Oktoberfest at Press Street Station

Press Street Station is holding a Thursday night supper series this month, and the one on October 29 will be an Oktoberfest themed dinner with German food. The menu looks awesome (see below) and you can go here to make a reservation on the hour (5pm, 6pm, 7pm, and 8pm.)

The folks at Press Street originally wanted me to come try the food and make some recommendations that Press Street could make for people to bring with them - Press Street is still BYOB. It didn't work out to do that, but Patrick Hunter, resident beer geek at Brady's Wine Warehouse took a look at the menu and made some pretty spot on recommendations.

In fact, even if you're not planning to go to the dinner, Patrick makes some great points about pairing concepts in general, so it's definitely worth a read and a share.

I've been crazed trying to get all my stuff in order before I head out of the country for the next two weeks, so I have had no time to ruminate upon the menu, and then I got Patrick's recommendations. Honestly, I can't improve upon what he's said, so here are his wise words of pairing advice:

First Course:

Corned Beef and Sausage Plate: Goose Island Sofie. Saison with cured meat/sausage is one of my very favorite pairings, because the peppery yeast character is a perfect accompaniment to the spices in the meats, and the citrusy zip/slightly sour edge that a saison has can cut through all of that fat and wipe the palate clean, which is especially key at the beginning of a meal. Sofie is an elegant farmhouse style ale that will be perfect with a rustic appetizer like this.

Second Course Options:

Schnitzel+Spaetzle: I'm going to go with Stone's Pale Ale 2.0 for this dish. Anything breaded and fried can stand up to a little bitterness, and the ripe citrus notes from the Mandarina Bavaria hops will add a nice complimentary note to the schnitzel. For me, this hop also has a decidedly German undertone of grassy-spicy noble hop aromatics that will keep it grounded in the world of the cuisine. The balanced, crisp malt base will play well with the spaetzle and should make this a home run pairing.

Brisket with Horseradish: Great Raft Reasonably Corrupt Black Lager. What I love about this beer, and what will make it match up really well with fatty, braised brisket is that it has all of the dark roasted malt notes you could want while maintaining an exceptionally clean, crisp mouthfeel. It will stand up to the richness of this dish without getting cloying, or taking it in to a sweet direction. Low ABV will help to neutralize any heat coming off of that horseradish.

Vegetarian Spaetzle: Vegetables can be tricky, especially not knowing what they are or how they're prepared, so I'm going to shoot down the middle here and go with Covington Kolsch. This is a very good classic example of a Kolsch that has the wheat notes that will match up very nicely with spaetzel and that slightly grassy character from the German hops that should accentuate fresh vegetable flavor without competing.

Third Course/Dessert:

Black Forest Cake: I have a couple of thoughts for this one. The baller move is to go for Bruery Terreux Tart of Darkness. This couldn't be more perfect as the dark, sour cherry notes combine with the incredibly rich chocolatey malts to make this beer essentially a black forest cake in a glass. But the larger format may not be ideal for this setting, so to keep it in "Mix a Six Pack" world, I would go with Founders Porter. This is probably my favorite porter on the market. The chocolate and coffee notes will be an obvious match for the cake but the nice dark roasted edge will keep the dessert from going over the top with sweetness and make you want to take more bites and sips.

Good stuff here. Thanks, Patrick!