I was thrilled to attend the second of four beer dinners at Untamed Sandwiches. There are still two more beer dinners one on the last Friday of March and April respectively. Each dinner features a different brewery.  Weeks before the dinner the chefs sit down and taste the beers and create a menu based off of the beer. This is one of the more unique ways to do a pairing, having the food match the beverage rather than the other way around.  What you come away with is a meal that is intriguing, creative and, of course, astoundingly delicious.

Untamed Sandwiches and Awesome Brews

The Untamed Sandwiches beer dinner I attended featured Secret Engine Brewing and Rocky Point Artisan Brewers, who made all of the brews that night together.  Secret Engine is a gypsy brewing company, meaning that they don’t have a home base, but for stretches of time will work in a different brewery and create beers with them.  Funny enough the guys from both breweries that I met are both named Mike.  Mike and Mike introduced each course with Untamed co-founder Andy, and they all gave a description and background of the masterpieces in front of us.

Upon arrival we were all handed a glass of the Amber Pils, a non-traditional pilsner brewed more like an ale. I was a huge fan of this beer as it was very drinkable yet still complex, I could drink it all day. Across the three tables were platters of plantain chips seasoned with ghost pepper salt.  If you know peppers you’ll know that the ghost pepper is the hottest pepper on the planet, so needless to say these chips were hot! But the spice didn’t stop us from continually wolfing down the chips until it was time for the first course.

The Menu from the Untamed Sandwiches Beer Dinner

First Course

Beer: Amber Pils

Dish: Pickled White Fish with jalapeño, radishes, coconut, mint and pumpernickel toast

 Second Course

Beer: Cactus Pear Saison

Dish: Grilled Flatbread with crispy goat meat, goat cheese, chermoula and fried carrot tops

Third Course

Beer: Sixty 7

Dish: Chicken Leg Consommé with black trumpet mushrooms, truffles, bitter chocolate, habanero yogurt and beet relish.

Fourth Course

Beer: Dassaftige

Dish: Braised Pork Shoulder with roasted winter squash, pickled green strawberries, crispy Brussels sprout leaves and brown butter.

Dessert

Beer: Belgian Dubbel

Dish: Foie Gras Carrot Cake with fig ice cream and sugared carrots.

Apart from the Amber Pils my other favorite beer of the evening was the Cactus Pear Saison.  This beer had a great taste and a great story. Mike and Mike scoured the shores of Long Island and collected the cactus pears highlighted in this beer by hand. It doesn’t get much more local than that folks.

Some of my favorites off the Untamed Sandwiches Beer Dinner menu were the flat bread and the pork shoulder.  They were both very unexpected dishes that I gobbled up quickly. The pork was so good I could write about it for the rest of this article but I’ll spare you.  What you should gather from this though is that the chefs behind Untamed are super talented guys and their food is no joke, you’ve got to try it out!

As previously mentioned there are two more of these awesome events coming up so follow us on Twitter for the shout out when the tickets for the beer dinners go live!

For more information on Untamed Sandwiches check out their website