Chef and Brew – A Beer and Food Pairing Event

Chef and Brew is a beer and food pairing event that combines some of Colorado’s amazing chefs and brewmasters to create the ultimate pairing. The event was Wednesday, August 29 at the Exdo Event Center in the River North neighborhood. It had around 20 participants with most featuring two beer and food pairings each.

Chef and Brew involves a friendly competition. Festival goers are able to vote on their favorites and a few lucky judges get to try each pairing and decide on a winner. This year’s beer and food pairing people’s choice winner was Departure Denver and Strange Craft Beer. Departure Denver brought a chilled coconut curry with local ingredients of peaches, corn, tomatoes, basil, and a spicy pepper oil. This was paired with the Cherry Kriek which met its match in this beer and food pairing.

Another pairing that I felt went well together was the smoked trout cracker and Extra Dry Double IPA. The smoked trout had cucumber, Colorado peach glaze, almond and micro rainbow greens. This alone was very tasty! Then the dryness in the beer paired very well with the seafood and light sweetness.

The mussel from Acreage also paired nicely with the Salted Cucumber Cider. There was a lot of flavor in each yet together they were very complimentary. Though I don’t drink ciders often, this cider was very unique and enjoyable.

FAVORITE CRAFT BEER AND FOOD PAIRINGS

• Chilled Coconut Curry by Departure Denver paired with Cherry Kriek by Strange Craft Beer
• Mussel Escabeche by Acreage paired with A Salted Cucumber Cider by Stem Ciders
• Smoked Trout Cracker by Appaloosa paired with the Extra Dry Double IPA by Spangalang

Must mention both the delicious donut pairings! Lucky Pie had a donut hole that was paired with a Berry Milkshake IPA from Trinity. The pairing made it taste as if you were eating a jelly donut. The other donut and IPA pairing came from Glazed and Confuzed and Alpine Dog. The Melted Orange Creamsicle Donut went surprising well with the New England IPA.

A few other noteworthy bites were the lobster dumpling from Ace and the bacon pasta from American Elm. The pasta had sweet corn, bacon, fresno peppers, basil, parsley, and parmesan. It was delicious! American Elm is not quite open but they should be opening shortly. Lastly, the most unique little bite was the cantaloupe Habanero Sorbet from Goods Restaurant. I absolutely love cantaloupe and the little kick form the habanero made it so perfect.

This year was my first year attending the Chef and Brew Beer and Food Pairing. These types of events are always a great time and fun way to experiment with pairing different flavor profiles. The only constructive criticism I would offer would be that the samples be distributed better or more provided. With two hours left still to go in the festival I was bummed that things were already starting to run out. I wanted to try more of the pairings! 🙂 Overall, it was a great time and I am excited for the next one.

Cheers!

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