Jose Garces’ J.G. Domestic hosted one of the most anticipated beer dinners of Philly Beer Week on Tuesday at their restaurant on 30th Street in Philadelphia. Part of “The Chef, The Brewer & The Farmer” series, these dinners are a collaborative venture that team chefs around the city with a brewer and a farmer to pair and prepare a multi-course prix-fixe meal. This particular version found Jose Garces and his Chef de Cuisine Dave Conn paired with Casey Hughes of Flying Fish for the first and only time all seven of Flying Fish’s Exit series beers would be served together.
The first of the seven Exit beers to come out was a large glass of Exit 11 Hoppy American Wheat. The glass was filled to the brim and presented enough beer to function both as cocktail and appetizer, which it had to do as it was the only unpaired beer of the night. Soon after, our next beer came out, which was the Exit 1 Bayshore Oyster Stout. It was paired with a Cape May salt oyster with spiced tomato granita and micro celery. The slight saltiness of the oyster stout paired perfectly with the briny oyster, which was contrasted nicely with the spicy tomato mixture.
Next we enjoyed the Exit 4 American Trippel paired with potato croquettes topped with dabs of curry aioli. The sweetness of the trippel played beautifully with the delightful little puffballs of potato and curry. The only complaint at the dinner table was that the croquettes weren’t served in an all-you-can-eat basket.
The third course, the stand-out surprise of the night, began with the Exit 6 Wallonian Rye, which was paired with a galia melon gazpacho with chilled shrimp and a saffron emulsion. The gazpacho was prepared perfectly. It was creamy, light and screamed of summer evenings spent on a patio. The shrimp was cooked to perfection and cleverly cut into small pieces for continual enjoyment while the saffron was handled with restraint and added the right touch of flair to the dish. This is the one course that, hands down, outshone the beer.
Our next courses were paired with the Exit 16 Wild Rice Double IPA and the Exit 9 Hoppy Scarlet Ale, respectively. Following a low note with petite portions of Barnegat light soft shell crab, everyone happily dug in to our fifth course of fire-roasted Griggstown poussin with spring bean ragout, squash blossom and scarlet chicken jus.
For dessert, the obvious pairing was the Exit 13 Chocolate Stout, which arrived with some brilliant banana bread with raspberry swirl ice cream and chocolate-banana butter. There was a welcomed hint of smokiness throughout the dessert due to the addition of crumbled pecans that are smoked over wood chips. The smokiness combined with the lightness of raspberry and banana made this dessert an easy crowd favorite.
The beer and food pairings at this dinner were a raving success for all in attendance. Aside from a few slight missteps in the kitchen and a rushed feeling throughout dinner, the evening was a triumph. Be sure to check out one of the remaining The Chef, The Brewer & The Farmer events for a memorable Philly Beer Week experience.
