Quest for Beer and Food Marriage

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I attended my first beer dinner last night at the Trappe Door, and it was absolutely delicious and a tremendous amount of fun.  The dinner consisted of six courses, each creatively paired with a beer from Quest Brewing Company.  All four core Quest beers were on display in addition to a bourbon barrel aged version of the Ellida IPA and a special saison collaboration beer between Allen (Trappe Door chef) and Don (Quest brewmaster).  Below are some pictures of each of the courses.

Amuse bouche - watermelon tartare on top of a meringue then topped with bee pollen and cilantro paired with Wormwood Ale

Popcorn soup - corn soup drizzled with chili oil, honey, and topped with freshly popped corn paired with Ellida IPA

Smoked duck with plum BBQ sauce and pickled jalapeno paired with Smoking Mirror Smoked Porter

Garden salad with mole vinaigrette, potato croutons, spiced pecans, tomatoes, and pineapple tomatillos paired with Kaldi Imperial Coffee Stout

Pork scallopini with lemon ice cream sauce, leek mashed potatoes, and grilled scallions paired with Golden Fleece Belgian Pale Ale

Lemongrass creme caramel paired with Buffalo Trace Bourbon Barrel Aged Ellida IPA

Cheers (and bon appetit)!

Where's the Beef...or Coconut, or Peppers, or Chocolate, or Orange?

A beer name is crucial in terms of peaking a potential consumer's interest enough to turn that person into a consumer and hopefully a repeat consumer.  A name frequently incorporates specialty ingredients that were used in the brewing and/or flavoring of a beer, whether it be coffee, chocolate, bananas, peppers, etc.  I appreciate this, as it gets my senses all jazzed up in anticipation of aromas and flavors to come.  However, I hate nothing more than to take in that aroma and get not a trace of the ingredient(s) mentioned.  "That's okay," I tell myself.  "I'm sure I'll pick up the flavor when I take a sip.  Damn...nothing!  What gives?"  I understand everyone experiences different aromas and flavors from beers, but ones billed with special ingredient(s) should be easily identifiable by everyone. 

I have had this experience happen only a few times but feel it is worth mentioning.  Last night was one of those experiences.  Having just returned from vacation at the beach and still feeling tropical I guess, I decided to try one of Stone Brewing Company's 2013 Collaboration beers, R&R Coconut IPA.  This collaboration was done with Rip Current Brewing out of San Marcos, California.  Let me say that this was a terrific IPA, but I detected absolutely no coconut aroma or flavor.  Absolutely none!

Other instances of this that come to mind include Chipotle Ale by Rogue Ales and Castaway Chocolate Orange IPA by Thomas Creek Brewery.  I'm a little more forgiving on the chipotles, because I understand the peppers can fade with time.  But I don't understand one with both chocolate and orange in the name, yet I pick up on neither of them.  Again, don't get me wrong, I really enjoy Castaway as a nice IPA, but I want to experience the chocolate and orange.  I want those peppers to give me a little burn with some smokiness.  I want that tropical coconut sensation to transport me to a sunny beach.

As I won't go off on a business tangent on this particular post, I'll just suffice it to say that when a beer name includes specific ingredient(s), please make sure the ingredient(s) come through loud and clear.  My senses and I would greatly appreciate it.

Cheers!

IPA Day...Just a Marketing Ploy to Sell Beer, Right?

National IPA Day was yesterday, and it seems nearly every brewery across the nation was having an event to celebrate.  And if they weren't hosting an event, they, at least, acknowledged the day via social media and encouraged craft beer lovers to enjoy their beers in celebration.  Founded only two years ago in 2011, it has become a wildly popular day for the craft beer scene.

IPA Day, you say.  This is just a marketing ploy to sell beer, right?  This is just big business taking advantage of a random day in August to create buzz and have a spike in beer sales.  This is corporate America tricking us into thinking we are getting something special when we can really get the same offering the other 364 days of the year.  This just screams of conspiracy theory!  How dare these businesses do this to us!

Wait a minute.  How dare these businesses do this to us?  Do what?  Afford us the opportunity to drink deliciously crafted beer while spending quality time with our friends and family, listening to great local bands, and eating amazing food?  Man, that sounds just awful.  How could we be tricked into such horrible things?

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as, "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."  Essentially, marketing is an exchange in which all parties perceive value. 

If value is not perceived by one or more parties, then the exchange doesn't have to happen.  Nobody forced us to celebrate IPA Day yesterday.  There was perceived value in doing so, so we did. 

In addition to the aforementioned delicious beers, time with friends and family, great music, and tasty food, we got a midweek escape from life, an opportunity to learn new facts, and an opportunity to experience new sensations.  There could have even been the chance to meet new people that could forever change the courses of our lives.  Whoa, that last one is pretty deep, right?

And as for those big businesses, they aren't big businesses at all.  The craft breweries are mostly small businesses that are locally owned and operated by our fellow community members.  Sure, IPA Day creates value for them by selling beer (immediate money) and creating customers (future money), but there is much more value in it for them than that.  Craft breweries have a passion for what they do and the product they offer, so they simply get the satisfaction of sharing their craft with us to experience.  They get to do what they love and get paid for it...we should all be so lucky.  They also get the satisfaction of bringing the community together.

Speaking of the community, or society at large, there is value to be had here as well.  I think we all agree that a happy and content society makes for a good one.  Quality of life is important, and events such as IPA Day function to provide us with a high quality of life.  These events keep society balanced in terms of working hard and playing hard...the lubricant that keeps the societal wheels turning, if you will.

As you see, events like IPA Day are not attempts at pulling fast ones on us.  They are valuable tools to keep life stable  and enjoyable.  Oh yeah, they are also valuable tools to allow me to have an IPA aged in bourbon barrels (pictured below) as a nightcap.

Cheers!