Colt and Gray: New Find in Denver

A great friend, Taylor Shaw, invited us to an amazing place, Colt and Gray.  Colt and Gray can only be described as an cellar of gluttony and fulfilling hedonic desires.  The environment is a little grey - dark, mysterious, yet elegant.  After a week of drinking beer at the Great American Beer Festival, I only looked at the cocktail menu, and it was very pleasing to me.  Get the Steve Holt. 

To keep your tummy happy, there are amazing little cheesy poofs.  On the menu, they are called blue cheese dusted gougères.  They are pungent, flavorful, soft with a nice chew texture.  I love these things. 

Over the last several years, piggie has been all the rage.  I grew up eating mostly pork, and it was oddly a nostaligic even though the pork wasn't prepared in any way that I had growing up.  Before we arrived, some of our fantastic friends had ordered the half pig head.  Chef Nelson brought out the "oh so lovely" pig head. 

The pig head was served with pickled vegetables and a cauliflower / pig brain puree.  It tastes much better than it sounds.  This type of dish is a fun adventure.  Restaurants should be offering interactive foods more often.  I can only think of a few other interactive meals: Korean BBQ (gogigui), Korean pork belly grill (Samgyeopsal gui), Chinese Hot Pot, Japanese shabu shabu, or fondue. 

I'm not sure how it happened, but I took responsibility of carving this beasts of a meal.  There was some cheek meat, crunchy skin, tongue, and moist fatty skin. 

I guess you could tell that I was pretty aggressive with the carving of this beast of a dish. 

And I probably had too much fun playing with it later too!  Colt and Gray has earned a spot on my "must go to" Denver list. 

Two Denver Gems: Euclid and Rioja

You might have heard the buzz if you watch cooking show competitions.  Chef Jenna's growing her an audience of adoring fans on interwebs and in real life.  Her restaurant, Euclid, located in the Larmier area of downtown Denver is a still very young two years old.  I visited it when it had just opened, and I visited again during the Great American Beer Festival in 2013. 

I was pretty lucky on this trip to Denver to be able to visit not one, but two of Chef Jenna's dishes.  Here's a photo sampling of the dishes we had.  Needless to say, her 2013 James Beard Award is well-deserved!

This was the pig ear pad thai.  The fried pig ears were perfectly fried and crunchy on the inside with the sweet and tangy sauce on the outside.  This was a great twist of familiar flavors with a new piggy texture. 

For all the chocolate lovers, this dessert is for you.  It is a pots de crème smores - thick bottom layer of chocolate, layer of smoky marshmallow toping, and graham cracker on the side.  It is a rather large serving, easily shared.  Or better ask for a bunch of spoons and make some friends. 

For lunch the last day in Denver, we visited Rioja - a casual yet elegant restaurant.  Also, by elegant, I mean dimly lit.  However, here are some photos that I could snap.  The one above was the luscious cheese and meat plate. 

Needless to say, we didn't skimp on the desserts.  The first dessert was the black and white cheesecake dessert -

blackberry filled white chocolate cheesecake, toasted black sesame ice cream, blackberry coulis, sesame nougatine, and black sesame paint.

The second dessert here is the raspberry spuma, white chocolate brushed frozen raspberry meringue, lemon pound cake, lemon confit, spun sugar, and raspberry dust.  This is close to the most elegant and delicate desserts ever.  The meringue and white chocolate shell was incredibly delicate and just the right amount of tart and sweet.  The spun sugar on top completed the beautiful dish. 

On a cold Winter evening, this would be the perfect dessert.  Lavender roasted pineapple filled croissant pastry, hot buttered rum caramel, and dulce de leche ice cream.  This dessert was topped high like a tower of glorious deliciousness.  I haven't had a cronut before, but this is probably better anyways.

2013 Great American Beer Festival Tour of Denver - Source, Crooked Stave, and Black Shirt Brewing

On our tour of Denver during GABF, we stopped at Source, home of Crooked Stave Brewery.  The space was very, very impressive with an interesting artisan tucked into every corner.  Here's some views of what was inside. 

A Crooked Stave staff member had this awesome tee. 

We did some fun tasting in between exploring Source. 

One of the most interesting design aspects of this venue are the "walls."  The metal bars look industrial chic with a touch of color in blocky text.  Instead of the name of the businesses on the wall, it simply says the what you will find in that store. 

