I’m hardly the first to say this, but beer is the new wine. In years past, we visited wineries, attended wine tastings, and went to dinners with wine and food pairing. Today, we visit breweries, attend beer tastings, and go to dinners with beer and food pairings. Joining this growing movement is the iconic Columbus Brewing Company Restaurant in the Brewery District. Their next beer dinner coming up on September 21 with MadTree Brewing out of Cincinnati.
The development process for pulling together an event like this is decidedly dynamic. Step one is the initial meeting between the MadTree team and the CBC management and culinary teams. As many as a dozen MadTree beers may be sampled and discussed to determine which very special brews will make the Final Four for this four-course dinner. The candidate beers are compared and contrasted in terms of how they work together and how they might fit into CBC’s culinary wheelhouse. Food options are discussed along with each beer and a general outline of the dinner menu is formulated, then the menu is handed over to the chefs to finalize. Sous chef Matt White and the culinary team fine tune the menu, making and remaking each dish until they are satisfied that the food and the beer are a perfect fit.
The CBC/MadTree lineup will start with a Grilled Oyster appetizer paired with MadTree’s Shade Gose, followed by a very special salad served with Identity Crisis Porter. The main course will be Pumpcan Beer Braised Short Ribs paired with The Great Pumpcan Ale, and the meal will finish with a Raspberry Cream Cheese Danish served with a full bodied Belgian IPA. General Manager Jennifer Kissell-White is especially excited about the salad pairing: the salad is a Herb Roasted Bone Marrow – Garlic Buttered Crustini, Parsely, & Frisee Salad, Sage Vinaigrette “A – LA – LUGE”. Tickets are limited to only 25 at a cost of $65 each. Call (614) 464-2739 to reserve.
Also coming soon to CBC is the Second Annual ‘Taps of Terror’ beginning October 1. This will feature a full month of rotating Ohio craft beers all around a theme of Halloween and Pumpkin beers.
