Dogfish Head Beer Tasting at Amelia's Bistro

This is a guest post from my friends & fellow food lovers, MP & VB. I didn't attend the tasting, so they generously offered to take pictures and write up a post on the experience, so a big thank you to them. Text is primarily from MP who runs Wandering Lunch, a very helpful NYC food truck tracker. 

Last week, Amelia's Bistro had their third beer and dinner tasting menu. This is the second one featuring Dogfish Head after the first date sold out and they mentioned they would be doing new tastings monthly and the next one will be with Weyerbacher. Beer pairing menus are not very common around Jersey City yet so it's nice to know they will continue at Amelia's.

The event was held in their private party room in the basement of the restaurant. Don't expect any cell reception. Right away,we were handed beers (the Indian Brown Ale) and told to sit anywhere. There were also free gifts waiting on the table at everyone's place: an IPA glass, a key chain bottle opener, and a "Hopocalypse Now" coaster. There were two long tables so we knew we would be getting to know our co-diners. As more people filtered in, it was easy to get the conversation started. The majority of the people at our table were beer enthusiasts, as we are, and the topics centered around that to begin. As the beer flowed, the conversation expanded and the volume definitely increased. There was a representative from Hunterdon Brewing Company (a beer and liquor distributor), the supplier for the event. He was knowledgeable and it was great talking to him about beer and Jersey City. The atmosphere was the best part of the event.

The main reason we were there, the beer, was definitely the focus. The representative from Hunterdon gave back-story about Dogfish Head and talked about each beer. I was already familiar with Dogfish Head, but if I hadn't, I think this would have been an excellent way to get to know them. Getting to try five different beers from a brewery will give you a good sense about them. The wait staff was not shy about giving out beer and I had a few glasses of each. They even said we could return to a previous beer if we found a favorite. I had no problem getting buzzed and the next morning was tough. Events like these are not easy to recover from on a Wednesday night.

Unfortunately, the weakest part of the event was the food. It was edible, but nothing was amazing. As I mentioned, Hunterdon provides the beer, but the restaurant determines the food pairings. To start, we had a crostini with cheddar cheese, apple, and truffle honey. I expect a crunch when I bite into a crostini but the bread was barely toasted. I tasted the sweetness from the apple and honey but the cheddar flavor was lost which was too bad because that's the flavor that was supposed to pair well with with the 60 minute we were drinking. 

Next up was the homemade gnocchi and short rib. I'm not sure what I expected, but what was served was

more like a short rib stew (with large pieces of potatoes and carrots) mixed in with some gnocchi. While the gnocchi was light and the short rib tender, the dish didn't really feel like it came together. I will mention the portions were not small; my date was already starting to feel full at this point. 

The third course was a truffled mac and cheese that also included meat - not sure if it was pancetta or bacon. It was a creamy mac and cheese with a bread crumb garnish and fine, but again nothing special. My date thought that the next course, the cracked pepper herbed-fried chicken, was the best course, but I considered mine a little dry. This came with potato gratin which was creamy and well cooked.

Dessert is usually my favorite course, so naturally, I enjoyed the apple cobbler the best. It was served in individual ramekins with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Throughout the meal, we didn't notice any particular flavor connections between what we were eating and what we were drinking, but they didn't go together badly.

At $75 a head, it's not a cheap dinner. The portions are generous and the beer flowed endlessly (or so it seemed). The atmosphere was definitely the winner of the evening. Even though our food did not blow us away, we had a great evening drinking and talking with people we'd never met. If you want to get out, meet people from Jersey City, and you like beer, you should consider going. If you're looking for a perfectly executed beer and food pairing dinner, then this might not be your best option.

Thanks again to MP & VB for this post!