Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner

I am a supporter of all things delicious – including craft beer, with special appreciation for those female brewers out there who make it in what is a male dominated field. Being a woman in engineering, I have to support and applaud their resilience, naturally. Whitney Burnside has been an award-winning Portland brewmaster that I have followed for many years and now she recently founded along with the other half of power-couple duo husband chef Doug Adams, the brewpub Grand Fir Brewing. Recently they launched a collaboration beer with longtime friend Ben Edmunds of Breakside Brewery a new collaboration brew called Chef’s Kiss! They decided to celebrate this launch with a five course Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner.
Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner Menu of the pairings for the Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner

If you have not been to Grand Fir Brewing for Doug’s BBQ Wednesdays, you are missing out! Every Wednesday there is a new barbecue special on offer to enjoy with the refreshing and approachable beer lineup of Grand Fir, adding to the regular menu which offers a small curated list of a handful of small plates and handful of large plates. But a beer dinner with multiple courses that were created to pair with specific beers – yes, I was excited. And I was extra excited to see that there was smoked rib on the menu for this collaboration dinner – the 12 hour slow cooked beef rib with green sauce with tortilla was my favorite dish from the smoker from his previous restaurant Bullard Tavern, and I’ve really missed it.

Well, let me tell you this whole dinner met and went beyond my expectations.
Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner Menu of the pairings for the Grand Fir Brewing and Breakside Collaboration Dinner

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Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner

Chef Johanna Ware of Smallwares, specializing in “inauthentic Asian cuisine” and Head Brewer Ben Edmunds of Breakside Brewery created a beer paired dinner of 5 courses on Thursday July 18 for 20 lucky guests, of which I was one! When I saw the price was $45 for 5 courses (plus add gratuity), and thinking of how great the experience was at the Breakside Brewery’s dinner at Wildwood restaurant I attended, I was happy to sign up. I love beer pairing dinners, and with all the great breweries here I don’t know why I don’t see them more often.

Smallwares Breakside Brewery dinner,Chef Johanna Ware of Smallware and Head Brewer Ben Edmunds of Breakside created a beer paired dinner of 5 courses Smallwares Breakside Brewery dinner, Brewer Ben Edmunds chatting about the beer

The dinner was supposed to start at 6pm, but started a little late because of the logistics of everyone actually getting there by that time after work. After a day of doing presentations at work, I left around 4:30pm from Beaverton and was able to make it in time, which left me some time to sample a couple cocktails before dinner. I tried The Gin, with plymouth gin, mango, yogurt, rose water, cardamom, shaked and served on the rocks, as a way to cool off from my crowded commute, and also The Whisky, with templeton rye, raspberry shrub, vermouth, lemon, shaken and served on a big rock. This gave me an opportunity to admire the bold red and white modern atmosphere of the restaurant that combined the sleek lines and textures of contemporary design elements with thoughtfully and whimsically selected eclectic touches.

Smallwares PDX, restaurant Smallwares PDX, restaurant The Gin, with plymouth gin, mango, yogurt, rose water, cardamom, shaked and served on the rocks, Smallwares PDX The Whisky, with templeton rye, raspberry shrub, vermouth, lemon, shakend and served on a big rock, Smallwares PDX

Opener:

  • Beer: Newport Summer Ale
  • Food: Canapes and hors d’oeuvres
    Starter of shigoku oysters, tomato, fish sauce, lime, cilantro, Smallwares PDX, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner Starter of Cantaloupe, benton's ham, kimchi puree, shiso, at Smallwares PDX, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner

This Summer Ale is an easy-drinking English golden ale that is lightly hopped and uses floor-malted barley. It was paired with starters of Shigoku oysters, tomato, fish sauce, lime, cilantro, and Cantaloupe, benton’s ham, kimchi puree, shiso. Ben explained that he always like to start with a big pour of the first beer because who knows when dinner will start, and it helps everyone with a bit of liquid courage to socialize at the table. The oysters were clean acid that seemed to echo the clean flavors of the ale, while the heat from the kimchi puree and salt from the ham and sweetness of the cantaloupe were then refreshed and calmed down by the beer.

