Mohawk House and Kane Brewing team up for beer dinner

SPARTA — After a four-year relationship with the brewery, the Mohawk House and Kane Brewing finally teamed up for an event at the restaurant.

“We’ve been working with Kane for a long time,” Mohawk House manager Ricky Soni said. “We were overdue for an event so we wanted to do something special.”

The end result was a four-course beer dinner and tap takeover on Thursday, April 2 — an event which saw Kane’s award-winning lineup of beers uniquely paired with items not normally seen on the Mohawk House menu for the dozens in attendance.

“We wanted to go a bit crazy with the menu and have the beer stand out against these very weird dishes,” Soni said.

The first course paired a peppered African octopus salad with Kane Single Fin, a Belgian-style blonde ale that brewery vice president Glenn Lewis called their “flagship Belgian beer.”

The second course saw Louisiana alligator fritters with charred corn and edamame succotash paired with Kane Galaxy Head High, an intensely hop-driven derivative of their year-round Head High India Pale Ale.

For the entrée, several slices of a bison roast, rubbed with ancho chili powder and espresso, were paired with Kane’s very-limited Port Omna, an American extra stout which celebrates Kane’s Irish heritage.

“Port Omna is big on roast and coffee flavors,” Lewis said, “but it is subtle enough to compliment, not overpower.”

Dessert paired the strongest alcohol beer of the night, Kane Vengeful Heart, with vanilla crème brulée. An American-style barleywine, Lewis says Vengeful Heart is “bolder and bigger” than the English style, and makes sense to serve in a small quantity as an after-dinner drink.

“All of the pairings were unique,” but in a good way,” Lewis said of the overall event. “They’ve done something here I think is very interesting; you look at the menu and it makes sense, but it’s not something you would necessarily think of.”

Mohawk House executive chef Brian Saxton explained some of those unique choices after the event.

“I used the formula for the styles of beer we were pairing with and branched off with some unique tweaks,” he said, addressing the typical beer pairing philosophy of spicy with spicy, fruity with fruity, etc.

“At the same time,” he added, “it was nothing too complicated,” noting that over complication can ruin the pairing completely.

“These dinners are a good time to experiment and see what we can do,” Saxton added.

For information on future beer events, visit www.mohawkhouse.com or stop by the restaurant.