Redoak Beer Appreciation Dinner

My birthday festivities have already begun! Since we will be traveling during my Dana decided to give me somethingbirthday, she knew I wanted before we left: a Redoak Beer Class. I'm a fan of Redoak's beer and food, so this was a real treat. It's also a great bargain... especially for me since I didn't pay for anything. Dana sent Glenn along with me. Some of you may know Glenn from Aaron's Anzac Day Party or Frank Miller's 300.

The event started at 4:30 with a complimentary red ale at the bar. Their red is a smooth beer. A subtle red, with the malty flavour you expect but without the slap in the face that some people don't like about reds.

The dinner was completely sold out. In fact, Dana had to beg them to make room for two more. Since we're regulars and are leaving these shores in a few weeks, they did. Solid folks over there. Glenn and I were sitting at a long table with a row of people sitting on one side and six other tables were laid out perpendicular to ours. We were pretty much in the middle of the dais. Then Janet Holyoak, the manager and co-owner of Redoak pointed us out as "notable guests"! It pays to be a regular, but my face turned redder than the beer I had just finished.

The meal was four courses and each was served with a matching beer:
1. Blue swimmer crab and avocado salad served with Redoak's Zest. The dressing was "smoked scallop ceviche, turmeric and ginger dressing" but the scallops had a lovely presence that was greater than just a dressing. There was a good amount of crab, which I appreciate even more when I don't have to do the work involved with procuring the meat from a shell. It was a fantastic dish. The avocado cut the citrus perfectly, and the Zest was a perfect compliment. The Zest, brewed in honour of head chef Richard Park's first child, is a Belgian blonde with additions of ginger, lime and lemon. This is reminiscent of the first of Dave Hollyoak's beers: ginger beer. I think I can safely assume that the use of ginger in this beer is a lot more refined than when Dave was 14. It's a really well-balanced brew.

While we ate, Redoak's beer sommelier, Simon Beverage, talked about the history of beer dating back to 10,000 BC. He presented a lot of very interesting information that was new to me, and he did it well. Back in the day, people thought that beer was a gift from the gods. This thought has not changed much.
"Beer sommelier?" you ask.
"Why yes, 'beer sommelier'," I reply. Simon is one of two in Australia. They help people understand that beer can be the perfect match to many meals.
"So who is the other beer sommelier in Australia?" you ask.
"Ian Watson, of of Brisbane fame, of course."

Though I'm not sure that this country is big enough to two beer sommelier. At the risk of using the word sommelier way too much, might I propose a beer sommelier steel cage match? I'm thinking of something in the vain of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. "Two beer sommeliers enter! One beer sommelier leaves!" I bet we can even get to Tina Turner to orchestrate/judge. She doesn't seem to be too busy at the moment. If not, maybe both Simon and Ian can continue sommeliering in harmony. Maybe Master Blaster can become the third beer sommelier in Australia.

2. Squid ink and stout risotto served with honey ale. The risotto also had shaved fennel and grilled scampi tail. Once again, the seafood addition was enough to be appreciated on its own. Ever since I got to Australia, I've been a fan of the squid ink risotto. This one was very fine. I think I'm going to get some pet squids and start milking them so that I can make this at home. The honey ale, as with the red and Zest, is very well balanced. The honey comes through in the back notes.

3. Roast Rauch Marinated Veal served with brown porter. The veal was served on Sicilian caponata, truffled veal sweetbreads and Outmeal stout jus. So the meat was marinated in their rauch beer, served with oatmeal stout jus and accompanied by a brown porter. You may think that the subtlety was lost, but the brews compliment each other extremely well. I would say that this was the most complex and successful pairing of the night. The brown porter is one of my favourite regulars available at Redoak, but I prefer to order them by the pint. This way the beer is warmer for the second half. My one criticism here is that the porter was served a tad too cold.

About this time Dave took over from Simon and went into more recent beer history, including Australia's craft beer scene and Redoak's own techniques. Specifics on the techniques were sparse, but we'd all been enjoying the fruits of Dave's labours during dinner and general responses were more than sufficient. I'm looking forward to further experimentation.

4. Redoak's chocolate and orange tasting plate served with oatmeal stout. The tasting plate consisted of:

• Chocolate and orange tart - Thin slice of a larger tart. Powerful chocolate blast to my face. Rich and delicious.
• Orange and chocolate creme caramel - Well-presented, this gelatinous glob still couldn't get me over my dislike of gelatinous blobs. No, my village was not raided by hoards of gelatinous blobs when I was a child, but Jell-o was one of four things I could eat when I was very sick at the age of 16. The texture still bothers me. I have the same problem with plain broth, ginger ale and Warm Potato and Goat Cheese Terrine served with aged sherry wine.
• Triple chocolate and orange brownie - A small square of brownie that packed a lot of punch. Add the orange flavoured faerie floss = WHAMMO! Faerie floss is something that cracks me up. In the USA (US of A, as Snoop would say) we call it cotton candy. Here in Oz, not only is it called faerie floss, "fairy" is spelled completely differently. It must be traumatic for a child to relocate.

The oatmeal stout is equally in-your-face and the bitterness goes very well with the dark chocolate and orange flavours.

Then it was back to bar for one more complimentary beer, the organic pale ale. Did I mention this is a bargain? Glenn and I stuck around for a bit and chatted with some other beer lovers. Redoak is a haven in Sydney. If you get a chance to do a beer class, I highly recommend you do. Book in early though.