The Beer Temple’s first foray into a paired dinner since opening the taproom in 2017 relied upon plates and silverware borrowed from industry friends, with no promotion of the actual beer or food on the menu.
And it might be the very best beer pairing dinner I’ve attended.
Trust in a brand is a strong thing and there’s no question The Beer Temple and Scratch Brewing have earned it. A $100 ticket for a 4-course meal led to a sold-out event based on that trust. And it was an incredible experience.
A visit to Scratch Brewing is a bucket list item, justified by their James Beard Award nomination and recent pizza love from the New York Times, but the 10-hour round-trip drive is daunting. Those at our community-style table insisted – much like Thursday’s dinner – it’s worth it.
Each course came with detailed introductions from Beer Temple owner Chris Quinn and Scratch’s Aaron Kleidon, leading to even greater appreciation for the foraging, focus and effort put into each glass and plate.
Kleidon said they often brew tea with goods found roaming the acres around the Ava, Illinois brewery, taking in flavor profiles and considering what hops might pair best. Quinn’s team made that journey and collaborated on four remarkable beers, all served on cask, for the event. Other ingredients also made the journey north this week, allowing Beer Temple chef Ryan McDonald to work fresh wonders and leading to disbelief that the beloved bar added a food menu just last summer.
Tomatoes were the centerpiece of the introductory plate, featuring a fresh spring salad paired with a bee balm saison. There was also a goat cheese unlike anything else I’ve had before.
Up next came gazpacho made with green summer squash and a touch of jalapenos and Scratch bread. That was paired with a dandelion-infused bitter ale, which was anything but – the dandelions are picked early, so as to avoid bitterness, Kleidon noted, but giving it lovely green notes.
Chanterelle – a mid-meal, palate-cleansing Biere De Garde made with mushrooms – was perhaps the most pleasantly surprising. There was nothing earthy or grainy like some may expect from a mushroom beer; it instead had a sweet, fruity profile, as Kleidon said they gather mushrooms now, then freeze them for winter brewing. This is a beer Quinn personally loves and we were all grateful it was added.
A platter of lamb shoulder and smoked cabbage, carrots, fennel and potatoes covered the table and came with a Steinbeer Kellerbock, which was made with the help of visiting Beer Temple staff dropping wood-bonfire-roasted granite rocks into the wort for caramelization, which resulted in a beer around 8% ABV.
Another amazing surprise came at the end, in the form of a strong ale brewed with an invasive species: rose root. It was supposed to be a barleywine with honey, Quinn noted, but they forgot to add the honey and thus, an old ale was born. We were all glad it was – that mistake was wonderful and paired perfectly with a bread pudding that McDonald made with Scratch bread drizzled in a syrup of hickory shag bark driven up from the brewery that gave it a vanilla/marshmallow taste.
As befitting a Scratch Brewing beer dinner, the meal was simple and rustic, yet the attention to detail and genuine passion came through in each course. With each, appreciation just kept growing for that level of detail, as well as top-notch service, even when those borrowed plates began running low and had to be hurried off for washing before the next course.
Appreciation at our table was also expressed for Quinn’s leap of faith in doing this, as a table of new friends said we hope to see each other at the next one – because, surely, there has to be a next one.
We all lingered a bit after the dinner, enjoying the three Scratch beers on draft (don’t miss In The Path Of Totality: 14:01, brewed in honor of April’s eclipse. I wouldn’t normally order a farmhouse with juniper, mint, hickory bark, cherry bark, fig and clover, but wow is it outstanding). We also took some bottles for home, where that night we discussed how that 5-hour trip south suddenly doesn’t seem so daunting after all.
Note: Although GuysDrinkingBeer does occasionally cover events as members of the media, our attendance of this beer dinner was paid for and our opinions of the event are our own. In our ongoing efforts to be as transparent as possible, GDB will always disclose any free samples, tickets or other media perks along with our coverage when necessary.