Beer and Cheese Pairing at the Grafton

The Grafton in Lincoln Square is pairing with Provenance to bring a beer and cheese tasting event on June 26. In addition to pulled pork and other culinary delights paired with spirits, there will be a tasting of Hook's Cheese from Wisconsin with Bridgeport Highland Ambush Scotch Ale. There will be live Irish music, too. The Grafton is one of Chicago's greatest little Irish bars that ignores the whole "Chi-rish" crap and focuses on food and drink. Provenance is also a great local store that carefully selects food and drink in a boutique setting. Tickets are $30 in advance and $40 the day of the event. You learn more at the Grafton's website.

Stout Fest, Stout Brownies

Just saw on Pipeworks' Facebook post that it has a new Mexican chocolate stout debuting at Goose Island's Stout Fest next month. I'm all for chocolate stouts, especially Mexican chocolate. I grabbed a few bits of Mexican chocolate from Provenance in Lincoln Square, and it was so much better than the typical gas station chocolate bar. I've never been a huge chocolate fan (i.e., Hersey's), but once I started getting into more artisan chocolates (e.g., Voges), I've been a convert. I can only image what this is going to taste like. It'll include malts, hops, chocolate, whiskey or vodka, cinnamon, cayenne and other goodness.

This brings me to my other topic: stout brownies!

I love brownies. Especially brownies that are nice and soft and warm. Add stout, and then it's like a dream heaven of flubbing around on the couch stuffing myself and trying to keep the unused treadmill out of sight. A good friend pointed me in the direction of a fudge stout brownies recipe on craftbeer.com. This calls for a coffee stout, but something like Pipework's Mexican chocolate stout sounds even better. I mean, it's only 11 a.m. and I'm dying for this right now. It only calls for 1/3 cup, so there will be plenty left over. I'd suggest the Rouge chocolate stout, a Stone stout, or Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout.

This takes me to my last food related item: the Grafton is having a beer and truffle tasting night on March 3. A beer will be paired with a truffle and someone will be on hand to talk about the pairing. Here's a list of what will be available:

• Stone Smoked Porter with Chipotle Chocolate Truffles 
• Lagunitas Cap Stout with Espresso Bean Truffles 
• Tyranna Rocky's Revenge with Toasted Almond Truffles 
• Bourgogne Des Flanders with Dried Cherry Truffles 

Bourgogne des Flanders with dried cherry truffles? I just found my next meal plan for the rest of the month. I'm all for seeing more pairings like this. You can learn more at Grafton's website. Tickets are $15 before Feb. 26 and $25 after. The Grafton has also expanded its beer and whiskey list, so more reason to hang around afterward. So get going.