On Wednesday night, April 7th 2004, Stewart's Brewing Company in Bear, DE hosted its fourth Brewer's Dinner to a group of 40-50 eager participants. The six-course feast of both cuisine and spirits proved more than worth the $60 per plate price ($55 for those in the Stewart's brew club), and none left hungry nor thirsty. Head brewer Ric Hoffman and executive chef Michael Reeves lovingly hand-crafted an experience which ensured that some of us will be returning for the fifth installment, tentatively slated for October of this year.
The simple yet elegant table decorations immediately set the mood for the evening. Aside from the arsenal of forks and knives used to navigate the various courses, each table came adorned with two appropriate arrangements in Stewart's glasses: one filled with various grains and malts and the other with colorful green (spent) hops, and both with several sprigs of wheat and barley to top off the presentation. Each place setting also came with a striking menu printed on card stock.
As we sat drinking the Aperitif of Stewart's Bohemian Pilnser and perusing the menu for our upcoming tastes, Ric Hoffman addressed the assembled patrons and provided an explanation of the thought processes when choosing the brews to accompany the cuisine. It was during this time that I also recognized my grave mistake in not bringing a digital camera to the event. For that reason, you will have to rely on my inexpert descriptions of the courses, at least until (or if) Stewart's puts up pictures in the gallery on their site, or someone generously sends me to put here.
The first course brought us a pleasant surprise in the form of Stewart's Stumbling Monk Abbey Tripel accompanying a plate of frog legs in a creamy brie sauce. My wife barely contained her excitement about enjoying the Abbey Tripel again - it is her favorite and mourned for weeks when it was removed from Stewart's seasonal offerings. Fortunately Ric had hid a half barrel away for this event and paired it with the first course. Despite an old adage that frog legs "taste like chicken", I found this to be far from the truth; they more closely resembled a delicate white fish (or tender alligator tail, if you all can relate to that) than fowl. The brie cream sauce had a slight hint of pepper, and the light meat from the frog legs suited the sauce perfectly.
The second course arrived as a mixed green salad with stuffed calamari and an oyster dressing. The calamari were excellently prepared and stuffed with moist imperial crab. The accompanying beer, Ephemere, was a light and fruity beer brewed with apple juice that complemented the salad quite well. While fruit beers are not my preference I rather enjoyed this particular one in the context of its accompanying salad. Ephemere comes in a huge champagne-sized bottle with a very colorful label.
A scotch broth of lamb morsels comprised the third course, and was accompanied by T & R Theakston's Old Peculiar for a bitter-sweet compliment to the salty/sour soup broth. I unfortunately am not a huge fan of broth soups, but it was still quite tasty.
The sorbet Intermezzo course served to cleanse the palate and prepare it for the upcoming main courses. It was a white lemon lime sorbet covered in a red framboise sauce with strawberries underneath. Very light and tasty. No beer this round.
With the arrival of the fourth course my eyes turned to saucers as I gazed upon some of the largest scallops I have ever seen. The pesto sauce that shared the plate had a wonderful fresh garlic and basil scent to it. Ric had a difficult time choosing between two different Brewery Ommegang beers for this course, and ultimately decided on serving both. They were both tasty and brought out different flavors in the scallops.
When the rack of elk was placed before me in course 5, I started to feel the weight of the previous courses setting in. Fortunately the rack wasn't oversized like one would find at your typical American steakhouse, and was proportioned to be part of a 6 course meal. This was also my first time eating elk, so I wasn't sure what to expect. On the outside it looked similar to rack of lamb with a single bone protruding from the meat, however it had a much darker color to it. Upon cutting I found it to be just like steak; however a very lean and tender rare steak that melted in your mouth. Each bite soaked up the savory bourbon / soy mustard glaze like a marinade. I am salivating just thinking about it. The Stewart's special Bourbon Stout naturally enhanced the whole experience, although at this point I had been replacing my beer consumption with water for a safe drive home. Being a huge fan of dark and full-bodied beers, I sipped with no little heartache and the knowledge that only 2 barrels of the stout had ever existed and wouldn't last another night. Hopefully I will be able to spend some quality time with the next batch (Hint hint Ric).
As I sat back and felt compelled to loosen my belt, the dessert course arrived: A triple chocolate bundt cake covered in a barleywine chocolate drizzle and a glass of Stewart's Barleywine. I believe my wife nearly fainted. It reminded me somewhat of a rum cake only in the concept of an alcohol-soaked-cake sense, but its flavor was outrageously indulgent. Most plates had only crumbs remaining despite the numerous previous courses. The barleywine was equally intense - my wife found the flavor too strong and reminiscent of a sherry, but I found it very tasty. Certainly not something one would want to drink all evening (lest he/she beg forgiveness the following morning), but as a single desert serving it was perfect.
The entire night was fantastic, from the food to the pleasant and interesting folks we ate with at our table to the excellent service. Beer glasses never sat empty for more than a minute or two before being refilled (or at least having the offer extended). And although the whole adventure finished out at a full 4 hours, 7pm-11pm, the pacing was such that you never felt too full nor still hungry. As previously mentioned, I will be eagerly anticipating the next installment in October.
Finally, my apologies for the lack of verbose description in this review - About half way through writing it I realized that I am no food critic and lack the writing skill to gush or frag anything at length, and quite honestly the whole experience was very difficult to describe short of "heavenly" and "wonderful". If you find yourself in a position to attend one of Stewart's special functions and your wallet can support the indulgence, I wholeheartedly recommend you succumb to the urge. You will not regret it.
Cheers!
- Garrett Sever, FSB
