A craft beer dinner sounds like a lot of FUN! Doesn’t it? Nathan and LaMott return to the Penny Lane Pub roundtable to hangout with two Cicerone Certified professionals—Alex Foulkes, Owner and Operator of the famed Penny Lane Pub in Old Saybrook, CT and Alltech’s Lexington Brewery and Distillery Company’s sales representative, Patrick Sullivan.  They break down a craft beer dinner, and dive into a beer versus wine dinner contest. Which one pairs best with food?

 

 

So Nate! Have you ever been to a beer dinner?

“I’ve been to a couple. They’re a lot of fun! Actually, I’ve been to more than a couple. And, I’ve been to some that were just God awful! But, you know, the beer was good!

Sometimes the beer sucks. Sometimes the food sucks. And then, you get those ones where the beer and food are both GREAT! And that’s the place you go back to!”

 

You’ve been to wine dinners too—Right?

“Oh, yeah. They’re basically set up the same, in the way that they’re conducted, as far as I can tell. But I really don’t know that much about wine. I’m not a huge wine guy. I’m more of a beer guy. But wine and food do go well together.

However, I do have a theory that beer is better paired with food because beer can go places where wine can’t. Beer has that bitter aspect. Beer can go sweet, sour, and so many other places.”

 

Alex, as the Cicerone Certified owner and operator of Penny Lane Pub—What are your thoughts about Nate’s theory?

“Think of all the terms that people use when they’re drinking a beer. You can smell this beer that we’re drinking right now, and what do you get? You get caramel. You get sweetness. You get brettiness from the malt. You get the vanillins from oak. The hops can be herbal. They can be citrus. They can be fruity. They can be floral. There is so much going on in beer.

And then, you can match it up with food to tell a story of compatibility, or one of contrast.”

 

Thanks, Alex! Now let’s hear what the other Cicerone Certified professional at the roundtable has to throw into the pot—Pat? What you got?

“It is my humble opinion that beer pairs better with food than wine. And the reason, is that there are a thousand more flavors in beer than wine. Although, Alex did his best to disprove that theory in the beer versus wine dinner contest.”

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST EPISODE to find out who won the Penny Lane Pub’s beer versus wine dinner contest between Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, New York, and J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines from Californa’s Central Coast.

 

 

Pat’s Secrets for Creating and Staging a Successful Beer Dinner

“As a sales rep, you want to get in on craft beer dinners because these dinners are popular. I want my craft beer to be sold. I want my account to feature me as the beer dinner because I want to give him more business. And, I want to have more business. That’s the whole basis of where I’m coming from.

So, you go to a guy like Alex, and you say—‘Hello, Mr. Alex. Would you like to do a craft beer dinner?’ Sure! He says!

Okay, great! So the first thing you do is break out the calendar to set a date. ‘What date works for you, Mr. Alex?’

You always want to do that about two months out. And, you don’t want to do it on a Saturday night, I’ll tell you that right now! That’s hopefully his busiest night. And if it’s not, then maybe you should do your beer night somewhere else.