This week I had the opportunity to attend Goose Island Beer Co.‘s migration media dinner in Vancouver. Goose Island Beer Co. is a Chicago based craft beer company. Their beers are distributed throughout the US, UK, and recently started expanding in the Canadian craft beer market. Goose Island hosted an intimate beer dinner at Glowbal, with a custom menu designed by head chef Ryan Gauthier. Throughout the dinner, we had the opportunity to meet and chat with Goose Island’s Head Brewer, Bernard Priest, who just announced the opening of Toronto’s Goose Island Brewhouse, its first in Canada.

The first course of the evening paired the Gillian, a Belgian style farmhouse ale, with a foie-gras sable cookie with strawberry gelee and sea salt amuse bouche. The Gillian was brewed using a champagne yeast, with flavours of strawberries and white pepper. If you think this sounds tasty, you’ll have to wait to get your hands on this as it is currently not available in Canada.

My favourite pairing of the night was the second course, consisting of the 312 Urban Wheat Ale and Parmesan Fried Chicken. The saltiness and crisp morsels of parmesan fried chicken with the pickled watermelon rind paired well with the light fragrant urban wheat ale. Pickled watermelon rind was a surprise to see as I haven’t experienced them plated in a restaurant, but instead at home enjoyed them growing up as my grandpa and mom made it during the summer months to not waste the rind off watermelons we ate.

Next on the menu was the Yucatan Style Flank Steak with Mushroom Polenta, a firey dish full of flavour yet nice and tender cut of flank steak. It was paired with the Sofie 2017, a saison/farmhouse ale, featuring strong citrus tones that really showcase the fresh orange peels used.

Ending the final meaty entree dish was BBQ Pork Ribs with celery seed brined colelsaw and jalapeno cornbread, paired with the Goose Honkers Ale. The Honkers Ale is Goose Island Beer’s flagship beer, paying homage to traditional English pub ales using English style bitters.

The final course was dessert. The Goose IPA was paired with a light carrot cake that was topped with Goose Island IPA glaze. The Goose IPA is an India pale ale, and is their flagship IPA, a medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival. The carrot cake sounds healthy, but it was plated beautifully and tasted decadent.

Goose Island Beer Co.’s Brewhouse will open July 17, 2017 in Toronto. Hopefully soon enough Goose Island migrates to Vancouver with its own brewpub, but in the meantime you can enjoy Goose Island’s craft beers available in BC Liquor Stores and select restaurants in Vancouver.