Boyne Valley Food Series - Brú Brewery - Beer & Food Night May 10th

Beer, and Food. In a brewery. What's not to love.

This past weekend, Paddy & Daire opened up their brewery to hold a Beer & Food evening, where Bru Beers were either ingredients in the Food or matched to the food on offer. Boy was there a good crowd there. Great to see!

The event was organised as part of the Boyne Valley Food Series www.boynevalleyfoodseries.ie where there are lots of foodie events taking place in the Boyne Valley region over the next couple of months. It was great to see so many local people out celebrating local food and produce.

Shiny steel and a packed brewery.

It was a who's who of local artisan and quality food, on the cheese side we were represented by Sheridan's Cheesemongers, and Boyne Valley Blue. There were some nibbles provided by The Central Navan, and Vanilla Pod. There was also bread that was baked with spent grain from the boys brewing exploits.

Then hot food wise there was offerings from local Indian Restaurant Copper & Spices, and cooking up Whole Hoggs fine pork products on the BBQ was Daire's mammy, Mrs Harlin! Fair play for sticking at it all night.

A wheel of Delicious Boyne Valley Blue, flanked by Bru!

Dessert on the night came from Burke's Ice Cream, infused with Brú Dubh. It was delicious, but it was ramped up when we made Brú Dubh floats with some and added some grains also. Yum Yum 

Aside from the cracking beers, including a newly tweaked Rí recipe which is much more hop forward now, and I loved it. The stars of the night were the curry offerings from Copper & Spices, i'd tweeted earlier in the week that Chicken Balti would be great with a Brú, and Carmel matched the two and it was a match made in heaven. The lamb curry was also fantastic. It's great to see that in keeping with their local ethos Carmel will be getting a tap of Rí into her restaurant this week, and more and more punters will get to taste this great food and beer combination. It was great to meet Carmel & Nitin, and i'm looking forward to picking up some food for a Beer & Food matching article i've got to write.

Advertising, that hits the nail on the head

Also stars on the night were the amazing pork from The Whole Hoggs of Slane. Bru Rua infused Sausages, and Bru Marinaded Burgers. However what sent them over the edge, was the Bru Rua ketchup, and Rí IPA Mustard that came from Ian Bergin, the man behind the 11pm Somewhere podcast. Just like his podcasts, these things packed a punch.

Its been a busy time for the lads in Bru, picking up new accounts, but also new beers coming. A Belgian Saison will be winging its way to us just in time for the summer, weighing in @ 7% this isn't going to be for the faint hearted. It's called Bru Mor. There is also a Hefeweizen on the way, and this weighs in @ 5%. Lastly, what i'm looking forward to the most. Bru Dubh is already an awesome stout, the lads are ageing some in Whiskey Barrels and is due for release later this year. 

#Brewsweplate - Beer & Food 5 Course Meal - Featuring Brown Paper Bag Project

You may have seen a lot of retweeting by me in recent weeks shouting out about the recent #Brewsweplate event. This was the second such event ran by Eric Heilig and Floriane Loup where each course is cooked to match the beers. My post about the last event is here

The beers this time were supplied by the Brown Paper Bag Project, a nomadic brewer that has spawned from one of the finest gastro pubs in the country, L Mulligan Grocer in Stoneybatter. Their brewer Brian was there to describe each beer with each course.

The ante was upped this time, both in terms of price and matched beers. 5 vs 4 on the last outing. The venue was meant to be the wonderful Powerscourt Centre, but there was a last minute change to Juno's cafe on Parkgate St Dublin 8. The price, €65. A dining room with an open kitchen, and the place full to the rafters we were in for a treat.

The Menu

The Amuse Bouche

First up was the amuse bouche, mackerel with butter milk and caviar. A tasty little morsel. 

The Duck Course

Here we have a Duck Faggot with Kale, Pomegranate Seeds, Potato and onion seed, matched to the Big Red beer. Faggots are a traditional English dish cooked usually with low cost cuts, here we had moist succulent duck that was excellently seasoned.  

The Goat Cheese Course

Next up we had the lovely St Tola Goat's Cheese course, with pear and sourdough. Matched to the excitingly refreshing Gose.  I'm a bit of a cheese phobe, slowly coming around to it, and this was my first time eating this cheese. It was lovely and creamy with a bit of sharpness that was complimented excellently by the beer.

The Beef Course

Now the piece de la resistance, FX Buckley dry aged beef, flat iron steak if i recall correctly, and slow braised beef cheek with dillisk, barley, root textures, and a smoked oyster foam. Our matching beer was the Pleasant Porter. The steak portion was perfectly cooked, vibrant pink, and the cheek, literally just melted in your mouth. The oyster foam added a savoury note that was amplified by the pleasant porter. A knock dish, and one I would order if it were available anywhere.

Not One, but two deserts!

The final courses were deserts, both matched to different beers. On the left we have a Passionfruit puree with white chocolate, topped with coriander and sea salt. Matched to the Trinity a belgian beer the coriander matched perfectly and salt gave a lovely lip curling tartness to the desert. On the right we have Tonca, Cocoa, Alexander's seeds, blackberry and lemon. Firstly, i've no idea what tonca is, or who alexander is, but this was a mighty tasty desert. Fresh berries and crunch from the pink wafer worked beautifully. However this was the only course where I personally felt the matching beer was a miss. 

All in all, we had a great night, yet again. Sat at a table with great people, looked after all night and thoroughly enjoyable meal. Eric & Floriane, what a night, I can't wait to see what you come up with next, and you know i'll be there. 

Brown Paper Bag beers are now available nationwide in all good off licences, and bars. They are distributed by Premier Beers and if you can find the Gose, get that. Also the Big Red is lovely. I must buy some more to do testing of my own.