The Bruery Anniversary Dinner at Spice Table

For all of you who couldn’t make it out to the Spice Table here is a play by play of The Bruery tasting dinner. To start, it was $95 a head, so definitely not for the light on cash.
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The first course is a bread plate, consisting of coconut sea salt potato roll and a sticky rice inspired cornbread paired with Trade Winds Triple. The cornbread, with its cured pork and scallions, brings an amazing savory flavor that really compliments to crisp citrus notes in the Trade Winds. The potato roll on its own is very tasty but doesn’t really do much for me with the beer.
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The next dish can best be summed up as a brussel sprout Caesar salad. It is also being paired with Trade Winds Tripel. The salad has a very interesting kick to it, probably from the fish sauce standing in for anchovies. Much like the cornbread, the Trade Winds provides a nice crisp citrus note with a bit of sweet maltiness.
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The next dish is a Malaysian take on baked beans, with palm sugar and lamb bacon. This dish is also being paired with Trade Winds Tripel. This one has a major spice kick to it with underlying sweetness from the palm sugar and a nice smokey flavor from the lamb bacon. The Trade Winds definitely helps manage the spiciness with this dish, giving the palate a crisp splash of malt and citrus.
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Revisiting the potato roll, it makes for a great palate cleanser.
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The last starter dish is collard greens with garlic and fermented black beans. This one was also paired with Trade Winds Tripel. Now to be fair, I’m not a huge fan of greens, but with that being said, I really enjoyed the savory tang from the black beans with the distinctive essence of the greens. The brings a nice Belgian yeast to the palate with this one, with a bit of citrus peeking through.
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The spicy baked beans with the cornbread is amazing, especially with a sip of Trade Winds.
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The main course is a combination of slow cooked hot links, paired with Fruet, and char siu spareribs, paired with Smoking Wood.
The hot links are made with pork, paprika, chile, garlic, and were smoked with both oak and hickory. These bad boys have a nice build up of heat that kicks in while you are enjoying it. The Fruet, with its sweet maltiness, adds a great layer of complexity to the sausage, in the vein of dark chocolate mixed with chile peppers. The Fruet does not help extinguish the accumulated burn after a few pieces, but luckily the potato roll and Trade Winds offer some assistance.
The spareribs are amazingly tender. They have a very interesting barbecue flavor that is reminiscent of the palm sugar notes in the baked beans and a great smoke flavor with just a slight kick of spiciness, but that might just be leftover burn from the hot links. The Smoking Wood kicks the smokiness of the meat into overdrive. The sweet maltiness compliments to sauce of the spareribs and then it moves to a smokey flavor with a good amount of oak. This is a great pairing that I may have to replicate in the future.
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A little potato roll to clean the palate.
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The final course is apple crumble with coconut caramel and topped with mascarpone. This desert was paired with Otiose, a sour brown ale fermented with guava. The crumble has great crust and a fresh apple filling (ie not gelatinous). I’m getting just a faint hint of coconut in the caramel, but my palate may be worn out at this point. The Otiose brings a strong tart sour flavor with notes of apple and cherry that balance very well with the sweetness of the crumble. The guava hits in the finish and aftertaste.
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Well that’s it folks. Hope you enjoyed the ride.

Cheers
Beer Guy LA