DioNicEss X charity beer pairing dinner, June 10th, at Beachwood BBQ Brewing

“DioNicEss X” charity beer pairing dinner @ Beachwood BBQ & Brewing (6/10)

Long Beach, CA | May 15, 2012 — Tickets are selling quickly for the tenth installment of the famed “DioNicEss” food & drink pairing series, which is coming to Long Beach’s celebrated Beachwood BBQ & Brewing on June 10. To immortalize this milestone, the theme of this dinner has been dubbed “DioNicEss X: Coming of Age,” not only as a reflective look at the progression of the previous nine events, but also a play on the fact that every course, as well as each beer paired with it, will have undergone some sort of careful aging.

DioNicEss X: Coming Of Age | Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, 210 E 3rd St, Long Beach

Sunday, June 10 | 5pm | $80 per person, tickets must be purchased in advance at http://bit.ly/DioNicEssX ALL proceeds benefit the Real Medicine Foundation.

On deck for the evening:

• 5 aged foods paired with 5 aged beers — This menu is NOT for the squeamish. “We’re dealing with multiple types of preservation here,” says Executive Chef Gabe Gordon. “Pickling, salt curing, air-drying, fermenting, alkaline curing, smoking, barrel-aging, canning… you name it, we’re doing it. And some of these flavors and textures are going to be way the hell out there; I just want to be on record as having warned people about that ahead of time.”

  • Dishes will include house-made charcuterie, dry-aged rib eye, and several… shall we say… "adventurous" Asian preparations.

  • Chef Gabe not only made a ridiculously good hot sauce for this event, he went ahead and aged it in a Heaven Hill bourbon barrel, which lends untold complexity and delicious vanilla overtones. And besides being used in the dinner, guests will also be treated to a complimentary bottle to take home with them. Win.

• Brewmaster Julian Shrago (recent Gold Medal winner at the World Beer Cup!) is creating a special beer called “System Of A Stout” specifically for this event. This limited, draft-only release is an imperial stout brewed with coffee beans (custom-roasted by Portola Coffee Lab to Julian’s specifications!), green cardamom pods, and blackstrap molasses, evoking the flavors of traditional Armenian coffee. In keeping with the event theme, the finished brew will then be aged on oak chips that have been soaked in 25-year-old Armenian brandy, adding even more layers of epic.

  • This beer is a beast! Preliminary checks on the alcohol percentage show it clocking in at over 11% abv. One member of the tasting panel (tough job!) called it “extraordinarily complex and crazy tasty,” adding in that its color is “as dark as my ex’s soul.”

  • Special rare and vintage offerings are also being sourced from The Bruery, Stone Brewing Co., and TAPS Fish House & Brewery, among others.

  • Dave “The Gueuzehound” Watrous has a special barrel-aged beer cocktail up his sleeve that incorporates sherry and Miracle Mile Sour Cherry Bitters.

More details surrounding this glorious evening and teasers for the menu will be posted to the DioNicEss Facebook page and @DioNicEss Twitter account as the event draws nearer.

Additional kegs of System Of A Stout will be sent to a very small number of better beer bars in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties, each of which has committed to donating $2 per pint poured to the Real Medicine Foundation. Once the final list of participating locations is finalized, it will be announced via the aforementioned social media channels.

Media & general event inquiries can be directed to: dionicessgigs@gmail.com