Crafting a Local Relic
You may have noticed that every week or so, there's a beer dinner somewhere. With all the options, how can you be sure you're getting the best bang for the buck. In our experience, every dinner we've attended in this town has been exceptional, with exquisite food and amazing beer pairings! Usually, a restaurant invites in a brewery to pair food creations with the standard or seasonal beers, but with the newly formed local group, Local Relic, everything is created specially for the dinner.
With all the beer dinners popping up these days, what makes Local Relic's Unique?
While most beer dinners are showing off beers that are commercially available, Local Relic is crafting five beers expressly for each dinner. Our philosophy is to avoid 'flagship' beers, instead focusing on crafting what is both seasonal and just ahead of the curve. The beers created for each dinner are unique, creative, and exclusive. You can only try them with us, and if you miss trying them at the dinner, you'll have missed out forever!
Who are the chefs? How do you decide on what styles to brew? Who does the pairings?
Our chef is Corey Hoff. He trained at The Broadmoor, and worked under some very well known chefs at several prestigious restaurants on the East Coast. He brings a sense of style and creativity not commonly found between the coasts. He loves the opportunity of crafting new dishes with every menu he writes, and appreciates the challenge of pairing each component on the plate against the many layers of complexity found in each beer.The style of beer is always focused on what is fresh, seasonal, and ahead of the curve in terms of creativity and complexity. Input is sought from the entire planning team, but I, as the brewer, make the final decision on what styles to brew. The beer selections are always the first component decided upon, so the menu really has an opportunity to reflect on and against the beers.The pairings are a collaboration between our planning team, which includes Corey and I, as well as Jeff Zearfoss and Melissa Lofton, who have more than 15 years of combined experience in beer, wine, spirits, and cocktail sales, education and pairing. Focus is placed when creating the pairings to not only consider the style of the dish, but also the flavor, aroma, and textural qualities of each component.
Where do you hold your dinners?
The dinners are held at the Colorado House and Resource Center, a former hotel and restaurant that has been repurposed as transformational housing to help individuals transitioning from homeless and domestic abuse situations attain the skills and confidence to reach self sufficiency. Holding the dinners here allows us an opportunity to draw attention and support to a wonderful cause that we believe in, and is a critical component to the Social Enterprise business model of our partners, Common Cause Catering.
Who all is involved, and does it go to support any causes?
Our planning team is Corey and Myself, as Chef and Brewer, and Jeff Zearfoss and Melissa Lofton, principals of Common Cause Catering. Our purpose and goals are several-fold. First, we hope that building our name and showcasing our talent will help accelerate our plans to open a brewery. We are huge proponents of community-building and the 'local scene', and having heard people complain that there's nothing cool to do in the Springs, we decided to try to be part of the solution. In a more immediate sense, everything that we do helps support the job training and internship programs sponsored by Common Cause Catering, and the self-sufficiency curriculum and culinary education program at The Colorado House.
For more information, head over to Local Relic's Facebook or website. There's very limited seating for each dinner, so get your tickets quick!
