I don't think wine is (nor should be) leaving the gourmet scene any time soon, but more and more fine dining destinations are finding space for a few craft ales alongside the wine list. One such establishment is The Hobbit located in Orange, CA. Make no mistake about it, the Hobbit is elegance at its finest, and it is first and foremost a wine destination. They feature a six course "prix-fixe" meal paired with any number of wines from their extensive cellar. Once a year, however, Chef-Owner Michael Philippe and his wife Debra serve an outstanding meal, from hors d oeuvres through dessert, all paired with beers.Aside from battling the stereotype of beer in the dining world, an event like this has a few additional issues to contend with. What beers does one serve? It's not easy to pair beers with food to begin with. Not only should you consider the food, but probably a more important factor is your clientèle. Do you cater to the beer hunters and serve big, bold, and hard to find ales; something like the new sour beers from the Lost Abbey? Or, should a wine restaurant cater to their usual customer base and serve more approachable and easier to find beers, such as the Firestone Double Barrel English pale or possibly a Hoegaarden Belgian wit as an introduction to the world of artisanal beers? As it turned out, The Hobbit seemed to keep one foot in each camp. There were some obvious safe choices, along with some bold surprises.
I'll spare you my food critique, and refer you to my better half for her summation of the eats. I'll just say that the food was fantastic. My main reason of interest in this meal, and my reason for this post is the beer selection. At the onset of the evening we were escorted to the basement cellar of the house, where we were greeted with a glass of Allagash White as we entered the cool cellar air. I wish I could have snapped a picture of the spread, but I felt a little shy about flashing my camera all over the place. It was a lot of fun. Tons of great hors d oeuvres and every wall was covered with more bottles of wine than I could care to count, and it was all probably worth more money than I would care to know. The Allagash was a great choice for a first beer. Served from the bottle, the golden yellow cloudy ale sat beneath a rocky white head. Aromas of orange and yeasty spiciness, and the refreshing taste of a Belgian wheat complemented the first course nicely.
Up next was the Wychcraft Wychwood English bitter paired with a marinated and grilled prawn with rock shrimp salad, sun dried tomato bread and fried yucca chips. I can see why an English ale was chosen for the meal. It was a safe next step from the Allagash. The Wychcraft was malty with a slight sour prick. My first impressions were fairly underwhelming, but it complemented the shrimp well and it was nice to have something relatively malty after the wit.
For the third course, we were served Green Flash West Coast IPA on draft from a pitcher. Wow, what a big step from the Wychcraft. The nose jumps out of the wine glass. Orange and citrus aromas. Everything about this beer screams Simcoe and Columbus hops. The taste is bitter, but balanced with a malty backbone. There's a lot of hop flavor though. It's resinous and bold. This IPA is very aggressive. The hopping borders on Imperial IPA, but the ABV and copper color keep it just within IPA stats. What else can you serve with such a bold beer, other than veal shanks? They also served a polenta that was "to die for."
Our glasses were quickly topped off with a second glass of IPA, and we were allowed to digest for a short time in the court yard where we could talk with the chef, the owners, the beer buyer or the other guests before we returned for a palate cleansing sorbet just before the main course. We were served the Hofbrau Dunkel, a lagered Bavarian dark wheat beer. There's a distinctly yeasty aroma on this beer. Because it's a lagered dunkel and fermented fairly cold the normal fruity esters associated with bavarian wheats are almost completely absent. There's a slight diacetyl buttery taste along with some chocolate notes, but it comes across as very drinkable and approachable. The main course was German Sauerbraten with green apple and caraway red cabbage and roasted potato. Das Stimt! It's like I was in Austria all over again.Finally, desert was served, a chocolate mousse, served atop raspberries and blackberries, in an almond lace cookie and a Guiness creme anglaise. The beer choice this time reached to a new and somewhat unique selection, the Buffalo Belgian Stout from Growerij van den Bossche. Though, again, not an extremely rare or risky selection, the Buffalo Stout is a unique beer on its own. It fits well as a dessert beer with the characteristic Belgian esters along with the chocolate notes from the dark malts used. It is also fairly low in residual sugars, so it's not a heavy-feeling beverage after several hours of eating (even though it's 9% ABV).
By the end of the night, I had consumed enough food and beer to last me well into the week. I was stuffed and admittedly alcohol saturated, but that didn't stop us from sampling the house liqueur. Though they wouldn't tell the recipe, I can only guess that it is a Grand Marnier based liquor with some additional goodness that seems to mellow out the orange.
All things considered, I think the Hobbit beer buyer, Larry James, did a fine job of catering to two distinct crowds. At one point, he even admitted to me that he chose the Green Flash IPA knowing that at least a few noses would be turned up in horror at the extremely bitter beverage, but I am sure he also knew he would win a few fans in another demographic (my demographic). It was a risky selection, but I must say that if you want to serve an IPA, Green Flash is an excellent choice. Similarly, it is difficult to go wrong with Allagash, and the Buffalo Stout is a great selection. On the other hand, I do think there could have been some better choices within a few of the styles being served. I can think of several English bitters or pales or milds that would have served the same purpose as the Wychcraft, but would have also tickled the lips of the beer connoisseur crowd. Additionally, I understand the historical importance of the Hofbrauhaus dunkel, and everyone should try it at some point, but there are more than a few fantastic Bavarian dunkels out there.
With all that being said, it was an outstanding evening. It was a stellar night of beer and food. Conversations were great, I met some interesting people, and I had a blast. It was a pretty penny for a graduate student at $88 per person (including tax and gratuity) but just the same I think I will do it over again next year. It's a disappointingly rare occurrence to have such an outstanding meal paired with craft beer. I can only hope that other establishments follow the trend and embrace artisanal beers as a standard place in their lists among fine wines.
