Fort George & Finnriver "Beer.Cider.Love." at The Brooklyn House Restaurant

Get ready for Valentines Day a few days early when Fort George Brewery teams up with Finnriver Farm & Cidery for Beer.Cider.Love. Now in it’s second year, Beer.Cider.Love. will take place at 6:00pm on Thursday, February 12, 2015 at The Brooklyn House Restaurant in Southeast Portland.

Beer.Cider.Love. dinner guests are invited to relax and enjoy an exquisite dining experience, sharing their evening with a couple whose passion for the craft beverage industry is contagious. Five locally sourced courses will be served and paired with Finnriver cider and Fort George beer.  The $65 ticket cost includes full meal, craft beverages and gratuity. Limited seating is available so reserve your ticket in advance with a credit card by calling the Brooklyn House at 503-236-6761.

Delight in the delectable bounty of Cascadia’s rich culture of craft beer, artisanal cider and field-to-fork fare. Tim Ensign of Fort George Brewery and Jana Daisy-Ensign of Finnriver Farm & Cidery are honored to represent two of the regions finest craft beverage producers and be hosted at The Brooklyn House Restaurant for the second annual Beer.Cider.Love.

DINNER MENU:

1st  Course
Jacobs Creamery Washington Cheese Plate w/ Oregon fruit & honey

• Featuring Highgrove Farm, Seaview Cranberries & Chicken Scratch Farm, OR
• Paired with Finnriver Artisan Champagne Style Cider & Raspberry Brandywine, WA

Finnriver Artisan: Crafted using the traditional, labor-intensive méthode champenoise, this bright, naturally carbonated brut champagne-style cider offers an effervescent apple bouquet, tart elements of the orchard, and a crisp, clean finish. To make this cider, Finnriver cidermakers learned old world methods of secondary fermentation that require daily hand turning of each bottle on wooden riddling racks and then disgorging residual yeast sediment one bottle at a time. This ‘slow cider’ results in golden clarity and enduring bubbles in every glass.  A unique alternative to champagne that features Washington organic dessert apples at their most sparkling! (8% abv)

Finnriver Raspberry Brandywine: Finnriver believes there is an alchemy to making a fine fermented drink. Sun, rain and soil work earthly magic to produce fruits full of possibilities. For Finnriver’s limited release Raspberry Brandywine, organic whole fruit raspberries from Sakuma Brothers in Washington were fermented into a light wine. Finnriver’s custom-distilled apple brandy was then added, so the whole raspberries have been soaking in brandy since harvest last summer.  The berries will be taken out, pressed and sweetened to taste before bottling in time for Valentine’s Day. (18.5% abv)

2nd Course
Dry Roasted Oregon Kale Salad

• Featuring DeNoble Farm, OR
• Paired with Fort George Quick Wit Belgianesque, OR

Fort George Quick Wit: A Belgian Style ale that’s very pale and cloudy in appearance due to it being unfiltered and its high level of wheat. Wit beer is traditionally brewed with coriander and orange zest. Fort George’s uses organic pale and wheat malts, ground coriander, organic lemongrass (to impart a citrus character) and wild-crafted elderflower. There is no bitterness evident in this beer whatsoever, which gives your palate room to explore the smooth wheat malt and tantalizingly exotic spices that will quietly entertain your thirst. (5.2% abv)

3rd Course
Washington White Bean Soup w/ Oregon Root Veggies & Heritage Pork

• Featuring DeNoble Farm, Goat Mountain Pastured Meats & Gee Creek Farm, OR
• Paired with Fort George Vortex IPA

Fort George Vortex: India Pale Ales were designed to withstand the long voyage from England to India. Today, it seems one has to design the IPA strong and hoppy enough to make the trip back as well. Vortex IPA is Fort George’s contribution to the IPA arms race. Generous additions of Amarillo, Simcoe and Centennial hops throughout the brewing, fermentation and conditioning phases are balanced with heaps of organic pale malt  It is not designed to rip the taste buds off your tongue, but rather to vigorously stimulate them into a lupulin-ecstasy of pleasure.  During the cross-country truck trip the brewery made to find its home in Astoria, the fermenters and tanks were nearly scattered to the cornfields of Nebraska by a tornado. The brewers hope some of nature’s intensity is captured in every pint. (7.7% abv)

4th Course
Oregon Beef Ribs, Parsnip Puree & Leek~Fennel Sauté

• Featuring DeNoble Farm & Carman Ranch, OR
• Paired with Finnriver Fire Barrel Bourbon Barrel Aged Cider

Finnriver Fire Barrel: Finnriver is honored to carry on the tradition of master cidermaker Drew Zimmerman’s award-winning Fire Barrel cider.  Pressed from traditional bittersweet apples and aged in fire charred Kentucky bourbon and rye whiskey barrels, this full-flavored cider offers a hint of whiskey, oak aroma, notes of caramel and vanilla, a lingering soft tannin finish. Drew’s passion for cider helped ignite the cider renaissance in the Pacific Northwest and now Finnriver is grateful for his mentorship as we strive to carry on a rooted cider tradition. (6.5% abv)

5th Course
Chocolate Torte with Oregon Peach Preserves & Whipped Vanilla Cream

• Featuring Holy Kakow & Sauvie Island Farm, OR
• Paired with Fort George Cavatica Stout & a float of Finnriver Cacao Brandywine

Fort George Cavatica Stout: An immense, bold, black as night, American stout beauty; Cavatica is no dry Irish anything.  One sip and you’ll surely take notice of what you’re drinking. The name honors the brewer’s affinity with arachnia. Be forewarned, this beer will stain your clothes. This is Fort George’s house stout that has gained a reputation for being mighty and contagious among the locals. (8.8% abv)

Finnriver’s Cacao Wine with Apple Brandy: A tribute to two things Finnriver loves well– tree fruit and chocolate!  The pear wine provides the smooth subtle understory; the cacao provides the bittersweet, chocolatey intensity; and the apple brandy gives it a romantic heat! This wine is a collaboration with Theo Chocolate, an organic fair-trade company in Seattle that makes amazing chocolate bars, and the cacao in the wine is single-sourced from their fair-trade Congolese cacao farms. (18.5% abv)

At the end of the day, none of these businesses could be what they are if it were not for the Pacific Northwest farmers and artisans who are the real stars of this show.

DeNoble’s Farm Fresh Produce
Gee Creek Farm
Seaview Cranberries
Sauvie Island Farm
Holy Kakow Chocolate
Goat Mountain Pastured Meats
Chicken Scratch Farm
Highgrove Farm
Carman Ranch

The Brooklyn House
3131 Southeast 12th Avenue
Portland, OR 97202