See?  Liquor. 

Along with tacos, coffee, cheese, design, art, and the brewery.

Here's the inside of the cheese mart. 

And the CapRock Distillery who serves a lovely gin. 

I thought it was funny that the maximum occupancy was 82 for behind the tiny bar. 

Before going to Source, we visited Black Shirt Brewing.  They are a new brewpub who produces red beers! 

Aside from good beer, the classes and beer serving contraptions are really awesome.  Lift with the handle, and you can carry around eight glasses. 

And large glass was particularly neat.  I can't speak to whether or not it does anything to enhance the aroma of the beverage within, but it looks neat nonetheless. 

2012 Great American Beer Festival Kicks up the Food

In my previous post, I talked about how food was really important to beer now.  I think the food this year was vastly improved on all fronts.  The food at the media lunch was excellent, and the word was that the food at the concession stands during the sessions was also improved.  Additionally, the food at the Farm to Table Pavilion was really good this year too.  See for yourself!

Why thank you, Viking!  I love the range.  Just kidding.  I only wish I could take it home. 

This fabulous panna cotta with a deep fried hop flower was really tasty.  Bitter and floral hops with sweet, creamy panna cotta was amazing. 

Here's a shout out to some local breweries.  Jester King's Weasel Rodeo was paired with a dark chocolate cake. 

And another Jester King Noble King paired with fatty meats and sundried tomato. 

This was a very tasty grilled Hawaiian ahi paired with Acradia Sky High Rye. 

This is a classic pairing.  Fatty, I mean flavorful sausage paired with Smuttynose IPA. 

And another classic pairing. sweet chocolate paired with Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale. 

I can't really claim that these are a tasty pair, but aren't they good looking pair?  Rumor is that Firestone Walker is coming to Texas soon!

This was an intriguing brittle.  Crispy pork skin brittle.  Ohhhhhhhhh yes...........!

The chefs didn't play around this year.  Not at all. 

Portion sizes were nothing to snicker at either!

I'm pretty much in love with this dish.  Salmon skin.  You had me at salmon skin. 
'
And a really BIG piece!

There's Sebbie from Rogue Ales.  I love that woman!

The Cheese Society made sure that everyone got their fill of cheese this year. 

The cheese tasting line was about 90 minutes deep.  We really, really love our beer and cheese!
Congrats to the production team that pulled off a fantastic beer and food experience this year!

GABF 2011: Media Lunch and Denver Tour

One of the best parts of attending the Great American Beer Festival is the media lunch and the bus tour.  It is a great opportunity to meet with other writers in a low-key environment.  The festival sessions themselves are too busy, crowded, and distracting to have a meaningful conversation with other people.  Unfortunately for me, this year, my nose has dried out completely to the point of suffering from nose bleeds.  It is a pretty common symptom during altitude changes.  I can't give you a very detailed description of the food and beer, but I'll try my best.   The first course was roasted carpaccio beet salad with fennel, green apples, goat cheese, and bacon served with a vinaigrette.  The next course was grains of paradise seared lamb loin and ginger forbidden rice with apricots and cranberries.  Despite having a non-functioning palate, I could taste the grains of paradise on the incredibly tender lamb.  It reminded me of some type of Asian spices.  For dessert, we had pumpkin bread pudding topped with Ska Ten Pin Porter Caramel sauce and Lefthand ESB Ice Cream.  One of my favorite parts about the lunch was the American Artisan Cheese Plate.  The cheese lover in me is very, very, happy.  The cheeses were Point Reyes Original Blue and Toma, the Beecher's Handmade Flagsheep, and Cowgirl Creamery's Mr. Tam. My favorite cheese was the Toma.  I wanted to eat everyone else's too.  Did I mention that I loved cheese?  The bus tour this year took us to Strange Brewing and Highland Taps.  Our stop at Strange Brewing was quite rushed, so I don't have any photos of it.  However, we had a few more minutes at Highland Taps.  We got to try some tasty appetizers, Oskar Blues beer, and Odell's beer.  We were told by someone to try to the duck fat fries.  So I asked for a basket to share with the other attendees, which was a fantastic decision on my part.  The fries were served with a truffled aoili.  I've had my fair share of duck fat fries, and they tend to be rather limp, though tasty. These fries were almost like a really good Belgium fry.  Light crispy outside, and light steaming inside.  They were pretty darn awesome, and they are so far my favorite duck fat fries.  Highland Taps is going to be on my list of places to visit again.  One of the lovely brews served was the Odell Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout.  It was dark, bold, sweet, and smooth with chocolately, caramely, and vanilla flavors.  This is a pretty fantastically executed oak aged beer.  I would love to have this beer on a cold winter night.  Thanks to GABF and the City of Denver for the lunch and tour of some local joints.

