I won't be home for Father's Day this year because I'll be in the middle of a two-week trip eating my way through Switzerland (creamy fondue!), Austria (wiener schnitzel!) and Italy (handmade pasta!) that day.
This is not a complaint, mind you.
But if I were around, I sure hope someone would take me to Tamarack's West Virginia Beer Pairing Dinner - celebrating dads and West Virginia Day - at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
The five-course tasting menu will feature West Virginia-inspired entrees prepared by Tamarack chefs and paired with Mountain State craft beers:
- Appalachian bouillabaisse with steamed West Virginia rainbow trout, baby shellfish, fennel-Pernod broth, roasted red pepper and saffron croute (Greenbrier Valley Brewery's Wild Trail Pale Ale).
- Fried green tomato with fresh goat cheese, baby arugula, lamb tongue lettuce, sweet peas and pickled mission olives with buttermilk vinaigrette (Greenbrier Valley's Hefeweizen, a wheat beer).
- Smoky free-range chicken breast with mango barbecue, Moroccan vegetable orzo and jalapeno-lime jelly (Bridge Brew Works' Humulus Lupulus, a hoppy bitter brew).
- Java-rubbed filet with Chesapeake Bay crab crust, wood-fired asparagus, charred tomato bearnaise and chimichurri (Bridge Brew's The Blunt, a malty English ale aged with Spanish cedar, the wood humidors are made from).
- Greenbrier peach and praline bread pudding with sauce anglaise featuring a reduction of Isaiah Morgan liquor (Bridge Brew's Dun Glen Dubbel, a fruity Belgian gem).
Music will be provided by the Chris Oxley Quartet and an additional cash bar will be available.
Tickets are a steal at $35 in advance or $45 after 4 p.m. Thursday. And to make sure Dad gets a well-deserved break, the dinner is adults-only that night. For reservations or more information, call 304-256-6843, ext. 168.
- - -
Speaking of beer, I met a great friend down at Pies & Pints last week to check out the restaurant's new drool-worthy 20-beer nitrogen tap. It's glorious.
As you may know, draft beer is served through taps that are connected by tubes to kegs below. To get the beer to come out of those kegs, air is pumped in which forces the liquid up and out through the neck of the tap when it is opened.
Forcing air into a keg isn't a big deal if the beer inside it is consumed quickly, but after more than a day all that air can start to oxidize the keg's contents. To solve this problem, modern craft brewers are installing taps that inject nitrogen to release the beer - with better results, most say. Not only do you avoid all that evil air, but the nitrogen adds romantic aeration and creamy texture that improve a beer's appearance and taste for many drinkers.
I'm one of those.
When you pour a stout from one of these babies, the effect is mesmerizing as a cascade of tiny bubbles comes rushing out, slowly transforming into a chocolate-brown brew with a frothy white head thick enough to float a bottle cap on. (Think of a Guinness, whose brewery in Dublin has used the technology for years - and went so far as to place mini nitrogen canisters that activate when opening their Guinness cans.)
Pies & Pints bartender Ryan demonstrated the new taps for me last week, getting downright giddy as he poured me a sample cream stout. It, and the few others I tasted, were especially smooth.
Installed just days before a new West Virginia law once again permits places like Pies & Pints and nearby Charleston Brewing Co. to resume selling and refilling growlers, it was a good week for Mountain State beer drinkers and makers.
And a great new feather in Pies & Pints' beer cap.
- - -
Although I'm still crushed that my invite apparently got lost in the mail, I enjoyed some solace (revenge?) when on the very day Daily Mail staffers were taste-testing tea-infused beers in the newsroom, I received a sample bottle of Owl's Brew "tea crafted for cocktails" to try out at my home office. (Mine, all mine!)
Featuring a blend of white tea, pomegranate, lemon peel and watermelon, the "White and Vine" flavor is recommended to be mixed in a 2-to-1 ratio with tequila, vodka, gin or wheat beer, then chilled, shaken or stirred with ice.
The verdict? Well ...
Although the tea featured nice bright flavors, the mixer was too sweet - even after being blended with liquor. I tried a second cocktail with a 1-to-1 ratio, which was better, but found just a splash was the right amount for my taste.
Steven Keith writes a weekly food column for the Daily Mail. He can be reached at 304-348-1721 or by e-mail at dailymailfoodguy@aol.com. You can also follow him on Facebook and Pinterest as "DailyMail FoodGuy," on Twitter as "DMFoodGuy" or read his blog at http://blogs.charlestondailymail/foodguy.