DC Beer Week- Lost Abbey Dinner

Thursday, we attended the Lost Abbey Beer Dinner at Pizzaria Paradiso. We absolutely love the beer dinners at Pizza Paradiso. Not only is the food top notch, but Greg the beer manager, brings in some really amazing beers. He also has been spot on with the pairings to every beer dinner we've attended (a lot!).

The Lost Abbey beer dinner was no exception. We had 6 courses, each paired with a different Lost Abbey beer. Tomme Arthur was in attendance to tell us about each beer, as well as some background on the brewery.

Because I'm obsessed with citing my sources (honor code from college and all), I want to point out that my description of each course is taken directly from the menu.

Course 1 was an artichoke spoon- a roasted artichoke with an Avant Garde Hollandaise. It was served with Avant Garde. The bite of artichoke was delicious; I love anything to do with artichokes. The beer was a cross between a Belgian pale ale and a saison. It was light, slightly sweet, herbal and grassy. It was 7% abv.

Course 2 was a gazpacho- cold tomato soup, serve with chopped cucumber, red peppers, hot cherry peppers, garlic, cilantro, parsley, topped with an orange and Devotion cream. It was served with Devotion. The gazpacho was really good, but I'm not used to gazpacho having chunks in it. I'm used to it being smooth and creamy, so since this gazpacho had pieces of vegetables in it, it took a little getting used to for me. The flavor was delicious, however, it was spicy, and really peppery (hence all of the peppers). The orange cream was a nice addition, and helped temper the spice a bit. Devotion is dry, blond and fresh tasting.

Course 3 was Carnevale Salad- warm diced potato, radish and spring onion salad served with frisee and a slice of Cambozola dressed in Carnevale vinaigrette. It was served with (surprise!) Carnevale. This was a perfect pairing. The salad reminded me of a hash because of the warm potato mixture. The cheese was similar to a blue cheese/camembert and was just the right amount of stinky. Carnevale is a saison with the yeast brettanomyces. It tasted of Belgian sugar, herbs and citrus, and of course the distinctive "slight barnyard" that accompanies most brett beers.

Course 4 was a Hell Pie- cherry peppers, beets, roasted red, yellow and orange peppers, proscuitto, goat cheese and mozzarella. It was served with Inferno. The Hell Pie was my favorite of the two pizzas- I love both beets and goat cheese, and it was really interesting to see them on a pizza together! The beer tasted of raisins, grapefruit and bread.

Course 5 was a Snake in the Grass pizza- tomato, buffalo mozzarella, roasted asparagus, roasted garlic chive blossoms. It was served with Serpent's Stout. This pizza was also great, but the Hell Pie had more interesting flavors on a pizza. The beer was roasty and sweet, but not too sweet. It tasted of chocolate, oak and vanilla. This was a great beer with pizza- I think we all agreed the easier pairing would have been to pair this stout with dessert. Pizza Paradiso doesn't take the easy way out though!

Course 6 was spring shortcakes- strawberries and rhubarb shortcakes topped with chocolate pieces, toasted almonds and vanilla whipped cream. It was served with Lost & Found. Tomme commented that he'd never thought anyone would choose to end with Lost & Found because it isn't as high alcohol as some of the other beers. We all (or at least our table agreed with Tomme) that this was a great pairing. The beer smelled fruiting and tasted of strawberries- so it was a great match to the dessert. I gave my strawberries to Ben. I did discover that I do like rhubarb now though (used to hate it). The shortcakes were good!

This was a great beer tasting. I think the only thing we wanted was more of the rarer Lost Abbey/Port Brewing beers. All of the beers on the menu were great, and you can't easily get your hands on them in the DC area. However, we were hoping for some Phunky Duck (had it at the Extreme Beer Festival in Boston and it is AMAZING), or Older Viscosity, or Cuvee de Tomme. I think we understand that those beers are not for the novice palette, and may have been hard to pair with food. It didn't stop us from wanting them though!

Stay tuned, because while you might think our Thursday night was over after 6 beers and way too much food... it wasn't. A write up of the Stoudt's beer tasting will follow...