Tuesday, July 03, 2018
The Continuing Evolution of Beer and Food Pairing in Denver
Seemingly every burger joint that comes in from another state to open in Denver these days claims it is the new place to drink beer and enjoy good food in the Mile High City. So, it's nice to see Hopdoddy attempting to do something to earn that reputation.
The Austin-based sit-down burger joint, which opened several years ago next to Denver Union Station, introduced its new Brew Series in May. The series features a local brewery that not only gets a couple of beers onto the monthly menu but gets one of its creations featured as an ingredient in a designated new burger for the month.
I got the chance to check out the promotion about a month ago, when it was in the bridge period between May and June. So, I got to try the Renegade Brewing beers that were part of the initial May pairing, along with the Big Kahuna Burger that was a June feature. But I learned enough during that visit to draw some key conclusions about the program, which is now in its third month.
First, while few beer connoisseurs would have complained had bigger-name breweries like Odell or Avery been featured, Hopdoddy has gone out of its way to focus on more local artisans - first Renegade, then Telluride Brewing in June and now Ratio Beerworks in July. That is a way of digging into your community, even if you're an out-of-state chain.
Second, the use of the beer within the recipes is clever, even if it doesn't redefine the art of cooking with beer. Hopdoddy mixed Telluride's Whacked Out Wheat into the teriyaki sauce of its Big Kahuna Burger; while the wheat isn't readily apparent, the sauce is less sticky than many of its ilk and more bursting out of the bun like a flavor waterfall. The July offering of a BBQ pulled pork sandwich made with a sauce incorporating Ratio's Dear You saison also sounds intriguing.
Lastly, while some eateries match up food and beer for the sake of saying they can do it, Hopdoddy makes food that just goes with beer. Yes, sandwiches like the Big Kahuna — a chicken patty topped with beer teriyaki sauce, pineapple, avocado and cilantro mayo — slide into a pairing with a lighter beer or even a citrus-forward pale ale so easily, it's almost unthinkable not to do it. But the Brew Series also features the introduction of a number of new sides too, and those include the buffalo fries made with blue cheese and buffalo sauce - a tasty creation that called out for an IPA pairing among the nine draft beers and additional nine bottled/canned beers on the menu.
One could probably pick out a number of restaurants in the Denver area doing pairings like these, and it's worth noting that any restaurant that is discussing such beer-and-food deals and doing it with a specific beer in mind or new beer-infused menu items is worth cheering for its efforts.
But Hopdoddy particularly is worth spotlighting because it's a chain from a town that isn't lacking in its own beer resume that is fully embracing Denver culture and finding a way to work with local breweries. And that is a sign of a continually maturing craft beer market that only will lead to more of these ideas — until finding a craft-beer-and-food pairing is less difficult than finding a restaurant that isn't trying something of that sort.
Seemingly every burger joint that comes in from another state to open in Denver these days claims it is the new place to drink beer and enjoy good food in the Mile High City. So, it's nice to see Hopdoddy attempting to do something to earn that reputation.
The Austin-based sit-down burger joint, which opened several years ago next to Denver Union Station, introduced its new Brew Series in May. The series features a local brewery that not only gets a couple of beers onto the monthly menu but gets one of its creations featured as an ingredient in a designated new burger for the month.
I got the chance to check out the promotion about a month ago, when it was in the bridge period between May and June. So, I got to try the Renegade Brewing beers that were part of the initial May pairing, along with the Big Kahuna Burger that was a June feature. But I learned enough during that visit to draw some key conclusions about the program, which is now in its third month.
First, while few beer connoisseurs would have complained had bigger-name breweries like Odell or Avery been featured, Hopdoddy has gone out of its way to focus on more local artisans - first Renegade, then Telluride Brewing in June and now Ratio Beerworks in July. That is a way of digging into your community, even if you're an out-of-state chain.Second, the use of the beer within the recipes is clever, even if it doesn't redefine the art of cooking with beer. Hopdoddy mixed Telluride's Whacked Out Wheat into the teriyaki sauce of its Big Kahuna Burger; while the wheat isn't readily apparent, the sauce is less sticky than many of its ilk and more bursting out of the bun like a flavor waterfall. The July offering of a BBQ pulled pork sandwich made with a sauce incorporating Ratio's Dear You saison also sounds intriguing.
One could probably pick out a number of restaurants in the Denver area doing pairings like these, and it's worth noting that any restaurant that is discussing such beer-and-food deals and doing it with a specific beer in mind or new beer-infused menu items is worth cheering for its efforts.
But Hopdoddy particularly is worth spotlighting because it's a chain from a town that isn't lacking in its own beer resume that is fully embracing Denver culture and finding a way to work with local breweries. And that is a sign of a continually maturing craft beer market that only will lead to more of these ideas — until finding a craft-beer-and-food pairing is less difficult than finding a restaurant that isn't trying something of that sort.
