Photos: Chef & Brew Paired Great Beer and Food on a Snowy Denver Night

The fourth annual Chef & Brew brought together creative cooks and brash brewers from Denver's restaurant and beer scenes last night at the EXDO Event Center for a flavored-filled evening while the first snow of the year fell on the streets of RiNo. Judged beer-and-food pairings gave ticket holders plenty...

By Westword Staff

November 18, 2016

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "12017618",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17242653",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261320",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261321",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

The fourth annual Chef & Brew brought together creative cooks and brash brewers from Denver's restaurant and beer scenes last night at the Exdo Event Center for a flavored-filled evening while the first snow of the year fell. Judged beer-and-food pairings gave ticket holders plenty to ponder, with unusual beer styles like chocolate rye Scotch ale and pumpkin-spice sour beer bringing out the best in everything from Thai-style pork temple meat to croissant-waffles topped with winter vegetables. At the end of the night, champions were announced, but the real winners were the guests who got to partake in all the tasty fun.

There were three categories up for awards: best dish, best beer and best pairing. Great Divide Brewing won the best-beer award from the judges for a dark American sour ale aged in wine barrels. Chef Ryan Gorby of Cho77 won for Thai-style pork temple. And the pairing trophy went to Pub17 (the Grand Hyatt's restaurant downtown) and River North Brewing for spicy shrimp with green-curry panna cotta paired with an American IPA.

For more photos, see our complete Chef & Brew 2016 slideshow.

KEEP WESTWORD FREE... Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.