It happened this past weekend, American Craft Beer officially made its case as a legitimate beverage, able to sit at the table of fine dining. The Brewers Association described “Savor” as an American craft-beer and food experience, though it may better be described as craft-beer’s Confirmation, Bar-Mitzvah or its debutante ball. For some of beer’s more hard-core enthusiasts, it was its coronation as king of the dinner table.

I attended one of the three sold-out sessions held this past weekend at the very “high brow” Andrew W. Mellon auditorium in Washington, D.C.’s Federal Triangle. Places like this are normally the domain of the fine wine and martini sipping crowd. The Brewers Association knew this, but they also knew that finely crafted beer, a very egalitarian beverage, deserves a place in such a venue which is owned by the people — and under the shadow cast by the monuments of the country’s Founding Fathers. They could have called the event “Mr. Beer goes to
Washington…”

With wine firmly ensconced on its well-deserved culinary pedestal, craft beer has been making its case as an equal and often a superior beverage to pair with food. Many articles have been written by leading food writers often supporting the claims made by the craft beer industry. The fact is, beer simply offers a much wider range of flavors for chefs to work with. The Savor event was the official “shot across the bow”, telling the rest of the culinary world that American Craft Beer is putting wine on notice.

A total of 49 craft brewers participated by serving samples of their craft beer with a selection appetizer-size portions of food or dessert item that was expertly paired with the beer. Some highlights for me was a Belgian-style abbey beer from Lost Abbey Brewing company that was paired with a crostini topped with excellent prosciutto and fresh fig. Rock Bottom brewery made a great showing by offering lemongrass saison ale paired with Indonesian beef rendang.

I attended one of several “salons”, where subject experts conducted pairing seminars around different topics. The salon I chose was conducted by famed brewer and pairing expert Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewing, who is author of “The Brewmaster’s Table,” the definitive text on pairing food and beer. Garrett paired six artisanal cheeses with six different craft brews. There is no arguing that Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout and fine English stilton are meant for one another. Another great pairing was hoppy farmhouse ale with the very creamy and tangy Brillat-Savarin cow’s milk cheese. Beer’s secret weapon in cheese pairing is its ability to cut through the fat, allowing us to taste both the cheese and the beer.

I was happy to be amongst the 2100 attendees of the first in what I hope will be many “Savor” events. If you would like to take a look at a complete menu along with a list of participating breweries, here is the link: http://www.beertown.org/events/savor/index.html

(All Photos Courtesy of The Brewers Association and by Eddie Arrossi)

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