PW Pizza Urban Chestnut Brewing Beer Dinner 2020

The last PW Pizza Beer Dinner of the year and no better time to avoid cooking than the week of Christmas!

I have to admit that the draw for this week's pizza and beer dinner was totally the pizza! Once a year, PW Pizza will make ONE fancy "beef pizza" and this time they offered a "Roast Beef Pizza"! This was quite the funky flavor pizza with wild mushrooms and blue cheese accompanying the beef. This was smartly paired with one of Urban Chestnut's heavier beers, the Dorfbier, which is a Dunkel style. This beer also brags a 6.7% ABV and 55 IBUs!

Breaded Chicken Pizza (top) and Roast Beef Pizza (bottom)

Of course, I prefer Urban Chestnut's lighter beers, and luckily there were two on the menu. The well-known Schnickelfritz, a Weissbier, was paired with a Romaine salad topped with walnuts, sundried apricots, feta cheese, red peppers, with a raspberry vinaigrette. I just love their salads!

Romaine Salad 

Next up, Urban Chestnut's Stammtisch Pilsner was paired with the first pizza, a Breaded Chicken Pizza, was topped with pineapple, red onions, mozzarella cheese, and a lemon-garlic butter sauce.

The Winged Nut Chestnut Ale, well-balanced and well-paired with a Gooey Butter Cake dessert an matching Hazelnut Crema Glaze. This could have been a meal all by itself!

Gooey Butter Cake with Hazelnut Crema Glaze

Urban Chestnut Menu

Can't wait to see what pizza and beer dinners come in 2021, and hopefully a return to in person dinners.

Resources:

PW Pizza = https://pwpizza.com/

Urban Chestnut Brewing = https://www.urbanchestnut.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Beer and Cheese Tasting at Larder & Cupboard

As a big fan of Larder & Cupboard, I was thrilled to find out on Facebook that they would be hosting a beer and cheese tasting class at the store after hours.

The event was one in a series that was put on by The OG: St. Louis Women's Craft Beer Collective, along with another female-centric beer group "Femme Ferment". The first event in the series had been a home brew demo at O'Fallon Brewing. The last event will be to taste the "home brews" made that night.

This second event was more educational as Karen King of Side Project Brewing led the all-female class in a sensory panel of seven beers. After that, Robin Wheeler of Larder & Cupboard, guided us through a beer and cheese pairing.

I really appreciated the tall bottle of water and note cards!

Even though small, plastic cups were probably not the best for smelling, they did hold plenty of beer and I hated to leave so much leftover beer behind. We certainly got our money's worth tasting seven beers in the first round and then four more with the cheese.

Beers!

Each person had two place mats, one without names and one with. The first seven beers were passed out and were in order from lightest to darkest. And just like with wine, Karen King walked us through the tasting by having us discuss the color, whether the beer was clear or hazy (unfiltered), and then finally the smell. Of course we tasted at the very end and tried to make our best guess of the beer's style.

Starting at the top and going down in a zig zag pattern, here are the beers:

1) Morgan Street Brewery - Citrusy Lemon Beer

2) Morgan Street Brewery - Golden Pilsner

3) Urban Chestnut - Snickelfritz

4) Schlafly - Pale Ale

5) 2nd Shift - Art of Neurosis

6) Civil Life - Brown Ale

7) Deschuettes - Black Butte

As for the second round, we worked our way through several cheeses, pairing a few with each beer.

Cheese!

1) Civil Life - Oatmeal Stout = Paired with sharp cheeses, granola, and another with an expresso rub.

2) 4 Hands - Black IPA = Paired with bigger cheeses like a cheddar, blue, and chocolate honey.

3) New Holland - White IPA = Paired with more creamy and buttery cheese and a fresh sheep's milk. The IPA really helped to cut through the cream. Also paired with spicier items like salami and peppers.

4) Dupont - Saison = The lightest beer was paired with Baetje Farms semisoft cheese and the fruit/nut press.

If you follow Larder & Cupboard on Facebook, hopefully there are more classes to come!

