Last night I had the pleasure in joining Iron Abbey Gastro Pub with Unibroue Brewery for a fantastic beer dinner.  It was a paired 6 course dinner by Executive Chef Jonathan Lee of Iron Abbey and 6 tastings of Unibroue Beer presented by Jay Jones of Unibroue.  Let me tell you, if you haven’t been to one of the 14 Beer Dinners held at the Abbey, it is definitely worth checking out.  The menu presented by the Chef was paired wonderfully with the beers offered for the night.  Who would of ever guessed Chambly Noire- a dark roasted, smokey, chocolaty, spice flavored beer would pair well with a Tuna and Salmon Tartare served with Avocado cream and a Spicy Tomato Coulis???  I can tell you the table I was sitting with was quite surprised about the pairing, as was the whole room it seemed by the chatter you could hear.

Iron Abbey in itself is a pretty amazing place.  They offer 36 Taps of amazing beer, anyone at any given time, beer fan or not, can find something here that they are going to enjoy.  The menu seems to be outstanding as well, I didn’t get to try anything last night since the Beer Dinner was Prix Fixe and in a completely different room that I had no idea even existed.  The place itself was packed, Iron Abbey takes you out of Horsham and makes you feel as though you just traveled over to Europe for a few beers, too bad you have to leave at some point.  Overall, I would go back in a heartbeat if anyone asked to join them for a beer or two or three.

Now, let’s move onto the beer, shall we?  Unibroue is located in Chambly, Canada located about 19 miles east outside of Montreal.  It is the first type of brewery in North America to have bottle-refermented beers.  For 25 years, Unibroue has been harvesting it’s own yeast strands, which you can pick out easily when tasting their beers.  All of Unibroue’s beers have at least two, even up to four yeast strands for every brew.  Fresh yeast and pure sugar is added just before bottling which adds to the cloudy appearance, strong smell and that smooth welcoming mouthfeel.  Before serving your beer till the cork down to about the 5 o’clock position and spin the bottle 4-5 times.  This will loosen the yeast at the bottom of the bottle and evenly spread it throughout every pour.  Enjoy!

Here is the Beer Dinner that I got to enjoy with some little add on’s of my own.

First Course: Marinated Pork Tenderloin, Green Papaya and Oni on Slaw and Calavados Herb Sauce

Paired with Unibroue Ephemere- a White ale made with Granny Smith apple juice (NOT cider), nutmeg and cinnamon

The Pork Tenderloin was cooked well, nice and tender, not too overdone like most people like there pork.  The Green Papaya and Oni slaw was killer, it paired really well with the Ephemere.  The crispness and lightness of the beer paired well the whole dish.

Second Course: Tuna and Salmon Timbale Peppercorn, avocado cream and spicy tomato coulis

Paired with Unibroue Chambly Noire- a dark roasted, smokey, and chocolaty beer.  FYI….this beer is having a name change.  For proper French lingo they are going to be calling it Noire de Chambly.  So stock up on the old bottles before the name change, they may be worth something later on.

This is the course that blew us all away.  Having a dark roasted beer pair with a fresh fish dish.  It really changed my perspective on things.  The dish itself was awesome.  The avocado cream was super light but left a film of flavor on your tongue that the Chambly Noire took care of.  After every bite of food I found myself taking a little taste of beer to clean my palate.  It was a really fun dish to play around with.

Third Course: Seared Halibut, patty pan squash, parsnip and truffle puree, with potato and caviar sauce

Paired with Unibroue La Fin Du Monde- balanced flavor of malt, hops, and spice.  This is one of Unibroue’s number one sellers.

This course had a lot going on in general, then add in the truffles and caviar along and you had a whole bunch of flavors coming together.  Luckily, you were able to taste the La Fin Du Monde through all of this.  This was another one of those pairings that surprised me, everything came together and worked out nicely.

Fourth Course: Filet of Elk Loin, braised leeks, and Asian pear compote

Paired with Unibroue Maudite- big malty beer that has a good spice note counterbalanced with a nice crisp hop finish

This was a winner in my book.  The Elk was done rare, for some it was a little too rare.  It’s one of those meats that if it gets cooked over a certain point, the flavor and texture go downhill pretty quickly.  As for the braised leeks and Asian Pear compote, the flavors of those were spot on.  There was nothing on that dish that I didn’t like, you can even ask the people around me.  As fast as they put that plate in front of me, it had no chance of hanging around.  Oh yea, how could I forget, the beer did pair well with this.  How could malty beer NOT pair well with a game meat and braised leeks.  It’s complex flavors really stood out well with the dish.

Fifth Course: Southern Style Strawberry and Raspberry Short Cake made with Sweet Biscuits

Paired with Unibroue Terrible- a deep, rich well balanced beer with hints of cherry and fig complemented by Madeira Wine notes

Everyone’s favorite, dessert!  I was kinda bumming because I knew it was all going to be coming to a quick end soon.  But, the dessert was pretty tasty.  Nice fluffy Short Cake and the sweet, tart berries made for a great pairing.  Again, another dark beer pairing with fruit, but the fig and cherry flavor played a nice part in this one.  Not too sweet of a beer, more of an alcohol flavor due to the big 10.5%ABV

Sixth Course: Aged ash covered Chevre with house made marmalade and rosemary crostini

Paired with Unibroue Quelque Chose- a beer only made every four years meant to be served WARM.  Complex aromatics and a deep mahogany color.

This one the one I was waiting for the whole night, Unibroue Quelque Chose.  A beer served warm in a cordial glass.  I did not know what to expect from this one and it was something completely different than what I ever had tasted beer wise.  The flavors of this beer were strong with cherries and wine notes.  It was warmed just right and seemed to have a cider/champagne bubbly feel in the mouth.  This cleaned the palate well with the cheese course and the 10.5%ABV was hardly even noticeable.  Go find yourself a few bottles of this one, have one now and save the rest for later.  You WILL NOT see this one around till 2014 and only 6100 cases are out there this time due to Kriek Cherry shortages.  Get it before it’s gone if it isn’t already.  This one can age for sometime.

I want to thank Diana Vilares from Iron Abbey for inviting me to this great dinner and hanging out with me during it.  ALSO, to the table, you guys were awesome, I look forward in joining you for the next beer dinner I attend in the future.