Brewery and the Beast
Disclosure: I was compensated for this post. All opinions and experiences are my own.
Brewery and the Beast; this is the perfect name to describe this event, and I have to tell you it is not for the faint of heart! As the name implies, this event is all about the love of meat and beer.
They have a variety of meats served up just about any way you can imagine, and some that you may not have imagined!
This is an event that supports and celebrates the hard-working sustainable food producers in our region. By sourcing the products locally it supports our regional food systems and producers.
The event helps to educate the public by providing a tangible experience of how these foods taste and information about the farms the foods come from.
There are 3 of these events each year, over the course of the summer. One is in Vancouver BC, one is in Victoria BC and one here in Calgary AB.
Each of these events help to provide funding and support to local and national industry foundations, charities and scholarships. These include: The Chef’s Table Society of BC, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and the Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship Program.
The Drink Menu
As the name of the event implies, there was beer, lots of beer! Phillips Brewing & Malting Company from Victoria, BC was at the event. Phillips has many different varietals of beer. Their lager is wonderful; it is a gold lager called Phoenix Gold (my personal fav!).
They have a Blue Buck Ale, Electric Unicorn IPA, a Pilsner and a Tiger Shark Citra Pale Ale, among others!
The Phillips trailer they brought had 40 taps. I have to say watching the staff they used almost every tap! The lineups were 20-30 deep and close to 10 across all day! But the wait was very short.
They had the serving routine down too a science! I’m sure the trailer will be much lighter going back to Victoria. I know they went through more than a few kegs over the course of the event!
They also had an experimental brew for everyone to try, it was a sour blackberry ale. Very different flavor I have to say. Glad I tried it!
Of course they did have some wines to, if you are not a beer connoisseur. Andrew Peller, was serving up a great selection of Canadian wines. Dona Paula was also there with a selection of their outstanding Argentinean wine. I did have a glass of their fantastic Malbec and so enjoyed it!
The Food Menu
Many of the top restaurant chefs in the area brought their teams out to smoke, sear, BBQ, fry and grill just about every type of protein you can think of.
Like the picture above, the folks from Yellow Door Bistro grilled up some super tasty smoked chicken wings with Guajillo hot sauce.
Some of these chefs and their teams worked through the night to cook and prepare their offerings for everyone to sample.
It was amazing how many local businesses were represented at Brewery and The Beast. These chicken skewers from Native Tongues, Two Penny and Calcutta Cricket Club group of restaurants were super flavorful! There were over 60 presenters.
Each of the food booths offering a different dish! I went with a friend of mine, Dave Harvey, who is a carnivore like myself!
We went in hungry, and although we gave it a valiant effort there was just no way we were able to sample everything that was offered up!
Pork
There was pork on the menu including; pork belly, porchetta, sausage, pork rinds, pulled pork.
Food and fun go hand in hand! There was food alright and a lot of fun too! Wurst was there with these great stands that everyone got a kick out of.
These Char Grilled Nurnberger Rostbratwurst served with mustard seed apple sauerkraut, haus beer mustard on a caraway seed bun by Waldhaus Pub were awesome!
Beef
They had beef. Like this grilled flank steaks on a Yorkshire pudding with a creamy horseradish sauce served up by London Local.
Although there was not just one type of beef, there was more! Like beef cheeks, Wagyu ribeyes, beef tongue, brisket, short ribs, oh did I mention the Bulgogi beef tacos?
Chicken
Chicken, lots of chicken! Here was an unbelievable hickory smoked chicken with maple & sherry glaze served up and presented by The Teatro Group!
There was chicken done crispy fried, jerk chicken, hot chicken thighs, even chicken hearts wrapped in bacon!!
Lamb
There was a huge variety of lamb at Brewery and The Beast. Whole roasted lamb from Charbar was served with lamb sausage, quick pickled red onions and cucumbers served in a wrap! There was lamb loin chorizo, lamb shoulder, ribs, lamb lollipops, and leg of lamb!
It really was a fantastic event; the weather was perfect. Thanks to Dave Harvey for coming along and keeping me company. I think we both left with a little bit of the “meat sweats”! I think everyone who attended had a great time!
But how could you not, the beer was flowing and there was more food than anyone could sample in an afternoon! If you get a chance to get out to one of these events in the future I would highly recommend it. Go hungry! And leave happy! After all, what could be better than that?
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