Big River Brewing Company held its first brewmaster’s dinner last week at its Coquitlam location and has plans to hold at least four next year, according to manager Jeff Tomlinson.
“We pulled the room together and like a medieval feast table and everyone sat together and our brewmaster Claire Connolly and chef Ty Sadorsky took everyone through the courses,” he said. “It was like having people over for dinner, really a great atmosphere and the guys from CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) were there tweeting each new pour.”
For Tomlinson, the brewmaster’s dinner explosion is real sign that the city’s palate is maturing.
“It used to be that wine tastings were the big event and people would go on about a hint of berry and whiff of barnyard and how it works with this or that food,” Tomlinson said. “Now the talk is all beer.”
Move over wine snobs. Local restaurants and brewers have embraced the newest foodie trend, craft beer and food pairings. (Here is The Green Man’s guide to food and beer pairing.)
Rare even one year ago, brewmaster’s dinners and beer and food tastings are all the rage in 2010. In the past month alone local brewmasters and chefs have teamed up to host events at Big River Brewing in Coquitlam, the West End’s Central Bistro and Rogue Wet Bar.
“I really believe that Craft Beer Week last May was the moment that everything changed,” said Dave Varga, brewmaster for North Vancouver’s Taylor’s Crossing Brew Pub and Red Truck Beer Co. “There were brewmaster’s dinners every night and they were really popular and people saw that thought, we can do that.”
“There’s been a real buildup with more and more flavours of beer, so pairing them with food is just a natural progression,” he said. “Chefs and brewers have been thinking this way for a long time, we just needed the public to catch up.”
Varga has hosted brewmaster’s dinners regularly over the past few years as a brewer for Mark James Group, including a tapas-based menu at Taylor’s Crossing.
“For the younger generation beer is the new wine,” Varga said. “There is so much going on now with great flavours that you don’t have to transition to wine as your palate matures.”
Beer Advocate has this to say about pairing beer with fine cheeses.
Much more to come on the local craft beer scene in Saturday’s Sun
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