rogue

tuesday's beer and food pairing dinner at rogue kitchen and wet bar was another fabulous evening of good food, good beer, bons mots from owner and brewmaster and good times!

the evening got off to a bit of a late start - first tasters of beer arriving at 7:30ish and first dish at 7:40

but that just ensured that we were all drooling a little when it did arrive

the menu

we began with the king heffy imperial hefeweizen, a 7.7% behemoth of german yeasty goodness - bananas and cloves galore
45% wheat and 55% barley mash
it won 2 gold medals last une at the american beer awards

the king heffy

the king heffy taster wedged between the double decker ipa
from vancouver island brewing and crannog's back hand of god

paired with braised pork belly, which we were told is its traditional food pairing
seeing as i had fish instead of pork belly
and don't actually enjoy the wheat beers
i couldn't tell you if it actually did pair well

first course - carnivorous

first course - pescatarian

what i can tell you is that i want to marry the goat cheese fritter!
the vanilla citrus glaze was to die for, the celery root puree was delish (who'd a thunk?) and mahi mahi instead of pork belly was such a happy happy substitution!
i was in heaven and believe i probably made quite a few happy moaning noises as i ate
i wonder if the goat cheese fritter would have been too strong a flavour for a regular wheat beer
good thing the king heffy is a heavy-hitting imperial

the devil's elbow ipa

next up was the devil's elbow ipa
one of my all-time favourites
its my go-to beer at the government store
not too hoppy to share with non-hop-head friends
only $7 for a litre so it doesn't break the bank
and conveniently dispensed from pot-stopper bottles
that also make sharing it a joy

course number two

look ma!  its a whole crab!

i guess i've never properly paid attention when i've eaten soft-shell crab before
either that or no one has ever fed me the whole darned crab before!
boy, the shell really is soft
especially after being breaded and deep-fried
so yummy!
i had far too much fun eating it - i think maybe i should get out more...

and the chick-pea gallette - i could eat one of those every day and not get tired of it
not as spicy as i think it all could have been
but definitely hot enough to bring out the pairing with a 68 ibu ipa

ze rockfish red

the rockfish red is a lovely little red
a bit citrusy, and full-bodied
probably a good pairing with lamb
maybe a bit too heavy with the salmon

course three - carnivorous

course three - pescatarian

my salmon was kinda dry
which was too bad...
but the rest was great - loved my prawn
used my carrot puree to moisten the fish
and will have to add the crispy brussels sprouts to my wedding to the goat cheese fritter
why didn't mom make brussels sprouts like that??
the bread pudding was pretty heavy
me, i don't mind the heavy
especially with beer to wash it down
and probably it was just right with the lamb
last, but certainly not least, the rail ale nut brown
not what i would have considered a dessert beer before this pairing
now, i gotta tell you that next time i have toffee, i hope to have some rail ale to wash it down with!

decadent dessert

being on my stupid lent bent meant no brownie for me

thankfully the creme anglaise with granola bits and biscuit were yummy

and that toffee...

its been too long since i had sponge toffee!

using the rail ale to help me get the toffee out of my teeth before i lost a filling brought out the coffee notes in the beer and i had to stop drinking it

chocolate beer counts for lent i decided a while back

so once i realized there was some in there, i had to stop drinking it

stupid guilt

and i'm not even catholic - no fair!

yup, it was a gooooood dinner

paired with some delicious local beers

that's my idea of a perfect meal

so perfect that i'll be back again to rogue in a couple of weeks for the phillips dinner

and this time i'll be bringing my posse with me!