Oh what a night! What was old is new again and old (more on that in a sec). Thanks to Brickside Grille in Exton (Eagleview), PA, the return of last night’s beer dinner brought out old friends of The Drafting Room, current fans of the Brickside, homebrewers, professional brewers, and a whole room full of Thursday night customers delighted by the beers of East Branch and Root Down Brewing Companies.
Howard Weintraub (co-founding owner and longtime proprietor of the now-shuttered The Drafting Room) emceed the festivities while a variety of speakers from each brewery weighed in with their thoughts on the beer, the pairings, and the evening. The recurring theme throughout each commentary was how genuinely excited they were to be a part of the return of this beer dinner format. Not that they ever went totally away, but we went from many establishments hosting monthly beer dinners 10 years ago to it being quite difficult to find one in 2024.
In my better trained days of Brew Lounging, I’d have come back with pictures of the food, the people, the beers, the room, a who's-who list of those in attendance, and maybe some video of one of the speakers. But I guess I’ve lost my way a bit, just bringing you the pictures of each course. What a treat it was to see a room full of people -- many friends and acquaintances from over the years -- enjoying Pilsner, (nice and filtered clean old-school) West Coast IPA, Altbier, Rosemary Gose, and Oktoberfest matched up thoughtfully and nicely with their plated companions. (the beer styles, btw, is where my "something old" was alluding)
On paper heading into the dinner, I was prepared to award pairing of the night to the Cod and Altbier and, incredible as it well both individually and together, I think the dessert course (Oktoberfest for dessert, I tell ya!) edge it out by an apple stem. The malt and spices played so nicely together and was so seasonally appropriate with autumnal weather just around the corner and nights already beginning to feel just a bit of chill in the air.
While I don’t foresee anyone (yet) going back to monthly beer dinners, I think last night's feel-good enthusiasm and turnout shows that there truly is a place for these dinners. I did throw in my two cents suggesting that a quarterly beer dinner focused on the seasonal styles of beer and the seasonally appropriate and available dinner ingredients would make for what I would imagine would be eagerly anticipated showcases of food and beer.
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