The last time I talked with Jim Koch, founder and president of Samuel Adams Beer, it was at a June 2005 dinner event I attended in Chicago, given in his honor by Mike Ditka and his wife Diana.

Ditka's Restaurant in downtown Chicago invited guests to a five-course "beer pairing dinner" for Chicago.

First prawns, breaded and coated in "Didtka's Hot Sauce," followed by baby greens covered in pineapple chunks, macadamia chunks and swimming in a ginger and sesame seed dressing, then a very rare 16-ounce New York strip steak, gravy, mashed potatoes and summer squash topped leading to the finale of a seven-layer chocolate fudge cake.

Read more here!