Last night I attended my first beer dinner. The dinner was hosted by the Rocky Hill Inn. The RHI is one of our favorite places to grab a quick brew in between the 45 minute tae kwon do classes our kids are in. We enjoy chatting with Eric the bartender, and meeting interesting characters from the neighborhood. My favorite bar food are the deviled eggs. Delicious.

Last night’s event featured five beers from Oskar Blues Brewery from North Carolina. I quick look at Untapped and I knew that I would be sampling at least four new beers.

For the first course we had a mushroom toast, crème fraiche, pancetta, poached egg with a wine glass of Mama Little Yella Pils. I have had the Pils before but apparently did not like it. I’m not a fan of pilsners in general. I find them lacking in any notable character. The mushroom toast and crème fraiche were also “meh”. It was not memorable.

The second course was a roasted wild boar chop, wild boar sausage, quince purée, and bacon jam with Dale’s Pale Ale. The ale was quite good with just the right amount of hop. The wild boar sausage was spicy and salty. I enjoyed the heat but not the salt. The wild boar chop with bacon jam was perfectly paired with the Dale’s Pale Ale.

I was starting to feel a little full by the third course; BBQ pacu ribs, chimichurri aioli, jicama slaw paired with the Oskar Blues Old Chub Scotch Ale Nitro. This course was my favourite. The jicama slaw was incredibly delicious. It is something I think my wife would have enjoyed. In fact I’m going to look for recipes to make this. I think the slaw could have stood on its own.

The pacu is a large omnivorous South American fish that is related to the piranha. These pacu ribs actually looked liked miniature BBQ ribs. However, despite the size of the fish, the fish bones are smaller than normal ribs, which made this slightly more challenging to eat. The Old Chub Scotch Ale Nitro was fantastic. It’s my new favorite stout. Smooth. Perfect. It was just right for the smoky sweet taste of the pacu ribs.

For the fourth course, Chef Evan served a mini-burger (slider), with St. Agur cheese, pickled red onions, roasted red pepper, and wild arugula. The Oskar Blues rep paired this with the Icey PA, a double IPA. this was my second favorite course. The burger was delicious. The salty cheese with roasted red pepper was incredible. Although a double IPA, the Icey IPA was tamed by the flavours of the burger.

The last course was desert, a Resse’s Peanut Butter Cup bread pudding with bacon crème anglaise. For this final course we were served that Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout. I didn’t like this stout. Too high in alcohol. Its’ 10.5%, hence the name. It reminded me of the Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS) but much less sweet and without the hints of bourbon. I only had a small bit of the bread pudding. It wasn’t so sweet that it needed a stout this strong. I think a white ale could have stood in nicely.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience and look forward to doing this again. But I would prefer the company of my wife and some good friends.