Another stellar beer dinner at Uptown Grille....

...last Monday. The featured brewery was Bell's, and we had the pleasure of having Mr John Mallett, Bell's production manager and all-around suave and brilliant dresser, in attendance to tell us all about the beers, plus keep us laughing with his witticisms. The first beer we were handed was Consecrator Doppelbock at 8%ABV, and the beers grew successively stronger.....

MENU
CONSECRATOR DOPPELBOCK
with
Pepper encrusted pork tenderloin stuffed with dried fruit, and served with a port and blue cheese demiglace.
Perfect pairing- sweet rich malts combining well with sweet pork and fruit, and the blue cheese offering a nice hint of a contrast.

SPARKLING ALE
with
Blackened sea scallops, arugula & fennel salad, and mango vinaigrette.
The scallops were really spicy hot, and overwhelmed the beer (based on a Belgian-style tripel) a little, although the beer was great with the fennel salad.

HOPSLAM
with
Chicken breast with red, yellow & green peppers over creamy creole sauce-dressed pasta, topped with asiago, smoked bacon and parmesan.
Mmmm. Wonderful pairing. The big citrus notes in the beer paired really well with the peppers and creole flavours, and cut the rich creaminess of the creamy sauce.

THIRD COAST OLD ALE
with
Lamb, beef & pork meatloaf atop a cabernet sauce, served with breaded goat cheese and green beans with roasted shallots.
Delicious meat loaf! I thought the strong, malty and hoppy Old Ale was a little "big" for the meat loaf, but Mr Cicerone declared it perfect!

BATCH 9000
with
Sweet grape and rosemary calzone.
THE WINNER! This was an amazing dish! The calzone dough had cinnamon and nutmeg baked into it, and tied in with the malt flavours in the beer. This beer is spectacular by the way- rich, strong, boozy, with molasses and licorice apparent. The sweet grapes, and the grape sauce that adorned the plate coated the tongue with just the right amount of sweetness to stand up to this big, big, flavourful beer. The fresh rosemary leaves created a fragrant foil to the rich flavours. Bravo!!

Uptown Grille has planned all the beer dinners for this year. Here's the schedule. Next month- Beer VS Wine with a game menu.