Sierra Nevada Beer Dinner

Last night, I attended a celebration filled with food and beer at the local Tap and Table: a 6-course beer dinner featuring Sierra Nevada brews. With a packed house of some rowdy folks, almost 90 people were in attendance for this exclusive event which the restaurant closed down for. I say "rowdy" because I think a few people there took advantage of the fact that you could order other beer/drinks before and during the dinner, something which was definitely unnecessary considering everything that was offered. The PA area manager for Sierra Nevada, Steve Olintz, had trouble getting everyone to be quiet when trying to explain each beer that was offered, which I thought was pretty disrespectful, but I could hear so that's all that mattered to me.

Sierra Nevada is one of the most successful craft breweries in the country, but many people are only aware of their Pale Ale and unaware of their rare offerings which were perfectly paired with some great dishes from the chefs at Tap and Table.

Here was the menu:

Course One: Roasted Pork Empanada with Black Bean sauce
Beer One: Anniversary Ale (Draft) 5.9%

Course Two: Beer & Cheese Soup with Red Pepper Brunoise
Beer Two: Trippel (Draft) 7.9%

Course Three: Sauteed Rock Shrimp with Grilled Masa Cake
Beer Three: Celebration Ale (Draft) 6.8%

Course Four: Duck Confit Fritters with a "Life & Limb" Gastrique
Beer(s) Four: Life and Limb (Bottle) 10%
Limb and Life (Draft) 5%

Course Five: Spicy Braised Beef Taco with Creme Fraiche & Nappa Cabbage
Beer Five: Chico Estate (Draft) 6.7%

Course Six: Chocolate Trio (Ice Cream, Crinkle Cookie, Mexican Hot Chocolate Truffle)
Beer Six: Bigfoot Barleywine '07 (Draft) 9.6%

Needless to say, everything was delicious. I think that the best pairing of the night was #2; the sweetness of the Trippel went great with the savory, creamy soup. I have to say I was the most excited to try the Life & Limb and Limb & Life and rightly so because they were my favorite beers of the night (especially the Life and Limb).

The reason I was excited to try those beers is because they are a rare offering from a collaboration between Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head. For the "Life and Limb," Dogfish Head provided the maple syrup from Sam Calagione's family farm while Sierra Nevada provided barley from Ken Grossman's farm at the brewery in Chico. The yeast is a blend of strains from both breweries and they used an Alaskan birch syrup to condition the beer. The "Limb and Life" is a smaller (5%) beer which was made from the runnings of its bigger brother. It was definitely interesting to taste both side by side, but I'd have to opt for the big guy; however, drinking these beers last night will probably be the only chance I'll get because these two beers were low in production and distribution.

At $50, this dinner was well worth the money. The great part of the night was that Tap & Table offered everyone in attendance a discount to their Italian Beer Dinner in February (from $65 to $50). Italy is doing some big things in the beer scene right now, so that dinner should be something you do NOT want to miss.

ROOT

We've all had root beer before, but did you know root beer was a nonalcoholic alternative to a popular drink back in the 18th century? Called "root tea," the drink was introduced by Native Americans to some of the first settlers as an herbal remedy. It was made from sassafras, sarsaparilla, birch bark and other native herbs and wild roots, which were abundant in the area now known as the state of Pennsylvania, my home state. With abundance comes strength, which is what increased as the drink gained in popularity. In came the party pooper in the late 1800's (aka the Temperance movement) and some guy who was bad at naming things made a non-alcoholic version of the drink called "root beer."

Don't get me wrong here...I love root beer. And the name isn't completely idiotic because traditional forms of it used yeast and thus, originally had small amounts of alcohol.

Anyway, an interesting company started in Philadelphia called "Art in the Age" decided it was time to bring back the original root liquor. Their philosophy is to "[empower] artists producing high quality work marked by fine craft and intellectual rigor," working with artists, musicians and now distillers. Their ROOT has no shortage of ingredients, staying true to its original recipe: birch bark, smoked black tea, sugarcane, orange & lemon peel, allspice, anise, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and essence of sassafras (pure sassafras can no longer be used due to FDA regulations).

A sniff of ROOT will certainly remind you of the smell of the root beer we know today. A taste throws you much more complexity though; this is a robust liquor with a whole lot of taste. Art in the Age claims that it is no root beer-flavored vodka or sickly sweet liqueur, with which I'd have to agree. I enjoyed it on the rocks, but many recipes are available on their website and they also allow you to submit any recipes that you may create on your own.

*ROOT is available in Philadelphia and surrounding areas in PA, but is also available online. If you can't get any, demand it at your local liquor store!*