oktobearfest had lots of malt character, a good fruity hoppiness (though not overbearing at all), and just enough sweetness to make it well-rounded and highly drinkable. The Gordon Biersch Hef is nothing like an American Hef - flavorless and dull - it’s a very German-tasting Hefewiezen heavy on the banana flavors. Another very drinkable beer. I was a bit disturbed that it smelled exactly like the Hefeweizen I brewed and let sit too long in the primary (three months too long), but whereas my beer smelled good and tasted like ass, the GB Hef smelled good and tasted good. The Beach Chalet Hop Patootie was a very hoppy fresh hopped beer, IPA or Pale style-wise. It had that certain something that I always taste in Beach Chalet beers, something reminescent of homebrew that hasn’t sat in the closet long enough. The Obama Bock did not seem like a bock to me, though it was tasty.
The best two beers from the reception made up the first two courses of the dinner, along with some delicious cheese concoctions. All of the food after the appetizers surprised me - first the puree of sugar pie pumpkin with gratin of beehive full moon raw milk cheese: it wasn’t sweet. Maybe I’m naive, but the sugar, the beehive, all made me think sweet. Rather, it was a little tower of cheesey potatoes on top of a pumpkin puree, with little spicy chili pepper confetti scattered about. Very good, and well-paired with the Oktobearfest. The second course, the napoleon of oven roasted pears and delice de vallee cheese with peppercress, paired with the Hef, was my favorite of the night. The pears were kind of like a sweet salsa fresca, the cheese was, I think, a goat/cow blend. The dish was made for taking bites with different combinations of ingredients, and it was delicious. The third course could have been a meal in itself - duck confit served with a spaghetti-like pasta with an aged gouda sauce! Served with a smoked Imperial porter! I loved the porter. If I hadn’t been so stuffed, I would’ve tried to grab a second glass. By the time the final dish was served, a dessertlike mac and cheese with a triple cream cheese and some sort of awesome waffle conelike bowl, topped with figs, I was finished. I managed maybe five bites of it. It was great. I want to say it was awesome, but I feel like I’ve used that term enough tonight.
Altogether, it was a great time, and a great dinner. The cheeses were delicious and went well with the beers, and the dishes were imaginitive and fun.