Maproom: Hot Doug's and Belgian Beer

On Monday August 28th, the Maproom is hosting a 6 course Hot Doug's dinner where each sausage course is paired with a different Belgian style beer from the Unibroue Brewery. Doug has worked with the brewery to craft special sausages for each beer and both he and a brewery rep will be present to say a few words about it.

It's at 6:30 and costs a mere $25!!!!

See detatils at http://www.maproom.com/events.htm

IF you go there in the next week to buy tickets, I highly reccommend getting a pint of the Schenklerla Rauchbier that they currently have on draft. It is a classic German smoked beer where some of the malts are placed on a screen above beechwood log fire and smoked (much in the way done for Scotches from the Islay region).

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I just got my tickets today. I don't think words can accurately relay my excitement.

And, while having a Schenklerla on tap was tempting, I opted for the cask Jolly Pumpkin Luciérnaga, a very nice grand cru-esque brew.

Just stopped by to find out that tickets are sold out.

schenked wrote:I just got my tickets today. I don't think words can accurately relay my excitement.

No kidding! I've never looked forward to a Monday so much!!!

Hot Doug's? Unibroue? SOLD OUT?????

DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN!!!!!

It was nice to meet a few other LTHers last night!

I think the event was quite nice! Some pairings worked better than others, but everything was quality.

My favorite all around sausage was the Brown Ale Buffalo Sausage with Blanche de Chambly mustard and Swiss cheese which had a nice gamey taste and seasoning (maybe some cumin and allspice?).

I think they offered the Buffalo with the Blanche de Chambly because of the mustard, but it easily could have been complemented by a darker or stronger beer or the Raftman, a smoked Unibroue beer that they stopped bringing into the US a few years ago. If you have a chance to try it in Canada, it is a great beer that complements game meats very nicely!

The beef and pork Thuringer was very nicely charred and really brought out the apple flavor in the Ephemere Green Apple.

The cognac-infused smoked Pheasant Sausage with Truffle Mustard and "Foie Gras Butter" was a real taste treat and matched up well with the sweet golden Fin du Monde.

If I had to pick those were my top three, especially in terms of pairings.

The Tuscan lamb sausage was a wonderful sausage in its own right and I thought the red pepper sauce and Romano almost detracted from it.

On the other hand, the Greek sausage did not have much going for it before the feta and olive were added. The toppings really brought it to a whole nother level. The jalepeno pork sausage also really benefitted from a great "sweet mexican mustard" that Doug said was honey mustard with cumin and chipoltle.

Sorry, it was too dark in the Map Room for pictures of these treats!
Happy news for interested readers who could not attend, the Brown Ale Buffalo sausage is supposed to be at Hot Doug's this week (and FYI he will be closed Sept 4-14, so get your fix now).

Hot Doug's
California & Roscoe

Here is the list of pairings (hope it’s clear enough, don’t have time to fiddle with it). Definitely a fun time last night.

FYI - The Lamb, Loukaniko, and Rattlesnake were all on the menu today at Doug's.

We sampled several bottles of Unibroue (pronounced "uni-brow"? ) at Das Rashen last night. The Blanch de Chambly was citrusy, but almost too light, even for The Wife; Maudite, an ale that I thought had a lot more guts, and La Fin du Monde, which also had a nice amount of hops to stand up to spicy chow, were my preferences.

Our very charming server told us these beers had been "specially created" to go well with Ethiopian food, which I'm guessing was a slight overstatement, but the beers did work well with the saucy pancake (though not as well, I thought, as Hakim, an Ethiopian stout).

Just footnoting a beverage here, boss, please do tell more about this incredible-sounding food event.

It was a great event last night. There were some really nice pairings, with my favorite being the bacon sausage and the ephemere & the rattle snake and the tres pistol.

My only critque would be that I would have liked Jim and Doug talk more about there thinking with the pairings. I think I would have learned more.

LTH had a good contigent of people there, as did BeerAdvocate (which is where I first heard about it - LTH was a close second). It would be fun to think about doing some joint BeerAdovocate-LTH event. Maybe doing beer dinners are some of the byob GNR restaurants.

I must say, this event lived up to the hype (well, the hype I created for it). It was a great time, and was pleasantly surprised to see it was 12 sausages (for some reason I was under the impression it was 6 beers and 6 sausages).

I did however learn one small lesson:
"Don't have a few beers BEFORE you start the event"
Made that mistake with a PBR at home and an Ayinger Braü Weisse at the Maproom. It was about 11pm before I realized it was indeed Monday, and not Friday. They should really print a warning on the ticket.

There were also some sausage/beer pairings that really worked for me, and some that were just dogs (pun intended).

As for what worked:

Pairing 8 (Jalapeno Pork Sausage w/ Maudite) - This was my fav of the night. The mustard is what really complimented the beer.

Pairing 4 (Bacon Sausage w/ Ephemere) - The oils from avocado and bacon were cut really well by the almost champagne lightness of this beer.

