BrewDog Dinner with James Watt – Toronto Beer Week

Indeed, one of the most anticipated events of the inaugural Toronto Beer Week was a tasting dinner lead by James Watt, co-owner of BrewDog, one of the most progressive breweries around.  So off I went to beerbistro, as excited as a kid on Christmas.  While there was some of the usual suspects in attendance, the vast majority of the crowd were unfamiliar to me, and I was glad to see how much public appeal the event had.  I took a seat across from Jordan St. John, and gave the menu a once over.  As per usual, the menu looked creative, exciting and heavy on the animals.  James (who was sitting right behind me) got up and introduced the event, and we were off.

James Watt, BrewDog

James, probably telling a story about offending feminists or animal-rights people

First course, Trashy Blonde with a sea scallop, seared fois gras, walnut pancake, banana-raisin compote, and a chocolate veal jus.  Trashy Blonde is BrewDog’s entry-level beer (not counting Nanny State).  A hazy hoppy beer that really doesn’t taste like it’s only 4.1%.  The scallop with the sauces was a bit too sweet for my preference, but the sweet fruitiness played with the hops well, and made for a great start to a great night.  We also received a warning, that we were going to go from 4.1% to 41% over the course of the night.  That’s my kind of warning.  It was also during this course that I got a text from a friend at Castro’s, recommending that I Google this cool Scottish brewery he’d just read about in the paper, called BrewDog.  Laughing, I showed James the text, and then laughed harder as he replied on my behalf.  Epic timing.

Scallop a la Brian Morin

Scallop a la Brian Morin

Second course, 5AM Saint with butternut squash soup and a brioche grilled cheese with bacon.  5AM Saint is a great red ale, stacks and stacks of aroma hops, and almost no bittering hops.  Malty sweet followed by a huge floral hop that makes you think you’re drinking a really bitter beer.  You’re not, it’s lower IBU then the Trashy Blonde.  Crazy sessionable, I’m starting to consider moving to Scotland…. The soup paired off well, with a nice earthy squash taste and a nice creaminess (Jordan and I thought there was cheese in there too).  The hops played well with the earthiness, and cut through the creaminess well, adding a ton of depth of flavour to the pairing.

Third course, Punk IPA with a chimichanga with cumin coriander rabbit, house-made feta slice, gueuze sour cream and fried pork rind.  Punk IPA is BrewDog’s flagship brand, and also their first official brew.  It pops with hops, biting citrusy hops that finish with a nice spice, but has enough malt to have a great weight in your mouth.  The spiciness of the chimichanga balanced with the hops perfectly, as one would expect.

James Watt, talking to beer

James, talking to beer, it might talk back before the night is out.

Fouth course, Hardcore DIPA with braised horse, potato truffle tortellini and roasted heirloom root vegetables.  Hardcore is Punk, all grown up.  The hops are more spicy and earthy, with the citrus starting to take a background aroma.  The balance is amazing, not an easy task in the double/imperial IPA field.  The horse was unfortunately pretty tough, strange for a braise.  I’m not just being a jack-ass, by the way, Brian Morin himself was lamenting it after the meal.  Still, the richness of the braise, pasta and vegetables provided a great canvas for the Hardcore to paint over, which it did in bright beautiful strokes.

Fifth course (first dessert), Paradox Imperial Stout with vanilla bean white coffee ice cream in a bacon tuille.  Paradox is a roasty warming imperial stout, that is aged in Islay whiskey barrels giving it both a bit of whiskey/oak notes, as well as a hint of sea air.  The good news is, the icecream was not Neilson or Bryer’s.  Heavy and creamy and laced with sugar, it was perfectly able to keep up with the big stout.

Sixth course (second dessert), AB04 with chocolate mousse and pear compote.  The AB series (Abstrakt) are limited brews that are becoming highly sought-after beers.  I’d been seeing a lot of tweets about the AB02 and AB03 recently, and James had started hinting about AB04.  Turns out we were to be the first people outside of the brewery to get it.  It was a 15% coffee chocolate chili imperial stout, and James thinks it’s the best beer he’s ever made.  That’s a big claim, but the beer lives up to it.  It’s massively tasty, big roasty coffee and cocoa-bitter chocolate, with this lovely hint of chili pepper and a nice capsicum heat.  The chocolate in the mousse with a bit of earthy pear supported the beer wonderfully.  But the beer, oh man, it was amazing.

AB04 BrewDog

AB04 with Chocolate Mousse

Spirits, nothing beats a fine whiskey or brandy after a nice meal, right?  How about more beer, except, this beer is as boozy as your favourite liqueur or spirit?  James pulled out the big guns, and served up a  glass each of Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink the Bismarck, weighing in at 32% and 41% respectively.  And these are beers.  Tactical Nuclear Penguin is BrewDog’s Paradox Imperial Stout, taken to the local icecream shop and frozen.  Over the span of many weeks, the ice crystals get removed, upping the abv and flavours noticeably.  This process is called “ice distillation”.  Sink the Bismarck is a DIPA that goes through the same process, albeit for a longer time.  Tactical Nuclear Penguin has huge whiskey and peat smoke aromas (remember that Paradox is aged in Islay barrels), it’s like a sweeter whiskey.  Absolutely amazing.  Like, I’ve never had something I liked so much.  Sink the Bismarck, on the other hand, is all hops.  The aroma is definite, but a little hard to pick specifics out of.  The flavour, once you get over the initial shock, is actually very clearly complex.  It displays pretty much every characteristic of hops you can think of.  One after another.  It also is like chewing on hops, literally.  Your mouth is coated at the end of it.  Your tongue squeaks against your teeth.  But somehow, it’s still very pleasing, though not a drink for the masses.  The fact that I got to try both, was both shocking and totally amazing.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sinck the Bismarck, BrewDog

Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Sink the Bismarck, they actually come packaged in hand-printed paper bags.

After dinner, the usual amount of wrap-up assessment took place.  Picking apart pairings, sharing favourites, and just generally being happy that we had all been through it together.  I also got to chat to James for a few minutes, and got a picture to prove it all really happened.  James was super-friendly, passionate and contagious about his product, and full of great stories.  Thanks to beerbistro for their hospitality, Roland and Russel for bringing us BrewDog and other amazing beers, and mostly James Watt, for taking a chance and pushing limits, and being a charming advocate of great beer all the while.

James Watt and Chris Schryer

One beer icon and one very nervous blogger

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