Imagine this. You are wandering around the Great American Beer Festival, perhaps with a favorite companion. You taste one delicious brew after another, reveling in the flavors, the aromas, the different tastes mingling on your tongue. An hour or two passes, the lines grow longer, the noise level intensifies, and you have sipped your share of suds. You long for a brief respite, a place to pause, if such a place exists. Speak no more, look no further. You wander down to the end of the hall, pass through the heavy double doors and enter The Farm to Table Pavilion at the GABF. The noise has diminished, and you are presented with a lovely array of tables, carefully plated food, chefs in white coats, and the brewmasters from several breweries.
This was our experience at the GABF. Six Breweries participated, and one or more of their beers was used in the preparation of a dish, or simply paired with a dish prepared by the Culinary School of the Rockies. It was an intimate venue that allowed you to participate in discussions with the chefs, brewers, and farmers and ranchers as well, and to understand how important fresh, local ingredients are to chefs as well as brewers. You could wander from table to table, have a sample of food paired with beer, and discuss it with the chef and brewmaster pouring your beer.
The CSR's Culinary Arts Farm to Table Program is an intense, six-month, full-time course, the only program in the nation to offer an experiential off-site Farm to Table Externship. For 5 weeks it literally takes students into the field, and the barn, and the hen house. They pick the fruit, tend the vegetables, feed and butcher the animals. Then every evening they come into the kitchen with the produce from the day and prepare a meal. Aspiring chefs gain the experience of a lifetime as they see first-hand the blood, sweat and tears that bring locally-produced ingredients to the kitchen.
The menu included:
Roasted Cherry Tomato and Burrata Bruschetta / Steamworks Third Eye Pale Ale
Terrine of Rabbit with Pheasant and Sour Cherry / Boulevard Two Jokers Double Wit
Chilled Corn Soup with Pepper Relish and Chile Oil / Boulevard Long Strange Tripel
Cassoulet of Rabbit / Deschutes Hop Trip
Confit of Pork with Sage and Macerated Peaches / Deschutes The Dissident
Duo of Bison. Roasted Rib-Eye and Braised Shortrib with Carmelized Brussel Sprouts / Great Divide Fresh Hop and Yeti Stout
Confit of Lamb with Polenta and Fig Jam / Clipper City Uber Pils and Oxford Organic Amber
Smoked and Braised Pork Cheek with Grits and Guacamole / Left Hand Sawtooth Ale and Porter
Corn Cupcake with Brown Butter Honey Buttercream / Steamworks Conductor
Spiced Biscuit with Peaches
Mascarpone Cheesecake with Peach Reduction / Steamworks Ale Diablo
We tasted, we sipped, we pondered, we discussed, then entered the great hall again, refreshed and were ready once more to sip our way through the evening.
Mike Laur © DG2C
Tiffany Cooper (far left) & Chris Lobkovich (far right) students from the Culinary School of the Rockies bring trays of tasty treats to the hungry masses.
This was our experience at the GABF. Six Breweries participated, and one or more of their beers was used in the preparation of a dish, or simply paired with a dish prepared by the Culinary School of the Rockies. It was an intimate venue that allowed you to participate in discussions with the chefs, brewers, and farmers and ranchers as well, and to understand how important fresh, local ingredients are to chefs as well as brewers. You could wander from table to table, have a sample of food paired with beer, and discuss it with the chef and brewmaster pouring your beer.
Mike Laur © DG2C
Slices of Terrine of Rabbit piling high.
The menu included:
Roasted Cherry Tomato and Burrata Bruschetta / Steamworks Third Eye Pale Ale
Terrine of Rabbit with Pheasant and Sour Cherry / Boulevard Two Jokers Double Wit
Chilled Corn Soup with Pepper Relish and Chile Oil / Boulevard Long Strange Tripel
Cassoulet of Rabbit / Deschutes Hop Trip
Confit of Pork with Sage and Macerated Peaches / Deschutes The Dissident
Duo of Bison. Roasted Rib-Eye and Braised Shortrib with Carmelized Brussel Sprouts / Great Divide Fresh Hop and Yeti Stout
Confit of Lamb with Polenta and Fig Jam / Clipper City Uber Pils and Oxford Organic Amber
Smoked and Braised Pork Cheek with Grits and Guacamole / Left Hand Sawtooth Ale and Porter
Corn Cupcake with Brown Butter Honey Buttercream / Steamworks Conductor
Spiced Biscuit with Peaches
Mascarpone Cheesecake with Peach Reduction / Steamworks Ale Diablo
We tasted, we sipped, we pondered, we discussed, then entered the great hall again, refreshed and were ready once more to sip our way through the evening.
Mike Laur © DG2C
Ice cold Great Divide!
Mike Laur © DG2C
Kris Oyler from Steamworks serves up Ale Diablo with the Mascarpone Cheesecake.
