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Coming of Age: Beer Dinner Features Pickled, Preserved, and Fermented Foods
This Sunday, the team at Dionicess celebrated their tenth event at Beachwood BBQ in Long Beach. In honor of the occasion, Dionicess organizer Gevork Kazanchyan teamed up with Beachwood's brewer, Julian Shrago, to create a special Armenian coffee beer called System of a Stout. It was aged on oak that was soaked in Armenian cognac, and was brewed with blackstrap molases, cardamom, and custom-roasted Middle Eastern grinds made by Portola Cofffe Lab's Jeff Duggan.
The food prepared by chef Gabe Gordon was all aged in some way: charcuterie, pickles, cured fish, bleu cheesecake, and the oh-so-slimy Japanese natto were a few of the items that graced the menu. There was even an intermezzo of preserved lime and pear sorbet from Scoops. Randy Clemens, Cambria Griffith, and David Watrous all served on the tasting panel that curated pairings for the dinner.
In case you were busy at one of the many food events this weekend, like Taste of the Nation or the inaugural Firestone Walker Invitational, here's a photo gallery of the event so you can live vicariously.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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