Craft beer, amazing food, beautiful building, good music and nice people made the first annual Brewer's Plate a wonderful success. Green Enterprise Toronto held their first Brewer's Plate dinner at the historic Berkeley Church this past Friday, before a large contingent of foodies and beer lovers, and proved once again the beer and food go hand and hand.
Six highly respected culinary restaurants were present and their creations were paired with six high spirited Ontario craft brewers. Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, La Palette, Veritas, Cowbell, Gladstone and the Rebel House whipped up some amazing dishes using beers from Cameron's Brewing Co, Wellington, Church-Key, Steam Whistle, Mill Street and Black Oak & Denisons. All were delicious but the standout of the night (in my humble opinion) was Church-Key's Lactese Falcon - beer battered Ontario Pickerel and frites prepared by chef Jamie Kennedy. The acidity of the beer matched the deep fried pickerel to a tee and the funky odour of the Falcon was something uniquely different in a beer batter usually reserved for light lagers. I could have ate 10 plates, but relax, I only had one! Besides, there were many other delicacies too.
So, the beer side of things. Cameron's was represented by marketing man Mike Laba, who was serving up some fresh Cameron's Auburn Ale, which tasted spot on. I drank more than my fair share. Black Oak and Denison's shared a booth and were providing thirsty people with Double Chocolate Cherry Stout and Weissbier respectively. Steam Whistle had, well, Steam Whistle pilsner, which is always a nice palate refresher. Mill Street was offering samples of their Belgian Wit, Coffee Porter, Tankhouse and I think their Organic, but don't quote me on that. Wellington's Pale Ale and Church Key's Northumberland Ale and the aforementioned Lactese (Sour Brown) Falcon were also available.
A lot of the people present were self confessed 'wine drinkers' and it was a lot of fun seeing their reaction to the DCCS and the other big beer there, Church Key's Lactese Falcon. It was also interesting during the latter hours of the night when females where approaching the beer vendors and asking a bunch of questions about ingredients and what they should be tasting. It was a different crowd than most beer events and hopefully there will be some converts.
All and all it was a great night with some nice music, although it was a touch to loud. Thanks to the brewers for their hospitality - I even got to pour a couple pints for Cameron's!
For a complete write up on all the dishes, check out the fantasic post by Sheryl Kirby over at TasteTO.
2 comments:
Troy - I don't need to be converted. There is plenty of room for beer and wine! None the less, glad the boys were happy to answer questions for later in the evening females.
Haha, Christine, I wasn't just speaking about converting females, I was talking about all wine drinkers. There is always room for wine - but this is a beer blog, so I can preach it all I want :)
I would have been up for that pub crawl, to bad.
Cheers,
Troy
"Support your locals"
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