Rock Bottom's Fall Brewer's Dinner

Jerry Sutherlin knows that being a brewer does not a chef make. Or something like that. At downtown Indy's Rock Bottom Brewery, the chief brewer has several beer dinners under his belt. But what's a brewer to do when it comes to cuisine?

Jerry works in the realm of hundreds of gallons, thousands of pounds, and International Bitterness Units. Even so, he seems to revel in the attention a beer dinner brings, then immediately deflect it toward his right-hand man, chef James Myren. He's the man in charge of preparing the right dishes for his beers.

And they must be doing something right. Last year, only 9 people attended the fall brewer’s dinner.  This year, with 53 attendees, they were blown away. The event was held down under where billiards is usually the main attraction. But last night the pool tables were transformed into dinner tables with orangey decorations, plastic leaves… the works. The $35 sticker price was excluding tax and gratuity (about $85 per couple all told).

The first course featured a spiced pumpkin cream soup made with with Pumpkin Ale. The soup was created using pumpkin, red curry, and chicken stock.  It was spicy, tangy, rich, sweet, and a big hit with everyone at our table. Jerry’s Pumpkin ale was made with 80 pounds of pumpkin added to the mash. It’s great on its own and perfect when paired with the soup.

Next up was a Belgian salad… a mesculn/endive salad (no spinach!) with delightful basil vinaigrette dressing served with Farmhouse ale, a spicy wheat beer.  Cask conditioned for nearly 2 months, it was fermented very warm with an infusion of Trafalgar shagbark hickory syrup added at the end. It was fruity and definitely cidery tasting. Apples. Not much carbonation.

We waited anxiously for the main course, Dijon marinated rack of lamb crusted with herb bread crumbs and served atop squash risotto. Almost everyone at our table came because lamb was on the menu (apparently it’s difficult to find lamb on a menu in Indy). It was delicious. Although, if there were a microwave in the room I would have zapped it some. With 53 plates being prepared and served, the beer dinner might best be held closer to the kitchen. Big chunks of squash in the creamy risotto definitely screamed “fall is here, grab a beer!”

The lamb was paired with American IPA, which is nearly indistinguishable from an India IPA (the difference is the North American hops, these coming from the Pacific Northwest). It was copper and clear, very hoppy and somewhere between 7 and 8 percent ABV.

Dessert was stout chocolate crème brulee with casked vanilla stout. The stout featured big whiffs of vanilla on the front and smooth, creamy chocolate flavors on the back.  A crunchy crust on the crème brulee was a perfect topper. All around this was great end to the dinner.

Thanks Rock Bottom! We'll be back.