Brewmaster's dinner at Hales Ale

I had opportunity to join the feast of four courses brew master’s dinner at Hales Ale. The brewery is one of the best and popular breweries in Seattle. The last time we came to Hales Ale was with my English neighbors who like to drink beer and they loved the Hales Ale beer.
I was curious what will be served with crafted beers.
There were about 40 guests for the dinner. The owner of the Hales Ale, Mike Hale, made the opening speech to the guests and had the dinner with the guests. He walked around the tables and talked to each guest. I was grateful to have opportunity to hear about the history of the brewery, his life, and his beer.
The first beer was the gift from the brewery before the meal. I am sorry to say that I lost my paper that contains the names of beer served and I don’t have a good memory of names.
The first meal was Duck confit with wild mushroom and Garlic custard and smoked Tomato relish. I learned the ‘confit’ meant for French cooking when the chef described that the duck was cooked in it own fat. I learned how to pronounce confit. ( ‘t’ is not pronounced.) With this meal we got bitter golden color ale. The duck confit was very rich and it tasted great with this ale.
The second in the course was Beet, Carrot, Turnip and Parsnip Salad. The chef told us some vegetables were from his garden. It was pretty and crispy salad.
The main course was the choice of Cioppino or Braised Rabbit Stew. I ordered Braised Rabbit Stew for my husband and Cioppino for me. The harvest ale was brought for main dish. Mike Hale told us the beer was made of freshly harvested hop. I tasted the rabbit stew and the meat was tender and soup was tasty although it was too strong and I prefer my Cioppino which made of my favorite

sea foods. I loved this ale the most among others and the beer was very delicious with these meals.
The final was the dessert. Baked Apples with Vanilla Ice Cream, Carmel Sauce and Toasted Pecans!
The dark almost black beer was served. It was my first experience having beer with my dessert. The dark beer was actually good with the apples and ice cream.
We had a great time with our friends having nice dinner with fresh brewed beers. It was the birthday of one of our friends, Lyle whoe is the one who notified us the dinner. We wish happy birthday to Lyle and thank you for having us to the dinner.

I took some photos and posted on my Picasa.
Lastly I like to write how to boil Edamane which is Japanese favorite beer food. Here is the Edamame cooking instructions from my mother in Japan. I think with this method the color of Edamame will stay green .
----------------------
Boiled Edamame
Ingredients
Frozen Edamame
Water to boil
Pinch-1tea spoon Salt
Cooking Instructions
Boil water
Put Edamame into the boiled water.
Cook and boil the water with Edamame for 3 minutes.
Drain the water.
Sprinkle salt over Edamame and mix.
Serve it warm.