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Dining immaturely with The Brett Pack at Monk's Caf�
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Dining immaturely with The Brett Pack at Monk's Caf�
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| Tomme Arthur with a (nearly) life-size cutout of Vinnie Cilurzo. |
| All Photos l Felicia D'Ambrosio |
Last night, four rockstars of the brewing world � dubbed "The Brett Pack" by the beer press � converged on Monk's Caf� for a dinner celebrating their success, individually and in collaboration, brewing with the wild yeast Brettanomyces.
Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head (DE), Rob Tod of Allagash (ME), Tomme Arthur of The Lost Abbey and Port Brewing (CA) and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing (CO) held forth at the sold-out event; the fifth member of The Brett Pack, Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing (CA), was not able to attend due to continuing work on his new production brewery. Sam Calagione:� "He was dumb enough to buy some used 50-barrel brewhouse!" Shouted from the crowd: "Yeah, from some schmuck in Delaware!"
This sort of mocking, brotherly banter characterizes the five brewers' relationships � they have shared fleabag hotel rooms in Belgium, invited strippers to their fellows' breakfast beer events and contributed to each others' successes in many ways.� One of the featured beers of the evening was their collaborative sour beer, Isabelle Proximus, conceived when they discovered the complex, sour lambics of the Senne Valley on a trip to Belgium three years ago. Each brewer contributed his house yeast and a favorite barrel, and Arthur was named cellarmaster and blender, to watch over the beer's progression as it aged and mix the five distinct barrels into one harmonious brew.
The pale gold, sparkling result became one of the most-sought beers of 2008. A limited number of cases of 750 ml., champagne-corked bottles were produced, selling briskly in select beer bars at $35 a bottle. Though much hoppier than traditional lambic examples, "Isabelle Proximus is a beer I'm very proud of," said Arthur. "This beer can sit on the table with the best of the Belgian lambics."
Arthur also thrilled the crowd of beer geeks with a big reveal: His two brewing ventures, The Lost Abbey and Port Brewing, are in the process of inking a deal with MicroStar to keg his beers for the first time. They should be on draft in California, Philadelphia, Boston and New York soon.
Check out photographic evidence of brewers behaving badly after the jump.
UPDATE [13mar09]: The full menu and beer list after the jump. (Woulda been a nice .pdf of the menu, but Rob Tod knocked a beer over with his cast-ed left arm and wrecked mine!)
This menu was conceived by Chef Brian Morin, of Toronto's BeerBistro, and cooked and executed by Chef Morin, Monk's Caf� Chef Adam Glickman, BeerBistro Sous Chef Jeff Bokelmann, and the wonderful, tireless Monk's cooks.
Brett Pack Dinner at Monk's Caf�, March 11, 2009
Cantillon Monk's Caf� Gueuze (Brussels) DRAFT DEBUT; a special blend of aged lambic, including a very hoppy batch of lambic brewed by Tom Peter and The Brett Pack when they visited Cantillon 3 years ago.� Served with a raw oyster, salmon tartare, cilantro and avocado over a cauliflower Cantillon brulee custard.
Allagash Interlude (Maine); a barrel-aged saison with brettanomyces. Served wtih a warm mousseline of foie gras with crouton and an Interlude sauteed pear.
Lost Abbey Red Poppy (California); a Flemish-style sour ale with sour cherries, aged one year in oak.� Served with a rabbit terrine with cherry sauce.
Isabelle Proximus (Cali/Colorado/Delaware/Maine); a collaboration by The Brett Pack in the style of a classic gueuze. Served wtih lobster macaroni with morels and asparagus.
Avery Brabant (Colorado); a dark ale aged in a Zinfandel cask for 8 months. Served with a roasted partridge stuffed with mushroom duxelle, roasted root vegetables and fondant potatoes.
Russian River Consecration (California); aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels for 6 months with thirty pound of currants added to each barrel, 10 percent ABV.� Served with tr�s stinky Epoisses cheese, Consecration bread and peaches.
Dogfish Head Festina Lente (Delaware); a lambic-influenced ale made with fresh peaches and aged in oak.� Served with flourless chocolate cake, Festina Lente sour cream ice cream and macadamia brttle.
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| Sam Calagione, ruining Tomme Arthur's rabbit terrine, baby-bird style |
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Adam Avery, Dana of Toronto's BeerBistro, and Tomme Arthur making |
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Sam Calagione and Rob Tod swap insults. |
[...] Meal Ticket’s Felicia D’Ambrosio was lucky enough to be at Monk’s Brett Pack dinner with four “rock stars” of the beer world; Adam Avery of Avery Brewing, Tom Arthur of Lost Abbey and Port Brewing, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Rob Tod of Allagash were all in attendance and so was their beer. [Meal Ticket] [...]
any chance of a food and beer list?
[...] JVR: Ah, there is the Cuvee Monk’s Gueuze. Tom came to Brussels in September and we chose together the lambics for this special blend, including a lambic with Amarillo hops [Ed: This is the very hoppy lambic brewed by The Brett Pack during a visit to Cantillon. More on that here.] [...]
[...] From Saturday, August 15 through Friday the 21st, Devil’s Den will devote an entire draft tower to all things sour, funky and tart — the legacy of a few tiny microorganisms: brettanomyces, lactobacillus and pediococcus. Brettanomyces boosters include some of America’s best-regarded craft brewers, with the driving edge led by the infamous Brett Pack. [...]
[...] up your daughters and prepare your liver, ’cause The Brett Pack is coming to [...]
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