Muskoka Beer Pairing Dinner

Course 1: Spicy Mozzarella & Arugala Salad Paired with Mad Tom IPA

These three things paired really well together.  The mozzarella wasn’t extra spicy by any means, but the Mad Tom IPA really cut the spice right away.  I’ve never ever in my beer life said that an IPA was a good palate cleanser, but it really worked that way with this pairing. (At this point, I am extremely pumped for the rest of the food because the pairings seemed to be REALLY well thought out).

Course 2: Korean BBQ Pork Quesadilla Paired with Piwo Grodziskie

Okay, now I’m definitely excited.  My first taste of the beer, I got a lot of smoky flavor, I thought “what is this, a Rauchbier?”  but it was not, I actually had to ask the brewery (who was at the event) what the style was and a little about it.  It is similar to a Rauchbier, but is a Polish style.  But, the pairing was out of this world.  The Korean BBQ pork was nice and sweet (a nice change from the spicy of the first meal).  But, with the smoky beer this sweet bbq meat just melted in your mouth.  An absolute home run.

Course 3: Mango Shrimp Tacos Paired with Kirby’s Kolsch

I haven’t had too many shrimp tacos in my day, but the shrimp inside of these tacos were cooked and seasoned perfectly.  They just melted in your mouth (I know, I know, I already wrote that food adjective once, forgive me).  The pairing with Kirby’s Kolsch was really nice too.  Kolsch’s are known to be light and airy — which worked really nice with this dish.

Course 4: Tequila Lime Chicken & Pepperjack Risotto Paired with Saucy Pigeon

Saucy Pigeon was one of Muskoka’s Moonlight Kettle series — it’s a Berliner Weiss and is easily one of the best sours I’ve had in quite some time.  The beer was just incredible.  In a few of my pictures, you can see that there is a pint of it sitting throughout that I was sipping on while chatting with other the Muskoka team who were attending.

The pairing with the chicken was really well done too.  I wouldn’t ever consider drinking a sour with food, probably because I have no idea what to pair it with.  But with the chicken and especially the pepper jack risotto (which was out of this world flavor-wise), Saucy Pigeon worked really well.

Course 5: Chocolate Bacon Parfait Paired with Oak Aged Cream Ale

Chocolate covered cajun bacon… need I say more? Seriously though, I used the chocolate covered bacon as a spoon to eat the parfait and I regret nothing. The beer paired really well because it didn’t try and out-stage the flavors that the parfait gave.  It just worked as a nice backdrop to everything and made it all go down smooth.

Overall:

Overall, I thought this was a complete success.  Every single plate was paired perfectly with the beers that were there.  And the beers that were poured were unique and interesting in different ways.  I didn’t once feel like I was being offered mediocre beer or food.

My sincere compliments to the Chef for making some of the best food I’ve ever had.

I wanted to give a shoutout to Local Kitchen for being such a cool place to have a drink and eat great food.  I’d never really heard of the place before, but I will definitely be going back in the near future.  The hospitality and food were absolutely killer.

And a final thanks to Muskoka for inviting me out to such a well thought out beer pairing dinner. I hope to see all of you in the near future.  Thanks to you and your team for such an enjoyable night with such incredibly delicious beers.