Food & Beer Pairing with Adam & Adam
Tasting matt photo courtesey of Laura Lodge
Tasting session for Dogfish Head and Avery Brewing Beers
My road trip to Boulder with Adam Votaw & Laura Lodge
Last week on Tuesday I had the privilege of attending the tasting and pairing session for the 10th Annual Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywine festival’s “Calibration Dinner” that will be held on Thursday, January 7, 2010.
The festival will be at the Vail Cascade Resortl & Spa and their new Executive Chef, Adam Votaw headed to Boulder with festival organizer Laura Lodge and I tagged along to the tasting session at Avery Brewing in Boulder. 
It was a spectacular fall day with golden peak more gold that green. The drive down was very enjoyable, Adam has a great background and though new to town I think may well become one of the Valley’s well-known chef’s.
The "Calibration" has started.
This annual dinner will kick off the festival, like its namesake from home brewing competitions it calibrates the palate for the weekends festivities.
It will feature two of the more innovative craft brewers in the United States with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Craft Brewing in Delaware and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing in Boulder.
Sam selected and sent his beers for the event which we tasted side by side with Adams' suggested pairings from Avery.
Adam definitely has home field advantage this year as he presented his choice only after Sam’s selections were presented.
The inside scoop
Adam Avery will be presenting two of his beers from his limited Barrel Age Series, the Sui Generis and the DuganA.
According to the folks at Avery: Sui Generis is a complex ale aged and artfully blended from several types of oak barrels, and displays a delightful lactic sourness complimented by hints of brett, oak, and acetic while the DuganA is IPAA truly transcendental hop experience.
I called DuganA “Ode to Bus Driver” with a wonderfully stinky “herbaceous” nose that dissipated quickly enough to enjoy the earthy taste and Sui Generis was wonderfully fruity with a touch of Brett, enough to know it was there but not so much as to make my mouth pucker.
New this year Sam and Adam selected a beer from the “world view” and will be serving Saison Dupont and Orval Trappist Ale.
Creative culinary geniuses truly "Collaborate"
I find it fascinating to watch the interaction between a great Brewmaster or winemaker with a talented Chef as they discuss ways to highlight the components of the beverage by complementing and contrasting with herbs, meat, fruits, nuts and sauces.
The group confirmed that Adam Avery's Sui Generis will be presented at the dinner on course with Dogfish Head's award winning Burton Batan when Chef Adam Votaw suggested Duck Confit with Polenta and a Sour Cherry Sauce.
Adam Avery's response of “Dude that sounds great” confirmed the pairing and direction of the course and became my quote of the day.
The exact menu pairing for this course is yet to be revealed but I am sure it will be fantastic.
Crafting a memorable Beermaster Dinner is truly an art.
I am eager to see Chef Adam's entire menu, I have notes on the direction of each course but Chef Adam Votaw does get the final say.
We will play it again with Adam Votaw & Peter Boukaert in October
While most of you are probably familar with New Belgium Brewing mainstay's Fat Tire & Sunshine Wheat you may be interested to taste some of Peter's more interesting creations.
The Tenth Anniversary Colorado Featured Brewmaster is Peter Bouckaert, New Belgium Brewing Co., Ft. Collins, CO.
For the dinner on Friday, January 8 five of Peter's selected beers will be paired with five selections from International Featured Brewmaster Lodewijk Swinkels, Brewmaster for LaTrappe at Bierbrouwerij Koningshoeven, Berkel-Enschot, The Netherlands.
You may buy tickets now or keep checking back for my coments on the tasting notes for the second dinner.
Tickets may be purchased now, and will likely sell out for both Brewmaster Dinners, on the 10th annual Big Beers, Belians & Barleywine Festival website.
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