A little cheesey, but grin and beer it.

Saturday night, back home from my friend-and-food foray to Champaign/Urbana, Bill and I were headed to one of our favorite restaurants in the Naperville area, Chef Amaury’s 33 West, AKA Chef Amaury’s Epicurean Affair, located in Aurora, Illinois.  It was a beer-and-snack night, but if you want to see what the fabulous, often locally-sourced, menu looks like, take a quick peek at my post about our anniversary dinner there last September: https://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/a-chefs-tasting-menu/.  Just don’t do it while you’re hungry!

I decided to dress up a bit and put on my boots that aren’t really made for walking, at least not too far, but that Bill loves:

Then we were off to the bar and some beer.  Bill’s tastes tend toward the Belgian ales–light and hoppy.  I looked up his Salvation beer online and was taken by the description, so I’m going to share it with you.  (Who knew you could drink salvation??)  The Avery Brewing Company in Boulder, Colorado is the source for this beer that Bill loved.  Frankly, the food pairings they suggested sounded amazingly good to me!  A 22-oz. bomber, by the way, is the larger bottle, the size of two regular bottles.

“The success of Hog Heaven and The Reverend clearly demonstrates that beer drinkers are willing to embrace “BIGGER” beers. In the fall of 2001, we decided that a lighter BIG BEER would complement its darker-colored predecessors. Luscious apricot and peach aromas are delicately interwoven with spicy suggestions of nutmeg and cinnamon in this heavenly soft, champagne-like elixir.

Salvation is the final installment of “The Holy Trinity of Ales” series.

Food pairing: We find that dishes featuring mushrooms–like Mushroom Melange on Crepe–will bring out many of the herbal and spicy characteristics of the Styrian Goldings hops in Salvation. We also like portabella beef wellington, mushroom duxelle and salads with spicy vinagrettes.

Availability: Year round in 22oz. bombers, 1/6BBL and 1/2BBL kegs.”

Light, hoppy beers are not my tipple.  My default beer is Guinness, so I wanted something dark and smooth.  Chris recommended Nitro Milk Stout, also from Colorado (maybe it’s the Rocky Mountain water!), but from Longmont and the Left Hand Brewing Company.  Hmmm, I see that they have a recipe on their website for Chocolate Milk Stout Cake.  How bad can that be?

But although the beer and mixed drink list is extensive, we always have to have some food while at Chef Amaury’s, so we decided to try the cheese plate.  Our cheese plate offered (clockwise from bottom right): Barely Buzzed (rubbed w/espresso & lavender, cow’s milk), Boucheron goat cheese, Merlot cheese, sweet grass tomm (sheep’s milk) and triple cream blue (cow’s milk), served with baguette slices.  We couldn’t decide which we liked best, so we keep on testing.  Barely Buzzed, made in Utah, took a Bronze medal at this year’s World Cheese Awards in London, making us very cosmopolitan (but not what we were drinking.)

As far as date night’s go, it might have been a little cheesey, but there were no complaints.  Plans are in the works for another round in the near future.  Stop by and you can come along, too.