Chow Downtown: Chimay Tasting at Morton's

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Last week Morton's Steakhouse at 7+Fig hosted a Chimay tasting replete with appetizers and complimentary glasses. Chimay is a monk-brewed, small-batch beer from Belgium that has been brewed using the same recipe for hundreds of years.

Jay Baum was on hand to describe the beer, brewed using traditional methods by Trappist monks. Baum is a regional sale representative for Chimay and is thus quite knowledgeable when it comes to the monk beer. He imparted some of that knowledge on us during the tasting.

Chimay is unpasteurized beer, brewed with only four ingredients: well water from the abbey, malt, wheat and yeast. Although the brewery was updated in 1989, it still follows the same process originally used when the monks started making their beer in 1862. Well to be fair, the monks didn't have centrifuges or quality assurance laborites back then, but you get the idea.

Chimay is available in three varieties: Chimary Red, Chimay Triple and Chimay Blue, also known as Grande Réserve. The only beer Chimay offers on tap is the Triple. One of our favorite places to drink Chimay, Cole's, has been closed for renovations, but according to Baum, Cedd Moses likes Chimay and will likely offer it on tap once the bar reopens.

We preferred the Chimay Blue over the Red and Triple due to its subtle malty flavor.

Along with the Chimay, Morton's provided appetizers. The first was a rich steak tartare with avocado and cucumber. Throughout the evening, sliced whole smoked salmon along with capers, horseradish, onions and toast was available. Towards the end of the tasting filet mignon sandwiches with garlic aioli were presented. To finish things off, miniature bites of Morton's Legendary Hot Chocolate Cake were served.

After the tasting we made our way to the bar for drinks. We were still hungry so we had a bowl of french onion soup, sliders and a slice of key lime pie.

The event attracted around twenty people to the upscale steakhouse. All in all we enjoyed the tasting, although we felt there should have been more appetizers offered for the $49 admission price. The complimentary Chimay glasses were a nice touch, though.

Disclosure: Morton's provided blogdowntown with complementary admission to the Chimay tasting event for two.