Sir, That Hatter of Yours, Its Been Deconstructed

Just wanted to give you folks an update on what some of you caught and some of you missed last night at Teresa's Next Door. As promised we deconstructed New Holland Brewing Company's Mad Hatter IPA and paired up a plate of goodies that we felt brought out the layer of flavors hidden beneath each cap or tap waiting to hit 'em with the Hatter.

I showed up at TND with a bag full of goodies and a little bit of time to spare before running down to The Beer Yard to pour free samples. From a bag of rose hips to queso fresco to garam masala, we had a little spice throwdown. We brainstormed a bit and i left only to come back to Teresa's to find a really awesome menu of food that i proceeded to taste my way through during an evening of New Holland beers on tap.

Taken verbatim from the menu @ Teresa's Next Door

Fables of Deconstruction
An amazing creation from minds created by the Mad Hatter! An IPA broken down into flavor components: 8oz of Mad Hatter IPA surrounded by: Cascade Hop Tea, Honey Comb Duo, Ginger-Apricot Chutney, Lavender Brulee, Hop Brulee, Cacao & Pasilla spiced nuts.

Rose Hip Hop Hemp
A salad of mixed greens, oranges, hemp seeds, lavendar peppercorn goat cheese, in a malt, hop, and rosehip vinagrette.

India Plantains
Twice fried plantains sprinkled with Masala Curry.

Dry Rubbed
A 28 day dry aged New York strip steak rubbed with chiles and chocolate grilled over a wood fire served with barley risotto and grilled asparagus.

Quesadilla Ranchito
Corn tortillas with smoked pork, chorizo, and queso fresco served with corn salad.

Delicious food and some fun pairings. The honey comb on honeycombs really paired well with Mad Hatter. Between the texture and the sweetness and some bitterness cutting through from the beer it was a great match. Same for lavender, same for cacao and pasilla nuts. Awesome stuff and a good crowd too.

Final Note:

Bryan Kolesar from The Brew Lounge is about to end training mode and step into race mode. He's been on a beer diet leading up to his big sprint, so let's all wish him luck. The faster he crosses the finish line the sooner he can have another beer. I am actually about to make a drawing how i envision the race going. I'll post it when i'm done.