Posted on

The Land Picks the Pairing at Four Star Farms

House milled 4 Star Farms wharthog wheat & baby carrot pappardelle, roasted baby carrots, kale & green garlic, carrot top salsa, aged goat cheese, carrot crumb and Honest Weight Branch Bridge.

Four Star Farms is located on the prehistoric lake bottom of Lake Hitchcock in Northfield, Massachusetts. This family farm boasts several feet of the best topsoil in the world – Hadley Silt Loam – ensuring peak conditions for thriving grains and hops. As a result, more than fifty local purveyors have taken to using Four Star’s crops to make beer, pasta, and pastries, among dozens of other grainy iterations dreamed up by our creative culinary community. If the key to a great pairing relies on terroir (the French term for ‘earth’) it was written in the stars for the L’Etoiles.

Armsby Abbey's Chef Damian Evangelous makes a visit to Four Star Farms.
Armsby Abbey’s Chef Damian Evangelous makes a visit to Four Star Farms.

Four Star Farms was built and passed down through fourteen generations of L’Etoiles. You’ve likely enjoyed the fruits of their labor at Central Mass breweries like Wormtown, Medusa, KBC, and Homefield as well as countless area restaurants. When it comes to Four Star Farms, it’s best to let the land do the pairing.

Four Star’s grains are something of a constant on the menu at Worcester’s Armsby Abbey where Western Mass breweries like Honest Weight and Brick and Feather have quickly risen through the ranks. Both Honest Weight and Brick and Feather benefit from Four Star’s plentiful harvest, making them natural pairings for dishes like the Abbey’s Pappardelle.

Kitten with a Whip at Brick and Feather Brewery
Kitten with a Whip at Brick and Feather Brewery

The Baby Carrot Pappardelle is made with juiced carrot and a house milled whole grain from Four Star Farms called Warthog Wheat. The dish is served with roasted baby carrots, kale and green garlic, carrot top salsa, aged goat cheese, and carrot crumb. Liz L’Etoile explains, “The warthog is used by lots of bakers for sourdough loaves and has a very strong wheat flavor; it can also be used in strong pastas.”

Warthog is a hard-red-winter-wheat variety. “‘Hard’ relates to the type of protein – a rising protein great for making breads, ‘red’ is related to the color of the berry – there are red or white berries, and ‘winter’ relates to the time of year the grain is planted – late fall,” says L’Etoille.

As for beer pairings, keep an eye on the draft list for selections like ‘Kitten with a Whip’ – Brick and Feather’s new Munich Helles Lager, or ‘Lightworks’ – Honest Weight’s American Blonde. Both brews are light and crushable, ideal for easy summer drinking. Brick and Feather’s head brewer, Lawrence George adds, “We are about to release a new beer that uses some of Four Star’s hops and also includes elder flower and honey. We don’t have a name for it yet but it is the 100th batch of beer we’ve brewed, and it’s a farmhouse style Belgian ale.”

You can find Brick and Feather and Honest Weight along with Damian Evangelous of Armsby Abbey at the Lettuce Be Local Farmer Dinner on Sunday, July 23rd. The event will be held at Four Star Farms at 3 p.m. and promises a heartfelt showcase of local and traceable ingredients.

Posted on

Armsby Abbey’s Stoutfest Breakfast Welcomes Shaun Hill

Armsby Abbey's Stoutfest

Beer nerds enjoyed a rare treat on Saturday morning when one of the world’s most celebrated brewers, Shaun Hill, addressed a crowd at Armsby Abbey in Worcester. Tickets for the restaurant’s annual Stoutfest Breakfast sold out immediately with no indication as to who the special guest would be. The appearance of Hill, who remains notoriously private, surpassed attendee’s wildest expectations.

Hill Farmstead has become a fixture of Armsby Abbey over the last two years thanks to the integrity and devotion of owners Alec Lopez and Sherri Sadowski. Lopez and Sadowski’s promise to preserve the virtues of Hill Farmstead on site in Worcester has fused one of the most important relationships in the industry.

Hill, Lopez, and Executive Chef Damian Evangelous took turns speaking to the crowd throughout the three course affair. Evangelous’ remarks emphasized local farms tapped for the event, including the introduction of a dish prepared with Crystal Brook Farm’s last remaining goat, Nellie. The coffee roasted goat was served with charred coffee cooked carrot over a risotto compiled of triticale, rye, and oats grown locally at Four Star Farms.

The Armsby Abbey girls during Stoutfest.
The Armsby Abbey girls during Stoutfest.

Hill spoke about his time in Copenhagen, where he paid daily visits to The Coffee Collective. At the time, he was inspired by the serious culture built around coffee and the intense precision of its participants. Before Leaving Denmark, he asked six other brewers to share their own fundamental guidelines for brewing stouts in addition to a recipe. “I combined our recipes and divided by seven,” he explains. Hill’s formative experience in Copenhagen continues to influence many of his award winning stouts.

Although the public won’t be able to sample most of the exclusive releases poured for Stoutfest, one of the day’s special selections will remain available at Armsby Abbey for the foreseeable future: Shirley Mae.

This American porter was brewed in honor of Hill’s cousin, Shirley Mae. Shirley Mae marked the last of Hill’s ancestors, for whom his beers are named, to pass away. The brew carries light, malty sweetness typical of a higher Alcohol by Volume than Shirley Mae’s 4%. Poured on nitro, it offers a creamy mouthfeel elevated by the spirit of chocolate, coffee, and Shirley Mae herself who was described as both “ebullient and generous.”

Hill explains that he generally only drinks low ABV beers like Saisons and Pale Ales. “In Vermont, we have to drive long distances to socialize,” he explains. He adds that Shirley Mae is a, “Refreshing treat.” The same could be said of his presence in Worcester.