Ever sip on your Widmer Brothers Beer and think who those brother are, and if they really exist.  Well, they do, and they’re a lot of fun.  In fact, they took us out for a delicious beer paired dinner at Maverick – and to our surprise tasted us on some of their newer creations.  The same brothers that brought you your first hefeweizen are now making a whole line – everything from IPA to amber, to their newest bourbon barrel aged beer (named “Brrr” – love the name!)  We sat with the master brewer (the guy in the blue shirt), the two brothers (on either side of him), and some of the Widmer and Craft Brewers Alliance Team.  The fabulous Maverick team made a delectable paring:

Pickled Fried Okra and Crab Fluffs
Widmer Hefeweizen

Charcuterie Plate of Pork Terrine
Drifter Pale Ale

Salt Cured Halibut Salad
Deadlift Imperial IPA

Whiskey Thyme Glazed Pork Belly
Brrrbon

Bourbon Pecan Pie
Brrrbon

Mouth watering yet?  The pairings were all successful with the halibut being our favorite.  Me thinks that everyone should be doing more beer pairings with fine foods (the brother did go visit Monk’s Kettle right before dinner). Kurt and Rob Widmer themselves are characters – donning Widmer pins, they were looking back at one of our old Widmer ads guessing when the photo of them was taken – telling stories about the original brewery and how everything all got started. Their based up in Portland and were no doubt part of the huge resurgence of brewing going on with our northerly neighbors. Now they’re living the dream, (and even at our dinner) hearing fans’ stories of their first Widmer and basking in the hops of success (and thirsty for even more growth and new beers to come). Next time your brother gives you a business idea, you might want to take him seriously.

The night ended with a few of us bar-hopping and ordering beers around the city chatting brewing and business for the years ahead.  We’re glad to se that they are pushing the envelope with some great brews and new trends.  We even asked about the possibility of doing a Widmer Sour beer, and their brewer mentioned that although its incredible difficult (you have to keep it totally separate from your normal brewery), he did toy around with it – but you probably won’t be seeing it anytime soon.