Solstice Events

Short rib ravioli in a pho-like broth from The Stokehold paired with Port Orleans' Slackwater brown ale

(See below for the details on this)

Moving on from my umpteenth mid-life crisis, (which is still real but doesn't do much good to keep focusing on it) today is the winter solstice meaning that every day for the next 6 months will be longer and brighter. It's a comforting metaphor going into a new year.

Tonight, there are two cool beer events happening:

Courtyard Brewery is wrapping up its Dark Hours and tonight will celebrate the darkest dankest beers with a three course, $25 pairing:

• Courtyard Oyster Stout paired with shrimp and corn 3 ways
• Founders Backwoods Bastard paired with venison and pork sausage breakfast sandwich
• Founders CBS paired with chicken and maple syrup reduction over fried waffle

Ganked from Courtyard's Instagram

The chef is frequent popup Desolation Oso's Josh Polk. Plus it's a pretty chill pairing experience. It's not seated, so you just show up between 6 and 7pm with your ticket and eat at your own pace.

I don't know if everyone knows this, but the beer program/selection at The Company Burger Downtown is killer. And tonight they are presenting a cask conditioned beer that won't be found anywhere or anytime else. It's a collaboration between Great Raft and Mammoth Espresso - the brewery's winter seasonal Creature of Habit imperial brown ale conditioned with Mammoth Espresso's coffee. 

According to beer guru/bar manager Evan Wolf, Mammoth's owner, Jonathan Riethmaier, is a regular at TCB and wanted his collaboration cask to be served there. Unique and tasty experience, check it out.

Speaking of unique and tasty experiences, I went to the Port Orleans/Stokehold beer pairing dinner last night and it was fascinating. The dinner starts with samples of three of the beers (that will be poured during the dinner) along with a variety of culinary flavors like sale water, simple syrup, fish sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, white vinegar, etc. Then chef Phillip Mariano came out and walked us through pairing these specific ingredients with the beers, and noting how the taste of the beer was altered. 

It was a really great introduction to how food flavors influence beer tasting, and I've never seen or heard of that done anywhere else. It was set up to give an idea of the process the chefs go through when pairing new beers - the flavors we had were an abbreviated version of their "flavor kit."

Then Chef Mariano was able to call back to the beginning experimentation during the specific courses.

This chicken liver pate was SO GOOD, you guys

I highly recommend checking them out. According to the Facebook event page, dinners will be offered more or less twice a month or so on Wednesdays @6pm: January 3, 17, 31; February 14 & 28; March 7 & 21; and April 4 & 18. It's $45, four courses, plus an great palate education.