Our mini foray into Philly Beer Week this year was a tasting event at our new foodie crush, Square Peg. We tested them out on brunch a while back, and it was delicious, so when they decided to team up with Dogfish Head to do a tasting menu for $25, we were all over it.
Dinner Course
Three beers, three bites, triple tasty! First, the menu paired Dogfish Head’s Namaste with Fluke Ceviche. The ceviche wasn’t as acidic as they are many times as it was cut with orange juice and basil for a light summery taste. Namaste was a perfect choice for this–a witbeer brewed with orange and lemongrass that could easily become a session beer for me. This whole combo was super delicious, and I even went for the “Tiger’s Milk” and drank the ceviche juice because it was so irresistibly fresh.
Next, one of our favorites, Midas Touch, was paired with roasted beets. Midas Touch is one of the Ancient Ales from Dogfish head, and is brewed with ingredients that archeologists found in 2700 year old vessels from the Tomb of King Midas! It’s rich, dark, and somewhat sweet, which paired perfectly with earthy beets (both in color and flavor).
The last part of dinner was Carne Asada, paired with Raison d’Etre, which isn’t one of my favorite beers, but it went really well with the steak. The Steak was the BOMB, however. I could eat spoonfulls of the accompanying paprika aioli all day. Yum!
Dessert Course
It’s pretty rare, I would say, for the dessert course on a beer tasting menu to be the best part of the meal. This accomplished that feat. Dogfish Head’s Black and Blue was served with a super simple ice cream sundae, topped with pickled blueberries and Minus 8 vinegar. The beer was one of the only fruit beers I have ever enjoyed, but it was far out-shined by this simplest of sundaes. The blueberries in vinegar sauce perfectly coordinated with super sweet vanilla to produce a flavor that could be compared to a shrub cocktail, if a shrub were a milkshake.
In conclusion, pretty much everything was perfect. We even got to schmooze with one of the reps from Dogfish head , who gave us a sweet trucker hat! (shhhh–Wendy said it was a secret!). We also scored some Pint Glasses with the Dogfish Head logo out of the whole deal. Pretty much every experience at Square Peg has been super enjoyable, and their Beer Week event only brings us closer to what is sure to be the pièce de résistance: DINNER! Look back soon for that! It’s sure to happen soon.
Philly Survival Guide 