The single roasted red pepper didn’t look like much on the plate at Brasserie 28 in Andover. Dressed with some house made ricotta, a handful of almonds, and shaved asparagus, it was pretty, and perfectly cooked, but it was still just a pepper. Then it was paired with Troëgs Pale Ale, and both the beer and the pepper were elevated to a surprising new height. The pepper brought out lovely floral notes in the beer, and the beer highlighted the simple but intense depth of flavor in that roasted pepper.
In the hands of a thoughtful chef, pairing dinners reward observant diners with many such “ah-ha” moments. And that is just the experience Brasserie 28 chef Matt Morello is trying to create with his Summer Craft Beer Dinner Series, running the last Wednesday of the month June through September.
“Craft beer drinkers have an amazing palate for the beers they drink,” Morello says. “We take our pairings very seriously, work out the menu weeks before the dinner, and may change things up to service.”
Morello’s series is filled with little surprises. For example, a duckling mortadella sandwich paired with the intense Troegenator Double Bock, from June’s featured beer, Pennsylvania-based Troëgs Brewery. Troegenator is bronze colored and tastes and smells like freshly baked brown bread—no accident, because that style of beer was originally developed by Monastic brewers to fulfill their nutritional needs during periods of fasting. Sweet with caramel overtones, the brew emphasized the sandwich’s sweetness while taming the duck’s richness and harmonizing with the olive tapenade topping.
These pairings don’t come easily, Morello says. First he tastes through the brewer’s line, choosing the five beers he is most excited to work with. “We don’t always take the easy choices or just choose light to dark,” he says. “We want to pick up on subtle characteristics and flavors of each beer. Then we build a tasting menu around those flavors. Some pairings are made to compliment a flavor profile and sometimes we want to use contrasting flavors.”
Morello says putting together the beer dinners is more challenging than the traditional wine-pairing meal—and that’s the way he likes it.
“I think wine is much easier to pair with food because flavor profiles are already established by varietal,” Morello says. “With craft beer … there is no history or standard pairing to go by—you have sour, bitter, grassy flavors with backgrounds of citrus and fruit, where wine is the opposite.”
Each of the beer dinners features a five-course tasting menu, from light starter to dessert, paired with five different tastes from a single brewer. Yes, even dessert, which Morello says is an especially enjoyable challenge. “[Dessert is] my favorite because it’s the most unlikely thing to pair. The challenge of not taking the easy way out and being seasonal is fun.”
At the Troëgs event, a Javahead Stout was paired with a chocolaty Troëgs semifreddo, topped with coffee cake crumbs and malted milk, yielding an exciting play of textures and flavors.
The Summer Craft Beer Dinner Series is held on the last Wednesday of each month through September 24. The July 30 event will feature Portland, Maine’s Allagash Brewery; on August 27 brews by Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, New York will be poured; and on September 24 the talent at Berkshire Brewing Company in South Deerfield, Massachusetts will be showcased.
For more information, visit brasserie28.com or call 978-470-2228.