I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the fall Flathead Lake Brewing Co. of Missoula brewer’s dinner on Friday night, something I’d recommend if you’re at all a fan of FLBC’s beers. Tickets certainly weren’t cheap ($68, and for full disclosure I was invited to the event), but five beers and four courses, plus the chance to hear from FLBC’s head brewer Tim Jacoby, justifies the price tag. It was the first time I’d met Jacoby. He’s a heck of a brewer and a nice guy. His only fault is that he’s a Packers fan, we can’t all be perfect.

The dinner was held on the third floor above FLBC of Missoula, a room that I hadn’t been to before and that offers great views of downtown. The first course was a Pale ale bread bowl with a creamy halibut chowder, and Wheat beer-battered shrimp with smoked salmon croquettes and drizzled with Pale ale gastrique, both were served with the Pale. I devoured both before I could take a picture.

Second was a salad made up of roasted carrots, leeks, red peppers, cucumbers, strawberries and cherry tomatoes with an Amber ale  strawberry vinaigrette, served with FLBC’s Amber.  The salad was super sweet and the Amber has hints of chocolate in it, so it was a unique combination.

Next up was a New York  strip stuffed with kale, chard and cherry roulade with an Espresso Porter demi-glaze, served with the FLBC Porter.

Finally, for dessert, was a chocolate bread pudding with a vanilla creme glaze and honey brittle, served with the FLBC Holiday ale.

And I’m full.

All around it was a great night, and one little tidbit that Jacoby shared with me is that ALL of FLBC’s beers will soon be available in bottles.

- Matt Pritchard

It all adds up to perfection.

Start off with a Friday that kind of unravels itself like a tightly wound ball of yarn. You move through the day like a zombie, trying to accomplish this task and that. But the hours are running down, and eventually you realize there is only so much a normal human being can accomplish in a set amount of time. Then you let out a big sigh, and you walk out the door at 5:15 p.m. ready to play as hard as you can while there’s daylight or even if there is not.

The Blue Canyon/Kettlehouse Beer Dinner might just be the best soul food one can get here in Missoula, Montana. Take great craft beer and add amazing food cooked exactingly to match each beer and add great company and you get an ingredient of perfection.

BC chef Laurence Coffman pulled out all the stops in a tour de force of matching beer and food. As is his style, we met a month ago to plan the menu and taste the beers. Larry would dart away after each beer to contemplate its perfect food match in the kitchen.

And as he does, Larry added little flourishes and his own artistic touch to each dish that made the final list.

Pink Peppercorn Brined Prawn, Black Berry Sweet Chili Butter, Crispy Potato

It started with lively conversation, which is essential for a good beer dinner experience. One needs to have a good vocabulary and be at ease with describing tastes, textures and the appearance of dishes.b
Paired with Kettehouse Brewing Company’s new Seeley Axe, a Belgian-style low-gluten beer, the first course of a pink peppercorn brined prawn in a black berry sweet chili butter and served with a crispy potato gaufrette was superb. The hint of spice in the sweet chili butter and the pink peppercorns was slightly highlighted by the touch of heat coming off the Seeley Axe, while the prominent orange peel flavors from the beer brought out the sweetness of the blackberry sauce.

Take black garlic butter-fried chorizo and make perogi ala the West Side Market in Cleveland and add some shaved Manchego Cheese and a root beer gastrique, and you’ll have one of the most phenomenal food pairings with the much loved Cold Smoke Ale. A fairly prominent spiciness emanating from the chorizo is cut slightly by the sweet malts in Cold Smoke, while smooth creaminess of the beer acts as a beautiful setting for the crisp perogi dough, the full-flavored Manchego and the tangy root beer gastrique. This was one of the more popular pairings of the night.

After two relatively heavy taste experiences interwoven with wonderful conversation about beer and how it is made, we cleansed our palates with a basil sorbet-filled lime.

