With craft beer and “farm fresh” food coming from so many unlikely places, you really have to have something extra special to make your paired dinner stand out. Thanks to Beer Director, Mike Berry and Executive Chef, Frank Mayo, Fire Works Pizza in Courthouse continues to do just that. Two beer dinners with Port City Brewing Company and Lost Rhino Brewing Company are being offered Tuesday, January 17, and Wednesday, January 18, both will start at 7 PM. To make a reservation for the dinner send an email to courthouse@fireworkspizza.com or call and reserve your ticket at (703) 527-8700.
For the most recent installment in their beer dinner series, Mike and Frank called in the big (local) guns, Port City Brewing Company and Lost Rhino Brewing Company. Both of these Virginia breweries are truly local, within 30 miles from Fire Works. Local is the prominent theme and it’s a concept embraced by brewer and chef alike.
Chef Mayo has been known to bring in ingredients from his own private garden to add a homegrown touch to dishes made specifically for pairing at these dinners. Likewise, Port City Brewer, Jonathan Reeves, and Port City Owner, Bill Butcher, sourced Maryland Wildflower honey and Virginia wheat for their holiday ale, Tidings. Call it a super wit, call it a mashup of a Grand Cru and a traditional Tripel. Above all else, we at DCbeer.com call Tidings delicious.
While the menu isn’t yet set, another delicious offering that will most definitely be paired is Lost Rhino’s Woody Stout, a 6.8 % ABV foreign export stout. This stout, with its incredibly thick and smooth mouthfeel, is aged in Bourbon barrels from the A. Smith Bowman Distillery in Fredericksburg. If you let this stout warm to room temperature the bourbon notes are undeniable and it transforms from a smooth foreign export stout to a complex, Russian imperial stout-like beer.
While you may already know about Fire Works’ excellent pizzas and happy hours, you should know about their beer dinners. If you’ve yet to get to any of these, GO, EMAIL NOW, this may be the best one to attend. You’re guaranteed one-of-a-kind cuisine created specifically for the beers that will be paired. On top of that you will get a chance to try all of the local one-offs and goodies that would otherwise take a lot of schlepping, from Alexandria to Ashburn, to taste. Come to Arlington and enjoy them all together. See you next week!
