IPA and Food Pairing - November 8, 2008

You hear about people going to food and wine pairings all the time. Even down here in Florida we have the annual Food and Wine Festival at Disney’s Epcot. Sometimes people forget that food and beer can go well together. Certain foods bring out the flavors in the beer more and visa versa.

I signed up for the IPA and Food pairing at the BX Beer Depot in Lake Worth, Florida when I attended their home brewing class a month ago. They mentioned how their previous pairing was a great success and were looking very forward to this one. I being the IPA fan that I am decided it would be fun. So along with fellow beer blogger Danno we went this past Saturday night at the cost of $25 a head in advance, $30 at the door. This price may seem a little steep to some but I believe it was ultimately worth it as you will find out.

I arrived around 6pm, an hour early I found out when I arrived. Apparently there was a change in the time and I did not get the email. No worries though as Corey, employee of BX and pretty much the organizer and chef of the event, poured me a glass of BX’s own home brewed IPA. I have had this before and it is a fine beer. I was also treated to some freshly roasted pecans that were going to be used for the night’s salads. I will go on record as saying I am not a big fan of pecans but these were absolutely delicious. They were slightly sweet and sticky and just found myself continually taking them down.

As people arrived we were informed about another treat for the evening other than the food and beer to come. BX was announcing that they were to become the first store in Florida to carry beer from the ever popular California brewery Stone Brewing. And along with the announcement that the beer would be available starting November 17th a representative from Fresh Beer, Ray, brought along some of the brews from Stone that would be carried. Included in those was their flagship beer Arrogant Bastard Ale. It is an American strong ale that is absolutely amazing, look for a review on that once it comes out. We were also treated to samples of Stone’s porter, IPA, oaked ale, pale ale and imperial ale. Each one was exceptional in their own way. You also must read the reverse label of the Arrogant Bastard Ale. You will get a good laugh out of that as it pokes fun at multi million dollar breweries that try to make themselves look small to appeal to others. I have heard so much and seen so much about this brewery online that I have almost built them up to this mythical standard and I must say that they brew a damn good beer and can’t wait to have them right here in my backyard.

After whetting our whistle with the amazing brews from Stone we were treated to our first of four courses for the evening. We were given a plate of Gorgonzola salad with pecans, dried cranberries and from what I remember an apricot dressing. This was paired with Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA, their most popular brew. As you may have seen in the past I have reviewed this beer to good reviews and it matched up extremely well with the salad. I must say this was my first experience with Gorgonzola and was impressed. This was a well thought out salad that dared to be different and succeeded in every aspect. The earthy flavors of beer went very well with the salad as compliment to the sweet dressing and those amazing pecans that I had the great pleasure of sampling earlier in the evening. Ray and Corey both went out of their way to explain the beer and food thoroughly and why they selected to pair them up together. Great little touch for those that are not beer experts. (For the record, I am not. Just a beer lover.)

This brought us to the next course which was Andy’s Tangy Pineapple Wings matched up with Stoudt’s Double IPA. Andy is a friend of Corey that decided to contribute this dish to the pairing. Again Ray and Corey each explain the food and beer along with the reasons for their pairing. The wings were very tender and just fell off of the bone. The beer had a sweet taste to it with hints of grapefruit and pine in it that really helped make the taste of the wings taste that much sweeter than they already were. If feel like I have said this a lot already but again I am typically not a fan of pineapple but these wings may have just leaned me a bit towards the other side in my opinion on the fruit. Overall, a great pairing of those two.

Next up is what you would probably call the main course. It was a cranberry and pecan stuff pork loin that was matched up with Avery IPA. A very nice idea with the tangy middle but I found the pork a little dry. Luckily the Avery IPA was there to help with that. This was probably the sweetest of all the IPAs had during the evening. Very strong citrus tastes with grapefruit and lemon sticking out to me. Paired with the pork it helped the flavor of the pork and stuffings come out more. Unfortunately I just couldn’t get past the dryness of the pork. I would by no stretch say the food was bad, it just was not to my personal taste. I am also going to have to do a full review on the Avery IPA as I found it quite good and would like to give it another try in a normal tasting setting.

And lastly we were given dessert with a Ginger and Carrot cake paired up with Left Hand’s Twin Sister Double IPA. By this point in the night we had gone through a good amount of beers with the pairings and the Stone tastings so I became a little forgetful and neglected to take a picture of this course. The cake was very sweet with an amazing ginger icing on it. Corey mentioned that the Left Hand IPA goes well with this because it negates some of the very strong flavors of the icing that could just overwhelm your taste buds and it helps clean your palette off. It was definitely the strongest one of the night. It was a heavy and hoppy ale that tasted slightly syrup like at times. A very nice combination of sweetness and hops.

This thus ended the beer and food pairing but many of the people stuck around and bought beers from the store and conversed with each other. Danno and I met a lot of nice, new people that night and were given information on the monthly beer club and met the president. Overall I had a great time. The food and beers were great and well worth the money.

I would highly recommend anyone in the Palm Beach County area to head over to the BX Beer Depot and check things out. They have a great selection of micro, craft and import beers. A huge selection of home brewing equipment and supplies. There are lots of events always going on. And most importantly a friendly and knowledgable staff. Check them out on the web for more information at www.bxbeerdepot.com

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