Beer Dinners: Junkyard Brewing Company & Sol Ave. Kitchen

Photo By Hillary Ehlen

The Food

Pork & Mushroom Dumplings

An extremely savory dish, the pork and mushroom dumplings have become an instant success at Sol Ave. Kitchen. Homemade dough, along with freshly seasoned pork, mushrooms are hand-crimped together and boiled to perfection. For good measure, Sol Ave. slaps them on their flat top grill for an added crunch. Alongside the dumplings are kimchi, scallion and radish. The dumplings are topped with the restaurant’s signature “dirty sauce” which is a sweet and spicy addition to the dish.

Sol Ave. Kitchen
1408 1st Ave N, Moorhead

The Beer Brewstand

Boogie New England Style Double IPA

This dry-hopped New England Double IPA is full of tropical and juicy flavors with a mild hop bite. Brewed with Mosaic, Azacca, El Dorado and Eureka hops, Junkyard uses the dry-hop technique to attain a hoppy aroma for the Brewstand Boogie. Dry-hopping is the process of adding hops to a beer after first boiling the wort (unfermented beer) and adding an initial round of hops to the boil. Adding that second dosage of hops after the boil helps the beer attain more aroma and flavor without making the beer more bitter. This brew aims for flavor with just a 20 IBU (International Bitterness Units). Brewers and beer drinkers across the world look to the IBU to gauge the bitterness and hoppiness of a beer. With a lower IBU, Junkyard has no doubt succeeded in their quest to make a more flavorful Double IPA.

Junkyard Brewing Company
1416 1st Ave N, Moorhead

Why It Pairs

As a Double IPA (albeit New England style, which is traditionally less bitter), it could be easy to assume it’s a hoppy, bitter beer. However, using the dry-hopping process, Junkyard has created a flavorful Double IPA with minimal bitterness (again, only 20 IBUs). The juiciness of the beer acts as a palate cleanser for the savory pork and mushroom dumplings. While pork is a fattier protein, you will not get that notion eating this dish. Even if you do, IPAs are perfect for cutting through fattier proteins. Where this pairing shines is the Brewstand Boogie’s ability to cancel out any spice you’ll get from the dirty sauce or pork and mushrooms. In that sense, it should serve as a palate cleanser in between the savory bites.