Summer Fair Beer Dinner

Last week I put together a beer dinner at the restaurant I occassional work at when Im not on the road. Turned out to be a blast, everyone that showed loved it (had about 8 people not show up!). Since it was the dead of summer (first week of August) I decided to go with fair food. The ultimate summer entertainment. Its funny because we are a slightly upscale restaurant & our chef just moved here from another Fine Dining establishment & was the exec for Morgan Freemans restaurant before that. So this gave him a chance to show his fun side. I put together the menu before we hired him so when he came in, it was already set; I just let him run with it & just helped him put together the basics. Here's what we served:
 
Hot Tamales topped with Chili, Cheese, Onion, sour Cream, Roasted Pablano pepper strips & a red pepper sauce
Mini beer batter hand dipped corn dog bites (a friend of mine does hand dipped corn dog at festivals so I bought him in to do us up some good ones with his own batter)
Philly Cheese Steaks topped with Fontina Cheese, sauteed red onoins & bell peppers. We cut our own tenderloin in the restaurant so this was a good cut of beef
Beer battered fish & chips (nice cod with a porter/IPA beer batter served in nugget's in a pint glass lined with parchemnt paper over sweet potato chips)
Beer float (this one was fun, I used Youngs Double Chocolate Stout & scooped coffee icecream on top with an espresso infused whipped cream)
 
Each course was paired with a different beer from Victory Brewing out of Philly. It was alot of fun & everyone loved the dinner. I enjoy doing these beer dinners & try to do them every few months. I also always try to incorporate the beer in the cooking (the chili to top the tamales was made with the Lager that was served with it, the corn dogs where battered with the ale that we served with it & the fish & chips was battered with a mixture of Hop Devil & Balitic Porter). Anyone else tried beer dinners in their joint? If not, its alot of fun. Just get your beer distributor (hopefully you've got a good selection where you are....not bud light & that kind of crap) to work with you on it. They usually give you a deal on the beer like they'll cover half the beer or at least provide you with materials & glasses & stuff. Do a mixture of High Gravity Beer & low gravity beer. On a 5 course meal, you're serving 5 different beers (I try to pour about 4 ounces each but I dont have a problem topping people off so I usually plan on serving each person about 3 12oz beers before the night is over...you dont want them to be too high!) This is something you can even do at home for a dinner party. Invite some friends over & have each one make a dish & pick a beer to go with it. Once they all get there discuss amongst yourselves what order you want to proceed with each course. Think about the beer. Sometimes you want to start lighter & progress to heavier otherwise you wont be able to finish the dinner! But most of all, have fun with it. Tell each person to do some research on their beer & talk about it. At every beer dinner I do at the restaurant, I bring out my beer distributor to the dinner (he still pays, but I give him a discount) I let him talk. He talks about beer in general. If its a table of newbies, he'll start from the beginning & talk about the difference between good beer & commercial beer. The alcohol contents, bitterness units, etc. The difference betgween ale & lager, etc. Then he'll talk about each beer as each course comes out. Tell us why he chose that beer for that course (I always give him the menu & give him some ideas or what I was thinking about for each course & let him choose the beer to go with it). So, its not just a dinner, its a class. Its alot of fun, if you ever see a beer dinner at a restaurant in your area, I highly suggest you try it out. And if you get the chance at your restaurant host one.
 
Mitch Buckner
Bella Caffe Coffee Concessions

What a great idea. I,m sure it'll catch on. It should.

Have been to restaurants with wine cooking and paring, but not beer.
Have to look into this. Interesting.
Just went to one of my favorite places website, where we have done the wine thingy and low and behold they have a beer dinner now.
 
http://columbiarestaurant.com/recipes_wines.asp