BJ's Allen Beer/Food Pairing Event

[jmarr]

The BJ’s in Allen has had two food/beer pairing events so far. I have attended both. The first featured their beers and the second Sierra Nevada Brewery. For a flat fee of $30 pp. they serve a 4-5 course meal with a beer with each + 1-2 more beers inserted at various places. The food is excellent and the beer very good. Basically you can have all the beer you want but you have to be able to get up and drive home, so there is a practical limit. The knowledge levels of the host varies. The BJ guy did not know much about beer, but the SN guy knew a lot and specifics about their lineup. He was not a brewer, but a marketing guy. I still picked up some good tidbits from him. While this is not a hard core learning event it has been fun each time and well worth the cost. It could be attractive to those with non-brewing spouses. They typically happen on Mon or Tues night. The next one will be in May and will feature Pyramid and Magic Hat Breweries.

It is a good idea to pre-register since they have to be prepared. I will make another post when i get the exact date.

[egens]

Melissa and I have been to a couple of these at other BJ's. Glad to hear they've had some up in Allen, too. The two we went to had Micheal "Mufasa" Fergueson (he does the contract brewing for BJ's at Saint Arnold's.) He was quite knowledgable, and funny. Of course, as you said, the audience is mostly non brewers, so technical presentation. The Pyramid, Magic Hat event sounds really great.

[jmarr]

It looks like it is on. May 21, Mon, at 7 PM. I believe the cost will be the same as in the past $30 a head. You can call 972-678-4050, option 5 for reservations or get more info.

I hope I see you there.

[jmarr]

We went to this on Mon. The food was good, but the beer line up was less than spectacular. With two breweries Magic Hat and Pyramid you would expect more variety and quality. The highlights of the night was the new full time offering from BJ's own line up "HopStorm -IPA". It is a nice balance IPA, just a bit more of extra hoppiness than the Piranha PA. It was a hit with 3 of the 4 people at our table. The 4th only like German beers. The only other interesting beer was the Pyramid Outburst Imperial IPA. At 8.5% and 80 IBUs it would have fared better if served later in the meal. While this event was a bit of a disappointment, I still enjoy them.

According to the asst Mgr the next even wont be until Sep. It will be an Oktoberfest theme with Celebrator, Weihenstephan, and Sam Adams Oktoberfest already mentioned in the line up.