Last night Athlone Beer Club was lucky enough to be hosted by the lovely people at The Left Bank Bistro. We had a specially prepared food and drink menu.
We got off to a great start with Bo Bristle’s IPA and chicken wings with blue cheese sauce.
IPAs tend to work well with spicy food so you really couldn’t go wrong!
One of our number, Tom, is vegan, and with a days notice Annie from The Left Bank put together substitutes for him.
Crudités, I believe they’re called…
Michelle, who’s usually behind the bar when Athlone Beer Club call in to The Malt House had a rare opportunity to join us and she really enjoyed Dan Kelly’s Cider with the pulled pork.
After that we went a little continental, appropriately enough in a restaurant called The Left Bank, and had some French Onion soup.
The Galway Hooker Pale Ale’s slight bitterness provided a nice contrast to the sweetness of the soup.
Bo Bristle Amber and a burger is always a winning combination and these sliders were no exception, I especially liked the smoked cheddar and red onion relish that topped it off.
The fish and chips (cod and sauté potatoes) went down fantastically well with Black Donkey’s Sheep Stealer. We all loved the presentation too.
We finished with fudge biscuit cake and Black Donkey Buck It. Both were great but I don’t think they worked together. I have to take the blame for that one as I think it was my suggested pairing. A stout would probably have been a better match. I also made a hames of pouring it but I’m going to say that’s Michelle’s fault for not stepping in and providing the professional help I clearly needed! On the whole the evening was a success and the hospitality we were shown in The Left Bank Bistro was top notch. I really enjoyed the evening.
As the night was still young we made our first offical Athlone Beer Club trip into the oldest pub in the world: Sean’s Bar. A few Galway Hookers and Kentucky Ales were had and the craic was good. It’ll be hard to top such a great night in July but I’ll try. Sláinte!