Labels: Food pairing, Hopdoddy, Ratio Beerworks, Renegade Brewing, Telluride Brewing
Monday, April 09, 2018
Renegade's Pleasing Polite Side
Renegade Brewing's best beers traditionally have been the ones that go way, way off-style or outside the mainstream. Think beet saison. Think triple IPA. Think imperial peanut butter cup stout.
That's why it's both pleasing and surprising to see that its newest offering — its Free to Roam American Pale Ale, released officially on Saturday — is a gem specifically because it's subtle and yet imbued with big flavor. And while breweries can fluctuate from beer to beer in terms of what they nail and what they miss, Free to Roam feels like a very mature effort for a brewery that's about to undertake a significant expansion.
The beer replaces Consilium Pale Ale in the year-round lineup for the Denver brewery after a four-year run for that beer — and that's a good thing. Consilium was an early example of the fruited hop beer, and while that pale ale brewed with orange peel wasn't offensive like some other entries in the style, it had an almost chewy body and minimal hop flavor that never seemed to land it in a category that would please hop heads or more experimental drinkers.
Free to Roam tosses aside the actual fruit and replaces it with a mouthful of Citra hops, giving it the feel of a lighter-bodied IPA swimming in melons. But it doesn't go overboard on either the fruity characteristics or the bitterness, ending with just enough of a hop bite to prick your taste buds and then be gone. It's both ultra-drinkable and full of hop-reaching personality — a great beer especially for the coming summer season.
The presence of Free to Roam doesn't mean Renegade is giving up on its fruited hop beers, for those who like that trend. Summer Tan, its deceptively boozy double IPA made with tangerine essence, is coming back this year and getting a run in cans into all five states in which Renegade distributes. It's an easy beer that isn't quite sure whether it wants to be bitter or fruity, but it at least is punchy with both flavors.
Free to Roam, however, is the kind of beer you'll be drinking all summer. And after Renegade recently snagged the Colorado Brewery of the Year award at the New York International Beer Competition, it's a further sign that the beer maker is upping its game.
Renegade Brewing's best beers traditionally have been the ones that go way, way off-style or outside the mainstream. Think beet saison. Think triple IPA. Think imperial peanut butter cup stout.
That's why it's both pleasing and surprising to see that its newest offering — its Free to Roam American Pale Ale, released officially on Saturday — is a gem specifically because it's subtle and yet imbued with big flavor. And while breweries can fluctuate from beer to beer in terms of what they nail and what they miss, Free to Roam feels like a very mature effort for a brewery that's about to undertake a significant expansion.
The beer replaces Consilium Pale Ale in the year-round lineup for the Denver brewery after a four-year run for that beer — and that's a good thing. Consilium was an early example of the fruited hop beer, and while that pale ale brewed with orange peel wasn't offensive like some other entries in the style, it had an almost chewy body and minimal hop flavor that never seemed to land it in a category that would please hop heads or more experimental drinkers.
Free to Roam tosses aside the actual fruit and replaces it with a mouthful of Citra hops, giving it the feel of a lighter-bodied IPA swimming in melons. But it doesn't go overboard on either the fruity characteristics or the bitterness, ending with just enough of a hop bite to prick your taste buds and then be gone. It's both ultra-drinkable and full of hop-reaching personality — a great beer especially for the coming summer season.
The presence of Free to Roam doesn't mean Renegade is giving up on its fruited hop beers, for those who like that trend. Summer Tan, its deceptively boozy double IPA made with tangerine essence, is coming back this year and getting a run in cans into all five states in which Renegade distributes. It's an easy beer that isn't quite sure whether it wants to be bitter or fruity, but it at least is punchy with both flavors.Free to Roam, however, is the kind of beer you'll be drinking all summer. And after Renegade recently snagged the Colorado Brewery of the Year award at the New York International Beer Competition, it's a further sign that the beer maker is upping its game.
Labels: American pale ale, Fruit beers, new beers, Renegade Brewing
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Breakfast Beer Pairings
Beer pairings aren't just for dinner anymore. Or, apparently, just for lunch either.
A couple of events held by Denver breweries earlier this month show that beer can be paired successfully with brunch or with doughnuts. The trick is making sure you have the right combination.
Denver Beer Co., which has tried events pairing its beer with everything from chocolate to oysters, tried a new tact and decided to put them up against doughnuts from Habit Doughnut Dispensary, a nearby neighbor to its LoHi tasting room. And while the combination of sweet and hoppy may not sound like the most natural marriage, the result was surprisingly effective.
