Celebrity Chefs Pair 181 Of America's Best Craft Beers With Their Own Culinary Creations
Beer devotees are not the only ones who have benefitted from the craft-beer explosion. Foodies are enjoying all kinds of new and tasty food concoctions at brewpubs, festivals, breweries and food trucks parked in adjacent parking lots.
A scrumptious roast lamb sandwich, for example, was sold to me a few years ago by a food truck outside Trillium Brewing’s brewery in Canton, Massachusetts. Trillium produces some of the world’s best IPAs, and, though many are to die for, foremost on my mind for days afterward was that lamb sandwich.
Similarly, at one of America’s best brewers of sour beers, O.E.C. Brewing in Oxford, Connecticut, I ate a food-truck burrito that belonged in one of Southern California’s finest restaurants. And, on the infrequent days when O.E.C. opens its “bakery,” bread, cheeses and charcuterie from some of the world’s best suppliers — and lovingly prepared by Matthias Neidhart, who owns the brewery and beer importer/distributor B. United International — send beer aficionados into culinary heaven.
Such a delightful pairing of craft beer and food is on tap (pardon the pun) June 1-2 at the historic National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. The late 19th-Century building, which includes a Great Hall with 75-foot-tall Corinthian columns, will host SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Brewing Experience, and about 2,000 people are expected each day.
Chef and owner Mike Friedman puts the finishing touches on a Rockaway Pizza before putting it in the oven at All Purpose in Washington, D.C. Friedman is one of seven chefs who will feed guests at SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Brewing Experience June 1-2. (Photo: Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Ninety small and independent breweries will be showcasing 181 beers and pairing them with celebrity chefs’ small plates of food. The chefs will be Adam Dulye, executive chef of the Brewers Association trade group; Marc Vetri of Philadelphia’s Vetri Cucina; Mike Friedman of Washington’s Red Hen and All Purpose; Nathan Anda of Washington’s Red Apron butchery; Nathan Miller of Nathan Miller Chocolate in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; Kyle Mendenhall of Arcana in Boulder, Colorado, and Gavin Fine of the Fine Dining Restaurant Group in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Some of the numerous menu items are duck meatball a la orange, venison carpaccio, pheasant croquette, pork loin tostada and barbecued octopus. Desserts will include tiramisu cannoli, caramelized white chocolate eclair and popcorn and yogurt panna cotta.
“As the nation’s premier craft beer and food pairing event, SAVOR celebrates craft beer’s place in the culinary experience,” says Dulye, the creator of the event’s menu. “Since its inception in 2007, SAVOR has elevated how beer lovers and foodies alike enjoy craft beer from the tap to the table. The experience offers the opportunity to meet the brewers behind the brands and sample beers from breweries they don’t always have access to, all while embarking on an epicurean adventure.”
A ticket for SAVOR on either June 1 or June 2 — 7:30 p.m.-11 p.m. each night — costs $135. VIP tickets, which allow early entry to the event and provide other perks, sold for $200 but are sold out.
Chef Kyle Mendenhall sent many diners’ taste buds into orbit when he worked at The Kitchen in Boulder, Colorado. Mendenhall, who now delights customers with his culinary skills at Boulder’s Arcana, will be one of seven celebrity chefs June 1-2 at SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Brewing Experience in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Cyrus McCrimmon/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
Half of the 90 craft breweries that will be pouring their beers at SAVOR are listed below. A complete list can be found here.
Allagash, Portland, Maine.
Ardent, Richmond, Virginia.
Arizona Wilderness, Gilbert, Arizona.
Band of Bohemia, Chicago, Illinois.
Bear Republic, Cloverdale, California.
Bearwaters, Canton, North Carolina.
Bell’s, Comstock, Michigan.
Blackberry Farm, Maryville, Tennessee.
Cape May, Cape May, New Jersey.
Central Waters, Amherst, Wisconsin.
Cheluna, Aurora, Colorado.
Cloudburst, Seattle, Washington.
Coop, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Country Boy, Lexington, Kentucky.
Crooked Stave, Denver, Colorado.
Dogfish Head, Milton, Delaware.
Earth Rider, Superior, Wisconsin.
Fat Bottom, Nashville, Tennessee.
Fate, Boulder, Colorado.
Fernson, Sioux Falls, North Dakota.
Flying Fish, Somerdale, New Jersey.
Four Quarters, Winooski, Vermont.
GoodLife, Bend, Oregon.
Hops & Grain, Austin, Texas.
Kohola, Lahaina, Hawaii.
La Cabra, Berwyn, Pennsylvania.
Lawson’s, Warren, Vermont.
Marble, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Night Shift, Everett, Massachusetts.
Perennial, St. Louis, Missouri.
Port City, Alexandria, Virginia.
Purpose, Fort Collins, Colorado.
RAR, Cambridge, Maryland.
Rhinegeist, Cincinnati, Ohio.
River Time, Darrington, Washington.
Roadhouse, Jackson, Wyoming.
SaltWater, Delray Beach, Florida.
Service, Savannah, Georgia.
Short’s, Bellaire, Michigan.
Ska, Durango, Colorado.
Spencer, Spencer, Massachusetts.
The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, California.
Track Seven, Sacramento, California.
Upland, Bloomington, Indiana.
West Sixth, Lexington, Kentucky.
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