My two favorite dishes came next. The pretzel crusted Clear water Springs rainbow trout with a wholegrain mustard caper emulsion begs for a light-bodied, crisp and hoppy pale ale. The perfect match seems to be Eddie Out Pale Ale, which not only has the attributes needed to sustain this dish, but the malt and hop balance in this lighter pale forms a perfect companion for the creamy fish with a slightly salty mustard-pretzel combination. Delightful indeed!

And can there be anything better than meet cooked Sous Vide? Take smoked bison tenderloin and cook it to a pink perfection Sous Vide, then slightly sear it and add sun-dried tomato and goat-cheese polenta with balsamic-glazed pearl onions and wild mushrooms, and there is so much going on you almost have to stop to listen to your palate cry out for mercy. Larry paired this dish with Kettlehouse’s Double Haul India Pale Ale, which wasn’t my favorite for this meaty dish, but matching isn’t an exact science, so you try to get as close as you possibly can.

Basil Lime Sorbet

Many chefs take the final course and plop a bit of ice cream in a barrel-aged stout and call it good for dessert. Not Larry. His pastry chef concocted a delightful tropical playground on which to enjoy the Kettlehouse’s new standard of excellence, Brick & Mortar Imperial Porter. The dark, sweet plum and hints of coconut and chocolate on this beer make it perfectly suited to the exotic taste of tropical fruit, which was layered inside a beautiful crepe with an edible orchid. This was incredible, as desserts go.

Most of the 30+ attendees stayed around to chat after the dinner, sort of marinating in the conversation as food does. The richness and complexity in life can be enjoyed to in fine detail when one sits back and let’s the words flow over the smells and tastes still linger.

And this weekend did as most weekends do, it flew by. But on Sunday evening, the wife and I were able to visit with a wonderful friend we’ve known since 1st grade, which we all attended together at Cloverdale Elementary School in Oregon.

The Iron Horse has the 406 Series from Big Sky, so we all sat in the amazing sunshine and sipped on light and refreshing Saisons and caught up on a few missed years. The weekend ended with a long walk down to Big Dipper and some ice cream to cool things down a bit.

All in all, perfection. Wouldn’t change a thing, unless it was to make three-day-weekends mandatory.

Tropical Crepes

Prost,

GG

Congratulations to Brandi Brenden for winning a seat at the Blue Canyon/Kettlehouse Beer Dinner tonight.  She became a fan of GrizzlyGrowler on Facebook and will enjoy an amazing spread put on by Blue Canyon’s own Larry Coffman and the Kettlehouse Brewing Company.

Thanks to all the other fans for participating, and check back often, we’ll be giving away other cool prizes for new fans and our long time fans as well.

See you all at the Blue Canyon/Kettlehouse Beer Dinner tonight.

Prost,

GG

Hey friends, here’s your last chance to win a seat at the table for the Blue Canyon/Kettlehouse Beer Dinner tomorrow night.

Become a fan of GrizzlyGrowler on Facebook before 5 p.m. tonight, and I’ll randomly pick one lucky new fan to join us for an amazing dinner tomorrow night.

GrizzlyGrowler.Com

Promote Your Page Too

Prost,

GG

Beer dinner versus Wine dinner

With brewer’s dinners happening all over Montana and the rest of the country often these days, I’m beset with the question, “Why should I go to a beer dinner?”  Instead of rolling my eyes at everyone, I decided I would publish a Top 5 list of reasons to attend a beer dinner.

5. Beer is made from water, hops, yeast and grain, wine is made from juice and yeast. Beer has 10 times the flavor components that wine has. Stands to reason that beer has many flavor advantages over wine when it comes to food.

4. A wine dinner typically costs $80 to $100. A beer dinner usually is $45 to $55. It’s economics folks.

3. A wine dinner usually contains a lot of cheese, because pairing wine to food is a lot more difficult than you think. A beer dinner usually contains an unlimited number of interesting goodies, like: prawns, scallops, bison, perogis, salad, ice cream, the list could go on and on and on.

