Adam Avery at the 2022 GABF

The Friday session for the Great American Beer Festival’s 40th anniversary wasn’t blessed by the crisp fall weather the festival often enjoys. Instead it was gray, damp, and a little chilly. In other words, perfect weather for a festival-appropriate warm flannel and malty beer.

I headed to the Colorado Convention Center to pick up my press pass wondering how GABF’s return after a two-year hiatus due to COVID would be.

There were some clear changes when compared to a few years ago, though overall it was still the event I’d grown to love. The Boulder County brewers I talked to were glad to be back and, as we started to walk through the rows of booths and beer drinkers, we found ourselves talking with Eric Briggs, co-founder of Lafayette’s Liquid Mechanics Brewing Co. Between pours of Key Lime Gose, he shared his thoughts: “An absolutely awesome event. It’s weird, different to be here.” He added, “So much about downtown has changed. Falling Rock isn’t here. Freshcraft isn’t here anymore. But it’s still great to be back and incredible to see everyone here.”

As we walked further into the hall, we took note of what was the same as years past and what had changed. The first thing we noticed were fewer stalls and ample amounts of floor space, likely due to the fact that recent construction at the convention center resulted in 25% less floor space. There were still more than 500 brewery booths, a handful of food trucks, and live entertainment that went beyond the well-known silent disco.

We also noticed more costumes, including our favorite, a sparkly Elton John-Dodgers baseball player, and the festival’s ever-present bagpipers. We were also glad to see glasses rather than plastic cups had returned. There were three types: one for general guests, one for brewers and media, and one for PAIRED® attendees, an option that allows the guest to experience beer and food pairings.

Crowds at the 2022 GABF

Paired sessions felt different to us this year as well. It felt more crowded, with lines that moved faster but were longer than what we recalled from years past. We loved each of the pairings we tried and thought particularly highly of Wibby Brewing’s pairing of Jack’s on the Rocks, a Rauch Märzen Steinbier lager created with Jack’s Abby Brewing, with duck fat, mushroom, and chicken salt popcorn.

We were excited to see Boulder County chefs here, including Kelly Whitaker and Mara King of Basta and Dry Storage, who coordinated the Wibby pairing. As part of this, they added an equally delicious pairing of kimchi watermelon with Wibby’s Home Team pilsner. In another part of the room, Daniel Asher of River and Woods and Ash’Kara coordinated with Oregon’s Deschutes Brewing, pairing a Middle Eastern “crunch” taco with Deschutes’ imperial stout and a raspberry quad with chevre tartlets.

We returned to the beer hall to stop by some local brewers at their booths. We saw that Howdy, once just a fun name for a delicious pilsner, has become its own brand with its own GABF booth since being bought by the folks at Stem Ciders. Niwot’s Fritz Family Brewers was also pouring their well-loved standards. Across the hall, Robin Wibby, co-owner of Wibby Brewing poured for fans, handing out blowup pink flamingos to enthusiastic beer drinkers happy to have anything crazy.

At one point, we found ourselves on the receiving end of a Rumpkin pour from Adam Avery, namesake of the nearly three decades-old Avery Brewing, who talked to us while pouring Rumpkin into our glass. He was as enthusiastic as anyone else in the hall. “It’s f***ing great. I love the energy. I love the people,” he said. “After the years of it not happening, everyone seems generally happy to be here and enjoy great craft beer.” 

Of all the people we spoke with, he was the most likely to have attended more GABFs than anyone else. We asked how this one compared to the first. “Funny thing is, I can’t remember.” he said with a sly grin. “Must have been fun.”

Through the years, it’s perhaps the parts of the experience that haven’t changed that keep us coming back. Craft beer, friends, costumes, pretzel necklaces, and fun — whether it’s entirely remembered or not.

Good times.

The post Malty Good Times Return: GABF Returns for a 40th Anniversary Event | In The Cups appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Daniel Asher. Photo: Deborah Cameron

The first time I talked to Daniel Asher, he told a story about hummus. He said he was delighted when he first had it on a tour visiting family in Israel, and that it wasn’t what he was used to seeing at home in Chicago. It was lighter but more flavorful, and he got excited about bringing that kind of quality to others. 

He’s doing that now with both the Denver and Boulder locations of Ash’Kara, a pair of restaurants focused on contemporary Israeli cuisine where he is Executive Chef and partner. Locally, he is also the Executive Chef and partner at River and Woods and Driftwind at the Boulder Reservoir all of which are under Working Title Food Group.

That’s just his recent resume highlights, there’s more to the story.

On a daily basis, Asher is hosting diners as the special and important act it is and demonstrating kindness to anyone nearby. When we met him, he gregariously gathered his staff for an enthusiastic, leave-no-one-out photo. It was taken while the group enthusiastically smiled, and yelled “pita,” and my camera shutter clicked.

Ash’Kara staff. Photo: Deborah Cameron

Later, while he answered my questions, he talked about his father who was a Romanian Holocaust survivor and spent life after the war trying to find an element of stability. “He and my mom met and fell in love, were based in Montreal and then moved to Chicago. Before that he was constantly uprooted. For him, the kitchen expressed a very necessary expression of safety. My mom was at the center of that and as soon as I was old enough to use a stepstood and reach the counter, I was making things with her.” 

When he was 14 and could legally work in a kitchen, Asher got his first restaurant job washing dishes and peeling potatoes at Fuddruckers. The experience was consequential. 

“That was my gateway drug to the kitchen. It sealed my fate in food service,” he said. “ Now to me, the whole frantic energy of a busy dining room is like that magic of going to a concert, walking into a venue with music jamming, packed with people. There’s a human, collaborative experience of joy.”

Beyond words, it’s Asher’s attitude that makes the biggest impression. It’s hard to imagine a world where he isn’t gregariously promoting an ethical, nutritious approach to food and demonstrating (not just talking about) dining as a soul-nourishing act.

“That’s what it is to me. Trying to connect the dots about who grew our carrots, what grains are in the pita bread, what olive oil garnishes our hummus,” he said. “It’s all about opening a dialogue about having a high level of respect around food, the people that make it, grow it, love on it.” 

During our conversation, I was the guest, eating pea-shoot-hued falafel made with green Egyptian fava beans and a grain dish of saffron and turmeric rice and nigella seed. Of course, the hummus he’d mentioned was also on the table – now in his creamy, flavorful style with red onion, parsley, and chicken shawarma. All of it with a bright rose, eaten outdoors on Pearl St. one of the first truly warm Fridays in May.

Saffron-spiced rice. Photo: Deborah Cameron

There was definitely joy. No question. 

Maybe, how I experienced the meal was a reflection of something Asher said was at the core of his restaurants. “It’s the basis of ancient hospitality,” he said. “Inviting a stranger in to replenish them to help them restore. Feel safe and loved in the middle of whatever is going on in their life.”

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