Shane Long of Franciscan Well and Dave Quinn of Jameson introduce the evening and explain how the venture has been a happy marriage!
Kavanagh's were looking after the food angle, their challenge was to design three courses which would all complement Franciscan Well's stout. They rose to the challenge admirably. The first course, and in my opinion the best, was the oyster with cherry puree and pickled shallots. It was fantastic, as I said to my fellow dinners it made my mouth feel like it was dancing! They really hit the nail on the head with this pairing. After that came the pulled, slow braised beef shortrib with beetroot puree and a crozier blue cheese croquette. The beef was cooked to perfection but what made my eyes open wide in amazement was the croquette! Wow, what a great combination with the stout, truly inspired! I'm not a huge lover of dessert but the dark chocolate cake was superb and of course, a good match with the stout.
On the left is the beef with crozier blue croquette and on the right is the dark chocolate cake.
At the launch Shane and Dave Quinn both mentioned that one of the ideas behind the stout was that it would be enjoyed with food, well I've had a bottle of the stout in the fridge for a few days calling me to drink it so I've been inspired to do a mini food and beer tasting. I must admit I am only an amateur beer drinker, for more professional notes on the new stout check out A Tale of Ale who also reviewed it recently.
Our libations for this evenings tasting ...
I did a bit of research on the internet about what kinds of food go well with both whiskey and stout. Apparently whiskey works well with fruit and chocolate while stout goes well with both brie and blue cheese. As I like bacon jam so much that was also included, it was one of the canapes in Kavanagh's so I already knew it went well with the stout!
... and our victuals for this evening!
All in all it worked out pretty well. There was one exception to the success, the strawberries were a disaster. They were too sweet and juicy and really didn't complement the stout at all but the grapes were a surprising success. They seemed to draw out the vanilla flavours of the stout. The brie was really creamy so it was a good contrast to the almost bitter coffee twang of the stout. Blue cheese and stout are life long happy bedfellows and these two were no different, perfectly complimentary. I was surprised by how well the Lindt Sea Salt chocolate went with the stout. The creamy, saltiness of the chocolate impeccably combined with the chocolaty coffee flavoured stout. Finally, the star of the show was Ed Hick's Bacon Jam! The smokiness of the jam and the bitterness of the stout greeted each other with open arms! The flavours zinged in my mouth and brought one of those happy contented smiles to my face, it was bliss!
Some of the yummy products I paired with the stout. Love Ed Hicks!
I had one more combination up my sleeve. It was something I had first experienced at a wonderful beer and food event in Farrington's last September. A stout float with vanilla ice cream. It was a risk, the last time I had it it was made with O'Hara's Leann Folláin stout which is much richer and creamier than the Franciscan Well stout. It worked fantastically though, the vanilla ice cream match perfectly with the Jameson vanilla flavours in the stout. I was extremely happy it was a success as I really didn't want to waste any of my precious stout on something that was going to be vile!
My vanilla float, Franciscan Well/Jameson style!
This food and beer tasting was great fun, I can see why people do them all the time! I must practice and perfect my skills and then unleash them on my friends, watch this space for a wine free dinner party!