This past Monday I had the chance to attend a beer and food pairing dinner at one of my favorite restaurants with one of my favorite brewers. Cigar City Brewing hosted the event at the Food Shack in Jupiter. If you live in South Florida or are down visiting, I highly recommend going to the Food Shack in Jupiter; they have a great menu with plenty of fresh local ingredients. 

We were welcomed with a glass of ‘Riverwalk Pale Ale’ paired with three different types of salsa and chips. As many of the beers for this event were, this beer is a very limited production from their new brewery. It was very flavorful pale ale that went great with the salsas. Sadly, this beer will not be available to the public as it was one of the test batches from the new brewery.

The pairing consisted of their summer seasonal ‘Cucumber Saison’ and a salmon tartar served over a panko crusted fried avocado with crème fraiche and caviar. The aroma of cucumber jumped out of the class. While this beer was not as citrusy as other saison beers, it paired very well with the food. I would only drink this beer with light fare as the cucumber aroma and flavor would quickly become too one dimensional. This was a perfect example of how a great dish only got better with the perfect beer to enjoy it with.

The next course was polenta covered fried rock shrimp served a shiitake mushroom salad and whipped aged gorgonzola on a toasted French bread with heirloom tomatoes and arugula paired with ‘Maiden Voyage IPA’. This was the first batch of beer from their new brewery and it will not be made again. This IPA is not as citrusy as other IPA and the peppery flavors from the arugula and the sweetness from the tomatoes brought this whole dish together for me. 

The next course was my favorite of the entire evening. The chef made a sundae in a pint glass. The base of this creation was creamy grits topped with slow roasted and smoked beef topped with sour apple and red cabbage slaw paired with a glass of ‘White Oak IPA with Peaches’. A 5 gallon batch of this beer was made especially for this dinner by aging their popular Jai Alai IPA with peaches on white oak. The bright flavors of the beer paired perfectly with the peach based sauce on the beef while the creaminess of the grits and the tanginess of the slaw made every bite more enjoyable than the previous one. If I were on death row, this may be what I request for a final meal.

Dessert was a lemon cake with gingered cherries topped with a mango and passion fruit coulis and coconut caramel sauce alongside a glass of ‘Mango Peach Cream Ale’. The beer was their popular Xenu Honey cream ale aged with mangos and peaches in a 5 gallon keg for this dinner. The light fruity flavors of the beer paired well with the dessert. The gingered cherries brought this dish and beer together for me.

As you can see and read, this was an awesome night. Good beer and good food belong together. The folks at Cigar City were very excited about their new brewery and the possibilities for more of these unique beers in the future. The Food Shack always has a great beer and wine list. I was very happy to attend such an awesome evening and highly recommend you get creative with your own food and beer pairings. Just like wines, there are no rules that always need to be followed. Find the flavors that you enjoy in beer and food and bring them together; often times the synergy between the two will make for an even better meal.

Keep your glasses half full,

Evan

 Beer blogger Evan Kaye is the regional manager of our Palm Beach area stores