Starter of Shigoku oysters, tomato, fish sauce, lime, cilantro, paired with Newport Summer Ale, Smallwares PDX, Breakside Brewery, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner Starter of Shigoku oysters, tomato, fish sauce, lime, cilantro, paired with Newport Summer Ale, Smallwares PDX, Breakside Brewery, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner Starter of Shigoku oysters, tomato, fish sauce, lime, cilantro, and Cantaloupe, benton's ham, kimchi puree, shiso paired with Newport Summer Ale, Smallwares PDX, Breakside Brewery, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner Starter of Cantaloupe, benton's ham, kimchi puree, shiso, paired with Newport Summer Ale, Smallwares PDX, Breakside Brewery, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner

1st course:

  • Beer: Smallwares Saison
  • Food: Grilled shrimp, aji amarillo, lychee, pink peppercorn, chive

The Smallwares Saison is a Belgian farmhouse ale made with lychee, pink peppercorn and aji amarillo, and was inspired by another dish at Smallwares that Ben confessed to falling in love with the combination of flavors and just “ripping off” by putting those flavors into the beer. This was my favorite pairing of the evening with beer and food building on each other so that even when I had finished chewing or swallowing the food or beverage, the flavors lingered long after, tickling my tongue and taste buds pleasantly.

Grilled shrimp, aji amarillo, lychee, pink peppercorn, chive + Smallwares Saison made with lychee, pink peppercorn and aji amarillo, was inspired by another dish at Smallwares, Smallwares PDX, Breakside Brewery, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner

2nd course:

  • Beer: Biere de Juillet (collaboration Biere de garde with Persian lime and coriander)
  • Food: Mushroom salad, walnut puree, Persian lemon dressing, pickled shallots, hijiki

Breakside partnered with Smallwares to brew this Bière de Juillet, a summer version of a French bière de garde with Persian lime and coriander that debuted at this dinner. I was using the salad to try to wipe up that walnut puree as much as I could.

Mushroom salad, walnut puree, Persian lemon dressing, pickled shallots, hijiki + Biere de Juillet (collaboration Biere de garde with Persian lime and coriander), Smallwares PDX, Breakside Brewery, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner Mushroom salad, walnut puree, Persian lemon dressing, pickled shallots, hijiki + Biere de Juillet (collaboration Biere de garde with Persian lime and coriander), Smallwares PDX, Breakside Brewery, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner

3rd course:

  • Beer: Sour ApriHot (sour golden ale aged on Apricots and Chinese mustard powder)
  • Food: Flank steak and apricots, mustard seed, red onion, parsley

Sour ApriHot is the latest of  experimental, culinary-inspired creations Breakside is trying, this particular one being an imperial sour apricot ale conditioned with heat… well, heat to come. At the dinner, they had added the apricot but not the hot portion yet, whether it be through Chinese mustard powder or horseradish or wasabi or what have you, they were still thinking about how they wanted to proceed. That was fine when combined with this dish though, which was already packing lots of spicy heat so the apricot ale was some relief.

Flank steak and apricots, mustard seed, red onion, parsley + Sour ApriHot (sour golden ale aged on Apricots), Smallwares PDX, Breakside Brewery, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner Flank steak and apricots, mustard seed, red onion, parsley + Sour ApriHot (sour golden ale aged on Apricots), Smallwares PDX, Breakside Brewery, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner

4th course :

  • Beer: Alan from the Wood (strong smoked ale aged in rye whiskey barrels)
  • Food: Black cardamom panna cotta, mixed berries

This strong beer was my favorite of the evening in terms of flavor, and it paired well with the cardamom in the panna cotta. However, the raspberry puree was a little overwhelming in sweetness that didn’t seem to go with the beer, so I fixed that by just eating the puree on its own after scraping it off, and leaving the panna cotta so pair with my sips of Alan.

