Samuel Smith Beer Dinner At The Londoner

Recently I had the pleasure of an invite to the Samuel Smith beer dinner at The Londoner.  I had been there once before with my friend Carlye to check out the food and drink, but do I seem like the kind of guy that turns down an invite for even more food and drink?  Yeah, I didn't think so.

This time around it was a 5-course dinner, each paired with a different Samuel Smith beer.  I've written about Samuel Smith many times, and even added a new one to my 365 in 2011 quest at the Top Of The Hops Festival in Lafayette.  With that in mind, I wasn't expecting anything new in this tasting, but sure enough, the dessert course called for the Samuel Smith Organic Raspberry Ale... well alright alright alright.

After a drink appetizer of a Moylan's Kilt Lifter, their best beer on tap in my opinion, it was time for the real show to begin.  Our appetizer course was a plate of pan-seared crab cakes paired with a Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale... one of their classics.  The crab cakes were topped with a buerre blanc sauce made from the ale, so it paired nicely.

Up next, the salad course... nothing too special here except I enjoyed the fried crawfish tails.  can't really go wrong with those.  It was paired with the Samuel Smith regular lager.

The soup course was up third... a smoked gouda and Taddy Porter soup that was the highlight of the meal for me.  As expected it was paired with the Taddy Porter.

 

For the main course, braised pork shank and Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout, one of their iconic beers.  It has nearly the came complexion as the Taddy Porter, but whereas the porter has more of a smoked flavor the oatmeal stout really retains some nice chocolate tones with a definitively oatmeal flavor.

Up last, the dessert, a chocolate lava cake with fresh raspberries, and the only new beer to me on the menu.  This of course was the Samuel Smith Organic Raspberry Ale.  The guys at the dinner said they were originally planning on going with the strawberry ale, but a few cases of the raspberry came available at the last minute.  Sounds good to me, we get enough strawberry beers down here between Abita and Covington.  The Raspberry Ale was very sweet, almost TOO sweet, but paired well with the chocolate and matching fruit flavors of the dessert.  Not bad, and hit the spot for a little post-meal sweet-tooth.

 And that concluded this dinner... and this blog post.  It was a tasty evening, lots of good food and good beer.  Not the best beer dinner I've ever attended but I certainly left satisfied and I can't ask for much more than that!