I was recently approached by Dan Higgins, a friend and excellent local chef, to host a beer pairing dinner. I figured it was a great opportunity to put into practice all of the beer pairing studying I did for the Certified Cicerone® exam. Plus, it’s hard […]
It seems that every day I hear about a new renovation project down in Over the Rhine or a new brewery popping up somewhere. This new plan is all of that plus a tap room, multiple concert spaces (192-seat live theater space and a 300-person […]
Early this week I was lucky to be invited to a free blogger preview dinner at the Red Roost Tavern, the new farm-to-table restaurant at the Downtown Hyatt. With little information about the dinner I was surprised and excited to see that every meal was paired with a local beer!
I had never been to the Hyatt until this dinner, but have heard that over the past year it has made a pretty astonishing turn around. Overall, the restaurant is very welcoming and doesn’t feel too much like your typical hotel restaurant. The bar is the centerpiece of the space with an interesting mix of modern linear decor mixed with rustic reclaimed wood. There are 6 – 8 local beers on tap (including Sam Adams, which you may or may not know is brewed mainly in Cincinnati’s OTR neighborhood just steps from Findlay Market) and a smattering of the usual suspects like Bud Light and Guinness. They have a pretty good selection of beers, craft and otherwise, in bottle as well.
Since I’ve been studying up for cicerone certification, I took the opportunity to assess the quality of the beer and food pairings at the dinner.
Critique: Red Roost Tavern Beer and Food Pairing Dinner