Torrey Pints at The Patio on Goldfinch
On February 23rd, The Patio on Goldfinch held the first in a series of monthly Table Talks called Torrey Pints. This special event series brings in local breweries to discuss their craft beer as well as provides a food pairing as a way to expand people’s perception about what foods go well with beer. Kelly Legan, our certified cicerone and beer buyer set up this first talk with Gwen Conley from Port Brewing Company/The Lost Abbey.
On this gorgeous San Diego afternoon, a group of 25 or so craft beer lovers settled into the high tabletops in the bar area of the restaurant. Kelly introduced Gwen, the Director of Brewery Production and Quality Assurance at Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey in San Marcos, CA. Gwen has been a maven in the craft beer world for years and was the Quality Assurance/Sensory Director at Flying Dog Brewery in MD before joining the Port Brewing/Lost Abbey team. She also is a veteran judge at the World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festival and moonlights as an instructor for the American Brewer’s Guild as well as the UCSD Brewing Program. Even with all of this experience, one of the best parts about Gwen was her obvious zest for life and her keen ability to describe the beers we tasted and the senses they awakened.
Gwen started us off with Avant Garde, a Biere de Garde style of Belgian beer. This style of beer is best described as Farm House ale, brewed for hundreds of years in Belgium. She had us deeply breathe in the 7% beer’s aroma first, and then again before we tasted, explaining that our sense of smell has a great impact on how we receive a beer. The aroma was fruity and bready…pulling images of warm bread being baked in a hearth. The initial malt flavor I got when taking the long awaited first sip gave way to subtle hops and a crisp finish. What was interesting was that the beer took on a whole new life when it was paired with a nibble from the aged Gruyere that on our tasting plates. The cheese with the beer was perfection! The creamy nature of the cheese cut the malt flavor in the beer and balanced it out in the best way. After years of thinking that wine was the best thing to pair with cheese, I have been converted! In my opinion, the carbonated nature of beer is perfect with cheese because the tastes play off each other by cutting both the heavy richness of the cheese with the malty, yeastiness of the beers.
Gwen served us a total of five beers from The Lost Abbey. Since this brewery focuses their skills on brewing Belgian beers all the beers were in this style, and they were delicious. We also got to taste Red Barn, a 6.7% Spiced Saison Ale that she paired delightfully with bites of dried chile spiced pineapple as well as Lost and Found, an 8% Dubbel, which is a perfect example of The Lost Abbey’s signature style of layering malt flavors surrounded by yeast led complexities. The Dubbel was paired with the candied pecans she had added to the tasting plate. Again, the beer was a divine pairing with the sweet treats, as they picked up the malty-chocolate notes of the beer. The next beer we tried was their Judgment Day, a Quadrupel version of the Lost and Found. This 10.5% behemoth was my favorite of the bunch. Big and bold, this beer has layers of dark malt, raisins and yeast. What was produced was a bold, malty, hoppy wonder that I promptly drank for my companion when they confessed they liked the lighter beers. Finally we closed the afternoon with a pairing of The Lost Abbey’s Board Meeting with a Samoa (or if you are from the East Coast, a Caramel Delight) Girl Scout cookie. Cookies and beer? Now we’ve heard it all. But this was exactly Gwen’s point: beer pairs with a multitude of flavor profiles including savory and sweet. This imperial brown ale was wonderful, and the cookie brought out its coffee and cocoa undertones.
After the official talk was done, Gwen stayed around answering questions and generally charming us all with her “salt of the earth” personality. Throughout the talk, Kelly was great about jumping up and answering any questions and giving us additional insight into the craft beer world. All and all, it was a delightful afternoon with superb beers and engaging people and we can’t wait for the next one!
For more info go to:
http://thepatioongoldfinch.com/
http://lostabbey.com/