pike brewing rogue dinner

on march 22nd i attended the pike brewing  dinner at rogue kitchen and wetbar.

the menu was fabulous as ever, the company convivial and the beers delicious!

the menu

charlie finkel began the evening with a talk on the history of craft beer

the highlight for me was when he compared the yellow beers of the big boys to spam, velveeta, wonderbread... and twinkies!

from there he moved to a lesson in malts and brewing

at first it was very interesting

but then, as it kept on going through the first couple of courses it became just too much

charles and rose ann finkel, steve case of pike

naughty nellie golden artisan ale

course one:
the naughty nellie is crisp and refreshing with mild fruity esters and soft malt character
it faired really nicely with the fruity and soft crab and apple
the arugula emulsion was almost too overpowering, but the toasted brioche was buttery goodness!

dungeness crab salad
arugula emulsion, toasted brioche, green apple

course two:
tandem double ale which is rich, round and comples with flavors of fruit, freshly baked bread and teacle
it is a very bready beer in the belgian tradition, seasoned with coriander, which made for an excellent pairing with the coriander crusted pork belly

coriander crusted pork belly
mango, crisp yam, malt gastrique

i had tuna in lieu of pork belly - the spicy sear on the outsdie paired really well with the beer

pescatarian option:
spiced tuna tataki

course three:
kiltlifter scotch ruby ale which has layers of rich malt with subtle smokiness
smoke with smoke made for a great pairing
i skipped the mushrooms and gave away my ricotta gnudi, but hear that they went really well too

cedar smoked salmon
ricotta gnudi, roasted mushroom, brown butter sauce

we got a bonus beer to sample!
the double trouble ipa - this nicely balanced beer was a very welcome addition to my meal!
8% and 80 ibus, it is not readily available yet, but will be available in canada eventually

we were supposed to get a sample of the post alley porter as well
but the mini keg the finkels brought was not pouring, alas

stout chocolate cookies make good googly eyes

course four:
xxxxx stout has a full bodied velvety malt texture with hints of chocolate licorice and espresso
we were given vanilla ice cream in a taster glass and encouraged to pour the stout over the ice cream and eat it on the stout chocolate cookies
it was a make your own float affair!
and an excellent pairing on which to end the evening

stout float
french vanilla ice cream, stout chocolate cookies

in order to get the last vestiges out of the tall skinny glasses
turn upside down and wait for gravity to do its thing!

pike swag for chef cory chapman and rogue staff

me and alison
happy campers!