LOOK: Best beer and food pairings from the Great American Beer Festival

The beer is good as always this year at the Great American Beer Festival, but even better: the pairings between artisan brews and tasty bites.

Kevin Beaty

Oct. 07, 2016, 9:41 am

3 min. read

The Abbey Road Belgian Dubbel from Edgewater’s Joyride Brewing Company, paired with Portland-based Honkey Tonk Taco’s duck confit tacos. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite) food; gabf; great american beer fest; beer; kevinjbeaty; denverite; denver; colorado;

Oskar Blues' Death by Coconut Irish porter paired with Portland-based Park Kitchen's Boilermaker Sundae, featuring bourbon, double-smoked porter caramel, barleymalt whipped cream and beer nut granola. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

The beer is good as always this year at the Great American Beer Festival, but even better are the delicate pairings between artisan brews and the equally intricate dishes served up by restaurants from around the country who have flocked to the Colorado Convention Center. We photographed the lovely dance between barley and hops and dinner and dessert. Maybe you'll be inspired you to create some pairings of your own, or maybe you'll just wish you were there!

Denver-based Mercantile serves up a duck confit terrine drizzled with a golden raisin caper emulsion and topped with an oat, barley and rice "brewer's cereal" and paired with The Dodie, a beery recreation of a Manhattan cocktail loaded with orange zest, cherry juice and 30+ spices from Orange County's The Bruery. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Oysters on the half shell from Denver's own Jax Fish House paired with Idaho-based Grand Teton Brewing's dry-hopped Brett Saison. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

The Abbey Road Belgian Dubbel from Edgewater's Joyride Brewing Company, paired with Portland-based Honkey Tonk Taco's duck confit tacos. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Chipotle Cracked Pepper Steak Jerky from Chef's Cut, paired here with New Belgium's Citradelic tangerine IPA. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

This photographer's personal favorite, a shandy consisting of Denver Beer Company's Princess Yum Yum raspberry kolsch and Rocky Mountain Soda's Loveland Lemon Lime, paired with Little Man Ice Cream's dark chocolate-infused Raspberry Love. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Aurora's Dry Dock Brewery's signature aged double coffee porter paired with lamb empanadas drizzled with a brazen lamb reduction laced with hot sauce, chocolate, and gordita cheese from Jackson Hole's Q Roadhouse. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

A smoked chili dog from Denver's Russell's Smokehouse topped with house-made mustard and paired with Smoke Peat Every Day, the Scotch ale from the Chicago-based Haymarket Pub and Brewery. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

The GABF 35th Anniversary IPL, a collaboration between festival founder Charlie Papazian and Boulder Beer Co, paired here with black truffle salami and Midnight Moon goat gouda from California-based Cypress Grove cheesemakers. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Denver's Melvin Brewing's 2x4 double IPA paired with this 6 months-aged cheddar from Longmont's Haystack Mountain Cheese. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Red Robin's teriyaki pineapple Banzai Burger paired with the Grilled Pineapple Golden Ale, a collaboration between Red Robin and New Belgium Brewery. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Kevin Beaty

Kevin is a multimedia artist who flung himself into the world of journalism. He likes using a camera and microphone to tell stories about workers, the environment, social justice and fascinating humans.