A night of beer and benefit at Brew Master’s dinner

Hyatt Regency Saipan’s Giovanni’s was packed with beer experts and amateurs alike last Tuesday as Marpac Inc. and Ambros Inc. once again hosted its very popular Brew Master dinner.

For the third time, Brewmaster outreach director for Anheuser-Busch George F. Reisch, a fifth generation brewmaster, came to Saipan to educate the public in the art of beer drinking.

“We try to bring him out once a year,” Ambros marketing manager Casey Truong said. “It’s educational and we want to teach people how to drink beer the right way, pour beer the right way.”

The event had five courses paired with five beer products of Anheuser-Busch.

The first was Stella Artois, a “Belgian pilsner with exceptional clarity and a spicy hop character.” It was paired with tuna tartare cones and seafood salad.

Rolling Rock was paired with the bruschetta station. It is a light beer that is almost caramel-ly and has a blend of pale barley malt, rice, and corn. Reisch said Rolling Rock is perfect with pasta as well.

The third beer, Goose Island 312, has a “spicy aroma of Cascade hops” and has a “crisp, fruity ale flavor.” It was paired with achote risotto with green peas, bacon, roasted red beets, fennel, and carrots.

Of course, the famous and favorite-of-many that is Budweiser was included and was matched with certified Angus beef pie au gratin and roasted mahi-mahi fillet.

For dessert, Shock Top Ale was served. It is a Belgian-style ale with real orange, lemon, and lime peel. It was partnered with chocolate citrus frangipane, lemon meringue tartlets, and a mango pana cotta that also contains the same beer.

“This isn’t new, it’s really very old. Once you connect people, I really believe it’s in our DNA to really love this symbiosis between beer and food,” Reisch said.

“A properly poured beer in the right glass, and if you take a sip of that beer with every bite of food, you actually enjoy the food more and the whole meal is like a symphony at that point,” he added.

Unlike beer, wine doesn’t have carbon dioxide, which according to Reisch, carries aromas and dials up the flavor of food.

For the benefit of Red Cross

The Brew Master dinner wasn’t only a night of beer and good food, it was also a benefit dinner for Typhoon Soudelor survivors.

“Because of the typhoon, we made it a benefit dinner. We donated $25 out of the $50 [per ticket] to American Red Cross for the Saipan relief efforts,” Truong said.

She said they were able to sell about 90 tickets.

“Usually we sell the tickets and it goes back to the place, the restaurant. So it would have gone back to Hyatt. But the Hyatt was generous enough to say, we charge $25, and the other $25 we’ll donate it to American Red Cross,” Truong said.

“We have a relationship with Red Cross. We donated $10,000 to them to help with the Saipan relief and we also donated two 40-foot containers of water to them. So it made sense that we will donate this money to the American Red Cross,” she added.

ARC-NMI chapter executive director John Hirsh said he is grateful for the support.

A silent auction was also held to raise more funds for Red Cross. Donated items from Hyatt, Triple J, and Marpac such as a one night stay at an executive suit, a 48-inch HDTV, and a Budweiser guitar were up for bids.

“We’re just really grateful there’s a big crowd tonight. I think everybody’s in a pretty festive mood,” Hirsh said. “We’re just so happy that the Red Cross can be the beneficiary of tonight.”