rogue central city dinner

talk about a blast from the past
here's what i can remember from the rogue kitchen & wetbar beer pairing dinner with central city brewery
way, way, way back on january 18th


 when going to a central city dinner, you gotta warm up the taste buds with the red racer ipa!


course one:
tai snapper crudo with pickled kumquat, red chili, orange oil and crispy yam
paired with red racer wheat ale

tai snapper crudo

look ma!  magnetic cutlery!

red racer wheat ale
course two:
hot smoked trout with assorted beets, almonds, arugula, raspberry
paired with red racer extra special bitter

red racer extra special bitter

hot smoked trout
course three:
duo of duck with seared breast, confit leg, barley risotto, baby fennel, citrus
paired with red racer india pale ale

red racer india pale ale

the pescatarian salmon option

the duo of duck, up close and personal-like
course four:
spiced honey tart with gorgonzola, poached pear, chantilly cream
paired with thor's hammer barley wine

how bridget feels about the thor's hammer

spiced honey tart

cheers gary!
thanks for the great beers!
unfortunately most of my notes from this dinner have gone awol
what i do have is that the esb is a big beer that goes well with beef

the hops in the ipa act as an aperitif to get the stomach juices going, which is why an ipa pairs so well with the heavy duck
gary is all about hopping as an art
he adds the hops in the last 30 minutes of the boil for flavour and aroma
he uses hops out of yakima washington

the thor's hammer is made once a year
this year's came out in february so it was still very young when we drank it in january
it is bottle conditioned and as such can age up to ten years
it is a 10.5% beer, making it a great dessert beer
stressy yeast produces esters which give the flavours like fig and walnut to the beer

at central city they care about beer so they brew what they want to drink

what i remember about the food is that i loved all the fish dishes!
having a mouthful of the smoked trout with beet, almond, arugula and raspberry all together was particularly good for the soul
and even though i found out later the barley risotto had a chicken stock base and therefore should not have been fed to the pescatarian, it was delicious - i highly recommend substituting barley for rice next time you whip up a risotto
my friends who had the duck suggested that it was actually not a good pairing for the ipa
too rich and heavy
they thought beef would have paired better
overall though, as usual, the chef cory chapman did himself proud!

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