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 Honorable Mention
Jason Hendrick: Grilled portabello sandwich with caramelized onions and wash rind cheese Erin Peters: Oysters, venison, brownies Kevin Pratt: Lamb meatballs, pork with mole negro, shrimp with peanut sauce
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Jason Hendrick: Croque variations, using savory and sweet to accent hops and cleanse the palate Jorge Alem: Cauliflower tacos Erin Peters: Pasta with white sauce Kevin Pratt: Tofurkey, lamb vindaloo (mild), lox Monie Wickenden: Carbonara with hot Italian sausage 
Jason Hendrick: Chicken masala (spicy) or seafood stew or crab cakes
Jorge Alem: Panko breaded chicken breast with lemon and olive oil Erin Peters: Crab tostada, salmon Kevin Pratt: Peking Duck, spicy tuna sushi, stuffed peppers. Monie Wickenden: Pizza 
Jorge Alem: Pad Tai or pizza Erin Peters: Cheese burgers, cheddar or gouda Kevin Pratt: Korean BBQ or chili Colorado Monie Wickenden: Pad Kee Mao with Thai Basil 
Jason Hendrick: Summer salad with fruit with spiced or candy pecans and creamy cheese
Erin Peters: Roasted chicken with Haitian seasoning Kevin Pratt: Mushroom tortellini with basil marinara or soft ripe cheeses Monie Wickenden: Kimchi or pork belly tacos 
Jason Hendrick: creamy mushroom chicken with pollenta
Erin Peters: Penne pasta with sausage, pork belly, or sauteed trout Kevin Pratt: Cassoulet with duck confit or green curry pork with pad Thai Monie Wickenden: croque madame  Click to purchase your tickets. This is the 21st year of this annual event and to celebrate its coming of age, beer has been "officially" included in the title of the event. Casa Pacifica Angels Wine, Food & BREW Festival kicked off its 2014 festival with a commercial beer competition on May 3rd. To make the introduction of beer something really special, we added a commercial beer competition to the mix to highlight local and regional breweries. We thought this would be a great way to bring attention to the growing craft beer movement and give you a chance to explore new beers or beer styles and plan your beer tasting experience once you step through the gate. All of the beers that entered the Best In Fest competition will receive a full pints&pairings write up that will feature food pairing suggestions for each beer. The two runners-up and the winner will get full pints&pairings podcasts to help you better plan your beer and food experience at the Casa Pacifica Angels Wine, Food & BREW Festival on June 1st.  Photo Credit: Kristin Palos Before I get to the competition recap, I want to thank the festival's brewery co-chairs, Jess Card (far left) and Manny Gallo (second left). Their behind the scenes work is why there will be a festival full of beer this year. Thanks, guys! I would also like to thank my judging crew. They took time out of their busy Saturday morning schedule and put their palates and beer knowledge to the test for me. Believe me, it's no easy task judging commercially produced beers. You can read more about the judges HERE Last, but not least, a big THANK YOU to Kristin Palos (behind the camera) who is the events coordinator for Casa Pacifica and the person who gave me the opportunity to get involved with such a great organization. Thank you, Kristin. Now, let's get to the competition.  Round 1 Seven local breweries entered into the inaugural Best-In-Fest competition. To ensure the integrity of this competition, the beers were poured out of sight (called blind judging) so the judges didn't know anything about the beer in front of them except its style. In this round, each beer was evaluated against its own style and given a score based on its aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel and overall impression. The scores were entered into spreadsheet and added together and the three highest scoring beers moved to the second round. Only 18 points separated the bottom scoring and top scoring beers.  Round 2 The identity of the beers that moved on to the second round were kept a secret, again to ensure an unbiased evaluation. Round 2 doesn't use score sheets, rather a round-table style of discussion was used to choose the best of show beer. The conversations in this round ranged from style accuracy to food pairing possibilities to drinkability before the winner of this round was picked.  Best in Fest In the end, it was Institution Ale Company's Restraint that won Best in Fest. Their American Brown Ale got top marks by all the judges for its food pairing possibilities and drinkability.  Visit Institution Ale Company |
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