Five courses with 4 Hands

Now that the World Series is over (I'm starting this in the top of the 7th, so if the Cardinals come back and win then you can blame this one on me, Boston), why not look back to a night we spent with our friends a few blocks away from the new Busch Stadium - the beer dinner with 4 Hands Brewing. (Quick order of business - 4 Hands will be bringing one of their research and development beers to the Strong Ale Festival on November 16h! Get details at http://beerkc.com/beerfest/strong-ale/ and tickets now on sale at http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/performanceSearch.jsp?performance_id=1760233)

The evening started with a lump crab agnolotti with chard, pear, and peppered mozzarella and the Pyrus saison. My first experience with agnolotti was in last summer's Kurlbaum Heirloom Tomato dinner. I liked it then, and may have liked it even more this time. Pyrus is brewed with pear juice and white peppercorns (in addition to orange zest), so it was a natural pair for this course. Good synergy here. (Top of the 7th just ended. Cardinals got one run and threatened more, but left the bases loaded. Everyone stand up for the 7th inning stretch.)

Agnolotti is kinda like ravioli. Filled with delicious crab next to some pear and mozzarella. Yes.

The second course featured a beer that first appeared at (I believe) the Summer Beer Fest - Resurrection IPA. This was served with a stewed tomato custard, jerky, and bread. Whoa. This was awesome. AWESOME. The tomato custard was smooth, sweet, and creamy. Spread on the bread and jerky, it was magical. When the bread and jerky was gone and I was left with some custard still in its little jar and I ate it off a butter knife, it was still kinda magical. Paired with the beer, it was magical. A balanced IPA with great malt and big hops, the bitterness played off the sweetness.

I'm amazed I waited long enough to take a picture of this. SO GOOD.

As the bottom of the 7th ends and we head towards the 8th, it's time for me to admit that I might like fish. At least very well-prepared fish. I can't hide behind saying I normally don't like it, because me liking fish at these dinners has become the norm. This continued here with seared American red snapper served on risotto and apple butter, and Morning Glory in the glass. Incredible dish. There wasn't much of a fishy flavor, especially in a bite that had risotto and apple butter. And Oh, the apple butter. It might have been the single greatest item served this night. Not overpoweringly sweet. And Morning Glory was the perfect beer to go with it - brewed with sweet potatoes, all spice, nutmeg, whole vanilla beans, and aged on Pecan Wood (top of the 8th just ended, quickly. So much for me getting through a course per half inning). Think of your usual pumpkin beer, and then imagine it being really super good without being that "pumpkin-y." Yeah, good, right? Right.

Alright, I may need to invest in a better camera. That is to say, a camera not on my phone.

Moving along to the fourth course, I KNOW I like beignets, and kielbasa, and poutine. So yeah, I was looking forward to this one. And it was another case of a perfectly-selected beer (bottom of the 8th just starting. I can do this). The Smoked Pigasus is a big robust porter with maple syrup and smoked malts. What was great with this course is that each of the food offerings brought out something different in the beer. The "bk bacon" beignet had smoky bacon and synced up well with the smokiness in the beer, while also pulling out some of the maltiness with the beignet (my fingers want there to be an h in beighnet). The kielbasa was more on the smoky side, not as much on the sweet malt side. And the caramel poutine, besides being FANTASTIC MMMMM made you remember there's maple syrup in the beer.

More. I want more of all of these.

WOO! Made it to dessert before the end of the 8th. And that's good, because this dessert deserves like four innings. (Whoa, a balk! That was weird.) Dessert was chocolate three ways - in the beer, in a mousse, and in a pie. This was good. The mousse was light and fluffy. The pie was rich, with a berry schmear below it to give more variety in the flavor. And the Chocolate Milk Stout was big, rich, and velvety. This is one of the better desserts I've had at a beer dinner (I think the best is still the bread pudding from the Alex Pope-prepared dinner. I still have dreams about that. And now the 8th just ended. Three outs from the end of the season). Also, I discovered the cup holding the mousse was held to the plate by peanut butter. And then I combined peanut butter with the chocolate and whoa. Yeah, that was good.

It may look small, but it was rich enough to pack a big punch

This might have been the best all-around beer dinner yet. It seems Michael Peterson keeps finding ways to top himself, so I'm looking forward to the next one. I'll show up hungry. Keep an eye here and on the Beer Kitchen Facebook page for details on that one when they're announced.

Now we're one out away from the end of the baseball season, so I'm going to sit and take it all in. Hurry back baseball. I love you.