2. We like wine here at GrizzlyGrowler.com, so we’ll stop bashing it now. But another reason to go to a beer dinner is for the grand education of ones palate. Nothing will educate your palate to the potential of beer like a beer dinner. At most dinners, the conversation revolves around the beer and the food, not politics and the weather.

1. And the number one reason to attend a beer dinner is the local aspect. Unless you are attending a wine dinner in the Napa Valley, you’ll find it difficult to beat the ability of brewers and chefs to work closely together to match foods with locally produced beers. We’re not in wine country, but we are in beer country, so it stands to reason that a beer dinner might just have a wee bit more to offer than a wine dinner. OK, I’m officially done slamming wine, and, incidentally, I’m done with this list too.

All that said, you should definitely try and attend the Blue Canyon/Kettlehouse Beer Dinner on Friday, April 16 at 7 p.m. at Blue Canyon. All the juicy details and the numbers to call for reservations are available right here.

Prost,

GG

Hey Missoula and Western Montana. You need to sign up for this brewer’s dinner with Blue Canyon and Kettlehouse Brewing Company. It’s going to be amazing, and it will offer you a chance to really see what you can do with pairing great food ideas with your favorite Kettlehouse beers.

Here’s the menu:

Amuse Bouche:
TBD

1st Course:
Belgium Seeley Axe
Pink Peppercorn Brined Prawn, Black Berry Sweet Chili Butter, Crispy Potato Gaufrette

2nd course:
Cold Smoke
Black Garlic Butter Fried Chorizo “West Side Market” Perogi, Shaved Manchego Cheese, Root Beer Gastrique

INTERMEZZO: BASIL SORBET

3rd course:
Eddy Out American Pale Ale
Pretzel Crusted Clear Water Springs Rainbow Trout, Wholegrain Mustard Caper Emulsion

4th course:
Double Haul IPA
Smoked Bison Tenderloin Sous Vide, Sun Dried Tomato Goat Cheese Polenta, Balsamic Glazed Pearl Onions, Wild Mushrooms

Dessert:/5th Course:
Porter Brick N Mortar
“Fruit Tart” Crepe with a Plum Glaze and Shaved Dark Callebaut

Cost ~$55 per person + gratuity ~7:00 pm – In The Blue Canyon Bison Room ~Call 541-BLUE (2583) To Make Your Reservations Today!

Prost,

GG

Announcing the Kettlhouse Brewing Company Blue Canyon Brewer’s Dinner

You’ve tasted Big Sky Brewing Company and Blue Canyon doing food and beer as you’ve never seen it before, now it’s time to see what happens with Kettlehouse Brewing Company and some ale-inspired food creations by chef Larry Coffman.

Here’s the menu:

Amuse Bouche:
TBD

1st Course:
Belgium Seeley Axe
Pink Peppercorn Brined Prawn, Black Berry Sweet Chili Butter, Crispy Potato Gaufrette

2nd course:
Cold Smoke
Black Garlic Butter Fried Chorizo “West Side Market” Perogi, Shaved Manchego Cheese, Root Beer Gastrique

INTERMEZZO: BASIL SORBET

3rd course:
Eddy Out American Pale Ale
Pretzel Crusted Clear Water Springs Rainbow Trout, Wholegrain Mustard Caper Emulsion

4th course:
Double Haul IPA
Smoked Bison Tenderloin Sous Vide, Sun Dried Tomato Goat Cheese Polenta, Balsamic Glazed Pearl Onions, Wild Mushrooms

Dessert:/5th Course:
Porter Brick N Mortar
“Fruit Tart” Crepe with a Plum Glaze and Shaved Dark Callebaut

Cost ~$55 per person + gratuity ~7:00 pm – In The Blue Canyon Bison Room ~Call 541-BLUE (2583) To Make Your Reservations Today!

