The 2nd annual (my first time attending) BrüFrou was this past Saturday. The event took place at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum, which was an awesome backdrop to the event. After grabbing a beer and bite, you could mosey over to get a more upfront view of the different aircrafts.
There were over 40 beer and food pairings and I did not even come close to tasting all of them! There was a menu including locations of booths which made it easy for navigating but it was easy to get full fast. The first pairing to start out the evening was a Kiwi Blonde from Wild Woods with a Rustic Pizza from Basta. The Rustic Pizza had house made ricotta with burnt orange.
Another fun and simple bite-sized food was this Wild Boar and blueberry sausage with gouda cheese and sweet drop peppers, Colorojo beer mustard. It was paired with the Saison de Seigle Rye Saison or the Colorojo Dry Hopped Imperial Red Ale. I tried it with the saison and enjoyed the two together.
A very intriguing pairing was a sushi roll with Tree Shaker Imperial Peach IPA from Odell. The Mainline Ale House did not make just any sushi roll but a Braised Pork Belly Sushi roll with Tree Shaker glaze. The pork belly was cooked in the beer and then the excess juice was made into the glaze. It was a very tasty roll and accompanied well by the beer.
When I was reaching my limit I was fronted with the pairing from Station 26 and Panzano. Panzano brought this lamb ragu, house made garganelli, and truffled pecorino cheese. It was amazing! If I had not been full I would have gone for seconds- maybe even thirds 🙂 It was paired with an experimental IPA that I believe was single-hopped and very delicious.
There is one pairing that I am so regretful that I missed. I even talked about their pairing from last year on my preview post and yet I somehow did not make it my mission to find Glazed and Confuzed donuts! This year they brought a Samoa Donut– yes, Samoa (my favorite!)- to be paired with a Rye Saison from Finkel and Garf Brewing.
Some beers I enjoyed drinking while my food was digesting was the Slap Yer Mammy Double IPA from Trinity, Maharaja Imperial IPA from Avery, and Insane Rush IPA by Bootstrap. It was the first time trying the Slap yer Mammy Double IPA and I was beyond impressed! It was incredible and I cannot wait to get my hands on some more!
A great thing about this event, besides all the yummy food and beer, was that the amount of people attending was limited which meant there were no lines. I could take my time talking with the brewer or chef about the pairing, snap a photo, and not feel rushed. The goal was not to get through quickly but to really taste and enjoy what you were consuming. Another thing was that I did not see any food or beer run out. This may seem like it should be a given but beer/food too often runs out at festivals.
There were so many varieties of food and beer to taste that I felt like I could not properly taste the different pairings. A way to cleanse the palette would have been nice. Though I did not want to consume more food, a saltine or oyster cracker station might be a way to allow people to cleanse the palette before moving on. I was so curious to really taste the flavor combinations of each pairing but felt after a few, the flavors did not stand out as much.
BrüFrou 2015 was a very tasty event! I only wished I could have had more room to try it all! Now, after writing, I am completely hungry and so I am off to the kitchen!
Cheers and happy Friday!
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Sounds like my kind of event! Wow!!
It was a lot of fun! I’m already excited for next year! I think I will attend with a better game plan though- like already know which booths I must go to first so that I make sure I do not get too full 🙂
Everything sounds delicious!
Hi Mary-
Thanks for commenting! (not sure how I missed it) It was a very delicious and filling event! 🙂