Dogfish Head takes on the grape at NYC dinner

Modern Brewery Age, Dec 12, 2005 by Gregg Glaser

A battle between beer and wine took place on November 30 at Oscar's, the American-style brasserie located at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in midtown Manhattan.

Sam Caligione, founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Del., squared off against Marnie Old, a Philadelphia-based wine writer, sommelier and educator.

For the purposes of the competition, Mr. Caligione was billed as the "Rugged Beer Geek" and Ms. Old as "The Sophisticated Wine Geek."

Each round of the battle--defined by the four courses of the meal and the hors d'ouevres--was paired with both a wine and a beer. After each course the diners voted on ballot slips as to whether they preferred wine or beer with the food. The winners of each round were announced throughout the dinner. Beer won the evening by a vote of 3-2.

Caligione began the evening with the New York debut of Fort, the strongest fruit beer in the world. Fort is an 18% ABV ale flavored with over one ton of Oregon and Delaware raspberries. He served a two-year-old Pangea (a 7% ABV ale brewed with one ingredient from every continent) with the amuse-bouche and Indian Brown Ale (7.2% ABV) with the appetizer. For the entree, there was a snag. Caligione asked his staff at the brewery to pack Raison D'Etre in the van for the ride to New York. Instead they packed Raison D'Extra, a strong (18.5% ABV), sweet ale, which didn't pair well with the braised beef short ribs. Dessert was paired with World Wide Stout (around 20% ABV).

Dogfish Head's beers are sold in 29 states and four countries. This was Caligione's second beer dinner at Oscar's this year. Last May he spoke on the occasion of the publication of his book, Brewing up a Business (Wiley), a first-hand account of how he built his brewery from a ten-barrel operation into the fastest growing brewery in the United States.