Prost,

GG

Driving up the Bitterroot Valley under a high, spring sun can be distracting. The jagged peaks of the mountains dancing in and out of sunlight, and the glistening river snaking along beside you can drive a man to daydream. Lucky for me I had my trusty traveling companion, my best friend whom I’ve known since third grade, the one who keeps me on the straight and narrow, so to speak. Now a lot of guys wouldn’t instinctively grab their wife when running off to a beer dinner at a nice craft brewery. After all, most of our quaffing is done in the presence of other beer nerds, and a beer nerd my wife is not.

But craft beer can be redemptive, and I want to tell you why.

Many years ago, my wife would only sip a little pink wine once in a while. Fast forward many years and a hard-working husband who would bring home every imaginable type and style of wine trying to grow her palate. Flash forward a few more years later, and she’s sitting on the beach sipping a Corona with about a dozen lime wedges stuff in the neck.

Flash forward to Sunday night at Bitterroot Brewing. Many years of hard work have produced a palate able to taste different beers and discern flavor differences. But it didn’t really matter, you could have been a novice and enjoyed the amazing spread that evening.

A decent crowd mingled before the event, standing around an L-shaped table with white linen. The evening sun bounced off red-brick buildings in view out the back of the brewery’s upstairs dining area.

There were a few acquaintances, and we introduced ourselves to others sitting around us about to become “beer buddies.”

The cheerful servers poured each diner some Nut Brown ale, which we sniffed, sipped, swirled and otherwise quaffed. Then two perfectly seared sea scallops appeared with a roasted green chili corn puree and a dollop of preserved lime “Beer” blanc.

A bit of the scallop alone was enough to dissolve into a long, savoring sigh, but with a bit of the puree and the lime condiment added, it brought out the faint hops in the Nut Brown like warming to a new found friendship.

Conversation rose and fell like a tide, coming back at times to the craft beer and proceeding on to politics, music and technology. Always it came back to beer.

My wife had struck up a conversation with a delightful lady across the table from her over the first beer, and much like flavors build one on top of another, little commonalities grew to become shared experiences, which are fertile grounds for the blossoming of friendship.

The very last of the brewery’s vaunted Collabeeration Porter was served into snifters, and those of us who know and love the beer let it warm in the glass to reveal the deep vanilla and chocolate flavors hiding there. Even through the sweet seared pork tenderloin sitting on a bed of charred radicchio and glazed with an apple cider reduction and chunks of festive Gorgonzola dotting the plate, we let our beer sit, sipping slowly to combine the tart apple flavors and faint bitterness on the radicchio with the bold malt on the beer. Masterful.

Sweet-potato beignet with orange peel ice cream

The only flaw I could see coming was my own. I’ve never been able to convince my wife as to the shear pleasure of India Pale Ale, which was the beer pairing for a root vegetable gratin in a buttermilk cauliflower sauce with crumbled goat cheese. Fortunately, the creamy sauce with plenty of butter made for a nice palate coating that took a little bitterness off the IPA. And for the first time ever while drinking an IPA, I saw her smile. Of course it could have been the new friend she found sitting across the table, but I like to think it was a little of both.

The intermezzo, or palate cleanser, very nearly wiped away the palate memories of the foods and beers just tried, which is what it’s intended to do, and yet it also served as a great connecting bridge. A spoonful of malted parsnip sorbet topped with candied ginger kept some of the best flavors of beer moving us forward, rather than just washing away. Brilliant.

And now to my epiphany, for I have seen a good thing, and it has changed my life. Duck has been my fascination for many years. From hunting the birds along ditches and small ponds as a teenager to hunting for the perfect duck dish in restaurants, I’ve pursued this wonderful food for a long time without really understanding what I was looking for.

The new and amazing Imperial Red Ale recently released at Bitterroot Brewing Company provided the ground work for my epiphany. With a smooth, caramel and toasted bread body and a nose that faintly reminds one of the night smell of hop harvest, this big red ale spoke of rich flavors combined in a fowl melange. Which is exactly what showed up on our table. Bowls of hearty cassoulet, rich and creamy with chunks of duck bacon, chanterelle mushrooms and duck-fat-infused beans held up duck sausages and seared duck tenderloin. And the big red ale curled around this goodness adding a slight sweetness and mingling with gamey duck with floral hints of spring bursting from each bite. Inspired.

