Bull City Food & Beer Experience

As an early birthday present, the mrs bought tickets to the Bull City Food & Beer Experience for us. The BCFBE was a collaboration event from the DPAC, Tyler’s Taproom, and Sam’s Quik Shop. It was a gathering of 20+ Durham restaurants, 20+ NC breweries, and 30+ national breweries. Basically, think Beer Fest, but with as much demand for the incredible food as the beer. On top of that, it was a fundraising event for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Foundation.

The event was set up with various food and beer stations on the first three floors of the DPAC, with most breweries having a restaurant paired with them, often with beer specific pairings. At 5:30, the keynote started with Dale Katechis, Kim Jordan, and Ken Grossman of Oskar Blues, New Belgium, and Sierra Nevada respectively giving a brief speech and answering questions from moderator Win Bassett. All three shared their thoughts on opening East Coast breweries and what specifically brought them to choose North Carolina. Dale pretty much summed it up when he said that the only place he would open a brewery is “the one place I’m willing to travel to, North Carolina.”

After the keynotes, we returned to the lobby for some more drinking and food.  The food highlight of the night for both of us was the cauliflower puree from Toast.  Silky smooth with a velvety texture, we quickly returned for seconds.  Amazingly enough, we also agreed on a favorite beer, an upcoming seasonal from New Belgium, Rampant Imperial IPA.  The beer clocks in at 8.5% ABV, and has a laundry list of hops in it.  The highlight in my opinion is the use of Mosaic hops, a new hop described as, “citra on steroids.”  The nose was incredible, big and floral with citrus notes.  It tasted very fresh, with a good amount of bitterness (85 IBUs I believe).  This is definitely one to look forward to when it comes out in early March.

Other highlights included some freshly shaved prosciutto from Mateo:

I tried to get a photo with Ken and Kim, but the best I could do was snag a photo of them talking.  I’m sure they were planning some sort of New Sierra collaboration beer.  Look for it on shelves in early 2015.

We had a really good time, and I’m hoping this becomes an annual event, as I love the format, and I think all Beer Festivals should do what they can to utilize the local food scene.