Contrary to what may be suggested, I do enjoy wine. Typically just the red varieties though. While I am clearly a bit biased, I’ve always believed that beer can pair better with food than wine. That belief mostly stems from my limited knowledge of wine compared to the amount of time that I’ve spent studying beer. Nevertheless, I was very excited to not only attend a wine pairing dinner, but a wine and beer pairing dinner. This allows for a great opportunity to compare differences in how both wine and beer can pair with food.
Last week miX Restaurant, located at the the top of the Mandalay Bay hotel, hosted a dinner with both Firestone Walker Brewing Company and Herman Story Wines. Russell From, owner and winemaker for Herman Story, was present. Russell, along with Mandalay Bay’s Director of Wine, Harley Carbery, represented Team Wine. Team Beer was represented by Matt Brynildson, brewmaster for Firestone Walker, and Mandalay Bay’s Director of Food and Beverage, Sarah Johnson. (more…)
Sarah Johnson, Certified Cicerone and director of food and beverage for Mandalay Bay, is hosting quite a few awesome beer events in May.
Most notable of these events, is a beer vs wine dinner, featuring Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker and Russell P. from Herman Story Wines. More details and tickets for the event can be found here.
Additionally, Mandalay Bay will have several events happening during American Craft Beer Week (5/12-5/18):
Craft Beer Beach Party @ Mandalay Beach Sun Villas
Monday 5/12, 5pm-7pm
$60 per person, all inclusive
Join Mandalay Bay’s Beer Team in a celebration of American Craft Beer Week, and learn how to throw the best pool party in your neighborhood!
Enjoy four different dishes prepared by Mandalay Bay Beach Chefs and taste some of the best craft beer America has to offer in the glamorous VIP setting of Mandalay Beach Sun Villas. Buy tickets here.
Drink Beer, Get Smart! @ eyecandy Lounge
Wednesday 5/14, 6-7:30pm
$50 per person, all inclusive
Join Mandalay Bay’s Beer Team in a celebration of American Craft Beer Week, and learn a little something too! Sample 7 different American craft beer styles and get the chance to win awesome prizes – including the beloved and limited Goose Island Bourbon County Stout! Buy tickets here.
Celebrate American Craft Beer Week with Happy Hour @ Fleur Lounge
$28 includes your choice of two flights (food and beer!) designed for American Craft Beer Week. Excludes tax and gratuity. Available Monday 5/12 through Sunday 5/18, from 5pm-8pm each day.
IPA FLIGHT
kushi oysters – yuzu shaved ice with Firestone Walker Easy Jack Session IPA
grilled octopus – patatas bravas, spanish pepper aioli with Lagunitas IPA
spicy thai chicken wings – crispy garlic, lime with Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
PORTER FLIGHT
black angus sliders – caramelized onions, bacon, campari tomato with Sierra Nevada Porter
bbq pork ribs st louis pork ribs – chinese bbq sauce, sesame with Deschutes Black Butte Porter
brownie lollipop – milk chocolate mousse, dark chocolate ganache, cocoa nibbs with Anchor Porter
This upcoming Saturday, the largest beer festival in Las Vegas will take place downtown. If you haven’t already, purchase your tickets here.
Assuming you have your tickets, the next course of action is to take a look at the festival map here. Start planning out which booths you want to visit, to ensure that you get samples of all the beers that you are interested in. Keep in mind though that not all beers are available all at once, and many breweries will tap a new beer each hour.
Probably one the most easily forgotten tips of a beer festival is to drink plenty of water and eat plenty of food. The purpose of this beer festival is to “discover beer.” This should be an opportunity to learn more about what types of beers you prefer and give you an opportunity to try something new. Hopefully, a newfound appreciation can be started for something unexpected. Of course, the only way for any of this to make any impact, is if you can remember what beers you are sampling.
Water is typically available to all attendees for free, so be sure to take advantage of it. Additionally, if you purchased a VIP ticket, then not only can you enter the festival an hour earlier than everyone else, but your food for the day is included in the price of the ticket. There are also plenty of food booths and trucks are available for anyone to purchase from.
Be safe, and have fun. It’s going to be a great event. And if you happen to run into us, be sure to say hi! Follow @hookedonhops on twitter to see photos and updates from the event!
“Oh, sweet friends! hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt.”
—Ishmael; Moby Dick
Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione, being the literary nerd that he is, worked with a Delaware clam harvester to recreate the clam chowder found in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Calagione took some liberties with the recipe, and assumed that Melville left out IPA when writing up the recipe. Thus, Dogfish Head’s Hard Tack Chowder was born; made with 60 Minute IPA! I procured a can of said chowder (“chowdah” for those of you in the northeast) and went to work following the simple directions on label.
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2013 was a great year for us and we want to thank you all for continuing to read and share our articles, tagging your photos #hookedonhops, and saying hello to us when we are out at a bar or festival. We appreciate all of it, and we are excited for what’s to come in 2014!
In the meantime, I have compiled the articles and topics that were the most popular over the past year. Enjoy! (more…)