Boston Beer Works 21st Birthday Dinner

Tuesday March 12th Boston Beer Works had their 21st birthday party at the Fenway location. Finally, it was old enough to drink! To celebrate they threw a nice little 4-course beer dinner, and I was lucky enough to be invite to enjoy. It's the first real beer dinner I've ever attended, and needless to say I was pumped.

I feel like I'm not alone in the group of beer lovers that can forget about Beer Works in a state with a booming craft beer populous, next to Vermont and Maine who are churning out excellent brewers. But it happens at least 5 times a year, whether it's going to a Lowell Spinners game, or wondering around Fenway and finding that the Yard House is way too pretentious to stick around in, I end up sitting in front of some very fresh beer, eating some nachos and watching Hockey, and it's always enjoyable. 

Coming in the experience is immediately great, being given a sample of some of their bottled beer and some excellent appetizers, it already felt like it was going to be a great night. But appetizers and samples of beer are one thing; I was ready to sit down for the good stuff, the meal. 

Beer Works did not mess around with this dinner. To start they served a crepe filled with creamy artichokes topped with cider vinaigrette. It was paired with Baker's Island Blonde, a Munich style golden lager, and while I was expecting a blonde ale, it was an excellent helles bock style beer that opened the meal nice and light, not filling me up too much as there was 3 more courses to go.

The 2nd course was seared sea scallops over vegetable risotto with a hopped gastrique paired with Crimson Clover Irish Red ale. First, the scallops were perfect, cutting like butter and tasting perfect and incredibly fresh. Too bad for the one guy near us that didn't like seafood, but his neighbor got to reap the benefits of extra scallops. The beer was much less hoppy than the red ale I sampled earlier and I actually enjoyed it more, being excellently balanced and not overpowering to the food. 

3rd course was where the amazing stuff happens. Roasted rack of lamb over ratatouille with a balsamic reduction, paired with their soon to be bottled Rosemary Imperial Pale Ale. This is what I imagine a beer dinner is for, an excellent hoppy rosemary ale that compliments a perfectly cooked piece of lamb. The entire accompaniment from the ratatouille to the sweet potato puree dashed on the side made this dish a perfect pair with an herbally spiced beer that really feels like it was made for this. 

And finally, the dessert was a ginger flan with candied citrus and ginger on the side, with a perfect dessert drink, their Irish Cream Stout. The flan was very well done, but really, the beer could be the dessert on itself, silky smooth for a stout with rich roasted chocolate and coffee all the way through. It was an excellent beer to end the night. If Beer Works is going to have more dinners in the future then I highly recommend checking it out, because for the first beer dinner they've done in years, they certainly knew how to make it work, and I'd certainly do it again.