As in the previous 2 years, the sort of closing party of the Portland Beer Week was a beer and food pairing event called Snackdown. 10 teams of brewers and chefs put together a pairing of a beer and a snack bite, and then the audience got to vote as they tasted all the pairings while teams also each had a little time at the mic to smack talk each other, old school WWF style (often completely with costumes). Here’s a look at this year’s beer and food pairings for Snackdown 2018 to give you an idea of the event to encourage you to attend next year, or as ideas for beer and food pairings in general!
Loyal Legion/Dirty Pretty + Breakside
Spicy Pork Tostada. Crispy corn tortilla, spicy pulled pork, pineapple salsa, slaw, lime crema
Call Me Hazy Pale
Although hoppy style beers are not my preferred beer, I appreciated how some of that hoppiness was tamed here by the spicy pulled pork along with the creaminess of the lime crema and brightness from pineapple salsa. The negative though was that this was just messy to eat as the crispy corn tortilla would break apart from bites.
Afuri/Wayfinder
- Snack: Hidden Handroll – Capicola-wrapped Asparagus, Chasu Don Pork Belly, Spicy ‘Hidden Sauce’
- Beer: Hidden Hand Dark Lager
It was very cool to see these handrolls being made before us, including getting the pork belly seared with a blowtorch and rolling the asparagus and capicola together and the smear of the “spicy hidden sauce) on the rice in the seaweed before finally rolling the handroll. Though you wouldn’t normally thing to pair a dark lager with a handroll, I was impressed with how it worked here with both strong flavors being an equal match for each other.
Danwei Canting/Buoy
- Snack: Scallion Bing with Oregon Bay Shrimp, Crispy Garlic and Lime Vinaigrette
- Beer: Sour Blonde with Pomegranate, Grapefruit and Citrus Zest
Although what looks like a fried wonton here may not appear to be much, the shrimp inside and topping of the crispy garlic was tamed well by the sour blond’s fruity acidity.
Lardo/Pono
Snack: Smoked Pork Burger, American Cheese, Dirty Mustard, Grilled Pineapple
Beer: Pineapple Kölsch
The pineapple slaw was being freshly grilled outside on the sidewalk outside Loyal Legion to make this slaw fresh, and not surprisingly, this ended up being the winner of the Snackdown belt for 2018!
