Schwein Nacht

Quick recap on how this dinner came about. Kit Graham from Windy City Bloggers reached out to me last week about free tickets to a Beer Dinner, Schwein Nacht, hosted by Brooklyn Brewery at Sheffield’s. I like beer, food, Brooklyn Brewery, Sheffield’s, and free stuff, so I said “yes” without hesitation. If you want to judge me with suspicion for getting free stuff, go ahead, but Brooklyn and Sheffield’s are already two things I’d already recommend and most of what I had at the dinner, including all the food, I have never had before.

So, to sum it up, shout outs to Kit Graham, the Windy City Bloggers Collective, Matt Tanaka at Lakeshore Beverage (provider of the free tickets), and of course everyone from Brooklyn and Sheffield’s for putting this event together. Also, props to Matt for his photography skills and a thank you for letting me use his photos of the event. Matt’s pictures are definitely a step above my camera phone shots, especially since I think smeared meat sweats from the dinner all over my lens.  So, many thanks and shout outs all around.

 

I arrived at Sheffield’s after some travel mishaps and whatnot. At first I was in a slight panic because I found a mostly empty bar. I feared that there was a secret second Sheffield’s location that only cool people know about. I thought I would miss the dinner. Sad face.

Fortunately, I’ve visited Sheffield’s enough to understand that it’s more akin to four bars in one building than just a single bar. I meandered around Sheffield’s with too much hubris to simply ask a server or bartender where to go. My meandering finally ended when I found the dinner group seated around one of the back bars.

Most of the seats were taken, but eventually I came across two open seats with a group of four BP workers. They were a friendly enough group and made great company while I waited for B-Pede to join me for the dinner. Our topics ranged from how hockey jerseys and Tommy Bahama shirts are excellent options for fat guys, to what the best region of America is for meeting new people (I feel people mostly go out in groups in Chicago and that it’s hard to approach a group if you’re out by yourself. The BP group disagreed and basically called the rest of the country a bag of dicks.)

COURSE I

Pork Rind Panzanella paired with Brooklyn Pilsner (Full Malt Pilsner, 5.1%)

 

The beginning of the dinner easily ended our conversations as we became consumed in food and beer. Chef Victor started us off with a salad topped with pork rinds. Also, I should probably mention that every dish tonight had some form of pork in it. Normally after something like this I would give out my address so you can mail me my main points, but I think I’m already maxed out.

You could tell everyone enjoyed the salad because no one listened to anyone’s table talk. I think I heard every person individually exclaim “oooh! an avocado!” at some point during the first course, clearly not hearing every other person point that out before them. I could also tell people enjoyed the salad because there were pork rinds. Except B-Pede, but he also went through a vegetarian stage at one point, so his opinions are dubious on the issue.

Brooklyn Brewery paired the salad with a pilsner. Normally I feel like craft brewers who make a pilsner are just wasting precious yeast and time because there’s not much you can do to improve a pilsner. However, as with all of the beers this evening, Brooklyn really managed to separate themselves from the crowd. The beer came across as smooth as any pilsner, but with a much thicker, heavier taste that made it distinguishable from the typical American pilsner. I would say that I’m definitely going to have this again, but I feel like I’d probably opt for every other beer Brooklyn hooked us up with throughout the night, and that’s not an insult to the pils.

Moving onto all those beers, let’s talk about the second course. A porchetta paired with a Blast double IPA.

 

COURSE II

Porchetta, Basil Gremolatta, paired with Brooklyn Blast (Big IPA, 8.4%)

 

I need to take a moment for my heart to finish clearing an artery just from thinking about this dish.

 

 

Okay, back.

The porchetta had so much fat in it that I feel like it should take up wearing hockey jerseys and Tommy Bahama shirts. As either Victor the Chef, or Andrew the Brooklyn rep pointed out, this really isn’t a dish that you’re going to have every week. He’s right, but it’s definitely a dish I’m going to dream about while consuming the everyday trash I put into my body weekly. (Sorry Taco Bell, it’s true. I know you’re edible, but you’re not food.)

As for the IPA, for a long time I was a fan of IPA’s and anything hoppy. IPA was synonymous with Sierra Nevada for me in college. I can’t think of another IPA I knew about other than maybe a couple in Australia and the rare Dogfish Head I’d stumble across. And those beers were fairly inaccessible for several years. Dogfish Head is a bit expensive and elaborate beer for a college student, and Australian beers…. well they’re in Australia. Australia’s gotta be at least as far as Kansas or one of them square shaped states or something. 

Fortunately, the expanding craft beer scene came to save my palette. Over the past couple years IPA’s have exploded on the national beer scene. Unfortunately, so many IPA’s have worn me out and it seems like the Great American IPA Bubble has left most breweries churning out the hoppiest beer they can make with little attention to flavor. 

