Every once in a while things work out just right. I can vividly remember the first time I tasted one of Brian Hunt’s beers. It was sometime in 2003 at a lesbian bar in Penngrove, CA called “The Black Cat” and the beer was “Death and Taxes.” After about my second sip I was convinced that this was an extraordinary beer. I tried to get whatever information I could from the bartender and the tap handle and upon returning to the bar where I worked at the time, I told my boss we had to order this beer.

The following day my boss told me that as far as he could tell, this beer did not exist. Determined to get to the bottom of this situation I asked Vinnie Cirulzo brewer/owner of Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa if he’d ever heard of “Death and Taxes.” Vinnie actually laughed at me before responding, “Yeah, it is brewed by a friend of mine, but you’ll never get it.” Perhaps in an effort to lessen my disappointment, Vinnie did tell me that there was a nearby restaurant where I could taste more of Brian’s beer. That restaurant, Flavor devoted their entire draft system to Moonlight Brewing Co. beers. After tasting my way through six different Moonlight beers I was so elated that the owner came out to speak with me. Once he had introduced himself I did not let him leave until I had Brian Hunt’s personal cell number. For the next 2 years I would make periodic trips to Brian’s Sonoma County brewery to pick up beers for Red. In that time I tasted a variety of delicious, strange and beautiful brews. It is safe to say that today Brian has become my favorite brewer, and a new offering from Moonlight is one of the more exciting things that can happen for me in the beer world.

I say all of the above in hopes that you can understand what an exciting honor it was to be allowed to consult with our Chef Kevin Kroger on a menu designed to celebrate Brian’s beers. Here at Monk’s the beer dinner program offers us an opportunity to do our work in reverse. Typically the kitchen comes up with a new dish or special and we as servers and bartenders sort through our list of nearly 200 potential beers to find the right match. With the brewery dinners it is just the opposite. In these cases the courses start with the beers. We take a brewery, pick which of their beers we’d like to feature and then put them in an order that makes sense. From there we put together a menu to compliment, complicate and occasionally even contextualize the flavors and intensities of the different beers. This is especially exciting and challenging when dealing with a brewery like Moonlight where most of the beers do not easily fit into an established beer style or brewing tradition.

About 10 days before our Moonlight Dinner, Chef Kevin, his wife Judy, Nick our Bar Manager and I were all lucky enough to be invited up to the brewery to taste the specific batches of beer that we’d featuring in our menu. During this visit we hammered out the final details; we made the decision that pouring Bombay by Boat from the cask would be the best compliment to Kevin’s Curry and Clams dish, a dessert beer was chosen, and perhaps most importantly, we were introduced to “Herbed Artemis,” a pungent oregano smelling concoction unlike any beer we have ever tasted. We were thrilled that we could persuade Brian to unveil “Artemis” with a final toast at our dinner.

Here is the final menu with notes written after service had taken place…

[tippy title="Amuse Bouche:"]Marinated Artichoke and Goat Cheese Bruschetta

[/tippy] Marinated Artichoke and Goat Cheese Bruschetta
Beer pairing: Reality Czeck (Czech style Pilsner – 4.8% ABV)
- It is fun for us beer people to play with artichokes because they are such a problem for wine pairings. As you walked through the door we handed you a billowing glass of Reality Czeck in Moonlight Brewing Company’s signature glass (pictured), once you took your seat this delightful little bite arrived.

[tippy title="1st Course:"]Bombay By Boat Coconut Curry, with Little Neck Clams, fresh Mint, Basil, Cilantro, Heirloom Tomatoes and Crostini [/tippy] Bombay By Boat Coconut Curry, with Little Neck Clams, fresh Mint, Basil, Cilantro, Heirloom Tomatoes and Crostini
Beer pairing: Bombay By Boat poured from a Cask (IPA – 5.9% ABV)

- Hops often pair well with spicy foods. However “spicy” is often misunderstood for “hot.” I would not recommend a Pliny the Elder with a habanero salsa or Wasabi. In this course the Chef and his wife Judy treated us to a sauce of curry spices, mint, basil and cilantro that supplied just a touch of heat, but more importantly HUGE aromatics to compliment the intense aromas given off by a heavily dry-hopped room temperature IPA. Also Curry and INDIA Pale Ale make for a fun historical reference. The cask pour is the traditional English Pub way of serving a beer like this and the way that such a brew would have been enjoyed by an English sailor on a trade route to India. The IPA style is in fact named for beers that were over-hopped in hopes of keeping them drinkable and flavorful on the long voyage to India.

