Brewmaster's Dinners

Strong Ale Beer Tasting

$25 per person- 6:30pm- Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Paired with chef-inspired small plates

Boulevard "Harvest Dance"

Boulevard Brewery, Kansas City, MO; 9.1% abv

Harvest Dance Wheat Wine is a celebration of John Barleycorn's cousin wheat, the great staple crop of Middle America. Wheat wines are a somewhat recent stylistic development, akin to barleywines in strength, but brewed with a large portion of wheat malt, which provides a soft mouth-feel to balance the big body of these warming brews. We add a generous helping of Hallertau and Citra hops, and age the beer on both French and American oak, resulting in a beer that opens up with a warming burst of tropical fruit flavors, adding subtle Sauvignon Blanc notes before rounding slowly to a dry, oaky finish.

trio tasting- pumpkin-walnut bread, p'tit basque cheese, roasted butternut squash

Arcadia "Cereal Killer"

Arcadia Brewing Company, Battle Crek, MI; 9% abv

Brewed in the traditional English style of Barleywines, Cereal Killer is an explosion of full-bodied, malty goodness. Huge syrupy flavors flow over caramel, toffee, molasses and toasty notes. All these rich malt flavors are balanced out nicely by just the right amount of citrus-like hoppy bitterness. High alcohol content makes this a beer for the cellar. As this brew ages, it will continue to develop more sherry-like flavors and aromas similar to a cask-aged port.

smoked duck confit in pastry with sherry-soaked raisins

McCoy's "Anniversary 10 Ale"

McCoy's Public House, Kansas City, MO; 13% abv

Brewed in early April 2007 to celebrate 10 years of beer business at McCoy's Public House. Perhaps the "biggest" beer we've made to date. It started out simple, create a strong, hoppy ale that comes in around 10% ABV. It did start simple: 90% pale malt, 5% crystal malt, 5% Munich malt and 3 lbs per barrel of a mix of Summit, Horizon, Cascade and Centennial hops. It came out a little bigger then I expected. Anniversary 10 Ale started about 28 Plato and finished at 13% ABV with a huge hop character and strong, almost dry malt finish. Luckily, we saved a keg of it for later use… The hops have surely mellowed and the flavor matured. This keg has not been tapped or moved for almost 3 years!

bourbon-braised pork over white cheddar cheese grits

Avery "Mephistopheles"

Avery Brewing Company, Boulder, Co; 15.1% abv

Mephistopheles is the crafty shape shifter, the second fallen angel. Amazingly complex, coal black, velvety and liquorish, this demon has a bouquet of vine-ripened grapes, anise and chocolate covered cherries with flavors of rum-soaked caramelized dark fruits and a double espresso finish. Mephistopheles is the final installment of "The Demons of Ale" series.

raspberry "beer-a-missou"