In the last two weeks there have been four beer dinners on Long Island. In fact, there have been so many beer events lately that it's been difficult to choose which to go to since many of them are scheduled on the same night. The Thursday before I flew down to Houston (see yesterday's post) I went to a beer dinner at Southampton Publick House. If you want the story about that little trip, you can listen to episode 90 of my podcast. At that beer dinner I picked up a bottle of Southampton's May Bock which Rich (my host) and I tasted on this week's podcast episode.

Speaking of this week's episode Rich and I give you a recap of the beer dinner that he and I hosted together with our beer judge and brewing friend Mike at Deks in Rocky Point, New York. We had five beers and five courses. Dean and Kevin (the owners of Deks) came up with the menu, then Mike and I suggested the beer pairings. With the scallops wrapped with bacon we paired Allagash White. Next we paired the cheese quesadillas with Chimay Cing Cent. For the salmon wrapped in phyllo dough we had Flying Dog's Old Scratch. We paired Einbecker Mai-Urbock with pickled shrimp with a Thai sauce glaze. We finished the evening with chocolate mousse on espresso infused lady fingers paired with Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout (easily the best combination of the evening).

Of course, being beer geeks, Mike and I gave everyone the story behind the beer while they sampled and tasted. Mixing a good time with a little bit of information makes for an entertaining evening and it also spreads the good news about the great beers that are out there.

We declared the evening a success and it looks like this was the first of many beer dinners that we will be hosting in restaurants all around Long Island.