Fantasy Beer Dinner

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Rick Sellers started Pacific Brew News in 2005 (website, blog and podcast) and this year his articles started showing up in print. He recently signed on as Beer Director for DRAFT Magazine.

In case you forgot, the questions are: If you could invite four people dead or alive to a beer dinner who would they be? What four beers would you serve?

Four People, Four Beers

Martin Luther: I doubt my manners would be appropriate for the man, but I have so much respect for a man who was willing to stand up and voice a word of dissent in a time where that wasn’t allowed. I see him as one of the great rebels of history, even though I am certain his persona was humble.

Beer: Could you imagine sitting with Martin Luther (and his interpreter) over a traditional doppelbock? I’d love to find out. The style was reportedly developed in his lifetime and I can’t imagine a more appropriate drink even if he didn’t actually get to enjoy this, I still like the idea.

Anthony Bourdain: I don’t have a lot of celebrity heroes, but this guy simply fascinates me. I love his brash approach to the finer things in life, and from what you see of him (the side he lets us see) he is a true hedonist, a lover of pleasure and I can’t help but think an evening with him would include great food and liberal drinking.

Beer: I’d sit his ass down at Russian River and spend as many minutes and beers as needed to convince him his views on beer are skewed and out of line with his passionate pursuit of better food. He seems to like the area, but when it comes to beer he seems to think crap beer is just fine.

Fred Eckhardt: I’ve had one long talk with the man, and another brief conversation ­ what can I say, I love his stories. Beyond the beer, I love hearing him talk about the travels of his youth, including the days of WWII. Yeah, I’d love to hear a first-hand account in the evolution of the American Craft Beer scene, and who better to walk me through that than the great Fred?

Beer: Hair of the Dog’s Fred? But of course! Legend has it that Fred was named after the beer, but I was able to clarify this with Alan (owner and brewer at HotDog) and he says no, it was actually the beer that was named after the man. I’ll have to let Snopes know.

Douglas Coupland or Christopher Moore: I know, cheating! Both of these men wrote books that brought a passion for reading that hasn’t faded away, and even inspired me to write on my own. They both have quirky styles and a warped world view I appreciate ­I only hope they’re as quirky in person as they are in their works.

Beer: 2004 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, a beer that’s great for encouraging slow, casual drinking and long conversations. Besides, I think Moore may have some great and interesting tales to spin about the elusive creature of the woods.

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Lisa Morrison (a.k.a the Beer Goddess) is the Oregon Correspondent for Celebrator Beer News and a frequent contributor to several other publications. She was honored with a Brewers Association Journalism Award in 2004. She also teaches SudSisters, a beer appreciation class for women in and around Portland.

In case you forgot, the questions are: If you could invite four people dead or alive to a beer dinner who would they be? What four beers would you serve?

My maternal grandmother, Norma, because she liked kicking back with a beer or two, and she was a foodie before there even was a name for it. I think she’d get a kick out of a beer dinner.

Michael Jackson, because we still had much to learn from him. And because I was not yet ready to say goodbye.

Musician/poet/activist Bruce Cockburn. I’ve admired his musicianship and writing since I was a teen. I don’t think he’s much on beer, but I bet we could convert him throughout the course of the dinner. Bonus points if he brought his guitar along.

My husband, Mark Campbell, because I can’t imagine doing anything this cool and not have him there to share it with me. I think he and Granny would’ve gotten along like gangbusters.

The beers

Duchesse du Bourgogne – one of my all-time favorite beers. I think Granny would appreciate how nicely it pairs with everything from steak to cheesecake.

Hair of the Dog Fred, a Portland-brewed favorite. If I had five seats, I’d have invited Fred Eckhardt, but I will serve the eponymous beer instead.

Laurelwood Deranger Imperial Red Ale, another hometown choice. I stalked this down for The Beer Hunter when I offered to get him a beer and he requested “something hoppy and American.” He loved. So do I.

Great Divide Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial Stout, in honor of our Samoyed puppy named Yeti. She’s not oak-aged, but she does sometimes think she’s royalty.