[tippy title="2nd Course:"]Cedar Plank Salmon with Melted Leeks, Braised Fennel, Orange Buerre Blanc and Micro Sprouts [/tippy] 2nd Course: Cedar Plank Salmon with Melted Leeks, Braised Fennel, Orange Buerre Blanc and Micro Sprouts

Beer pairing: Uncle Fudd (Norwegian Farmhouse – 5.5% ABV)

- You are not likely to find a listing for a Norwegian Farmhouse Ale in any Beer style guide. This “style” is completely the brainchild of Brian Hunt. With a large portion of Rye Malt, no hops and a hearty does of Cedar sap, Uncle Fudd is unlike any beer we have ever tasted. The use of Cedar chips or planks is a fairly common Salmon preparation. So using Salmon as the protein in this course gave us the opportunity to both echo one of the flavors in the beer and to make a reference to the beers imagined stylistic origin. (Salmon and spinach being one of the classic dishes in Scandinavian cooking) By substituting Leeks and Braised Fennel for the more traditional sautéed spinach we hopefully harmonized with some of the more peculiar flavors that the Cedar branches bring to Uncle Fudd.

[tippy title="3rd Course:"]Death and Taxes marinated Venison Strip Loin, grilled medium-rare,
Toasted house-made Spaetzle with Almonds, roasted Garlic and fried Brussels Sprout Leaves, and roasted Apple-Mustard sauce. [/tippy] Death and Taxes marinated Venison Strip Loin, grilled medium-rare,
Toasted house-made Spaetzle with Almonds, roasted Garlic and fried Brussels Sprout Leaves, and roasted Apple-Mustard sauce.

Beer pairing: Death and Taxes (Black Lager – 5.0% ABV)

-Death and Taxes is a Black Beer that is fermented at lager temperature. It is very easy to want to categorize it as a Schwarzbier, the traditional German Black Lager. That was the inspiration for this course. The Venison and Spaetzle are a reference to the German Black Forest and the culinary traditions associated with that area. Unfortunately, possibly because Death and Taxes is not quite a Schwarzbier, I found this to be one of the least transcendent pairings of the night. While both the dish and the beer were quite delicious they did not play on one another in the way that I had expected them to. Live and learn I suppose.

[tippy title="4th Course:"] Local De La Paz Coffee & Cocoa rubbed Duck Breast, Peppercorn Boxty, wilted Wild Arugula and Blueberry Demi-glace [/tippy] 4th Course: Local De La Paz Coffee & Cocoa rubbed Duck Breast, Peppercorn Boxty, wilted Wild Arugula and Blueberry Demi-glace
Beer pairing: Collateral Damage (Death and Taxes fermented with Pinot Noir grapes – 6.5%)

- Collateral Damage aka Of Legal Age is a fascinating beer. Adding Pinot Noir grapes – as well as whatever dust and fungus may be on those grapes – to a lager really changes the smell, feel and taste of that lager into something much more like ale. There is a pronounced minerality and a sour acidity brought to the beer by the introduction of the fruit, a difference that is quite apparent when Damage and Death are consumed back to back. This beer really did harmonize with its partner in my opinion. Fatty duck breast, coffee chocolate and blueberries, danced alongside tart blackberries, grapes and a subtle bit of smoke.

5th Course: Pluot Bread Pudding with Salted Caramel and Double Rainbow Pumpkin Ice Cream
Beer pairing: 3 year-aged Toast (Aged Strong Lager – 6.0%)

- In my humble opinion this course was a home-run. This was the only course where we went about it in our more traditional fashion of having the dish in mind and finding the beer for it. When we made our visit to Brian’s brewery we already knew that Kevin had a heavily spiced Pluot Bread Pudding in mind for the dessert course. As we tasted the 2 or 3 options we had for dessert beers we all stop on the “3 year-aged toast.” Toast is a high alcohol darker lager that is allowed to mature in steel for 3 years. We all tasted slightly fruity slight Cinnamon French Toast spice in this beer immediately thought of the Double Rainbow Pumpkin Spice ice cream we had been serving the past week. Sure enough the two worked beautifully together. The Bread pudding was heavy in Mace, Cinnamon and other baking spice and that really did create the sensation of a slightly savory French toast within the beer. Fun and distinctly yummy…

Celebratory Toast
Beer: Artemis (Ale brewed with Mugwort and wild Bergamot – 5.5%) – This is an extremely rare product from Moonlight.  We debuted at this dinner, it will be available again to taste on Tuesday February 9th when Brian comes back to The Kettle for “A Night Without Hops.”

Download the menu here.