The Sights of Sound Brewery Brewers Dinner

I've recently discovered the joys of a Belgian Stout. It's essentially the same as a regular stout, but made with belgian yeast, which affects the flavor, giving it a more belgian style taste. No need to thank me for pointing out that obvious little tidbit.

The stout I'm talking about specifically is the Ursus Spelaeus (don't worry, I'm not sure how to pronounce it either) from Sound Brewery. It was the first beer featured at the recent Sound Brewery beer pairing hosted by the Manito Tap House last Sunday (that would be 23rd). Don't fret, I'll get to the food (maybe), but first let me tell you a couple of things about this beer. It's not just a stout. No. It's an imperial stout. And it's not just an imperial stout. It's a belgian style imperial stout. And I'm a redundant ass. Not just a regular redundant ass. No. A total jack ass of a redundant ass. Keep reading. It gets better (maybe).

The Ursus Spelaeus is a big, dark beer. The kind of beer you'd find in a recent Old Spice commercial. Is that racist? Discuss. Back to the beer. Now back to me. Now back to the beer. Pictured here with the dinners first course, Beet Napoleon. As written on the menu, this dish included the following: Local red beets, herbed goat cheese, organic arugula and a house mustard vinaigrette which I believe, if memory serves (which it doesn't in this case), was made using the Ursus Spelaeus. But first, let me tell you about the beer. It's smooth. The belgian yeast really gives it something special, something that makes it a bit more accessible to those who've lived in fear under the shadow of a big, dark imperial stout. But this imperial overlord need not be feared. It need be embraced. It's almost got a certain wine quality to it, in that you want to sip it, enjoy it, savor it. Perhaps have a bite of Beet Napoleon slathered in a house made mustard vinaigrette, let those flavors settle on your tongue for just a moment, then let the Ursus join the party. Not to say the party wasn't going fine until Ursus showed up, but Ursus kicked that party into high gear.

You know what I think the best thing about this beer is? No, of course you don't. Because I haven't told you yet. Back to the beer. Now back to me, and what I think is best about this beer. It's a finisher. Normally you would want to start with a tall, dark beauty like the Ursus Spelaeus. But it goes down so clean and smooth, you can save it for last. Hell, put some ice cream in it. Make it dessert. But, be warned. It's 10% ABV, and that's exactly how you spell trouble, especially at the end of the night. Well, it's not exactly how you spell trouble, but it's literally how you spell trouble. No, it's not that either. Just be careful, damn it.

And now, food and beer porn. First, the full menu from the beer pairing:

Second course, a duo of cauliflower and butternut squash soups paired with the Monk's Indiscretion:

The Monk's Indiscretion is a fascinating creature. It was described as a tripple IPA, a high percentage IPA brewed with belgian yeast. But that sounds far to simple for this beer. It's bright and poppy. It drinks like kool-aid on a summer day when you were twelve years old. It doesn't taste like kool-aid at all. Crisp. Light. But gigantic. 10% ABV. Again, trouble. But the good kind. All sorts of the good kind. The soup was fantastic. The duo was split down the middle and had gala apple bourbon creme drizzled over the top. Phenomenal.

Third course, the main course, Durham Ranch wild boar short ribs, paired with the Humulo Nimbus, a double IPA, and, from what I can tell, one of the best double or imperial IPA's ever. Seriously:

What you see under the ribs is a spaghetti squash rolled oat cake. What you so on top of the ribs are parsnip chips. What you see all over this plate is damned deliciousness. We were encouraged by the chef to use our fingers on this one, and that's exactly what I did. The flavor experience was pretty mind blowing, and the Humulo Numbus made me beer-gasm. Yep. I went there.

And we're swiftly moving away from there. But first, back the beer. The Humulo Nimbus is in a rare class. A double IPA that's got a near perfect balance of hops, malt and alcohol content. 74 IBU's. 8.4% ABV. "Seriously quaffable," as stated on the Sound Brewery website's description. I love that word, "quaffable." Especially when it's used to it's fullest potential. Such is the case with the Humulo Nimbus.

Finally, dessert. Strawberry champagne terrine and fried pumpkin pie, paired with the Sommerweizen, a Clear Wheat Ale:

Incredible. The perfect finish to a fantastic meal. I'm not usually a fan of anything pumpkin, but this was seriously delicious. And also keep in mind we'd just had several high percentage beers, so fried anything is good at this point. Not to knock this dish any. Just saying my palate matures a bit after a big beer or two or three, and is more welcoming to things I might not have liked so much in the past. This really isn't going well, is it. Let's re-begin.

I've recently discovered the joys of a Belgian Stout. It's essentially the same as a regular stout, but made with belgian yeast, which affects the flavor, giving it more of a belgian style taste. You're welcome. Now back to the beer. But first, back to me. I'll have you know I retyped the beginning of this paragraph, instead of copying it from the beginning of this blog entry and pasting it here. Because I have integrity. Or something like that. It's got to be authentic, damn it. Or it shall have no pumpkin pie. And, in this case, that would be a severe punishment.

Nailed it. Back on track.

The flavor experience here was fantastic. I almost don't even know how to describe it. That's also probably because of all the beer. I remember moaning inappropriately at it's deliciousness, and I'm glad I got photographic evidence to jog my memory of it. It was paired with the lightest beer of the evening, the Sommerweizen, which stands at a modest 5% ABV and 11 IBU's. I think that may give it the record for weakest beer I've written about.

And now that I've mentioned it, I think I'm going to retire the High ABV tag I've been using in my posts. Every single post has had it. So why bother? All I seem to write about is big beers. Is that because I'm a big guy? Not really. I just like bigger beers. I don't know. We'll see. I'll keep it going. Perhaps it'll start to get funny, to look at the labels column and always see High ABV at the top with far and away the most amount of entries.

Yeah, let's go with that.

Tap that glass!

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Have I mentioned how much I loathe exclamation points? Eh. Another time, perhaps.