Dogfish Head Black & Blue Belgian Ale

I attended a beer and food pairing dinner at Tryst in Delray Beach last night, and boy is my palate tired!

It was, in a word, ffffabulous.

The beers, four of them, were from Dogfish Head Brewery in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The food was prepared by Chef Julian Greaves, who chose to go with Dogfish Head beers because the brewery “pushes the envelope in so many different directions”. Very true.

We started with a little aperitif of Festina Peche, a BerlinerWeisse style beer which is characterized by intense tartness. It’s not for everybody and even this Beer Guy can only take it in small doses. While I would have liked to have seen a small bar bite paired with this, it nonetheless prepared our palates for the adventure to come.

The first course matched a blend of Dogfish Head 60 and 90 Minute IPA’s, dubbed “75″ IPA. The beer is aggressivley hopped, but has a slightly sweet malt body which gives it beautiful balance. It was paired with a spicey beef carpaccio, tarragon crostini, shaved parmesan, crumbled egg, red onion and micro greens with extra virgin olive oil. It was a first pitch home run. The spiciness of the carpaccio and beer blended beautifully. John Hatadis, general manager of BX Beer Depot in Lake Worth couldn’t see how Chef Julian was going to top this…but he did.

Oh, I should mention the other diners at our table, Julissa Caballero, Phuoi Trinh and her husband, Andrew Christie. Hailing from England, Andrew knows and loves his beer. And while Julissa and Phuoi are wine gals, both ended up being very surprised how much they liked the beers in this pairing.

Our second course had the Midas Touch. Dogfish’s Midas Touch ale is a recipe gleaned from 2700 year old drinking vessels from the actual tomb of the famous King. If the Dogfish rendition tastes anything like the original, believe me, it was “good to be the King”. A cross between mead (honey wine), wine and a light ale, this isn’t exactly beer, but is definitely delicious. Paired with local orange blossom honey roasted duck breast, almond wild rice & pomegranate syrup, the combination sings, literally. Yes, a chorus of angels actually belts out a tune with each bite and sip.

The third course left us all Black and Blue. Dogfish Black & Blue is a Belgian Golden Ale fermented with blackberries and blueberries. Chef Julian used some in preparing his house made “pop tart” w/mascarpone quenelle and blackberry port sauce. This time, the flavors contrasted, but in a good way. The beer was tart and refreshing, the pop tart was tart but also sweet and rich.

This is as good as it gets my fellow beer fans, and there will be more. To find out infor on upcoming beer dinners, check out the events page on www.trystdelray.com. You don’t have to wait for the next beer dinner though. Tryst has a great selection of draft and bottled beers and great food to go with them.

Cheers,

The Beer Guy