Beer Dinner at BBC

Monday, June 23, 2008

This was the second "beer dinner" of the season at Belmont Brewing Company. The beer of this evenings tasting was "Craftsman". I had never heard of this brewery before so I did not know what was to take place.

I arrived early and was seated at one of the tables next to the beach. The view of the Long Beach skyline is great. Even the "Old Queen Mary" looked good at night with the lights twinkling.

While waiting for my dinning companions I had a few glasses of "Honesty Ale". Cherry undertones.

They did serve this with the appetizer which was "Smoked Pork Tenderloin on Ancho Crostini w/Pickled Cabbage and Whole Grain Mustard". Actually the beer complimented the food. I do feel that the "crostini" should have been smaller and it would have been much easier to eat.

Soup course was served next. A "Sweet Corn & Black Bean Soup w/Crema Fresca". Half of the bowl had the corn soup and the other half had the black bean with the crema fresca drizzled across it. The soup had good flavor. They served this with the "1903 Pre Prohibition Lager" This beer had a spicy flavor to it. Cross between cloves and allspice.

A salad of "Crisp Apples, Goat Cheese & Field Greens w/Caramelized Pecans appeared. Just a salad. Nothing overly special. This was served with a "Heavenly Hefeweizen". The beer had a slight fruit taste to it but it did go well with the salad.

Main course was "Oven Roasted Game Hen w/Mushroom Cornbread Stuffing & Julienne Vegetable Nest". This dish was paired with the "Triple White Sage" beer. The underlying hints of sage went well with the cornbread stuffing. By this time I was stuffed so I ate 1 leg and 1 spoonful of dressing and took the rest home. This was a "whole" game hen.

Dessert was a "Expresso Mousse Parfait w/Sour Cherry Compote & Vanilla Cream". This was served with the Baltic Porter. The best beer of the evening. The dessert was just "ok". Nothing special but edible.

These beer dinners are always interesting. Its a crap shoot as to the quality. But at $50 you cannot be overly picky but coming off the absolutely fabulous dinner Saturday night I would say this dinner was acceptable, boring and not to inventive but edible.

I would never order these beers as a stand alone drink. They seemed to pair well with the food but I could not drink a glass of any of these except maybe the porter. But the company was good, the setting perfect along the waves with the twinkling lights in the background and the weather was great for beachside dining.