Black cardamom panna cotta, mixed berries + Alan from the Wood (strong smoked ale aged in rye whiskey barrels), Smallwares PDX, Breakside Brewery, Smallwares and Breakside Beer Dinner

F joined me, and Smallwares was able to accommodate him with a vegetarian menu. For his opener there was kimchee but no ham around his cantaloupe, although there was no second option to replace the oyster. Tofu was the protein instead of shrimp for the first course with the aji amarillo, lychee, pink peppercorn, chive + Smallwares Saison made with lychee, pink peppercorn and aji amarillo, although his dish seemed sweeter with more lychee than the omnivore version I enjoyed.

Both of us enjoyed the same mushroom salad, and then for third course instead of flank steak, zucchini, cashews and additional salt were used instead for his dish with and apricots, mustard seed, red onion, and parsley. Unfortunately he couldn’t enjoy the panna cotta because it uses gelatin, so a friend volunteered to help him out.

Tofu, aji amarillo, lychee, pink peppercorn, chive, Smallwares PDX, Smallwares Breakside Brewery Beer Dinner Zucchini, cashews and additional salt instead of flank steak for the vegetarian with apricots, mustard seed, red onion, parsley, Smallwares PDX, Smallwares Breakside Brewery Beer Dinner

The service was great, and the flow of the meal was well paced to allow everyone to have time to converse and enjoy their beer without feeling a need to rush because the next course was coming up. Later as the sun set, the staff lowered the curtains so we would not be blinded, and then later still they pulled open some of the garage door walls to open up the restaurant to the outside. The bartender returned to the table several times, offering to pour a little more of a beer taster for us from the growler, and Ben and his brewers gave a little talk at the beginning to introduce the beer, and also stopped by so that both ends of the table got to talk to them.

I love what Breakside is doing with experimenting with savory and sweet additions in their beer, and was even more excited to hear that the Milwaukie location has their Salted Caramel Sweet Stout (a collaboration with Salt & Straw Ice Cream and Jacobsen Salt Co) on tap!  It’s one of my favorite beers from them, though I also love their Aztec Bourbon Barrel, their Old Bourbon Woody, the Whiskey Dick…  it’s hard to believe they’ve only been around for 3 years because of all the great and balance of classic and experimental unique beers they have crafted in that time. Yay for the brewers of Breakside!

This weekend is the International Beer Festival, and next week on Wednesday kicks off Oregon Brewers Festival… the beer continues!

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Portland Beer & Cheese Fest 2013

Welcome to photos of Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2013, returning for the 2nd year yesterday and finishing off PDX Beer Week was the Portland Beer and Cheese Festival! I loved it last year (see my post it on last year), and this year was another winning repeat. The event, which was again all by advanced ticket so as to control the amount of attendees and prepare tastings accordingly, paired 10 beers from 10 local breweries each with an artisan cheese courtesy of World Champion Cheesemonger  Steve Jones of Cheese Bar and in addition Chop butchery provided complimentary charcuterie at a table for your own savory meat cleanser/complement as needed. I mean, just look at Chop’s amazing meat board, which they kept filled during the event!

Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2013: charcuterie provided by Chop Butchery Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2013: charcuterie provided by Chop Butchery Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2013: charcuterie provided by Chop Butchery

The event takes place at the Commons Brewery, although as noted the beers come from a variety of breweries.

