Last night was the beginning of Ladyface Ale Companie’s second anniversary! It also happened to be a Ladies at Ladyface night. Awesome.
My mumsie and I split a flight of the “Last of the Best”, which ended up being a bunch of Ladyface beers that had been spiked with Brettanomyces or Lactobacillus and aged in barrels with some extra additions.
Not quite sure what I was expecting, but this was delicious! The sours were actually sour – not the syrupy sweet that you taste in a Lindeman lambic. Adored almost all of them. I had two I fell head over heels for: the Le Cerise – the sour cherry ale that was a lambic style, but instead of sickly sweet it had a delicate lacy finish of tart cherries. The other: Verrückt Weizen – Ladyface’s Weizenbock that was spiked with Lactobacillus and Pediococcus, then aged in a Cabernet Sauvignon barrel.
Todd’s India Brown Ale was next on the list – Ladyface’s IPA with tons of chocolate malt thrown in, giving it a rich color and a malty chocolate flavor. I paired this taster with our main dish of the night.
Belgian ale-braised short ribs with melted leeks and root vegetables. I wish this picture didn’t make it look like chocolate cake. It was tender, decadent and melted on the tongue. I have no idea how they “melt” leeks, but I will never look at a leek the same way again! This is one of those meals I dream about. Pairing this rich dish with the India Brown was the perfect combination. Pardon me while I attempt to stop drooling.
I also had to order the mac and cheese with bacon and jalapeño. Delicious, but the short ribs blew everything else out of the water. Drooling again in remembrance.
Seeing that it was Ladyface’s second birthday, Cyrena brought out some celebratory bread pudding! I was stuffed to the gills, but couldn’t be rude and deny bread pudding! Manners… yes, that’s why I ate the entire thing…
We had the regular group of ladies there last night, plus a few newbies.
We ended the night with our new Ladies at Ladyface t-shirts and a Ladyface second anniversary tulip glass. My tulip glass happened to be full of the Le Cerise.
If you purchase one of these glasses, you can bring it in in the future and get happy hour priced pints! Epic. Just plain epic.
Time for another beer tasting! Brown ale is on the menu, complimented by a long sheet of BJCP guidelines. Study time!