Resources:

Larder and Cupboard = http://www.larderandcupboard.com/

The OG = https://www.facebook.com/theogstl
https://sites.google.com/site/ogwomen/

Femme Ferment = http://www.femmeferment.org/

Side Project Brewing = http://www.sideprojectbrewing.com/

Morgan Street = http://www.morganstreetbrewery.com/

Urban Chestnut = http://www.urbanchestnut.com/

2nd Shift = http://www.2ndshiftbrewing.com/

Civil Life = http://www.thecivillife.com/

Deschuttes = http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/

Schlafly = http://schlafly.com/

4 Hands = http://4handsbrewery.com/

New Holland = http://newhollandbrew.com/

Dupont = http://www.brasserie-dupont.com/

Baetje Farms = http://www.baetjefarms.com/

Urban Chestnut Beer Dinner

Instead of going to the big Wine & Cheese Festival over the weekend, I decided to try the Brewmaster’s Beer Dinner hosted by Florian Kuplent of Urban Chestnut Brewing Company. I had sampled a couple of Urban Chestnut’s beers during Craft Beer Week at a Beer and Cheese pairing class, so I was curious about some of their other beers.

I remembered the first two beers right away because they are both so light: The Zwickel and the Schnickelfritz. I was surprised that a heavy roasted garlic and bread soup was served with the Zwickel, but it was a good match of opposites. The soup was actually a bit too strong…perhaps a rye flavor…so the sweetness of the Zwickel was needed to calm down the soup.

The mixed green salad was a much better pairing because the Schnickelfritz was mixed into the dressing. Both the dressing and the beer had a tangy finish, and the spiced pecans were the secret treat in this dish.

Getting to the meatier courses, quite a few people thought the pan seared halibut with the Chinook India Pale Ale was the best pairing, even though you wouldn’t think so by just looking at the description. The hops used for the Chinook IPA were so mild that it had a smooth finish instead of a bitter one. I was shocked! The halibut was served with a grapefruit beurre blanc over Israeli couscous and the tartness really helped to balance out the beer even more.

Packing even more flavor was the Harwood Myth, and my friends who quickly dismissed the Zwickel and Schnickelfritz for being too light, would totally love this beer. A thick, coffee stout (or was that a hint of chocolate?) was full of flavor and not too bad of a bitter finish. This beer matched up well with the porter braised short ribs placed on top of parsnip puree, which looked just liked mashed potatoes but tasted so much better.

Of course we finished on a light note for dessert. The Apotheosis was almost a palate cleanser since it was so light and crisp. This beer is really meant for summer, but it helped tone down the richness of the white chocolate and raspberry bread pudding. The saison ice cream was actually a sharp, lemon flavor to add sweetness on top of sweet. It was safer to let the bread pudding soak up the ice cream and raspberry flavors.

I was really impressed by Executive Chef Tony Cole. There were several other parties going on at the same time and our courses were amazing and well paired.

I think I made the right choice after all and definitely would do the Brewmaster’s Beer Dinner again next year.

Resource:

Urban Chestnut = http://urbanchestnut.com

The Block Webster Groves

Thanks to my friends moving to Webster Groves, I finally had a good excuse to be close to The Block to try it out. At the very front of the restaurant, next to the bar, is a small butcher’s case right when you walk in so I guess you could get your dinner “to go” pre-cooked! I already knew that I was going to get the Missouri grass-fed beef just by reviewing the menu. When I go to a “meat” restaurant, that’s what I get. Although, I do admit that the salmon special sounded and looked fantastic.

I did start out with the Green Salad which came with roasted cauliflower in it that was so tasty, and it was a decent sized starter salad too. As an appetizer to try, I chose the Mushroom Fricassee since it came with “local goat cheese”, but there wasn’t very much cheese melted on top of the mushrooms. Instead, it came with too much “juice” and the garlic toast got soggy quickly. I ended up putting the mushrooms on my salad when I ran out of toast, but probably should have saved them for my main course to go on top!