Pairing 2 (Buffalo sausage w/ Blanche de Chambly) - Now I really didn't like this beer that much, and but the sausage saved this one. Would have been my fav with a different beer match, Fin du Monde would have worked well.

Now for some dogs (or just ones I didn't care for too much):

Pairing 6 (Saucisse de Toulouse w/La Fin Du Monde) - Great beer which matched well with the strong flavors, but ALL I could taste was brie. Sausage just didn't hold up to the task.

Pairing 9 and 10 (Tuscan Lamb Sausage and Greek Loukaniko w/ Chambly Noire) - First off I hate olives. I have tried and tried but I still hate them. So I am biased but I even tried some without olive and it was just not doing it for me. Lamb sausage was just overpowered by toppings. I can't much remember the beer, as it was late in the game

Pairing 12 (Rattlesnake Sausage w/ Trois Pistoles) - Sausage texture was odd, almost had a "bouncy" chew to it, and was overly oily. Really didn't taste like much, but the almond mayo simply amplified the oily feel. The almond flavor in the mayo was also very over the top. Might have been better with a mustard instead.

Jamie

I've been meaning to report on this as well just haven't had a chance untill now. Anyhow here is how it went for me.

* Beer 1: Blanche de Chambly * On it's own it was a very light wheat style ale. When served it was too cold and tasted more like seltzer than anything ellse. It got better as it warmed.

(Pairing #1 Chicago Style dog) Honestly it tasted like Wiener Circle (steamed) and a PBR. Not a bad thing by any means but nothing special.

(Paring #2 Brown Ale Buffalo sausage) This was great. The sausage was good on it's own but the pairing was spectaular. I could actually taste more flavors in the bear after the sausage. Probably the best combanation of the night if not the best individual flavors.

* Beer 2: Ephemere Apple * I don't typically like fruit beer at all. I find it overly sweet. I did like this stuff. It truely did have a nose of granny smiths and tasted like apples rather than apple juice.

(Pairing #3 Thuringer) Thuringers ROCK to begin with! This pairing was great the garlic and pork in the sausage worked wonderfully with the apple in the beer. Reminded me of a great fall dinner of pork with sauteed apple

(Pairing #4 Bacon Sausage) The sausage was wonderful on it's own but, suprisingly, didn't hold up that well to the beer. I lost the bacon-y flavor in the apple. On the other hand I'd order the sausage at Doug's in a second.

* Beer 3: Fin Du Monde * I've had this several times before. Never my favorite beer. Just a bit to heavy in gravity for me. Not bad per se but not my something I buy.

(Pairing #5 Pheasent sausage) This worked not so much for the sausage, but rather for the "garnish". Somehow I got a 2"x2" piece of foie on mine and that stood up against the beer rather well, to say the least.

(Pairing #6 Saucisse de Toulouse) I'm with Jamie, all I tasted was brie. When I took a bite without the brie, the sausage was good but didn't hold up all that well against the high alcohol beer.

* Beer 4: Maudite * I liked this stuff. It was indeed rather spicy but not over powereing. I'd buy it for home use .

(Pairing #7 Da Brat) Brats and beer. Nuff said... well almost... This combo showed some of the limits of the format in that the Kraut was pretty cold. I'm not blaming anyone, Doug and Co. did a fantastic job putting out 12 sausage parings X40 but given that he only had a few steam tables to work with some of the toppings were rather chilly and detracted from the overall taste.

(Pairing #8 Jalapeno Pork) Mmmmm this was good. As mentioned previously, the mustard went very well withthe spice in the beer. One of the top pairings.

* Beer 5: Chambly Noire * Good stuff. Less heavy than I would have thought. Decidedly a black beer and not a stout or porter. It has a rich carmely taste without the weight of many dark beers.

(Pairing #9 Tuscan Lamb Sausage) Here is the thing, I don't like lamb. I like pretty much any other game meat and I have cooked more lamb than I care to remember professionally but I never developed a taste for the stuff. That said this sausage has a very strong lamb flavor. I guess if you like lamb you would like this... I don't... so I didn't...

(Pairing #10 Greek Loukaniko) This faired a bit better for me. It tasted kind of like a gyro with extra lamb. While I don't like lamb, I like gyros (go figgure) so this sort of worked. The richness of the beer did match well.

* Beer 6: Trois Pistoles * At this point I was either tipsy or my beer palate was gone but I don't remember this too well and my notes don't really help that much. I recall liking it and equating it to a good brittish brown ale, slightly bitter and spicy. I just didn't taste the fruit/port tones listed but it just could have been me.

(Pairing #11 Pork Hot Link) I liked the sausage but it was very hot. While I *love* hot food and beer this was a bit too spicy to match with the beer, which acted more like a fire extinguisher.

(Pairing #12 Rattlesnake Sausage) Didn't do much for me either. Can't say much more than what has already been said on this.

All in all it was a great event. I'm glad I was there and would do another one of these in a heartbeat. As a foot note to the tasting, for some reason it seemed like a good idea to round up some LTH'ers and head down to Cleo's for 10cent wings and more beer. The reasoning, as I put it together in my alcohol hobbled mind, was that we wanted something besides red meat or encased meat... Well when I awoke at 3:30am I realized the error of eating wings afte 12 types of sausage... but I'd do it again in a hearbeat!

