Trappeze Pub will be hosting a Beer Dinner on July 19, which will feature vintage and unusual beers from Terrapin and Left Hand Breweries. PHOTO BY KRISTY DENSMORE
Beer-lovers in Athens know that for an authentic craft beer experience, they need look no further than Trappeze Pub on the corner of Hull and Washington downtown. Patrons of the establishment value its far-reaching beer selection, inviting atmosphere and unpretentious attitude.
But Trappeze has more on offer than just beer and bar food; the bar’s multi-course beer dinners have become a cult favorite, showcasing unusual beers through complementary food pairings.
The event is intimate; attendance is capped at 55 seats, and they sell out quickly.
“We have done anything from six beers to 20-something beers at the beer dinners. A lot of it just depends on the personality of the brewery,” said Eric Johnson, owner of Trappeze.
At the next beer dinner, taking place on July 19, the pub will be showcasing six unusual beers from the Terrapin and Left Hand breweries – three beers each, six courses total. Those wanting to attend a beer dinner can call the bar to reserve a spot.
“For the beer dinners we try to focus on the beer-side on stuff that is more rare and unusual, so like on the Terrapin side we’ve got some extremely old kegs of Imperial Pilsner that – those have been discontinued since ’08, I wanna say – so we’ve got some ’06, ’07 kegs of that,” Johnson said.
When determining the beer selection, Johnson manages to respect the wishes of the breweries in question while keeping his beer-dinner vision in mind.
Some breweries elect to showcase as many beers as possible.
“Other folks don’t like that approach, and so we try to have the dinner according to the personality of the brewery. If they want just individual beers focused on, then we do that,” he said.
The decision to feature beer as the centerpiece of a six-course meal may seem unusual, but Eddie Russell,Trappeze’s head chef and person responsible for creating the beer dinner menu, believes that the beverage has just as much to offer as the more traditional food counterpart, wine.
“When you actually start seeing that real beer is a whole hell of a lot different than what we’re used to, it is very culinary in terms of what flavors you can evoke with beer and where you can go with beer in food. I think it’s far more of a wider palette than even wine,” he said. “There’s so much nuance in beer that you can’t ever really achieve in wine. Wine you can sometimes go reaching for flavors, but you almost have to internalize this idea of what this wine tastes like. Beer kind of hits you in the face and you’re like, ‘Shit, that’s coriander.’”
Russell and Johnson don’t only appreciate beer for its flavors, however.
While maintaining that beer is no longer the “low-brow, Joe Schmoe” beverage it once was, Russell believes there’s an accessibility to beer that makes it appealing for Trappeze. Bringing the people behind the beer out of the woodwork is part of what the beer dinner experience is all about.
“In the world of wine, it’s rare that you would actually sit down with the wine-maker. Either they’re over-seas or it’s some crazy niche market. You will never meet that guy,” said Russell. “What’s really cool about beer, especially in America right now… is you have so much more access to people who actually made the beer. That can come here and talk to you about what they did and why they did it. That’s so much more charming, I think.”
Johnson and Russell have made a point to carry this accessibilty through the beer dinners.
Owners of the breweries or brewmasters are in attendance for each and every dinner, complementing the food with their insight on the beverages.
“Nowadays we don’t do a beer dinner if we don’t get the owner or the brewmaster in here. They’re wonderfully magnanimous people, they go table to table and you get to meet these people,” said Johnson. “It’s an incredible experience.”