‘A lot of time, a lot of love’ went into Brewery and The Beast
Close to 50 local eateries offered up delicacies based on beer and meat
Bison, rabbit, beef, lamb, chicken and wild boar were all on the menu Sunday, as close to 50 local restaurants offered up samples in Pumphouse Park.
The multitude of protein dishes were part of “meat-centric” festival Brewery and The Beast, an event launched in Victoria that returned for its second year in Calgary.
As the gates opened Sunday afternoon for the sold-out event, event creator Scott Gurney explained the premise of Brewery and The Beast is to highlight chefs who are committed to serving locally and regionally sourced meats that were ethically and responsibly raised.
“We created the event so that they had an opportunity to showcase that in front of an audience of people who are also conscious of what they eat and where their food is coming from,” he said.
Ryan O’Flynn, executive chef at The Guild Restaurant, spent two days roasting a 600-pound bison in preparation for the event.
“We’ve been smoking and slowcooking the bison with birch and basting it in birch syrup, so this is Alberta culture right here,” he said.
Accompanying the bison was toasted bannock made with red fife flour.
But not just any bannock, O’Flynn added — an IPA bannock.
“We get the spent grains from Big Rock (Brewery), and then we put the IPA spent grains from Big Rock into the bannock and it works as a moistening and leavening agent,” he explained.
The process wasn’t done there. O’Flynn then went to local brewery Last Best and used a barrel of its Dirty Bird lager to make mustard.
Served up Sunday, the bison and bannock were accompanied by pickled cabbage and smoked sour cream.
“A lot of time, a lot of love went into that,” said O’Flynn. “And it’s absolutely perfect.” The 1,200 ticket holders expected to attend the event Sunday also got a chance to talk to local chefs and sample beer, cider and wine along with their meat-based dishes.
Brewery and The Beast donates partial ticket proceeds to fund annual scholarship awards for students enrolled in the Butchery and Charcuterie Management program at SAIT and the Hawksworth Scholarship Program.