With San Diego — as noted in the previous post — being perhaps the leading city for craft brewing in the country, it’s somewhat unusual that a dinner with an out-of-town brewery would be a big deal. But Firestone Walker is not your usual brewery.
Firestone Walker, first of all, brews amazing beers. They focus on the Pale Ale styles so perhaps they don’t get as much attention as brewers making more exotic beers. However, all of their beers are incredibly well made and delicious. Which was evidenced by their winning 6 medals at 2008 GABF, including winning the best American-Style IPA from among 104 entries. At last year’s GABF, they were named Mid-sized Brewery of the Year.
The consistently amazing quality of FW beers is the result of an uncompromising belief in excellence that is lived by brewer Matt Brynildson and the Firestone Walker crew. I’ve visited the brewery a couple times — pictures here — and have been blown away by the attention the detail that goes into their brewing. And it shows in their beers.
Beyond all that, Firestone Walker is the leading brewery in an area — the Central Coast of California — rich with superb agriculture and winemaking. In a nice bit of confluence, we work with a lot of producers in the Central Coast and I spend a fair amount of time there (not the least of which I spend enjoying Matt and crew’s work).
So, when Matt agreed to come down to San Diego to co-host a dinner celebrating the beer of Firestone Walker, we thought it would be great to also showcase the agriculture of the area. Among the ingredients we’ve procured for this meal are
* Pozo Tomme, La Panza Gold, and Chapparal cheese from Christine and Jim Maguire in Pozo
* House cured prosciutto of pastured lamb from Christine and Jim
* Beets, carrots, and winter squash from Bautista Farms in Arroyo Grande
* Organic summer and winter squash from other Central Coast farms
* Heirloom tomatoes from Munak Farms in Arroyo Grande
* Hampshire pork from Jim Neville in Edna, CA
* Pastured Angus beef from Larry Fernandez in Edna, CA
* Apples from See Canyon Fruit Ranch in Avila and Fair Hills Farms in Paso Robles.
Max is still putting together the final menu, but the rough draft is something like this. Note that vegetarian servings of the meat plates will also be available.
Firestone Walker Oaktoberfest
House made Rinconada Dairy lamb and Edna Valley pork linguica smoked over Santa Maria red oak, butternut squash
**
Hemp Ale
pumpkin gnocchi with sage-hemp brown butter
***
Firestone Walker Opal and Firestone Walker Little Opal
(two beers made from different runnings of the same mash)
House cured pastured lamb prosciutto (Rinconada Dairy) and Rinconada Dairy cheeses Pozo Tomme (sheep) and Chaparral (sheep and goat)
****
Cask-Conditioned Double Barrel Ale
Grassfed Edna Valley pastured beef short rib, Central Coast vegetables
*****
Firestone Walker Parabola Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon barrels
Chocolate cake with beer ganache
The 5-course dinner is $45 including pairings. Yes, this is insanely inexpensive for a serious five-course meal with farm-direct ingredients but we really want to share Firestone Walker’s beers with as many people as we can. Matt will be in house to chat about the beers and food and generally to celebrate.
As always, we’re seating on a first-come, first-served basis — no reservations. Our new space is big enough now that we are generally able to accommodate everyone who wants to join. (Of course, we will prepare only a finite number of dinners so we may run out at some point. Call if you’re concerned.) Our kitchen opens at 5:30 and we stay open until 11:30pm.