Beer, center of the plate: creative entrees and desserts involving beer intrigue guests, driving sales at Mulleady's Irish Pub & Restaurant in Seattle

Cheers, April, 2008 by Ashley Griffin

Walking into Seattle's cozy Mulleady's Irish Pub & Restaurant--a space replete with shiny wood tables, hardwood and slate floors, Irish accents and two stone fireplaces--one expects to find pub fare. What welcomes is a menu of dishes that bridge the gap between average pub fare and gourmet cuisine, quite often involving the cornerstone of any good pub: beer.

When he started cooking at Mulleady's last year, chef Andy Beaver knew beer had the potential to transcend the beverage menu; Mulleady's offers 13 beers, including ales, lagers and draft hard ciders ranging from the local Lazy Boy Porter to Smithwick's Irish ale.

"I've always been interested in using beer as an ingredient," he says. "I moved to the Northwest almost five years ago, and have seen the [beer] choices just explode because of the numerous microbreweries in the area." Sometimes, Beaver says, a newly-discovered beer screams to be used in an existing dish; occasionally, a seasonal ingredient inspires him to reach for a particular beer, cider or barleywine when cooking.

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When we visited the pub one chilly winter evening, we were intrigued to discover Beaver's latest creation, Alaskan Spot Prawns with a Barleywine-Green Peppercorn Glaze, served with red potato galette and candied kumquats. Unfortunately, the evening special already had sold out by the time we arrived. "I think its popularity was first in the seasonality. The prawns were very fresh, the kumquats were in high season and the spices from the barleywine worked well with the chilly weather we've been having," Beaver suggests.

Fortunately, the menu featured plenty more beer-focused dishes, each proving that beer and ciders can refine the flavors of a dish. We enjoyed a Grilled Salmon Colcannon served with a sweet, hard apple cider beurre blanc; Beaver makes it by reducing Strongbow cider with black peppercorns, a bay leaf, shallots, white wine and white wine vinegar, then adds heavy cream and cold butter to the sauce to finish it. The inclusion of the cider was ideal but not nearly as awe-inducing as the sweet, nuanced flavors of Beaver's Roasted Half Chicken. His secret: he rests the chicken in Harp Irish Lager brine for 24 hours before roasting.

As we discovered, Beaver's experiments are people-pleasing. However, they also improve business. "To introduce new or different flavors to the guests and make them come back for more is a win-win situation," says Beaver, who has seen a substantial increase in business since he started tweaking the menu with beer-infused dishes. Beaver also says highlighting beer on the dinner menu piques customer curiosity in pairing a glass of the same beer with the dish, which has had a positive impact on beer sales at Mulleady's.

Front-of-the-house staff are encouraged to suggest beer pairings to customers, a tactic that also helps promote beer-infused desserts. To sell combinations such as Guinness Ice Cream Sandwich with Oatmeal or Currant and Toffee Cookies, Beaver encourages his staff to sample the desserts and then recommend their favorites. "Overcoming any skepticism really begins with getting the front-of-the-house staff behind the dish," he says. "If servers are intrigued or love a new item, it really carries over to the table. After selling that first one, we are involving the guest's visual and olfactory senses, and the desserts tend to sell themselves."

Still, Beaver is quick to explain that beer-focused cuisine won't be a sure hit everywhere; business owners may first want to present beer- and cider-infused dishes as specials to see how they fare before putting them on the main menu. "It's not going to work for everyone. Luckily, with our cozy little niche, it is working well. Plus, with the popular movement of using locally grown and farmed ingredients, it just makes sense to include beer," he says.

Ashley Griffin writes about food, drinks and lifestyle of the Pacific Northwest from Portland, Ore.