GABF 2011: The Fantastic Oskar Blues Farm Tour

For the Great American Beer Festival this year, I had planned a very short visit to Denver so I could spend more time with my new puppy at home.  When I saw that there was a series of Oskar Blues tours, I decided to change my flight to allow for an extra day, and I have no regrets about it! This was the first year for Oskar Blues to host people at the Hop Farm, and it is brand new.  If Oskar Blues puts on bus tours again, I'd go again.  Tickets for the all day affair were a very affordable $25.  Best $25 you'll spend.  *I was invited to attend as a media guest.  This is not the bus that we took down to the farm, but I'm sure it would be equally as fun.  Woohoo! We arrived on the farm after a a lovely bus ride from the Falling Rock in Denver.  The entrance had beautiful flowers to welcome us.  This was a welcome sight as Texas's vegetation was and still is mostly dead.  On the walk to the hop fields, we passed by Ya Ya's (Dale's mother) Garden to see some GIANT pumpkins.  It is difficult to get a sense of the size.  However, Farmer Geoff estimated it at about 500 lbs or so.  It was probably the size of shopping cart. Farmer Geoff demonstrates just how big the pumpkins can get.  After a brief introduction at the farm, everyone loaded up onto a trailer and went for a ride behind the tractor.  Just a word of advice, do not wear panty hose and sit on bales of hay.  Just trust me on this one.  We were introduced to the crew, I mean herd.  These are black angus cattle who are know for being particularly friendly.  Farmer Geoff says that they don't use dogs for herding, but rather, the cattle are so friendly that they walk around and follow the food you.  I did pet some of the friendly heiffers, and they were hungry.  They kept looking at our bales of hay.  This wasn't just a brunch on a farm.  This was brunch with all the bells and whistles on it.  Coffee with your Oskar Blues Hot Sauce?  I could not have asked for a more perfect day.  The weather was beautiful, and the company was fantastic!  The plethora of beer samples was also quite nice.  Oskar Blues has some of the best brew pub food.  When I visited them at the Beer Bloggers Conference 2010, their mac and cheese inspired me to make many batches of mac and cheese at home.  The expanding girth of my rear end is proof.  For breakfast, we had sausage on grits, spinach frittata, pork belly, briskey, and a cheesecake blitz covered in blueberry compote.  All this was served with beermosas - orange juice and Mama's Little Yella Pils.  Food so good that even the insects came out for a snack.  One of the best parts about this tour was that Mama Ya Ya (Dale's mother) served us home tapped (get it?) maple syrup.  This farm is pretty amazing as much of the refuse from the brewery gets used on the farm.  Much of our meal came from the restaurant, and the farm where possible.  Having maple syrup that came from the farm was the cherry on top.  Also, Ya Ya was about the sweetest and cutest woman.  I told Dale I wanted to take her home and to be my mother.  Here's a photo of what we've been waiting for.  This beer is called HGH, as in home grown hops.  The hops used in this beer came right from the farm.  Is that not pretty awesome or what? After leaving the Hop Farm, we arrived at the brewery, only to be spoiled.  Here's a 4 oz pour of the Ten Fidy.  This is my favorite Oskar Blues beer.  It is a bold, unrelenting beer that makes you want to say, "DAMN IT, Thank GOD (whichever one you worship) for the freedom to make beer!"  If that wasn't enough, the tour bus took us to Liquids and Solids where they had a smoked porter called the Honey Badger on tap.  It is served with a meat stick make out of one of the heifers on the Hop Farm. This beer doesn't give a @^!*$.  This beer takes what it wants. I'm working hard on getting this beer to Texas.  Let's cross our fingers that it happens! A big thanks to Oskar Blues for inviting me out for such a wonderful time.  Cheers!