Meet the Brewers Night - Beer and Nacho Pairing - Waikiki Brewing Company and Wang Chungs

There I was sitting at home exhausted and super over the hellish Monday I had just survived when I get a text message from Dan, the owner at Wangs. "Hey Shannon! Moustache Nate is here at Wangs. Do you want to do a Waikiki Brewing Beer & Nacho pairing night at Wangs? He'll be here so people can meet the Brewer."  OMG YAS!  Everybody knows how much I love Wang Chungs, but I am also a huge fan of Waikiki Brewing Company.  Two of my favorite local companies doing an event together that features NACHOS?  Does life get any better? A threesome of awesomeness was born and we immediately set a date and a theme (moustaches of course) and started planning.

In case you didn't already know, Wang Chungs recently replaced the majority of their beers on tap with beers locally brewed in Honolulu.  Cheers to you Dan for supporting local businesses! Be sure to try them all on your next night out at Wang Chungs. To celebrate and introduce these new beers to the clientele, the first Meet the Brewers night was born with Waikiki Brewing Company. Kaimana tasted each beer and came up with a nacho recipe to pair perfectly with each draft.  Moustache Nate came with his array of hops, malt, barley, etc. that go in to the different recipes for guests to ask questions and learn what makes up the beers they love to drink so much. We even had our own IRL Skinny Jeans model, Stanley Nakamura. The Nacho Friends showed up in their festive nacho shirts and we had plenty of Nacho Ponchos to go around for everyone.  All of my favorites in one night: nachos, beer, and karaoke!  It was a trifecta of awesomeness with a moustache bonus.

Nacho and beer lovers, first time nacho bloggers, and instant new bffs, Trey and Kelly

For just $14 ($2 off if you were sporting a moustache) you got a flight of the 3 Waikiki Brewing Company beers on tap (Skinny Jeans IPA, Ala Moana Amber, and English Brown Ale) as well as 3 different nachos created to perfectly pair with each beer. Not only did Kaimana come up with 3 unique recipes, but he used the Skinny Jeans IPA to make the beer cheese and served 3 different styles of chips. #nachoheaven #nachogasm

Chips & Beer Cheese: beer cheese, scallions, tomato, and restaurant styled chips. Paired with Skinny Jeans IPA: True West Coast style IPA with lilikoi & floral nose and resinous piney hop finish. 

Sauteed Veggie Nachos: sauteed vegetable medley (deglazed in the amber beer), beer cheese, fresh cilantro, and homemade tortilla chips. Paired with Ala Moana Amber: Five different types of malt make this richly tinted amber ale with citrus and pine like notes. 

Braised Lamb Nachos: braised lamb, beer cheese, homemade wonton chips, and cucumber. Paired with English Brown Ale: Nutty & roasty malted brown ale with bitter hops that balance out the malt forward character.

Andres (4) – PRESENTATION: Cheese nachos were beautiful, still crunchy, not too much cheese. RAD: Beer cheese! Wonton chips, cucumbers on lamb.  LAME: Cilantro on veggie nachos. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 3.5. Great place, good music, great beer! 

Shananigans (4.9) – PRESENTATION: Plated exceptionally well with a trifecta of nacho flavors ready to be devoured.  RAD: Nate's moustache, homemade beer cheese, lamb, Stanley Nakamura, 3 different kinds of chips, Joe's karaoke choice, Dan Chang. LAME: Not on the regular menu. The cheese pooled under my nachos and was not on top of the chips.  It's okay, I was able to dip them in it.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4.5, sufficient toppings.  Loved all the different flavors, especially the simple yet delicious ones. Kaimana went above and beyond deglazing the veggies in the amber ale. The crispy wonton chips for the lamb nachos were outta this world and the cucumber was a fresh touch for that extra little bit to kill it. I had so much fun hanging out at my favorite bar with all my friends, eating delicious nachos, and talking about beer with Nate and Joe. What a fabulous event!

  

Piggy (4) – PRESENTATION: Colorful. RAD: Sauteed and caramelized onion, lamb & cucumber, love the veggie nacho. PS, I like the lilikoi.  LAME: A little bitter.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: A little too much on the chip side.

 

3some (5) – PRESENTATION: Awesome. RAD: Lamb. LAME: The chips and beer cheese needed a little lamb.  TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: Perfect.

JQPineapple (4.5) – PRESENTATION: Trio of chips. RAD: The cheese! Nom nom nom.  LAME: It was all good, not in love with the homemade. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: 4.5, could have had more veggies. The beer was amazing and paired so well with the nachos.

Trey & Kelly (5) – PRESENTATION: We got the flight combo so presentation was fantastic!  Wonton chips was such an interesting choice. Cheese on the basic set of nachos was superior to the other two. Ended up getting a full order of that.  RAD: The Skinny Jeans model made the beer better. LAME: The English Brown Ale model wasn't here. TOPPING TO CHIP RATIO: The sampler is a 5, the full order is a 4, not enough cheese. Wang Chungs is so much fun! Great crowd!

 

Moustache Nate educating on the magic ingredients that make up his delicious beer

Nom nom nom nom nom

The man behind the perfectly paired and creative nachos, Kaimana

Put it in my belly!

Nacho Brothers

 

Our very own, in the flesh, Skinny Jeans model, Stanley Nakamura

If you didn't feel like getting all three nachos, you could opt for a large size of your choice.

Who wore it better?

Uma singing some David Bowie, I especially love Moustache Nate's enthusiasm in the blurry background.

After spending a good amount of time discussing how much we each loved the Big Lebowski, Joe decided to sing one of our favorite songs from the classic film.

Moustache Nate belting out a George Michael classic