Battle of the Brewers, an event series that St. Petersburg’s Urban Brew and BBQ kicked off on Jan. 10, is more delicious than hardcore competitive. But those who attended the 16-brewery tournament’s second round, held at Urban Deli and Drafts earlier this week, didn’t seem to mind.
At the end of the battle between Clearwater’s Pair O’ Dice Brewing Company and Sarasota-based Big Top Brewing Company, deli guests were quick to share their thoughts on the food when Urban Restaurants Group founder Andy Salyards asked for feedback.
“That crostini bread was really good,” one person said.
“Keep that thing comin’,” replied another about the second course. “I’ll make a trip.”
Here’s how one of these shindigs works:
Every round of the tournament functions as a limited-seating craft beer dinner, where two local breweries are asked to blindly pair one of their suds with an Urban dish, and diners are in charge of selecting the beer that matches best with each course. Four plates are served throughout the meal, meaning guests get treated to eight half-pours of beer in total — two at a time. Once all the courses have been served, guests’ score cards are collected and tallied up to crown a winner.
As CL learned during the Big Top vs. Pair O’ Dice dinner on Tuesday night, sometimes you know what beer you’re getting, and other times you don’t. The brews aren’t a full-on secret because “logistically it’s just tough to do,” according to Salyards. However, choosing the best pairing — Beer 1 or Beer 2 — is all the more fun when you don’t know which brewery made what. So just sit back, enjoy and try not to peek, or overindulge — there’s a lot to taste.
“When I tasted the appetizer, I got a lot of the candied bacon, the sweetness, so I decided to pair it with Hot Bet Red because it’s got a very nice, hop-forward characteristic to it. But it finishes with that caramel malt, so it has that little bit of sweetness at the end,” Pair O’ Dice’s Renee Hurney Teckman said of her first pairing.
“I picked the IPA because it’s an English-style IPA,” according to Josh Wilson of Big Top, who said his pork loin pairing complements the carmelization on top of the meat as well as the carmelization in the balsamic. "It’s hop-forward but not hop-forever."
This food editor and her dining mate enjoyed the second course of straight-up-addictive Monte Cristo sandwich bites (paired with Trapeze Monk and Clearwater Honey Cream) and a decadent banana bread sundae with Urban Creamery ice cream (Decklin’s Indulgence and Hobo’s Delight), showcased for dessert, the most. I mean, just look at that sandwich.
With the stakes extra high — the brewery representatives would’ve had a chug-off if a tiebreaker was in order — the diners chose Big Top as the evening’s victorious brewery. Now, Big Top is set to face off against Tampa’s Hidden Springs Ale Works, which beat out Coppertail Brewing Co. during the first battle, in May.
In addition to stirring up some friendly competition, Battle of the Brewers, as with the Urban Group’s other dinner events, allows the mini restaurant empire to get creative and test out new dishes that could end up on the menu.
The one guest to the left of me said it best:
“Keep that thing comin’.”
The next Battle of the Brewers is scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 7 at Urban Brew and BBQ, where Bradenton’s Motorworks Brewing and Darwin Brewing Co. will compete. Tournament dinners take place every two weeks through August, alternating between Urban Brew and BBQ and Urban Deli and Drafts in the Grand Central District.
This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 2, 2017.