For more about what this series is part of look here.

Andrew Mason assists Matt Van Wyk with brewing at Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery in Illinois, the 2006 GABF Small Brewpub of the Year. He also makes the Flossmoor blog one of the most interesting maintained by a brewery.

In case you forgot, the questions are: If you could invite four people dead or alive to a beer dinner who would they be? What four beers would you serve?

1) Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716)
-paraphrased from Wikipedia-
A truly fascinating character from the Enlightenment. It would be nearly impossible to explain everything that he accomplished in his lifetime in this exercise, but here are a few. Discovered Calculus independently of Newton, was a Natural Philosopher, Discovered the Binary System, which is the basis for almost all of modern day computing, and was a contributor to Philosophy and the Technology of his day.
I got interested in him from Neil Stephenson’s Baroque Trilogy where Leibniz plays a major role interacting with his fictionalized characters from that time. If his fictionalized personality was anything at all like his real one he would be a blast to share a few beers with.

2) Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Another dead German but another one that I hold in high regard. I’m Lutheran, born and raised, and although we don’t worship Martin Luther, we do learn a lot about his life along the way. I’ve always thought the very human part of his life was very interesting apart from Reforming the Christian church, founding Protestantism, translating the Bible into the common language of the people, and writing extensively. He had a fiery personality and appreciated worldly things in addition to heavenly.

3) Mike Royko (1932-1997)
One of the quintessential Chicago figures of the last century. Royko was and history may show, the best columnist Chicago has ever seen or will see. Here are a few excerpts from Mike Royko, One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko published by University of Chicago Press. Royko wrote about the everyman and always played it straight. From Slate magazine, Jacob Weisberg says,

“Reading [his works] in the new posthumous selection, One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko, I found myself wondering: Why doesn’t anyone write a newspaper column this good anymore? Royko wasn’t quite a Twain, or a Mencken, but his writing was distinctive and memorable and in its time the closest thing to lasting literature in a daily paper. Royko could make you laugh and make you think, stir outrage at a heartless bureaucrat, or bring a tear to the eye when he flashed a glimpse of the heart hidden beneath his hard shell.

Royko would be great to have a beer with. In fact, if this was the ultimate fantasy beer dinner it would be at one of Royko’s old haunts, the original Billy Goat Tavern under Michigan Avenue. You know it even if you haven’t been there. Cheezborger Cheezborger Cheezborger.

4) David Bowie
The only living member of the dinner apart from myself. Does Bowie really need an explanation?

The beers

One would definitely be a Bamberger style rauch beer. I’m deliberately not picking a specific one because nearly any beer from Bamberg is perfect. I love rauch beers. Some of my favorite beer memories are walking around in Bamberg after a morning tour of the Weyermann Malt House, eating lunch, drinking beers, and discovering the city with my family.

The next would be a Kreuzberg Kloster beer from the area of Germany known as the Rhön. One of my first real German beers was their Dunkel, drunk out of a cold ceramic stein. But we weren’t able to drink the beer until we first climbed up the huge hill that the monastery sits upon, walked along the whole tour of the stations of the cross, looked at the enormous crosses on top of the hill (kreuz = cross burg = hill or small mountain) and walked back down the hill to the monastery where the beer is. And it was great beer.

A sour belgian-style ale
Something drinkable, but still assertively sour, acidic, and tart. Could be authentically Belgian or it could be an American interpretation.

Ol’ Woody
And I realize I don’t necessarily make the best beers in the world, but I sure as hell love drinking what I make. Ol’ Woody is a 100% Amarillo IPA that we make that is barrel aged in a used bourbon barrel and then dry hopped once it is pulled out. You have to serve at least one of your own beers at a fantasy beer dinner.

And although you didn’t specifically ask, and I already mentioned the Billy Goat, we would definitely be eating bbq. I have a passion for bbq that has drawn me all over the US seeking it out. There would be a mix of Texas brisket, North Carolina pulled pork, Memphis ribs, and some Kansas City sauce to go with it.