Full to bursting, we conversed in rapid-fire exclamations at the shared epiphany, while others simply sipped the remaining beer in pondering silence.

And unlike other beer dinners, which sometimes end in a big stout or porter as a pairing for dessert, the Belgian Honey Trippel, dripping with fireweed honey and lavish Belgian yeast notes of cloves, cinnamon and bready goodness, was poured to combine with a sweet potato beignet and orange peel ice cream with a delightful molasses caramel drizzled over the plate. Light and with almost perfect pairing flavors of orange and cream and caramel and breadiness, this dish almost single-handedly captures the pure power that beer and food combinations can have.

And so we ended the night completely satisfied and fast friends with our dining companions, a testament to what craft beer and food can do in a slow, contextual way. The Bitterroot Brewing dinner was one of the best examples of how craft beer is the greatest lubricant to conversation and friendship I’ve ever seen. And I’m raising my glass to many more of these in the future. My compliments to the brewers, the chef, the servers, my table mates and my soul mate who made Sunday night unforgettable.

Prost,

GG

I’ve live-blogged beer dinners before, but I’ve learned that a beer dinner must be experienced in all its glory to really appreciate it. Last night’s Big Sky Blue Canyon Beer Dinner was the best one yet. It was standing-room-only, except everyone had a chair. Seriously good-size crowd.

The best part of the evening, besides the food and beer, of course, was enjoying the whole experience with the gang from Bitterroot Brewing. Their food, beer and promotion guys came up to see what all the hype was about, and perhaps make some plans for their very own brewer’s dinner in the future.

It was great to sit around with a bunch of beer lovers and confirm, at least to ourselves, that beer is really the best beverage to pair with food. Wine has its good matches, but it’s a simpler beverage and it’s picky. Not so much with beer. The hops, barley, yeast and alcohol provide such a better platform for the myriad flavor possibilities than do juice, yeast and oak. Sorry, not to pick on wine too much, but last night’s beer dinner was a showcase of different beer styles, from Belgian to traditional English and American Pale Ales, and foods as diverse as scallops, brisket and black garlic.

Many thanks to Larry Coffman and his very talented crew at Blue Canyon Kitchen and Tavern, as well as to the brewers at Big Sky Brewing Co. You guys exemplify the spirit of your crafts.

Look for more of these types of beer dinners coming up soon. I’ll be announcing several beer dinners through the rest of winter and into spring.

Prost,

GG

Just wanted to let all of you know that executive chef Larry Coffman has opened the doors wide to allow as many as want to attend tomorrow night’s Big Sky Blue Canyon Beer Dinner do so. However, he will need a final count by early Friday, so if you’ve been putting off signing up, do so today.

Here are the details:

Menu:

1st Course

Baby Greens Salad, Apple Cider Viniagrete, Dehydrated Apple Chips,
Spiced Pecan Crusted Amalethia Goat Cheese
Beer: Big Sky Powder Hound

2nd Course
Herb Grilled Sea Scallop, Caramelized Shallot Orange Glaze,
Tarragon Foam
Beer: Big Sky Belgian Triple

Intermezzo
Basil, Watermelon Sorbet

3rd Course
Crispy Seared Hutterite Duck Breast, Black Garlic Spaetzle,
Blackberry-Fig Balsamic Glaze
Beer: Big Sky Kriek

4th Course
Braised Smoked Brisket, Crispy Widmer Cheddar Perogi, Port Demi
Beer: Big Sky Robust Porter

5th Course
Milk Chocolate, Bavarian Mousse, Peanut Butter Bombe,
Khalua Creme Anglaise
Beer: Big Sky Ivan The Terrible

Cost ~$65 per person / $120 per couple + gratuity ~6:30 pm – In The Blue Canyon Bison Room ~Call 541-BLUE (2583) To Make Your Reservations Today!

Prost,

GG