For the second straight year, I had the pleasure of co-producing the Father’s Day CollaBREWtive Brunch with Firestone Walker Brewing Co.. This year’s event took place on June 14 at Tiato in Santa Monica, a charming indoor-outdoor restaurant from the An family with an airy herb-lined patio. For 2014, we bulked up the food and drink roster to include a dozen notable chefs and eight brewery-roaster pairings, who teamed on special coffee beers. Each brewery also poured a second beer from their core line-up, and six of the coffee roasters brewed coffee at the event. Los Angeles Ale Works presented a pair of craft sodas, and a sensational balloon artist from Big Red Entertainment took requests. Better yet, a great local charity called Food Forward benefited from the experience.
Of course, even though the event seemingly celebrated Fathers, sons and daughters of all ages were also welcome. Guests were free to chart their own culinary adventure, at their own pace. Nobody left hungry, and seemingly everybody exited happy. Click through the captioned slideshow below to see just some of the highlights.
Firestone Walker Brewing Co. once again collaborated with Intelligentsia Coffee on a special version of FW’s powerhouse Imperial stout, Parabola. According to the brewery, “This coffee lends espresso, roasty caramel, toffee, baker’s chocolate, molasses to the big rich character of Parabola. The complimentary flavors pair well with Parabola’s rich malt and smokey oak bourbon notes. Complex, smooth and seamlessly integrated, this beer is nothing short of amazing.” No argument from any CollaBREWtive guests.
One of the best aspects about the Father’s Day CollaBREWtive Brunch was that people got to spend time with family members. [Jemma Wilson]
El Segundo Brewing Co. + LAMILL Coffee Bourbon & Bliss: Brewery co-owner Tom Kelley described Bourbon & Bliss as a “bourbon barrel aged Standard Crude American Imperial Stout blended with Cold process Bliss Espresso blend. About 6 parts to 1. Around an 8% beer, the characteristics of both blend together seamlessly.”
Golden Road Brewing + Handsome Coffee Roasters Surfliner IPA with Handsome Coffee: According to a brewery rep, “This special edition of our Surfliner IPA features San Adolfo beans known for their tart notes of blackberry and deep cherry with a touch of vanilla. Brewmaster Jesse Houck adds whole roasted coffee beans in the dry-hop to lightly infuse this hop-forward ale with light hibiscus-like aromatics and citrusy zing. The result is a complex yet balanced amalgamation of hops and coffee with a light malt backbone anchored by the stone-fruit and piney notes of Simcoe hops.”
Monkish Brewing Co. + Lord Windsor Roasters Shaken Hips: This Beer + Coffee Cocktail consisted of Monkish’s Rosa’s Hips (Belgian-style dubbel brewed with Rose Hips) and Lord Windsor’s cold-brewed Rwandan coffee with lime peel, ginger, mint, and bitters.
Ladyface Ale Companie + Caffe Luxxe Redheaded Blue-Belly: According to Ladyface co-owner Cyrena Nouzille, “The Redheaded Blue-Belly fills the landscapes of Los Angeles with its deep, rich call. The full-bodied characteristics of the Ladyface Blue-Belly Barleywine and Caffe Luxxe’s Testa Rossa espresso marry perfectly to create a well-balanced brew, allowing the toffee malt character of the beer and the woody, dark chocolate characteristics of the coffee to sing out. Each libation’s flavor potential is maximized separately, the Testa Rossa extracted using the unique cold-brewing process before blending with the Blue-Belly in sweet sylvan harmony.”
Smog City Brewing + Groundwork Coffee Chip Shot Coffee Porter: According to Smog City co-owner Laurie Porter, “We took our award winning Coffee Porter that has over 5 lbs per barrel of freshly roasted organic coffee and added orange peel, vanilla beans, and cinnamon sticks to create a decadent drink that reminds us of orange liqueur spiked chocolate truffles. Imagine drinking a chocolate orange.”
Los Angeles Ale Works served two craft sodas: Ketsara Soda with vanilla, anise, assam, Ceylon cinnamon, palm sugar and spicy Thai tea; and Mocha Java Soda with organic vanilla bean, cacao, and locally roasted True & Brave coffee. [Jemma Wilson]
CollaBREWtive helped benefit Food Forward, a North Hollywood-based charity whose mission is to rescue and donate fresh local produce that would otherwise go to waste. Over 2 million pounds of food has been gleaned since 2009, and given to local food pantries, helping feed over 40,000 hungry Southern Californians each month. [Jemma Wilson]
Ernesto Uchimura (Plan Check) always delivers big at culinary events, and CollaBREWtive was no exception. Their Mancake Stack consisted of silver dollar beer pancakes studded with bacon, maple glazed smoked heritage pork sausage, and sunny fried quail egg.
Daniel Mattern & Roxana Jullapat (Cooks County) joined forces on a Breakfast Biscuit Sandwich for the second straight CollaBREWtive. The talented couple’s latest version featured white cheddar biscuit, sage chicken sausage and melty cheddar.
Michael Fiorelli (Love & Salt) and chef de cuisine Rebecca Merhej previewed their hotly anticipated Manhattan Beach restaurant by serving a Mortadella Hot Dog with pickled vegetable relish and spicy hot mustard.
Christian Page (Hunters) previewed his DTLA restaurant, serving a Scotch egg. [Jemma Wilson]
Page’s smoked golden fertile egg contained Kurobuta pork sausage and joined frisée, radishes, and preserved lemon vinaigrette. Willy B’s hot sauce finished the plate.
Wesley Avila (Guerrilla Tacos), probably L.A.’s top taquero, served a Root Veggie Hash Fried Quail Egg Taco with Almond Chile.
Philip Pretty (Fundamental LA) served Mallorcan Octopus Hash with Spicy Pomodoro, and Fried Quail Egg. A couple people joked about a depleted quail egg supply, considering all the eggs that chefs cracked at CollaBREWtive.
Zoe Nathan (Huckleberry + Milo & Olive) served five different desserts: Regier Farms Peach Breakfast Cake; Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Turnovers; Chocolate Peanut Butter Mini Cupcakes; Mini Almond Croissants; and Ginger Cookies with Oatmeal Stout Glaze. [Jemma Wilson]
Crème Caramel LA partners Kristine de la Cruz and Sean Gilleland and a team member served Ube Bread Pudding French Toast with Coconut Crème Anglaise.
Tierra Mia Coffee, the Latin inflected coffeehouse chain from Ulysses Romero, is also a bakery, and they served horchata cupcakes at CollaBREWtive alongside the Rice & Beans coffee beer they brewed with The Bruery.
Eagle Rock Brewery collaborated with Portola Coffee on Sour Joe. [Jemma Wilson]
Not even adults could resist the charms of Big Red Entertainment‘s balloon creations. [Jemma Wilson]
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