What else, through beer & food of course!
FIVE courses, to be precise…
During Craft Beer week I decided to go to a Stone Brewing Co dinner pairing!
The dinner was held at Lily’s restaurant within the Roger Smith Hotel in midtown, and when I first got there it was ‘cocktail & mingling’ hour in the bar and I got to meet Dennis & Arlan from Stone… Dennis reps Stone for all of us in the Big Apple, while Arlan works from the mothership out in CA to make sure that everyone everywhere is able to get their hands on some yummy Stone!
Ok, so here’s how dinner went down: for each course Dennis & Arlan would talk to us about the beer, while Daniel Mowles, the chef, would walk us through the food – gotta say, a lot of planning and thought went into the menu – wouldn’t that be a great job?!? So here were the courses…
First up was a Yellow Tomato Gazpacho, paired with Stone’s Levitation Ale. Dennis described the beer as a good match for the gazpacho (which is made using bread), as biscuity! I’m a big gazpacho fan but had never had a yellow tomato one before, and it was really yummy – the pairing definitely was spot-on ’cause I got the bread/biscuity thing, but the soup stood on its own with a nice oniony spice to it!
(I totally get a demerit for not taking a picture of the soup & beer! booooooo)
So I know this pix is dark, but if I had taken a better shot you would have been able to see the Tandoori prawns with pickled cucumber & lime yogurt on Arlan’s plate… and in his happy hand is Stone’s Cali-Belgique!
Here’s the lesson we learned with this one: This beer is an IPA, but the difference is that it’s brewed with belgian yeast! The thought behind this pairing is that the bitterness of the IPA helps to cut through the spice in a dish… in this case, the tandoori!
This next dish/pairing absolutely
Rocked…..
My………
World………
Truffle Parmesan Grits with Applewood Smoked Bacon, paired with Stone’s Imperial Russian Stout. They picked this beer because it’s strong and has a big flavor, which actually really brought out the bacon flavor! Really, this was absolute FOOD HEAVEN…. the beer smells sweet & molassasy, and the grits are super creamy & rich and there was juuuust the right amount of bacon to give it a smoky, salty tone… mmmm BLISS!
On to the entree…
Rack of Lamb with Peach Chutney & a Fingerling Mash, paired with Stone’s Arrogant Bastard Ale. This was my first time having lamb, and overall it was a rich dish that was very nicely complemented by the flavor of the beer.
Rounding out the evening of deliciousness was a Dark Chocolate Trio with Orange Citrus, paired with Stone’s 08.08.08 Vertical Epic.
So I have to say that I’m not really a big chocolate girl, so this desert was a bit daunting, but… holy cow! The beer totally brought out the chocolate and somehow managed to really compliment it without being too much… If I’m going to have to be eating chocolate desserts, I want Stone beer to go with it!
Meanwhile, as an added bonus we got to also try Stone’s 09.09.09 Vertical Epic. Personally, I liked the ’08 version better than the ’09 which was, in Arlan’s eyes, wrong for some reason (can’t remember why just now)… but hey, I likes what I likes!
Obviously the menu and beers were outstanding, but it was also a really special, informative night overall… We had a really small, intimiate group, so we were all able to chat and pick Arlan & Dennis’ brains… and what they could tell us about Stone was really a great inside-look. Arlan said that when Stone was first starting up, they wanted to go for a big, bold character – no entry-level eers. They didn’t care if it would be too much flavor for some people… they just wanted to make what they liked and forged ahead with this idea driving them:
“If you stick to what you know is right, someone might be interested.”
I visited Stone when I was out West this past April and it was one of the best experiences from my trip, and this dinner just served to increase my love affair… and I’m psyched to say that I’ll be headed back out there in less than a month – hooray!!!
Go drink some Stone beer. Now. 🙂
~HH~
The Hops Honey 
I am the Director of Food and Beverage at the Roger Smith Hotel. Glad you enjoyed the meal and the beer. Daniel, Dennis and Arland really put on a show!!! Nothing beats awesome food, beer and good stories. Hope to see you again
Great post and we are so glad you enjoyed the event !
This is awesome. Wish I could have shared this with you! Over the years, Michael and I had always wanted to start a NYC diner club and now I know we missed out on doing it!
You’ve never had lamb before??
I was a vegetarian for 8 years, and so there are lots of meats that I haven’t tried… and some that I’m still squeamish about… but I’m trying! 🙂