Well this was certainly a wonderful event, and I’d like to extend personal thanks to griffin for posting about it as I doubt I'd have found out about it otherwise. Wish I'd been able to stick around with the other LTHers, but alas I had already missed about 5 rounds of my football league draft... Oh, and I also echo the thought that Doug & Jim should have talked more about the ‘why’ for each pairing.

Anyway, I’ll just pick my favorite from each set of pairings:

Pairing #2 (Blanche de Chambly & Buffalo sausage with Blanche de Chambly Mustard & Swiss Cheese) – The gaminess of the sausage and its spices worked a lot better with the light crisp beer than the regular old hot dog did. The beer wasn’t particularly impressive. I’m a bit surprised they didn’t use Don de Dieu instead…but that might have been a bit too strong to start with, and increased the mean ABV% significantly.

Pairing #3 (Ephemere Apple & Thuringer with Dijon Mustard & Carmelized Onions) – I think the fruity beer matched a lot better with the bacon sausage but that the toppings on the bacon sausage didn’t really work. So even though it didn’t fit with the Ephemere, there’s no denying the power of the might Thuringer. The beer was ok…apple flavor was good, but I just can’t see drinking this with any frequency.

Pairing #5 (Fin Du Monde & Cognac Infused Pheasant Sausage with Truffle Mustard & Foie Gras Butter) - Wow...I don’t remember the sausage itself much, just the richness of the truffle mustard and foie gras which almost made this a dessert. Quite tasty, and I think it paired very well with the golden beer.

Pairing #8 (Maudite & Jalapeno Pork Sausage with Sweet Mexican Mustard) - This was wonderful...loved the heat from the sausage and the cool sweetness of that mustard. Has anybody seen this on Doug’s special board before? I must have this combo again! Maudite was a good foil to calm the taste buds back down.

Pairing #10 (Chamblay Noire & Greek Loukaniko with Skordalia, Kalamata Olives, & Feta) – These two sausages tasted fairly similar…I just preferred the Loukaniko’s toppings to the lamb sausage’s. Enjoyed the Chamblay Noire a lot, a nice black ale that wasn’t too heavy. Hope this is available in local stores.

Pairing #11 (Trois Pistoles & Pork Hot Link with Coca-Cola BBQ Sauce) – Not particularly fancy, but I liked the spice level of the hot link and the strong dark & slightly bitter beer tempered that very nicely.

Finally, I don’t know if it was the sum of beer & sausage or just that the place got louder as people were getting ready to leave…but I couldn’t hear what Doug said about bringing your ticket to Hot Doug’s. Did anybody catch what he said about dates to do so and what kind of discount you’d receive?

The deal with our tickets is that if we go to Hot Doug's and we will get some sort of prize. Some folks will get a special prize, but everyone will get something for showing their ticket.

I don't think that there was a deadline for showing the tickets at Hot Doug's, but I think Doug made a joke that the best prizes would be available between the 4th and 14th (which is when he is on vacation).

It was a great event. I am 10 year fan of all Unibroue beers.
My only complaint beer wise is that Unibroue's Raftman would have been an enormously great compliment to several of the sausages and a far better pairing than some were.

Raftman used to be available in the U.S., but some reason is no longer. It is lower in achohol than the others and has a subtle smoke flavor imparted by the use of whiskey malts smoked over peat. This would have been ideal paired with either the Buffalo or the Thuringer.
Given the beers that were there I thought the Buffalo should have been with one of the darker beers and the Jalapeno Pork Sausage should have taken its place paired with the lighter wheat beer.

I loved the Buffalo sausage and the perfectly charred thuringer the most.

I often found myself eating the toppings off the sausages and leaving much of the sausage to be enjoyed solo. Doug's homemade mustards and toppings are great, but they often are so flavorful and complex they mask some of the characters of the complexly flavored sausages. The biggest example was the Cognac infused smoked pheasant sausage with truffle mustard and foie gras. The sausage was better on its own. Those toppings would be better served on a simple dog IMO.

It would be great if Doug offered his gourmet toppings as an optional add-on to his special sausages, and allowed you to add them to a regular dog as well.

griffin wrote:It would be great if Doug offered his gourmet toppings as an optional add-on to his special sausages, and allowed you to add them to a regular dog as well.

Hmm... now you have me wondering what a brown ale infused chicago style hot dog with foie gras, "mexican" mustard, and brie would taste like....

Many thanks to all of the LTHers who attended the beer and sausage pairing seminar at The Map Room on Monday evening. Doug Sohn and I will talk again in mid-September about conducting one or two more events later this fall here in Chicago. Santé!

My brother William and I went to the event too and had a fantastic time. It was great to meet up with some LTHers - and thanks again to griffin for the heads up. Doug was his usual sweet yet slightly sardonic sausagely self. And Jim, I'm sure I speak for many when I say, we truly cannot wait until the next event.