“A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure.” - Czech proverb

Wednesday I attended a firm beer tasting mixer hosted at Little Tuna in Haddonfield for our summer clerks.  Little Tuna provided three courses of heavy hors d'œuvres, and each course was paired with two types of beer.  We arrived a bit late so the first and second courses were sort of lumped together for our group (they were kind enough to make sure we got to taste all of the action), but nonetheless delicious.  For starters we were served jalapeño poppers, spicy chicken dumplings, and goat cheese "balls", accompanied by Stoudt's Gold Lager and a ginger peach wheat Dogfish Head.

The poppers were a bit bland, and the goat cheese balls were just too much cheese without anything to cut the taste (which is particularly difficult to swallow - pun intended - when dealing with a dry, crumbly cheese like goat cheese).  The spicy chicken dumplings, on the other hand, were tender and had a nice zip without being overpowering.  The Stoudt's was good but the Dogfish Head was a little too reminiscent of carbonated Arbor Mist for me.

The second course included salt-and-sugar pan seared sea scallops over a zucchini and butter puree, crab cakes made with blue cheese, spinach and red bell pepper, and chicken satay, and was served with Victory Hop Devil (my favorite) and a Flying Fish.

Although the satay was bland, the scallops and crab cake were to die for, and paired perfectly with my Hop Devil.

The final course consisted of lobster and sweet corn quesadillas with a smoked chipotle sauce, oysters rockafeller with crispy prociutto, parmesan, spinach, and garlic, and seared tuna, and was served with a Tripel Karmeliet and a Troegenator Double Bock.

I steered clear of the tuna as I unfortunately despise the taste of cooked tuna, but, the quesadillas and oysters were delicious (though the quesadillas were a little short on lobster meat).  The Double Bock was a little wintery for me, but, I found the Karmeliet delightful and plan to pick some up next time we are at the speciality beer spot on Columbus Blvd.

All-in-all a great time and assuming the tasting menu was just a preview of the great ditties on Little Tuna's full menu, I would definitely recommend stopping in for a bite.