Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza with a fresh garden salad mixed with toasted walnuts and goat cheese, tossed in a Jolly Pumpkin vinaigrette. — Oro de Calabaza is an earth-shattering Bier de Garde with brett funk, aged in oak barrels.  But the oak is barely noticeable.  Lots of black pepper pop and subtle hops.  It somehow made the goat cheese taste even more goat cheesy and was an incredible compliment to the woodsy walnuts.  A+

Macaroni coated with melted brie and Monterrey served with Unibroue Trois Pistoles. — Trois Pistoles is my favorite Belgian strong dark ale.  I mentioned to the attendees last night that Unibroue says it has a shelf life of at least 8 years.  Lots of dark plum and raisin flavor melding with spicy Belgian yeast and alcohol complexity.  It was just an interesting contrast to the smooth buttery flavor contributed by the brie.  Hard to put into words, but a good combo.  A

Good People Snake Handler paired with buttered baked potato, not smothered but pampered with Point Reyes Bleu Cheese. — I am convinced that Birmingham’s own Good People have turned out one of the finest double IPAs in the world.  Just phenomenal, bursting with American hop explosiveness.  Not many foods can stand up to that kind of flavor intensity, and it’s not uncommon for hop flavors to clash harshly with various flavors in food; I’ve encountered that many times.  And not many beers can hold up to the palate-crushing flavor of a strong blue cheese.  So this pairing is an amazing battle that takes place on your taste buds, but it’s surprisingly enjoyable.  The flavors really compliment one another, and I think everyone was impressed by this.  Very fun.  A+

Smoked spare ribs lightly brushed with The J. Clyde’s signature BBQ sauce along a side of vinaigrette cole slaw and North Coast Old Stock Ale. — Old Stock is a sweet and alcoholic English old ale.  This year’s vintage is 11.5% ABV.  When planning the menu I had taste tested the beer up against a chicken breast sauteed in the Clyde’s BBQ sauce, which was a really great pairing.  The beer is quite sweet and the Clyde’s sauce is really, really lemony-tart.  It had an interesting sweet & sour feel going for it.  But the smokiness of the ribs added another element and it wasn’t quite as good as my chicken pairing.  The smoke of the ribs somewhat overpowered the subtle complexities of the Old Stock.  It still went well, but it wasn’t all it could have been.  B+

Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout with a nice slice of chocolate pie and whipped cream. — I was actually worried about this one, as it was the only one I didn’t taste test before the dinner.  I normally wouldn’t hesitate when it comes to stouts and chocolate, but Yeti is one of the hoppiest stouts out there, full of intense American hops.  75 IBU.  But the chocolate flavors from the dark malts won out here and it was a very good pairing.  The two together produced a new, unique flavor in your mouth.  I think by bringing out flavors in the hops that weren’t really noticeable in the beer alone.  Different but tasty.  A

First, the beer.  Murky brownblack with a thin tan head.  I immediately got a whiff of the zesty Willamette hops.  You’ve gotta love a fresh hop smell coming through in a stout.  My first sip set the course for the beer.  Smooth, a nice simple malt backbone, then WHAM–coffee, coffee, coffee.  The hops and coffee certainly played off of each other, creating a unique flavor that I can best describe as Bazooka Joe.  Weird, I know.  This is absolutely the most unique stout I’ve had.

I know Danner has been searching for solutions for pairing malty beer with food.  I have to agree.  I’ve had Terrapin’s Wake-n-Bake coffee oatmeal stout with greasy food before and it was a horrendous pairing.  But in this case, the meat was lean and the horseradish cream cheese and crisp red onion worked as a palate cleanser, gearing me up for my next sip of what would otherwise have been an near-overwhelming pint of beer.  The verdict?  Horseradish plus coffee oatmeal stout equals SUCCESS!

Like Danner, I finished my beer with half a sandwich left and ordered the GPBC IPA that Danner was raving about.  A good beer–very good if you’re into getting the freshest IPA possible.  I mean, it was how I imaging chewing on a hop cone might be.  Not bitter, but every nuance of the GPBC hop of choice was evident.  Unlike Danner, I have a very hard time trying to pair IPAs with food.  I’ve simply had no success.  I defy those who say IPAs go well with spicy food.  It just doesn’t make sense to me that you’d bruise your tongue with heat, only to bruise your tongue again with hops.  Why?  But that may be a topic for another post.  Suffice it to say that the IPA and the sandwich were not star crossed lovers.  They were ships passing in the night.  Neither one helped the other, further verifying my theory that IPA plus most any food equals NO SUCCESS…

It’s fantastic.

Appearance is a deep opaque dark brown. I think the coffee actually may have shifted this from black to dark brown.

Aroma is almost 100% coffee. It’s a bit shocking, actually.

The first sip is like the aroma, almost 100% coffee, and intense. And you start to think this is overdone. Too intense on the coffee. They messed up the balance on this one.

But then the hops hit you. Glorious Willamette. Coffee on the front end, hops on the back end, and the dark malts lurking in between, popping out here and there. The hoppy aftertaste sucks you in, bringing you back for more and more and more. For anyone who likes coffee and hops, this is ridiculously drinkable. And you have no business ordering this if you don’t like coffee. And if you’re a hop head, well then all is right in the world.

My homebrewed version is now bottle conditioned and is also superb. I shall be getting together with Jason and we will have his version and my version side by side to compare and contrast. He said he made some minor modifications to the recipe. So i’ll find out what he changed and see what impact it had on flavor.

Also note that although i’ve previously reported this would be a one-off release, Jason has stated if this is well-recieved he will probably turn it into a regular fall seasonal. Let us hope.