Much like the pils, Brooklyn Blast is an IPA that sets itself apart from the bunch. One of the least dry IPA’s I’ve had in a long time, but with a full and heavy flavor profile and all the goodness you expect out of an IPA. This may be a stretch, but I would almost compare Blast to a Guinness. I make this comparison not in any sense of taste or composition, but because this felt like a balanced beer and appropriate in any situation or season, hot or cold, or… hot or cold? I think I need to step up my knowledge of seasons and/or vocabulary…. 

Anyways, if I thought that the Brooklyn Blast made a good hitter in any situation, then it hit a home run when paired with the porchetta. The slight hoppiness and easy dry bite paired up great with the fatty goodness of the pork, while the traditional flavor profile of an IPA paired up perfectly with the spice of the gremolatta.

Spicy, fat, beer. I feel like I’m at a loss of words to make that list better.

Fortunately for myself and everyone at the dinner, Chef Victor and the Brooklyn Brew Crew knew how to add to that list.

 

DIGESTIF

Hand & Seal (Barleywine style ale, 13.3%)

 

For the third ‘course,’ Brooklyn Brewery set us up with their Hand and Seal, a bourbon barrel aged barleywine style ale made by Brooklyn’s brewmaster as a celebration of his 20th anniversary with the brewery.

Normally I’m not a big fan of bourbon barrel beverages (except bourbon, obviously), but this beer is a huge exception. (You may be noticing a trend of how I feel about Brooklyn’s beers.) I would have never guessed that they involved a bourbon barrel in the process for this one. 

Everything about this beer was so well done that I’m glad it was the ‘digestif’ and not served with any other dish; I needed all my focus just to mentally digest how much I liked Hand and Seal. Based on smell alone, B-Pede and I figured the barleywine style ale would come across like a sour. From this experience I’m going to say I don’t have a future as a cicerone, as Hand and Seal definitely had a lot of subtle flavors and none of them reminded B-Pede or I of a sour beer.

 

COURSE III

Smoked pork shank, braised red cabbage, paired with Brooklyn Oktoberfest (Marzen, 5.5%)

 

Eventually Chef Victor returned for the true third course, a pork shank over red cabbage and paired with an Oktoberfest.

I feel like allowing myself to drool over my keyboard for five minutes and seeing if that leads to any words on the page is the best way to describe the flavors in this dish.

The pork shank was so good that I forgot I had a beer. Usually if I forget about my beer it’s alcohol induced, so it’s pretty impressive that Victor made a pork shank intoxicating enough to produce the same result. According to Andrew from Brooklyn Brewery, this is the sign of a good beer pairing – the food and drink feel like they come together as one.

The pork shank had an amazing crust, which did not do good things for my taste buds when paired with the red cabbage. This was not good for my taste buds because now almost everything else is inferior. Thanks for ruining everything for me, Victor. 

As for the beer paired with the pork shank, I’m either ‘on’ or ‘off’ the Oktoberfest bandwagon in any given year. Some years I may only have one all Fall. Other years I may have enough to make me start talking to the Sam Adams character on the 12-pack. This year has been an ‘off year’, but I honestly feel that if someone made me aware of Brooklyn’s Oktoberfest a month ago, then this year would have been an ‘on year’. Unfortunately, according to the Brooklyn Brewery employees, the beer is only available about 60 days a year, which means I better start scouring Chicagoland for the remaining bottles.

 

COURSE IV

Baconated Bourbon Pumpkin Ice Cream paired with Fire & Ice (Smoked Oatmeal Porter, 7.2%)

 

With my taste buds fearing they would never have such delight again, Victor redeemed himself with the final course, a “bourbon pumpkin ice cream with bacon and walnuts.” … He had me at everything he said. Really, the words that make up the title of the dish don’t do it justice as each flavor kept distracting me and one-upping itself with every bite.

Victor told us about how he feared his staff would confuse the pumpkin ice cream for butternut squash soup. Despite his best attempts at labeling, Victor’s staff ended up doing exactly this earlier in the week. Sheffield’s served us proper ice cream, but I don’t feel like I’m going out on a limb when I say that I’m more than willing to drink this in soup form if it means I get another bowl.

Speaking of delicious liquids I want to have again, the Fire & Ice paired perfectly with the ice cream. I almost wanted to pour the beer over the ice cream and stir it into some form of a October Bushwacker. Patent pending on October Bushwacker.