Take, for example, the combination of Denver Beer's Blood Orange Tandem Pedal Double IPA with a Trailblazer Cran Orange doughnut; the sweetness of the doughnut calmed the bitterness of the beer and the sharp cranberry-orange taste of the pastry matched the beer's zing. Or there was the brewery's signature Graham Cracker Porter paired with a Yuzu Gram Cracker doughnut, contrasting the dark beer and sweet yuzu topping that blended surprisingly well.
Not every doughnut/beer combo is magic; the Pretzel Assassin Amber Lager is too bland a beer, for example, to strike any meaningful relationship with crullers like the Mexican Black Out it had as a partner. But the brewery and doughnut shop clearly put a lot of thought into this, and the pairings made for a fun sensory process.
The Corner Office - the hip restaurant bar across from the Denver Performing Arts Complex - has launched its own exploration into the pairing world with a beer brunch series. And through a varied assortment of offerings in conjunction with Ratio Beerworks earlier this month, it too tried out some previously little-used combinations.
The restaurant, for example, knew how to employ a lighter beer better, as it put Ratio's Domestica American Standard Ale up against a fish ' n chips basket with a fried rosemary sprig in order to let the easy beer act as a cushion for subtle, rather than overwhelming, flavor. And putting homemade andouille sausage over beer cheddar grits with the Antidote IPA really let the hop flavor bring out just enough of the moderate heat in the sausage and pronounce both personalities a little more.
The taste of the brewery's fantastic Dear You saison was lost when it was added into the Spring in Your Step cocktail that was laden with rye and cointreau, but The Corner Office at least gets points for trying that combination. More obviously absent, however, was the presence of breakfast foods, short of the buffalo-style deviled eggs and hush puppies, and I would have loved to see what the restaurant and brewery could have done with a benedict plate or some other more traditional serving.
Still, the brunch series, which continues with a July 23 brunch with Renegade Brewing, illustrates one more way that restaurants and bakeries are looking to work beer into settings that were traditionally garnished with a mimosa or with no drinks at all. And the beer community is the winner.
Beer pairings aren't just for dinner anymore. Or, apparently, just for lunch either.
A couple of events held by Denver breweries earlier this month show that beer can be paired successfully with brunch or with doughnuts. The trick is making sure you have the right combination.
Denver Beer Co., which has tried events pairing its beer with everything from chocolate to oysters, tried a new tact and decided to put them up against doughnuts from Habit Doughnut Dispensary, a nearby neighbor to its LoHi tasting room. And while the combination of sweet and hoppy may not sound like the most natural marriage, the result was surprisingly effective.
Take, for example, the combination of Denver Beer's Blood Orange Tandem Pedal Double IPA with a Trailblazer Cran Orange doughnut; the sweetness of the doughnut calmed the bitterness of the beer and the sharp cranberry-orange taste of the pastry matched the beer's zing. Or there was the brewery's signature Graham Cracker Porter paired with a Yuzu Gram Cracker doughnut, contrasting the dark beer and sweet yuzu topping that blended surprisingly well.
Not every doughnut/beer combo is magic; the Pretzel Assassin Amber Lager is too bland a beer, for example, to strike any meaningful relationship with crullers like the Mexican Black Out it had as a partner. But the brewery and doughnut shop clearly put a lot of thought into this, and the pairings made for a fun sensory process.
The Corner Office - the hip restaurant bar across from the Denver Performing Arts Complex - has launched its own exploration into the pairing world with a beer brunch series. And through a varied assortment of offerings in conjunction with Ratio Beerworks earlier this month, it too tried out some previously little-used combinations.The restaurant, for example, knew how to employ a lighter beer better, as it put Ratio's Domestica American Standard Ale up against a fish ' n chips basket with a fried rosemary sprig in order to let the easy beer act as a cushion for subtle, rather than overwhelming, flavor. And putting homemade andouille sausage over beer cheddar grits with the Antidote IPA really let the hop flavor bring out just enough of the moderate heat in the sausage and pronounce both personalities a little more.
The taste of the brewery's fantastic Dear You saison was lost when it was added into the Spring in Your Step cocktail that was laden with rye and cointreau, but The Corner Office at least gets points for trying that combination. More obviously absent, however, was the presence of breakfast foods, short of the buffalo-style deviled eggs and hush puppies, and I would have loved to see what the restaurant and brewery could have done with a benedict plate or some other more traditional serving.
Still, the brunch series, which continues with a July 23 brunch with Renegade Brewing, illustrates one more way that restaurants and bakeries are looking to work beer into settings that were traditionally garnished with a mimosa or with no drinks at all. And the beer community is the winner.
Labels: brunch, cocktails, Denver Beer Co, doughnuts, Food pairing, IPA, Ratio Beerworks, Renegade Brewing, The Corner Office
