Known for their big, high alcohol, super hoppy cult beers, Stone Brewing Company opened in 1996 under the guidance of Steve Wagner and Greg Koch ( the "brewmaster" ). It seems that with each beer release they aim to offend the palate of the unsuspecting or casual beer drinker - and most if not all of their beers come with warnings like "Not for the faint of heart", "You probably won't like this", etc etc. Their most popular beer is called Arrogant bastard, if that gives you an indication of their particular corner of the market. Nevertheless their handcrafted beers find their way into the mainstream bars and gastropubs all over the world.
In general, their selections are loved by those with an adventurous love of beer, and they consistently rank amongst the top handcrafted brews in the country. In fact they are one of the fastest growing breweries in America thanks to their insanely devoted cult following. It just so happens that my dinner dates are among the ranks of the aforementioned cult. Our beer experts for the evening are Jonas, a local affable beer lover and guy-who-doesn't-say-much, who calls himself a "cicerone", or beer sommelier. Donna enjoys picking their brains all night on various and sundry beer-geek topics like IBU's, hop strains and bottling lingo. I am in foreign territory here.
The Chef de Cuisine is Michael Vaughn, a recent Desert transplant who is doing great things with the restaurants concept and menu. His food philosophy & cooking style sounds a lot like mine, so we know our meal will be a good one. He's doing cool twists on comfort food, homemade catsups and jellies, and serving classics in an unexpected way. He keeps a stash of cheese magazines for patrons to take home with them - we are officially simpatico. At one point he tells us about the artisanal Burger Bar he is opening out at the one of the remote golf clubhouses, fried pickles and all, which also intrigues.
But let's get down to brass tacks here. We are greeted as we enter with a pint of the beer that put Stone on the map - the original Arrogant Bastard Ale ( 7.2% alcohol ). Thick and rich, with notes of coffee, it's not my typical choice to get my gastro juices going but then again, this isn't your typical dinner. We also cruise over the the artisan cheese board ( in hindsight - I should have passed it up ) and was delighted to see a few of my favorite selections including the Mt Tam soft cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery in Petaluma. We took a group there last year and made our own version of this cheese. I spy and snag a little bit of fresh honeycomb - which is a beautiful thing paired with a soft ripened cheese.
Dinner kicks off with our first plated course - a Tilamook cheddar soup served in a pretzle boule' with freshly popped corn. This is paired with another flagship from Stone's cellar, the Stone Pale Ale. This beer clocks in with the lowest alcohol percentage of the night at 4.4%. This was a nearly perfect pairing, and the sharpness of the cheese stood up nicely to the beers rather herbacious finish. They complimented and mellowed eachother. The popcorn was fun and kitsch ( like a lot of Chef Michael's Cuisine ), and the pretzel bread was outstanding. A great start.
With our next course came my favorite beer of the evening, the Stone IPA. I'm really not much of an IPA fan, but with food, the puckery bitterness faded into the background and the citrus, caramel notes were fantastic and thoughtfully paired with the salad course.
This is the baby spinach salad, with delightfully salty caper dressing, pickled red cabbage, smoked bacon and (yay!) Pt. Reyes blue cheese. Grilled bread and hard boiled egg also make an appearance. The wonderfully sodium-laced salad is the perfect foil to the IPA, which ends up being the most refreshing of all the beers.
Mike and Donna toasting our good fortune. We are not even half way through and we've begun to pace ourselves. This beer is filling.
Let's get ready for some more cheese! How about a crock of "Automat" mac & cheese, topped with roasted tomatoes and pretzel crumbs. This is served on a cedar plank, and is bubbling hot. I consider myself a mac & cheese connoisseur, and this was very good but my palate is starting to get sluggish so I am not tasting much anymore. I need a palate cleanser - or a second stomach. The beer pairing is one of their special library selections, the Lucky Bastard Ale. Everything about this beer is classified, including the Alcohol content, which I'm sure is above 8%. It's very very bitter and a little cloying, the only one I didn't really care for. The pairing is artful though.
The label is purposefully misspelled.
Our next course arrives wrapped in tinfoil, and is billed as a TV Dinner, and I am too curious to wait for the beer to arrive and peel back the foil.
Low and behold, is this a Swanson's frozen dinner?? It sure as hell looked like one. But one bite of the succulent veal and pork meatloaf with homemade catsup and soft pecorino cheese was all I needed to convince me otherwise. With heirloom peas & carrots, whipped potatoes and gravy and a homemade chocolate pudding - we are in retro heaven. Park me in front of a Nick at Nite marathon and we're doing the time warp again. Mike makes a comment akin to "you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig" - meaning, it may be the best tv dinner I've ever had but at the end of the day - it's still a tv dinner. But Swansons has nothing on this re-imagined classic. Too bad I'm so full I can hardly stand to take more than one bite of everything on the dish. And I'm not alone - my companions are squirming in their seats alongside me. I'm practicing portion control, and I'm still stuffed. The best things about this pairing ( Stone Smoked Porter, 5.9% ) are the delicately sweet catsup glaze and the chocolate pudding - both of which echo notes in the slightly smoky, deeply rich porter. I love a good stout beer, and this is right up my alley. I wish I could enjoy more than a few sips, but I'm dangerously close to throwing in the towel.If you're thinking of calling me out for being a lightweight, have a looksie at this line up. These are only 5 of the 7 beers we imbibed, thank you very much.
It's time for dessert, and yes, another course with cheese. I'm beginning to think Chef Michael is trying to put us all into delicious cardiac arrest.
This is a light, almost ethereal no-bake cheesecake flavored with vanilla and topped with a crunchy baked struesel, with a secondary stash of crumbly topping served sidecar. I laughed out loud when the Chef says he did this dessert simply because he's always wanted to use these plates. Absolutely scrumptious - but the last straw in the assault on my stomach. Imperial Russian Stout is the pairing, and it tastes like a chocolate chovered raspberry on steriods. I'm over the edge, and my dates are looking a bit peeked as well. My husband has to take a walk outside for a while. We are officially in a happy beer/food coma.
As a final treat, Jonas shares a last glass of beer ( #7 if your counting ) with the group, who errupt into sloppy applause. I can't remember which beer it was, but I know they were excited about it. It's pretty much a fuzzy-blur from then on.
As a final treat, Jonas shares a last glass of beer ( #7 if your counting ) with the group, who errupt into sloppy applause. I can't remember which beer it was, but I know they were excited about it. It's pretty much a fuzzy-blur from then on.
Overall it was an exciting, intoxicating experience. My familiarity with the science of pairing food and wine wasn't much help to me, and I was glad to experience a Beer dinner as a newbie, so to speak. The food was outstanding, fun and innovative. The beers were heavy, hearty and hoppy - as expected . The recovery from the night's festivities included a one lb. weight gain and a nice little hangover. All though we had a ball and enjoyed the ride - I think I'm gonna stick to wine pairings from here on out.
FYI - TWENTY6 is planning more beer and also scotch dinners in the near future - this was an excellent value at only $50 pp plus tax & gratuity so be sure to check them out.
