Closed for Business may not be the newest and most glamorous place in town, but it’s certainly a place that knows how to put on one helluva beer dinner. This year, they outdid themselves by bringing in President and co-founder of Stone Brewing Company, Steve Wagner. Stone Brewing Company has always been known for making big, bold brews, and Steve brought a lineup of rare treats that reconfirmed why Stone is the highest rated breweries in the world.
New to the Stone lineup is the Go To IPA, which is fruity and piney with a hop presence that makes you wonder how it’s only 4.5% a.b.v. Chefs Italo Marino and Leila Schardt paired the hoppy wonder with razor clams dressed with fermented chiles, pickled green onion, and preserved lime coulis.
The beer of the night was the Cali-Belgique aged in white wine barrels — an IPA brewed with Belgian yeast that inherited a fruit forward funk from the barrels that was paired with mackerel and a hearty grit cake and bacon jus.
Marino and Schardt certainly weren’t afraid to go all out, with a menu filled with sweetbreads, smoked hearts, and bone marrow. The spice in the cotechino (Italian sausage) fared well with the 2012 Vertical Epic that had notes of ginger and cardamom.
But it was the dessert the stole the show: a foie gras panna cotta with pickled cherries, bits of caramel pretzels, and mint paired with a mint chocolate imperial stout. We expected the dish to be overly sweet, but it wasn’t. The balanced pairing turned out to be the perfect ending to an incredible meal. Closed for Business and Stone Brewing Company put on a beer dinner that people will be talking about for a while. At least until next year.
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No newspaper subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations from downtown to North Charleston to Johns Island to Summerville to Mount Pleasant.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.