Here were the ten pairings of this event:

  1. Pfriem Family Brewers: Wit, paired with Fern’s Edge Dairy Mt. Zion, raw goat, Oregon. The Wit was a light beer that was refreshing and had a good yeasty body, even a bit of spice characteristic to it that was paired with the aged Mt Zion cheese whose little bits of crystallized crunch that like with this Wit, offered some surprise pockets of flavor in what you assumed was going to be mildness.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Pfriem Family Brewers Wit, paired with Fern’s Edge Dairy Mt. Zion, raw goat, Oregon
  2. Solera Brewery: The Fez (sour farmhouse blend), paired with Central Coast Creamery Goat Gouda, goat, California, was my favorite pairing of beer and cheese with the slightly dry crumbly Gouda being brought to life with the tartness of the Fez, while the Gouda tamed the sour a bit. I love this beer by itself, but kept taking little nibbles of the cheese and then washing it down with the beer and being amazed at how the two came together into something new.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Solera Brewery The Fez sour farmhouse blend, paired with Central Coast Creamery Goat Gouda, goat, California
  3. Double Mountain Brewery: Pink Peppercorn Saison, paired with Ancient Heritage Hannah, raw sheep and cow, Oregon. I love both of these, and could easily just drink that Pink Peppercorn Saison with its long tail of slight pepperyness tickling my tongue by itself all summer long. I am a fan of Ancient Heritage Dairy and the toasty nutty flavors of the Hannah, but I was not picking up how they were working together, just that they were both really good individually and together they were still good, just not adding up to anything new that I could perceive. I was still quite happy to have found something from Double Mountain I like, as their very hop-forward styles in their beers and my personal preference of not loving IPAs and bitterness have usually meant their beers and I have not gotten along (although F loves them and typically gets passed the beer to further enjoy after I only get through 20% of it).
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Double Mountain Brewery Pink Peppercorn Saison, paired with Ancient Heritage Hannah, raw sheep and cow, Oregon
  4. Upright Brewing: Vienna Lager, paired with Vintage Cheese Company Mountina, raw cow, Montana. I was surprised at how much I liked this Lager style beer, it had more flavor and malt and toast characteristics than I originally judged from the name and thinking about the lagers of Sam Adams and Asia. The Mountina cheese that I thought had a nice butteryness and grassiness while being reminiscent of an Emmentaler cheese in its slight sweetness, bringing out a little bit more of the also slight sweetness in the Vienna Lager.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Upright Brewing Vienna Lager, paired with Vintage Cheese Company Mountina, raw cow, Montana
  5. The Commons Brewery: CCB ESB, paired with Neal’s Yard Dairy Montgomery’s Cheddar, raw cow, U.K. Usually I find a cheddar is pretty strong in profile to have with a beer by itself (though SO mysteriously heh if it’s on a cheeseburger, game on!). And, I don’t often like ESB because the bitterness can be more pronounced sometimes and it depends when the balance of the malts kick in (despite the name, the Extra Special Bitter is supposed to be more balanced, not just more bitter). But I was surprised that I really liked The Commons CCB ESB in that it had some fruitiness to it that reminded me of how balanced crafted classic cocktails use bitters but add a kick- this ESB had a unique flavor profile, and it paired well with the cheddar providing more emphasis on the fruitiness and maltiness that seemed to not need a cheeseburger to bring out some savoryness. I was really impressed.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, The Commons Brewery CCB ESB, paired with Neal’s Yard Dairy Montgomery’s Cheddar, raw cow, U.K.
  6. Widmer Brothers: Alt, paired with Willamette Valley Cheese Company, Boerenkaas, raw cow, Oregon. The Altbier, as you would expect, was light and smooth, with some hoppiness to it. The buttery softness of the Borenkaas tried to counter this hop but given my preference of not liking a lot of hop, I had to help this one along with some Chop charcuterie. I think I had 3 helpings of the Chop bourbon chicken liver mousse on little toasts.  I have no problem eating that whole wrapped pate they still at the Portland Farmers Market just by myself.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Widmer Brothers Alt, paired with Willamette Valley Cheese Company, Boerenkaas, raw cow, Oregon
  7. Block 15 Brewing: Visage de Palm, Biere de Garde, paired with four-month Manchego, raw sheep, Spain. The sweet funkiness of the Visage de Palm and the pairing with nutty tangy Manchego made sense, but was even better with more Chop salami thrown into the mix. I often lean towards their pates but this time I also had the opportunity to sample all their salamis and am in love.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Block 15 Brewing Visage de Palm, Biere de Garde, paired with four-month Manchego, raw sheep, Spain
  8. Breakside / Gigantic Brewery: Portland Beer Week India Wild Ale, paired with Quadrello di Buffala, water buffalo, Italy. I was getting tired. You can see from my punchcard this is my 9th beer, and the hop was enjoyed by others but not me particularly. The Quadrello di Buffala was the most pungent cheese among all the pairings, and the fact it had this bit of barnyard seemed to go well with the beer’s wild hoppiness for a very earthy experience
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Breakside and Gigantic Brewery Portland Beer Week India Wild Ale, paired with Quadrello di Buffala, water buffalo, Italy
  9. Oakshire Brewing: Auslaufen Rauchbier (cherry wood smoked ale), paired with Rogue Smokey Blue, raw cow, Oregon. The Rauchbier had a very light smoke, and the smoke from the Rogue blue cheese with its creamy saltiness echoed that smoke
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, Oakshire Brewing Auslaufen Rauchbier (cherry wood smoked ale), paired with Rogue Smokey Blue, raw cow, Oregon
  10. 10 Barrel Brewing: Herbes des Provence Baltic Porter, paired with Black Sheep Creamery Mopsey’s Best, raw sheep, Washington. We chose to start out with this beer and hey, I like Porters and the fact that it had this herbiness in the tasty cheese was a unique start. Together, the pairing complemented it like the cheese was the “topping” or “steak crust” if you will to a substantial flavorful entree of that porter. I had never heard of this beer so felt special that I was able to be the first to try it at this event as F became the first to check in after he entered it onto Untappd database.
    Portland Beer and Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, The Commons Berwery, Steve's Cheese, 10 Barrel Brewing Herbes des Provence Baltic Porter, paired with Black Sheep Creamery Mopsey’s Best, raw sheep, Washington

