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Blogs / Luscious Libations / Summer-Fall 2009 / Tenth Annual Big Beers Festival in Vail

Tenth Annual Big Beers Festival in Vail

Peter Bouckaert, Brewmaster at New Belgium Brewing Company is one of two featured Brewmasters

Mark your calendars now for January 7-9, 2010 to attend the Tenth Annual Big Beers Festival in Vail. Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines, the international specialty beer festival known for its unique format and educational components, has also announced that the celebration of its Tenth Anniversary will be held in its entirety at the Vail Cascade Resort & Spa.

Learning the art of the Brewmasters Dinner

In 2008 as a neophyte attending the Brewmasters’ Dinners I was impressed by the interesting beer and food pairings.  The pairings were similar in many ways to the pairings at the plethora of Winemakers Dinners I have attended over the years, but there was something more basic and substantial in pairings of food and beer. 

In wine you have hints of this and essences of that, which are enhanced by extracts and reductions in the sauces and such, then paired with fine wines.  At the Brewmasters Dinners the pairings often feature complementary items, Bing cherries or chocolate, that are actually used in the production of the beer, or using the beer as a main ingredient in the preparation or sauce.  I think this is what makes the dinners more substantial, that combined with the volume of food that all chefs know a beer connoisseur is bound to appreciate.

I am looking forward to these wonderful dinners that will be held on Thursday, January 7 and Friday, January 8, 2010.  The event will be at the Vail Cascade Hotel & Club.  If you’re traveling in from out of town reservations can already be made. Special Big Beers Festival rates are now available, contact the Resort  for details.

Beer and food fun with Sam and Adam

The Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywine Festival features many different components over the course of the weekend, opening with the Calibration Dinner co-hosted by Adam Avery of Avery Brewing in Boulder Colorado & Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton Delaware on Thursday evening.  This dinner is named to honor the “Calibration” beer that is presented first and used to calibrate your palate when judging beer competitions and as such this dinner is designed to set the stage and calibrate your palate for the remainder of the weekend.

2010 Guest Brewmasters announced

I was thrilled to learn that Peter Bouckaert, Brewmaster at New Belgium Brewing Company is one of two featured Brewmasters.  I had the pleasure of sitting with Peter and his lovely wife at the Calibration Dinner in 2008.  Peter is credentialed as an engineer in brewing and fermentation technology from the University of Ghent, Belgium. He worked for 10 years in the Belgian Brewing industry for the breweries Zulte, Rodenbach and De Gouden Boom prior to some crazy home brewing which resulted in brewpub De Zwingel in Harelbeke, Belgium. In 1996, Peter and Frezi, his wife, moved to Fort Collins, Colorado where Peter became Brewmaster at New Belgium Brewing Company.  At that first dinner Peter was instrumental in helping me to deconstruct the courses and to understand why they worked (or not).  I am looking forward to his contributions to the creation of the 2010 events.

Joining Peter is Lodewijk Swinkels, Brewmaster for LaTrappe at Bierbrouwerij de Koningshoeven in Berkel-Enschot, The Netherlands.  They are on draught as the Featured Brewmasters for the Vail festival weekend of January 7 – 9, 2010. Trained at both Brewery Raaf in Heumen and at Brauerei Schützengarten in St. Gallen prior to his study at Weihenstephan. Following his formal study, he went on to become Brewmaster at Oudan Utrecht and then at Kroon in Oirschot prior to joining the team at Koningshoeven in the same capacity. LaTrappe is one of seven Trappist beers remaining worldwide, its brewing overseen by the monks at the B.V.M. Koningshoeven Abbey. In fact, the brewery is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, and a special beer called Isid’Or has been created in honor of the occasion.

Bouckaert and Swinkels will be involved with several facets of the Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival, including co-hosting the Brewmasters’ Dinner with the Executive Chef of the new Atwater on Gore Creek at the Vail Cascade Resort & Spa, and presenting individual Brewmasters’ Seminars. For Friday night’s Brewmasters’ Dinner the Chef will be designing a five course menu in coordination with Bouckaert & Swinkels that will challenge him to pair each course with both a beer from New Belgium and a beer from LaTrappe. A trademark of the Big Beers Festival, this challenge is both noteworthy and a special treat for dinner guests over and above the specialty beers provided by La Trappe and New Belgium.

More festival details will be revealed here and on the festival website as they become finalized.  Until then, I wish good food, fabulous fun and great beer for all.