We had a great time last night at the Bryson dinner at Northside. We met up with our friends David and Kathy, who we hadn’t seen since before the wedding. They’re great people to have a few beers with, it was nice to catch up.
The dinner was great. Started off with some potato chips made at the restaurant and some sort of cabbage dip, then we had a wonderful cheese plate, then steamed vegetables with some bratwurst, then an open-faced freshly smoked ham sandwich with gouda and a side of scalloped potatoes (I ate about half the sandwich, not really into ham…). For dessert we were treated to a scoop of chocolate sorbet made with a chocolate stout and a kind of spice cake – yum! And the beers? According to Lew’s site they were:
Anchor Bock
Zum Uerige Classic Alt
Penn Marzen
Troegs Sunshine Pils
Victory Donnybrook Stout
Stegmaier Brewhouse Bock
They were all light beers, which is not at all what I’m used to drinking (I like big beers!) but I was surprised with how much I enjoyed these. The exception perhaps was the pils, but I don’t generally enjoy pils, this one wasn’t too bad though. They also served them in wine glasses, so the portions were smaller than the typical pints.
Even better, Lew himself introduced all the beers, standing in up in front of everyone and explaining things about them. Throughout the meal he also went around to all the tables to sit and talk with everyone which was quite a treat. We got him to sign our copy of Pennsylvania Breweries and got a picture with him.
And Kathy and David got their picture taken with Lew too!
There are going to be three more Lew Bryson beer dinners up at Ortinos this year so I’ll be keeping up with their schedule and we’ll send out “beer mails” accordingly.