I enjoyed the Portland Beer and Cheese Fest, just like last year. It was never so crowded that there were more than a few people in front of me, and most of the time I could just walk up and ask for my taster and sample. The Punchcards helped suggest an order as well as provide information about the beer and cheese that would be in the pairing. Similar to last year it was still hard to balance the glass of beer while eating the cheese while standing, but understand it takes up space to have barrels or cocktail tables that could otherwise be occupied by people standing.

I still think it is one of my favorite beer events all year, and particularly it brings out a generally sophisticated beer drinking crowd that wants to think and savor what they are having rather and how everything tastes than just taste a lot of beer (no WOOoooos during the entire event!). I saw several brewers and Steve mingling and checking in to ensure everyone has enough for the pairings and everything is running smoothly as well as answer questions. I  hope this event will three-peat next year!

KPTV – FOX 12

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Breakside Brewer’s Dinner at Wildwood

There was a Wildwood restaurant event of a Brewer’s dinner with Breakside Brewery Friday, 6.29 in Wildwood’s back (and newly renovated event space) Wood Room. Wildwood’s Paul Kasten & Breakside Brewery’s Ben Edmunds recently collaborated to brew “Old Woody”, another one of Breakside’s series in which Brewer Ben works with a restaurant chef to make an interesting beer. They then created a special pairing dinner to pair various Breakside Brewery beer with Chef Paul’s gastronomic creations, including of course drinking “Old Woody”. All this was at the reservation price of $65 which was inclusive of food, beer and gratuity… yes that’s right, 6 courses, all paired with beer, tip included!

