GABF PAIRED 2019 Menu is up

I am excited to be able to eat my way through 48 food and beer paired samples at the Great American Beer Festival PAIRED event. The menu was just published and looks amazing.

Although chicken seems to dominate the protein landscape, the pork family appears in 16 dishes in various ways from bacon and braised hog to chicharron and chorizo. 12 seafood dishes are prepared crusted, raw, pickled, and smoked. Eight poultry dishes include foie gras, duck sausage and duck wings, and chicken livers moussed, patéd, and tramezzino’d.  While the five beef dishes, five cheese-focuses bites, and five vegetable showcases all sound amazing, I am eager to try the three desserts alongside the kangaroo and rabbit dishes. Be sure to check out the variety of moles, sauces, conservas, and mousses plus the house-made breads, crackers, crisps, pastas, and tortillas.

The beer styles are a varied mix as well. IPA continues to rule with 11 beer samples of various styles being poured. 10 aged beers are offered in a variety of type of barrels.  While sours and Belgian styles normally play well with food, I’m interested in the steinbier with chile braised hog and the brett beer and Brut IPA with seafood.

I’ll post photos on Instagram from PAIRED on Friday, October 4. Now that I can see what I’m getting myself into, I need to come up with a quick and easy rubric to work on for each pairing. Maybe separate rating for the beer, the food, and the pairing itself. I welcome any suggestions you may have. And now I’m ready for lunch! Cheers!