Beer Town Austin

Couple weeks ago Parkside had us out for their ‘summer nights’ Independence beer dinner.

It was pretty swanky. Four courses plus h’orderves. Nice.

I’m not a food blogger and I won’t pretend to be. No lie, I was there for the beer, and the food was nothing to scoff at either. In fact, in recollection I think I liked it all. None of the notes I scribbled on the menu are negative.

Also Mr. Justin Rizza, head brewer out at Indy Brewing was present to talk about the beers and pairings. It was nice and educational. Also the Parkside chef came out to introduce the dishes. I like this. I like when beer dinners have someone talking about the beer and the food and why they paired them together. Especially when they can go into enough detail that it shows they didn’t just use that beer/food pairing chart you can find on BeerAdvocate.

Thanks Parkside, Independence for putting some thought into it and educated us on in the process.

I came in a bit late and missed most of the appetizers. Luckily, our server was able to procure some chicken loli-pops for me. These were all paired wt the Freestyle Wheat.

Course two was fun. Pickled stuff. Pickled on premise. I’ll confess- I took the one pickled egg yolk for our table. Sorry team.

Presentation is key. They nailed it. How’s that for some food blogger shit? This is still course one, the charcuterie platter. The pate was my favorite. They paired it wt the Amber. Not bad, but I was craving a Stash IPA.

Course two was grilled halibut, steamed clams, octopus, petite potatoes, etc. Best course of the night, in my opinion. There were smoked peppers in the broth. I love halibut and this was good halibut. Paired with the Pale Ale. Not bad, still would have gone for the Stash.

It was too dark for pics when course three came out, and I get embarrassed using the flash. It was a pork plate paired with the Bootlegger Brown. I liked the pork ribs and in my notes I scribbled “best pairing?”

NOPE. Dessert was the best.

Best. Pairing. Ever. From the notes, “the best!!”

TWO EXCLAMATION MARKS ! !

I meant business. It was outstanding. A cinnamon sugar yeast doughnut, pretzel ice cream, chocolate, and blueberry crumble paired with the Convict Hill Oatmeal Stout. This pairing did it for me. See the photo? I couldn’t even wait to take a picture before I started digging in.

Parkside mentioned they plan on doing more of these. I hope so.