The menu included

  1. strawberries and asparagus basil, spring onion, champagne vinaigrette, goat cheese, saba paired with solera-style lambic. Brewer Ben explained meant that this beer was made using the solera process in which 3 beers were used in succession in the barrel with a little purposely left as the new beer was added, so this beer is the culmination of the flavors from all three (Sour Double Wit, Soursop Wheat, and Sourdough Ale plus Brettanomyces lambicus to make it a lambicdespite all the”sour” in the beer names, it only has a slight sourness to it). Pairing wise, he also noted that the same sort of acid found in this beer was echoed in the goat cheese of this salad.
  2. pastrami pork belly éclair spring onion, pickled chile cream cheese icing paired with newport summer ale although for the vegetarian, the pairing was mixed summer greens with cucumber, snap peas, and feta. Of all the items in the menu, this was one I highly anticipated, and I loved the taste of the pork belly eclair with the chili cream cheese (although I thought the amount of icing was a bit overwhelming for the beer, though it was tasty), a melding of the tang of the cream cheese with the softness of the eclair and the meaty with bit of fat of the meat inside. At the same time, I thought the nice fresh taste of the radishes and greens was quite complimentary with the ale too, perhaps even a better pairing… though I would not give up that pork belly eclair.
  3. lamb carpaccio guajillo oil, grilled scallions, crispy chickpeas, cumin yogurt paired with session brown which for the vegetarian was a grilled asparagus and farro salad with scallions and lemon that used a slight grilled smoke taste from the asparagus to go with the malt forwardness of this beer- in this case both pairings of food dishes was excellent but the lamb was better, particularly with those awesome light as air crispy chickpeas and guajillo oil
  4. crispy chicken confit wild mushroom and fava bean panzanella paired with old woody while the vegetarian had panzanella with wild mushroom and fava beans. Both these dishes were fabulously full of crispness and complex savory flavor to hold up with this collaboration beer that has a touch of sweetness from molasses. Panzanella, a stale bread dish, never sounded that interesting to me but now I know that crunch from the bread balanced with flavors of oil and vinegar and mushrooms sounds simple but delivers more than what you would think from the sum of those parts

  5. pan seared rib eye filet fava purée, grilled porcini, pale ale glace paired with old bourbon woody while the vegetarian pairing was russet potato gnocchi with morel mushrooms, fava beans, and creme fraiche. I’m certain this is the beer that started really working out my liver (just looked it up as it’s currently at Breakside Brewery on their board listed at 11%) but the complexity of flavor that every sip of liquid offered is well worth it, this is one fine beer. Ben also mentioned this beer’s other alias, Old Whiskey Dick.
  6. colston-basset stilton honey, candied walnuts, brooks cherries paired with bourbon barrel aged 1st anniversary wheatwine This was the only beer I didn’t love (though I still like it) because I thought it had too much alcohol upfront (it does clockin at 12.7%) and I would have liked to have it sit a little longer to mellow out, but F thought the beer was perfect as it was/is.

All the food and beer pairings were really wonderful through all six courses without anything being a disappointment and in fact, even impressing us more than we expected. Overall it was an amazing experience as everyone around us was a beer and food lover, but we got to enjoy this in a relaxed but refined atmosphere.

Wildwood also has a great bar with seasonal summer concoctions I enjoyed while waiting between the end of work and beginning of this brewer’s dinner. One of their summer drinks is the The Naughty Kitty with pimm’s, india lemongrass, lime and strawberry puree, a sweet but not too sweet drink that definitely took me away from my worries quickly and smoothly. I also appreciated a little gift from the kitchen of pate with a little dop of mustard and bit of cornichon all vehicled into the mouth by a little toast… as if I wasn’t already grateful enough that the Chef was willing to put together a vegetarian version of the six courses at my request. Enboldened by this bite, I decided I still had enough time to try one more cocktail that caught my eye- Oh Snap! Tanqueray, cointreau, mint tincture, lemon, and sugar snap peas puree, a fresh cocktail. As always, I have never been disappointed by Wildwood in presenting me with local and seasonal flavors that really embody the Northwest region.

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