DRP welcomes Heavy Seas, with 5-course dinner

Del Ray Pizzeria presents 

A 5-course beer dinner 

featuring the menu of
Chef Eric Reid 

& the beers of
Heavy Seas Brewing, 
of Baltimore, Maryland. 

General Manager Sean Snyder welcomed the 25 guests to the restaurant's new upstairs private dining room. Co-hosting was Spencer Hannas, the newly-minted local representative for Heavy Seas, and Stephen Marsh, the brewery's cask cellarmaster. Photos and commentary added after the dinner.

• 1st COURSE 
  Kartoffelsuppe (Potato Soup) & Leberwurst
  
  Served with Heavy Seas
  Red Sky at Night Saison,
  on draught (7.5% abv, vintage 2011)
  
  
  
• 2nd COURSE 
  Spätzle and Mushrooms
  
  Served with a freshly tapped firkin of The Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale (8.5% abv)
  Reid and Snyder collaborated with Heavy Seas' cellarmaster Stephen Marsh to fill a cask of Great Pumpkin, adding smoked vanilla beans, fish peppers, Chipotle peppers, and molasses.
  
  Some of those herbs and vegetables, such as the fish peppers, had been grown on Marsh's own 2,00 square food garden in Maryland. Fish peppers have an interesting provenance. According to Mother Earth News:

  The ‘Fish’ peppers came from Baltimore, where they had been employed by African-American caterers to make white paprika for the cream sauces then popular with fish and shellfish cookery. In terms of heat, they are like cayenne, but are more mellow when cooked. The white pods were also used in soups where red peppers would have created a muddied appearance. These peppers had been in use since the 19th century, one of those secret heirloom ingredients that never showed up in cookbooks. They were simply part of oral tradition.




• 3rd COURSE
  Box Roasted Suckling Pig
  Sauerkraut and Warm Potato Salad
  
  Served with Heavy Seas Winter Storm Imperial ESB (7.5% abv)
  This will be the 2012 release for the brewery's award-winning annual winter beer.

• 4th COURSE 
  Veal Cordon Bleu
  Steamed White Asparagus
  
  Served With Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3 American IPA (7.25% abv), on draught.
  
  
  

• DESSERT COURSE 
  Crumb Cake
  made with brown sugar and a touch of cayenne, finished with apple slices
  
  Served with Heavy Seas Below Decks Barleywine, on draught (10% abv, vintage 2011)

***************

• Del Ray Pizzeria
  2218 Mount Vernon Avenue,
  Alexandria, VA 22301
  (703) 549-2999
  http://delraypizzeria.com/
  Tuesday, 2 October, 7 pm
  Tickets: $59.00, via PayPal
• More photos: here.
• Caveat lector: As a representative for Select Wines, Inc. —a wine and beer wholesaler in northern Virgina— I sell the beers of Heavy Seas Brewing.