The Smoked Oatmeal Porter matched up perfectly with the ice cream, and better yet I would still drink it as a stand alone beer. As with the other beers this evening, Brooklyn’s beverage really struck me because of it’s overall balance. The porter presented all of the flavors you would expect from this kind of brew, but did not overly accentuate any of the parts or let any flavor dominate. Most importantly, in my opinion, the porter did not overdue the “burnt/rustic” taste I would say I find in most similar porters by other breweries. I’m not opposed to this flavor, but it’s great to see it drawn back and taste the medley of other flavors in a beer like this.

 

 POST-DINNER

 

After the dinner I found Matt, the marketer from Lakeshore Beverage, who co-hosted the event and hooked me up with the tickets. While chatting with Matt about the dinner, B-Pede and I brought up Madame Rose, a sour beer by Goose Island. B-Pede originally mentioned Madame Rose during the dinner when he suspected the Hand & Seal would taste like a sour.

B-Pede said that Madame Rose is the best sour he’s ever had and suggested splitting a bomber after dinner since Sheffield’s is fortunate enough to carry Madame Rose. Sadly, the price of the 2010 Madame Rose has gone up since the last time B-Pede visited, but luckily, as we debated purchasing the bottle, Matt decided to treat us to a bomber. Matt also explained that many people have called Madame Rose “Goose Island’s best beer. Ever,” so that would explain the notch up in price. A deserved notch up.

Ever since Snappy introduced me to sour beers I’ve kept guard at liquor stores and checked if they have the ones I like. I fear that I may start buying out entire shelves at Binny’s if I ever see Madame Rose in stock. I don’t know how I managed to do this, but I actually critiqued Madame Rose, wishing for a bit more pucker to it. I was not in my right state of mind when I said this, so excuse me, and my apologies to the Madame.

 

Matt introduced B-Pede and I to the Brooklyn reps while we enjoyed the bomber. Both Andrew and Ben were great conversationalists and had excellent knowledge about the industry and their company. Andrew is a Cicerone and Ben has taken the test twice. After hearing Ben’s tales about the test I fear that I have no chance of ever becoming a Cicerone. I suppose I should refocus my energies on creating a new profession – Sangria Sommelier. Or maybe Grilled Cheese Sommelier. … Okay, I’ll settle for a grilled cheese.

I tried to hang and act like I’m knowledgeable about beer by pointing out that I own the Oxford Companion to Beer. (Note, I said I own it, not that I’ve read it or understand it. If you follow this blog then you can probably tell I barely know how to read.) Without acting like they one-upped me the Brooklyn staff two-upped me by talking about Brooklyn’s brewmaster, Garrett Oliver. Garrett Oliver is also known as the editor and chief of the Oxford Companion to Beer. As the guy who once put a Twizzler into a bottle of homebrew before bottling it, I think it’s reasonable for me to say that the fine people at Brooklyn Brewery may know a thing or two about beer. One of them literally wrote the book on it.

As our conversation progressed I started talking about beers more within my shallow understanding of beer. (“Beer taste good.” “Beer make happy.”) While explaining that “Beer taste good,” and giving my impressions of the dinner I got to hear a bit about Brooklyn’s brewing philosophy. Andrew and Ben both emphasized that Brooklyn aims to make well balanced beers, and hesitated to use the word conservative. However, they  said that conservative may be an accurate if not precise definition of what they try to do. I feel like I found this true of several of their beers, as the Fire & Ice did not have the burnt, rustic taste I pick up on in many similar beers, the Blast IPA did not overwhelm me with hops or dryness – despite the fact that Brooklyn uses 9 different hops in it – and the Pilsner is something worth remembering.

To wrap this up, at a bar like Sheffield’s it’s somewhat hard to pick a beer you want because they have such a great selection. Personally, I like to rotate my beers and try new things, but all five of these are beers I hope to have again. Additionally, I’d say that one of the best things about these five beers is that each one can appeal to a wide audience of drinkers because they are each so well balanced. I find it highly improbable that anyone who can down a pint would turn down any of these beers.

As for Sheffield’s food, I’ve ate there before but Chef Victor made a menu on a different level this night. I seriously want to hire him just to make porchetta all day so I can walk around chewing the crust like it’s bacon. (I’m conflicted on whether the pork shank or porchetta had a better crust.) I think the total time that all of our pork dishes spent in the smoker totaled about 12-13 hours and took several days to prepare.  (This isn’t my usual, stupid exaggeration, I think that’s the actual total from what they told us). That dedication paid off big time and as someone who just got his first smoker, I’m pretty jealous.

Welp, if you’ve made it to the end of this post, thanks. If I don’t blow myself up with this smoker I hope that I’ll do Twisted Spoke and Sidetrack a good service this weekend with my visits.

Until next time, you know, blah blah blah, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, something or other & best bar in Chicago.