Schooner Exact Brewing, Tom Douglas Restaurants, Beer Dinners Past & Future

The other night, Kim and I attended an amazing beer dinner at Schooner Exact Brewing. The very next night we attended another breathtaking beer dinner at Tom Douglas’ Brave Horse Tavern. After all, it’s Seattle Beer Week, and fancy beer dinners are a big part of that. We have pictures and some information about those two dinners below. Also below, you’ll find information about an upcoming beer dinner at Tom Douglas’ Dahlia Lounge which just so happens to feature Schooner Exact Brewing. So I guess you could say that this post is about Schooner Exact Brewing, Tom Douglas Restaurants, and beer dinners (past and future).

The upcoming beer dinner at the Dahlia Lounge (Thurs. May 23) is dubbed “Public House Dinner with Schooner Exact.” While Dahlia Lounge is usually a pretty fancy place (by Seattle standards), they will be dressing down for this event and serving dishes that are based on traditional English pub fare. See the complete details below.

Schooner Exact

[singlepic id=696 w=320 h=240 float=right]The Schooner Exact Beer Dinner took place on Tuesday, May 14th at the brewery and restaurant in SoDo. You are aware that Schooner Exact is now a restaurant as well as a brewery, right? You should be. Although the industrial nature of the building and neighborhood may seem an unusual place for it, Schooner Exact’s kitchen pumps out some seriously delicious food. This isn’t your typical pub grub. Chef Warren Peterson previously worked for Tom Douglas Restaurants as a chef and also as the company’s “beer czar” but is now cranking out amazing food at Schooner Exact. You can read about Warren’s move to Schooner Exact here.


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For Tuesday’s beer dinner Chef Warren put together a five course meal that not only filled the belly with great food but also paired masterfully with the brewery’s beers, with which he has become intimately familiar. The first and last courses were probably my favorites.

The first course featured a “more crab than salad” crab salad paired with Seamstress Union Raspberry Wheat. The flavors in both the salad and the beer were delicate but also rich and a bit sweet. The pairing conjured thoughts of warm summer days.


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The second course was also a big hit. It featured pan roasted Alaskan halibut served with braised artichoke, pancetta and apple, then paired with Generation X IPA. Chef Warren composed a complex dish to pair with his IPA (he actually devised the recipe for this new, limited-release IPA).

The fifth and final course really blew my mind. It featured  Marscapone Panna Cotta with blackberries and toasted almonds paired with Schooner Exact’s spectacular Kriek. The beer is an ultra-rare treat on its own, but paired with the rich sweetness of the Panna Cotta it was nothing short of divine.

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Brave Horse Tavern

[singlepic id=694 w=320 h=240 float=right]Wednesday’s dinner at the Brave Horse Tavern featured beers from Black Raven Brewing and Midnight Sun Brewing. This included a collaboration beer made by the two breweries: Son of a Beak Bourbon-Barrel Imperial Porter.

One of the five courses featured very tasty and cute little Belgian sausages, cleverly presented in small cans. It was fun. Even when it is part of an elevated dining experience like this, beer should be fun. Those little sausages were poached in beer, served with a Granny Smith apple mustard, and then paired with Black Raven’s Feral Saison.

The collaboration beer was paired with a braised short rib in a mole sauce. The deep complexity of the beer stood up nicely to the heft of a short rib served in mole, which is no easy task. The beer also added a bit of bourbon sweetness to dish.

The final course was also particularly well conceived and well executed: a “cherry surprise” served with Midnight Sun Brewing’s Sex Machine Sour Brown Ale. No surprise, really, but it was an individual-size cherry pie served with ice cream. Sour on sour is always a lovely combination.

Dahlia Lounge

Public House Dinner with Schooner Exact

PRICE: $50 all inclusive

Purchase Tickets

DATE: 05/23/2013

TIME: 6pm

LOCATION: Dahlia Lounge

VIEW MAP

The Dahlia Lounge is dressing down and getting casual to bring you a special evening of English pub fare with suds from local brewery, Schooner Exact. Chef Brock Johnson has created a four course menu that would satisfy any group of mates in the mood for beer matched perfectly to delicious pub grub. The Schooner Exact Team and Chef Brock will be on hand all night to guide you through this tasty, no-nonsense menu.

MENU:

Gallant Maiden Hefe, paired with ploughman’s platter with homemade cured meats, pickles and spent grain toast

King Street Brown Ale, paired with Brown Ale crepes, foraged mushrooms, melted teleme cheese.

3 Grid IPA, paired with malt battered halibut, green garlic potato, asparagus, ramp tartar sauce.

Profanity Hill Porter, paired with chocolate porter cake, malted mascarpone, honey-hop ice cream, cinnamon toasted barley

Gallery
Photos by Kim Sharpe Jones.

[nggallery id=48]

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