Billed as the Smackdown in Grapetown, a “bottle royale of beer versus wine,” the reputations of both Niagara’s 13th Winery and Toronto’s Mill Street Brewery were on the line, at least for one glorious summer night.
Ontario food truck pioneer El Gastronomo Vagbundo would prepare their Thai-inspired street food while Amaya was the other food combatant cooking up its Indian-inspired restaurant food.
The dishes were matched to 13th Street wines and Mill Street’s craft beers. Winners were declared in three categories: Best Dish, Best Drink and Best Pairing. The people would decide this smackdown by voting with their mouths.
It was such a perfect evening at 13th Street’s lush garden setting as dusk set in. Diners had staked their claim around the winery wherever they could find an empty spot whether it was on the winery’s comfortable back porch, around the fire pit surrounded by art installations or just standing around the many empty wine barrels.
But mostly they stood in line waiting for fresh-cooked fare from El Gastro or Amaya and then seeking out the suggested wine-beer pairing.
It was a feast, a glorious feast of spicy Asian-Indian food washed down with plenty of tasty beer and wine.
Thirteenth Street’s resident sommelier Peter Bodnar Rod and Mill Street brewmaster Joel Manning have conducted this “poetry of winemaking versus the science of brewing” before but results always differ.
From my point of view, a wine guy, it was a chance to appreciate the pairing of good craft beer with food. I don’t often think to match the two, primarily because I don’t know a lot about beer. There is a great article here in Epicurious explaining why beer just might be easier, and certainly more versatile, to match with food than wine. Essentially, beer has far more variations. While wine has primarily one ingredient (grapes, two if you count oak) with beer it’s really unlimited (barley, hops, yeast, spices, nuts, chocolate, fruits, and vegetables).
There are very few rules for making beer and brewmasters are riding a wave of popularity right now, throwing everything but the kitchen sink into their recipes as the craft beer movement is more than willing to try anything at least once.
So, was the event stacked in favour of Mill Street for this Smackdown?
Not if you listen to the people who voted for their favourites. Here’s what they liked:
• Best dish went to El Gastro’s seared scallop, twice-cooked pork belly.
• Best beverage went to 13th Street June’s Vineyard Riesling 2011.
• Best pairing was a tie between El Gastro’s smoked chicken tostada paired with June’s Riesling and the seared scallop and pork belly from El Gastro with 13th Street White Palette 2011.
On this night, wine bested beer and Asian-inspired food bested Indian-inspired food.
I only partially agreed with the results and understand why Amaya had its challenges.
The Indian dishes all contained high heat from the spices. Some of the beers worked well, but more as an extinguisher than perfect pairing. I loved the dishes, the fish taco was fantastic and was paired brilliantly with the Riesling and lemon tea beer.
But for me, the bomb was El Gastro’s seared scallop and pork belly with Mill Street’s Lemon Tea Beer. It was one of the first matchups I tried and couldn’t get the flavours out of my mind. It was perfect, for my palate, both from a flavour point of view and texturally with the coconut tapioca. The wine pairing would have done better with June’s Riesling rather than the White Palette.
I also enjoyed the Amaya Indian chicken tikka masala with the bold and flavourful 13th Street Red Palette 2011. The acidity and ripe red fruits cut through the spices nicely and added a new dimension to the dish.
I also loved the Amaya jackfruit biryani as a single dish but nothing, beer or wine, would ever pair up to the extreme heat of the spices in that dish.
It was a wonderful experiment and I’m happy to see beer and wine people getting along so well. I don’t know where or when there will be another Smackdown, but you are well advised to take in the next event. It’s a wakeup call for all of us wine folks who merrily go through life pretending nothing beats the marriage of food and wine.
Here are the rest of the pairings served at the Smackdown in Grapetown:
Amaya Indian
Cheeseburger Samosa (curry puff with fresh brisket, garam masala served with spicy tomato chutney) served with 13th Street Pink Palette Rose 2011 and Mill Street Tankhouse Ale. A tough pairing, but the beer worked better for me.
Spicy Fish Taco (crispy fish marinated with green chili, pickled red onion, arugula, radish, kachumber raita in whole wheat chapati) served with 13th Street Junes Vineyard Riesling 2011 and Mill Street Lemon Tea Beer. Fantastic dish and both the Riesling and lemon tea beer paired nicely with it.
Chicken Tikka Masala (cooked on site in a tandoor oven) on fresh garlic naan topped with cilantro chutney paired with 13th Street Red Palette 2011 and Mill Street Tanhouse Ale. As mentioned above, the Red Palette with this was delicious.
Jackfruit Biryani topped with korma sauce and raita paired with 13th Street White Palette 2011 and Mill Street Belgian Wit. Extreme heat, nice dish on its own.
Cold Rasmalai (cold cheese dumpling in condensed milk) garnished with saffron and pistachio paired with 13th Street 13 Degrees Below Zero Riesling and Mill Street Frambozen. OK, but not perfect with either the wine or beer.
El Gastronomo Vagabundo
Seared scallop, twice-cooked pork belly, chili caramel, coconut tapioca, kaffir lime, Thai basil, crispy shallots, crispy garlic paired with 13th Street White Palette 2011 and Mill Street Lemon Tea Beer. Best pairing of the night (in my opinion) with the lemon tea beer (since I can’t bring El Gastro home to cook for me, at least I made a beeline to Vintages the next day to pick up some of that beer … so good).
Smoked chicken tostada, avocado, candied jalapeno, green papaya salad paired with 13th Street Junes Vineyard Riesling 2011 and Mill Street Hellesbock. Voted (a tie) best pairing with the Riesling, I thought the Hellesbock was a pretty hot match as well.
Crispy tofu, rice noodles, Asian herbs, chili caramel, roasted peanuts (Vegan and gluten free) paired with 13th Street Red Palette 2011 and Mill Street Barrel Yard Brown Ale. I am not a tofu guy, but it got a lot better with both the Red Palette and brown ale.
Banana fritter, coconut ice cream paired with 13th Street 13 Degrees Below Zero Riesling and Mill Street Ambre de la Chaudiere biere de garde. Simply ran out of time and didn’t get to try this pairing. I’m blaming the late-arrival wedding party that swarmed the El Gastro truck for a late run on the banana fritters.
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