Since the menu item just refers to “beef”, I quickly figured out that the selection is what they have for that day. So the cut of the day was rib eye and it was a large 10 ounces, at least for me. The meat came in the Block’s own steak sauce but it tasted more like a thick, berry sauce instead. It was a little bland and could have used either more sweetness or more vinegar flavor. Or the mushrooms and its sauce, like I mentioned earlier.

I also indulged and ate all of the “garlic herb fries” that came with my steak. I wish I had paid more attention and ordered some vegetables in its place but the fries that got soaked in the steak sauce were the best for sure!

We were all too full to order dessert so no reviews there but between all of us, we had a nice selection of beers on draught to taste. I got to have half of a Moose Drool and finished off a friend’s Urban Chestnut Schnickelfritz since she didn’t like it. It still had that odd after taste but because it is so light, it was still easy for me to drink. The martini I tried was very strong though and if I’m having beef, I think I would stick with a beer.

The bar area is pretty small so I felt bad for the two tables that were near the bar...not really much of a buffer. I understand you should give folks a place to sit while they wait for a table but it was very crowded in such a small area where you have people coming in and walking towards the restrooms. With such a big space and high ceilings, it quickly got noisy in the entire restaurant regardless and we couldn't really talk across the table. But as a highlight, we did run into the one and only STLwinegirl, Angela Ortmann, so I knew we were at a "place to be". hehe

Resources:

The Block = http://theblockrestaurant.com/

Moose Drool = http://www.bigskybrew.com/Our_Beers/Moose_Drool

Urban Chestnut = http://urbanchestnut.com

Schlafly Beer and Cheese Pairing 2011

For my second year in a row, I attended the Schlafly Beer and Cheese Pairing at the Tap Room (http://www.schlafly.com/breweries/taproom) during Craft Beer Week. Three of the beers were from Schlafly while the other three came from Urban Chestnut, (http://urbanchestnut.com) located right around the corner on Washington Avenue.

This class was done a little bit differently since the beers and cheeses were introduced first so that we could taste on our own, as well as mix and match a little bit. While I enjoy the freedom to mix up the pairings, I definitely require more cheese for that to happen!! Luckily, we all planned on getting dinner after the class.

While I just assumed we would start with the lightest beer and move on to the darker ones, I was surprised right out of the gate with a Schlafly Kolsch that had a very bitter flavor. This totally overpowered the Seahive Cheddar (Utah) that had no sharpness to it (as I prefer my cheddars to be)!

Luckily, the next pairing saved me since I really enjoyed the Urban Chestnut Zwickel that was light and refreshing. It had a mild flavor and paired equally to the Cambzola Blue (Germany). I think this is the first time ever that a blue did not have that “stinky cheese” flavor. It definitely opened my eyes to the range of blues!

The popular choice at my table was the Urban Chestnut Schnickelfritz, which had a strong fruity finish. It was a little overpowering for me, (and I normally like fruity beers) but was probably the best suited to be paired with the Pantaleo (Italy) cheese that was so dry, I felt like I had to scrape it off the roof of my mouth like peanut butter! ACK!

Going back to a Schlafly beer, I thought the Biere de Garde had a lot of flavor and paired well with the Marieke Foenegreek Gouda (Wisconsin). Both had a strong finish and this was definitely my favorite pairing of the night.

The Urban Chestnut Kinsale had a full bodied coffee flavor and was paired with a Walnut Gourmandise (France). These paired well in the sense that I didn’t like either one of these. The nutty flavor of the cheese was too much for me and I’m not a coffee drinker.

At least the best cheese overall came last with an Old Chatham Camembert (New York), which was pungent and gamey, but so smooth and creamy like a triple crème. A strong Schafly American IPA was paired with it, which makes sense, but I’m just not a fan of them.

The funniest part of the whole class was at the very end when we all shouted our favorite beers and cheeses. Usually one or two stand out in a class but the votes were ALL over the place! I guess it’s a good thing there are so many beers in St. Louis and plenty of cheese to go around as well.