Food & Beer are better together – Pairing with Moody and CRAFT
Food and craft beer are best appreciated together and when chef meets brewer, magical things can happen. CRAFT Beer Market is well known throughout Western Canada for their craft beer prowess and culinary delight. Further exploring these two specialties they run a Brewmaster’s Dinner series of events which are always an amazing experience. Beer pairing is not to be left solely to the restaurant side of things though. To master both sides of the equation they must look to the brewing excellence of BC craft breweries.
Partnering with Port Moody based, award winning Moody Ales, CRAFT Beer Market took things up a few notches with a southern-inspired beer pairing dinner.
Starting off the evening, chef and brewer worked together on the Queso Fundido, a nacho platter with chorizo, cheeses and locally grown potatoes. This was paired with the Moody Ales Vienna Lager. Here the amber lager was crisp and fresh with mild sweetness. This contrasted the mild spice in the nachos and creaminess of the cheese. Kicking things off was an approachable and sharable mix of food and beer.
Round two came another southern-inspiration with a roasted corn chowder paired with the Affable IPA. Here a bigger spice component from charred serranos was contrasted with sweet corn and cream. Here the bitterness of an IPA cut the spice and contrasted the sweetness in a very nice combination. It is hard to go wrong with spice and a solid IPA.
As we rounded third in this craft beer and culinary home run the third course took us to a dish of buttermilk fried chicken served with honey drizzle, jalapeno cornbread and the Sociable Pale Ale. As the main act of the evening this plate stood up to its expectations with a perfectly fried piece of chicken topped with the sweetness of honey and mild spice from the cornbread. Here, similar to course No. 2, the beer’s bitterness cut the spice but the malt character and citrus tones from the beer also worked well with the honey and buttermilk breading on the chicken.
In the final course, we took a bit more of an international adventure with a rich and decadent Chocolate Terrine. Served with a house-made raspberry leather, the tartness of raspberry balanced the rich and smooth character of the Terrine. Paired with the denouement dish came a reserve stash of Moody’s 2015 Russian Imperial Stout. The high alcohol, rich flavour and deep oak character rounded out the flavours and cut through the intensity of chocolate. This beer is smooth and rich and sitting next to chocolate and the acidity of raspberry is close to perfection.
Moody Ales and CRAFT Beer Market did an amazing job at this dinner. If you have never been to a beer pairing dinner it is highly recommended. Food and beer are great on their own, but together they can be truly remarkable.
