Freshfarm Local Beer Dinner

Yesterday was another beer dinner at Pizzeria Paradiso. The theme this time was fresh and local. Freshfarm puts on many of the DC area farmer’s markets and they brought in all fresh local ingredients for the dinner. Greg, the Pizzeria Paradiso beer guy, paired each course with a beer from the region. I took Shree and we both enjoyed it. We sat with another couple who were a bit eccentric, talkative, friendly, and fans of good beer and wine.

Menu:

Herb Roasted Squash
Dogfish Head - Sah’tea

Trio of Raw Salads
fennel w/ lemon & basil, beet w/ balsamic & chives, carrot w/ sherry & tarragon
Victory – Wild Devil

Crabby Beans
beans (green, wax, haricot vert & roma) topped w/ Red Sky crab salad
Clipper City - Red Sky at Night Saison

Garden Pizza
radicchio, dandelion greens, garlic scapes, sweet peppers, onion, feta on Hefeweizen spelt crust
Vintage 50 – Hefeweizen

Goat Pie
goat sausage, goat cheese, chopped tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella
Troegs - Troeganator Doublebock

Angels & Cherries
Foxtrot angel food cake topped w/ cherries, garnished w/ Foxtrot caramel sauce & Foxtrot vanilla whipped cream
Weyerbacher - Foxtrot

The herb roasted squash was perfectly roasted and tasted very good. Maybe it was that fresh local taste??? The Dogfish Head Sah’tea is quite unique. This is the second time I’ve had it. The first being about 15 minutes before we sat down. I saw that it was on the draft list while waiting to sit and since it’s new, rare, and I haven’t had it yet I had to order it. Then we sit down and see the dinner menu and it’s the first on the list. It has a tea smell and taste. You can also taste the juniper berries. There is a lot going on with this beer: tea, juniper berries, a few other unique ingredients, boiled with hot rocks, and fermented with a German Weizen yeast. Decent stuff.

The trio of salads was enjoyed by the group but I’m not a beet or fennel fan. It wasn’t bad so I ate it all. The Victory Wild Devil was its good usual self and not a bad pairing.

The beans had one of two meat ingredients of the night. Shree is a vegetarian so she didn’t miss out on much. The beans were good. Obviously fresh. I’m not so familiar with the various kinds but those at my table were impressed with the variety. The crab was good too of course. I’ve had the Red Sky at Night Saison only once or twice before. I’m a fan of saisons. And as usual they used the beer in the dressing.

Greg said this Garden Pizza was their flagship of the night. I assume because of all the fresh veges they threw on it. It was pretty good. The tasted like a wheat crust because of the Hefeweizen they threw in it. Not sure I’ve had the Vintage 50 Hefeweizen before but it was pretty good. This beer is only available at the restaurant. A favorite local brewer, Bill Madden, gave the place a reputation for good beers but he has since moved on to a new brewpub opening not too far from me. So Bill gave a keg to Greg since it is not legal for him to sell it.

The Goat Pie was the favorite of the table. The goat cheese is what made it. I might have to start getting that on my zza’s from now on. This is probably the point of the night where I can’t really comment confidently on the beer. I’m sure Troeg’s doublebock went well with the goat sausage and cheese.

As usual they always have an interesting dessert. The angel food cake was made with the Foxtrot beer which made it darker. I didn’t realize till now that the whipped cream was also made with the beer. I’m not a cherry fan or a big angel food cake fan but I did eat all the cake. I’ve never heard of Weyerbacher so that was new for me.

Next month the theme is summer beers. I think I’ll skip that one; you can’t go to them all.