Oh Dear, Not Just Game. Game and Beer!

So, it seems someone wants to know about the meat. Well, it wasn't just a wild game dinner. It was a wild game and beer dinner. A five course extravaganza of game dishes prepared with beer accompanied by a different beer for each course. I held strong through the early rounds, but by the next to last course my capacity was flagging and I had to bring home a lot of the food and leave standing two nearly full glasses of beer. Oh, the thought of it pains me so! But it's not like I could ask the waiter to pack up my beer as well.
Where to begin? I mean, I already have begun, but this meal and dining experience deserves a play by play accounting. The setting: Molly Malone's, an Irish pub and restaurant located in an old 19th century brick house on the corner of Penhallow and State Streets in Portsmouth, NH. The participants: myself, my boyfriend and a perkily flamboyant waiter named John who literally cheered us on to "EAT! EAT! EAT!"
The meal started with a glass of beer that was identified as A Toast with Molly's Irish Red. That one went down pretty easily. The first course (I'm working from memory here because someone seems to have taken the menu to work with him or something this morning) was an appetizer of duck sausage with a something mustard sauce, frog legs cooked in a casserole dish with a sauce I can no longer identify and little Kobe beef burgers, which I heard the waiter jokingly describe to another table as "Kobe Bryant burgers". I'm not sure how Kobe beef fits into the game classification in a strict sense because those cows get more care and attention than some peoples' kids. Then again, I assume most of what we had for dinner was farm raised game. I doubt anyone was out with a musket taking down the wild boar. The accompanying beer was Pilsner Urquell. The sausage was delicious, as was the kobe beef burger. I had a little of the frog legs (had to conserve space, you know) which I found not really to be like chicken, but more like chicken crossed with fish, which seems to make a fair amount of sense to me.
The second course was roasted pheasant on a bed of fresh greens with roasted beets and deep fried butternut squash croutons. The pheasant has been marinated in ... a beer. It was very moist with a wonderful flavor. The beer for this course was Samuel Adams. I was still holding strong at this point and starting to put on a good buzz, as well.
If memory serves me well, the third course was a venison and ostrich chili made with Guinness Stout, accompanied by a glass of the good, thick brown stuff. It was a great chili. It had a nice kick and a little sweetness. Perhaps it was the Guinness that started to slow me down at this point. My pace had slowed, but I made it through the chili and eventually through the glass of Guinness. That is one recipe I would love to have.
The fourth and most sumptuous course was where I hit the wall. I really wanted to make way way through it all; the Old Thumper Hassenpheffer stew, a wild boar chop marinated in some .... beer, roasted vegetables and polenta with goat cheese. My god, rabbit is tasty. The stew was incredible, another recipe I would absolutely love to get my hands on. The beer was something from The Shipyard Brewing Company. A quick visit to their site shows that their Old Thumper won Best in Show in Los Angeles and I'm sure that must have been what was in the stew. I barely touched the beer and had to bring home most of what was on my plate. That's okay. It's going to be make a great lunch today!
The desert course was Pumpkinhead Ale bread pudding with a chocolate hazelnut sauce and a glass of Pumpkinhead Ale. I love bread pudding and it was a nice firm one, but I was just too stuffed. It made a lovely breakfast this morning, however. I bought some Pumpkinhead Ale last fall. It's interesting stuff and tastes very much of pumpkin pie spices. It's the kind of thing I like to have one of once a season, but a little goes a long way.
Even though it was a chilly night, my honey and I went for a little walk around town after dinner. I'm so old school, or maybe just old, but I walk through that town mentally identifying everything as what it used to be. "Oh! Strawberry Bazaar! That used to be down on the Vaughn Mall. I used to shop for holiday presents for my parents there." "Hmm, Saucy Grace's? Nope, that's where Goldie's used to be. Can you believe there's no decent Jewish deli in town anymore?" And on and on I go.
It was a wonderful meal with wonderful company. If you want better details of the menu, check here for an account of the same meal by the one who went to work with the menu today. I realize the extent to which I am treading on the soils of dorkdom here, but fuck it. We enjoy ourselves and each other. The rest of you can deal, or not, as you choose.