SF Beer Week 2010: Anchor Brewing Luncheon at Hopmonk
The Hopmonk Tavern in Sebastopol is known for having wonderful beer dinners. In the past they’ve had visits from Brian Hunt of Moonlight, Greg Koch of Stone, and Dominique Friart of Brasserie St. Feuillien among others. This Sunday, beer fans were treated to a visit from the owner of Anchor Brewing, Fritz Maytag.
The menu for this event was inspired by the Super Bowl. Chef Billy Reid used foods you might find at your own Super Bowl party and used that at a starting point when making this menu. Not only that, there were more than a few Saints related items as Chef Billy, not much of a football fan himself, showed his support for his grandfather’s favorite team.
Before the food arrived, the guest of honor, Fritz Maytag, spoke to the crowd and shared a wonderful collection of stories about the brewing industry. It truly is amazing how big of an impact one brewery has had on craft brewing today. Consider this; Steam, Porter, Liberty Ale, Our Special Ale and Foghorn essentially rescued styles and techniques of brewing that may have otherwise disappeared. Dry-hopping and seasonal releases were unheard of, but Anchor persisted and “made beer people didn’t like.”
Some quick notes and quotes taken from Fritz’s talk in no specific order:
- Influences included Mackeon’s, Dos Equis and Guinness.
- If Anchor could be like Guinness and sell a little beer to a lot of people they’d be doing ok.
- At the time of the release, Anchor Liberty Ale was the only dry-hopped bottled beer in the US or UK.
- Today’s Libert Ale is actually the Our Special Ale from 1983. It was exactly what they wanted so they kept it around.
- “Beer people are nice people.”
When the food started coming out, the afternoon really started “humming.” Course 1 was inspired by the obligatory party sub-sandwich. The basil dressing was the highlight of this course for me, bringing out the hops of the Liberty Ale and tying all of the flavors on the plate together. Billy also added a little golden saffron Saints mayo to the sandwich to through his support behind New Orleans.
With course number two, Chef Billy blew me away. I’ve steamed my Dungeness in Anchor Steam in the past, so I knew this pairing worked well, but the balance present in the dish along side the beer was fantastic. The Anchor Steam’s hops cut through the richness of the crab and cheese while bringing out the subtle flavors of the artichoke against such a bold background. Brilliant pairing. The Super Bowl party inspiration behind this course were nachos.
Course three kept the momentum going with the game hen being done two ways. Representing the tradition of the barleywine going to the royalty and the small beer to the peasants, Chef billy cooked the breast in a foghorn BBQ sauce while the dark meat was used in the sausage along with Anchor Small Beer. This dish was meant to represent the chicken wings present on a Super Bowl buffet table. The Foghorn and game hen were perfect with roasted beets and sweet potatoes.
To finish Chef Billy made his own take on Cracker Jack paired with Anchor porter and served with a truffle and cranberries. The surprise of this meal came with liberal use of truffle oil, both in the chocolate and on the cranberries. The muskiness provided a contrast to the sweetness and was tied together with roasted malts that brought out the sweetness of the caramel while also making the beer taste lighter and more refreshing.
Before the final course I stood up to give a toast to our late friend Bill Brand. Bill’s favorite beer was Anchor Porter and we drank it at his memorial. I’ve mentioned Bill already this week and will continue to do so as many in the area dearly miss our friend. Cheers, Bill.
In the end, the afternoon was fantastic. The weather was beautiful and at times proved to even be a little warm for some of us. There wasn’t a low point in which a pairings didn’t quite work and the chance to talk to Fritz was amazing as expected. Thanks to Brian Yaeger and his fiancée Kim for joining us at our table. Check out the slideshow to see magicians, food, beer and friends.
2 Comments to “SF Beer Week 2010: Anchor Brewing Luncheon at Hopmonk”
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I’m not impressed by this good write-up, I’m impressed that you remember anything from SFBW in such detail. BTW, I still have your Flickr stream open: yes, I’d love some pix.
Yeah, and I didn’t have a note pad!