Name: Pinthouse Pizza
Location: Austin, TX
Website: http://pinthousepizza.com/
Type: Brewpub
Available in DC Market: No
What you need to know: Created by five Austin locals, Pinthouse Pizza has a commitment to local sourcing, sustainability, and organic materials. They brew a wide variety of beer styles, including a White Russian Imperial Stout, perfect for all you Dudes out there.
Beer #1: Calma Muerta (India pale ale / 4.8%)
In Their Own Words: "The term “session,” in regards to brewing, originated in England, where one would often say they were going to a pub for a “drinking session” with their mates. American craft brewers have begun to brew hoppier versions of these Sessionable Ales, paralleling the IPA but with lower abv and bitterness, thereby creating the session IPA. Features: fruit forward hop profile in the nose provides citrus, grapefruit, and bright lemon notes that blend together, creating complex aromatics. The bright fruit from the hops carries through the taste and finishes clean and dry with a soft grain characteristic."
Food Pairing: Tiny Brussels sprout cups filled with apple and sprout slaw tossed with a miso dressing and garnished with cashew.
Our Thoughts: The synergy here is really between the miso and cashew and the malt of the beer and the apple and hops. Hopefully the sprout cups are somewhat crispy to provide for some variation in texture as well.
Beer #2: Nitro Jaguar Shark (Imperial dry Irish stout / 10.7%)
In Their Own Words: Here are the notes on the Jaguar Shark: "The Jaguar Shark starts out life as The Admiral – Imperial Dry Irish Stout but is quickly sequestered into bourbon barrels for aging, yielding an amazingly complex beer. Features: a hint of bourbon on the nose, a little heat from the higher ABV, and the coffee and chocolate components from The Admiral combined with subtle hints of oak and vanilla for the barrels." and then on the nitro version: "We set aside a little of each batch of the Jaguar Shark to nitrogenate, producing a beer with a thick and creamy mouth feel yet all of the bite and complexity of the Jaguar Shark. Delicious!"
Food Pairing: Oven roasted mushrooms stuffed with a mixture of broccoli rabe, pancetta, mushrooms and shallot.
Our Thoughts: This beer is notable for a few reasons. First, you rarely see imperial Irish stouts, the drier cousin of the bolder Russian imperial stout. Second, this will be one of precious few nitrogenated beers at this year's SAVOR (Left Hand Milk Stout being the possible exception). This beer is intriguing as it will be interesting to see how the dryness of the style persists in an imperial version. With that said, I don't love this pairing. For a non-barrel aged version, this would be perfect because the earthiness of the mushrooms and broccoli rabe would coincide nicely with the stout. With the sweetness, oak, and vanilla of a bourbon barrel in there, I think the aforementioned notes will clash a bit with the bitterness of broccoli rabe and the meaty pancetta. Definitely worth a try for the beer itself, and who knows, the pairing might work, what do I know?
This profile is a part of the DCBeer.com SAVOR Brewery Profile series. For more information, follow the link to see profiles of all 2014 SAVOR participants.
