(Boulder, CO): Chef Ian Clark has been dreaming of this day for a long time. Less than a year ago, he started small with BRU handbuilt ales, a nano-brewery out of his garage. BRU quickly became popular winning national recognition (named one of the 2013 Breweries to Watch by Draft Magazine) as Ian’s food knowledge clearly built perfectly on brewing thoughtful handbuilt ales. Then came today, the day when he would finally open a restaurant and brewery that was all his own. After months of searching, space after space in Boulder, he walked into 5290 Arapahoe and knew he had found the perfect home for BRU handbuilt ales and eats.
A rare combination, Clark will bring both his honed palate and extensive studies of the culinary arts to the food and beer at BRU handbuilt ales and eats. Chef Clark has written a menu that is as thoughtfully crafted and passionately made as his beers. Rustic, approachable cuisine like Housemade Goat Milk Ricotta with roasted almonds and spiced honey, Oven Roasted Shishito Peppers with sea salt, Green Bean and Gold Potatoes with black figs, prosciutto, and walnuts or Chicken Sausage, Caramelized Fennel, and Spinach Wood Oven Pizza. Each item pairs perfectly with the handbuilt ales that many have already fallen in love with. And just like Chef Ian seeks the most flavor from his beer by natural carbonation and no filtering he plans to do the same with the food at BRU. Most dishes will come out of the wood-roasted oven to create a beautiful depth of flavor. And everything will be handbuilt, from scratch, just like the beer. From handbuilt breads, cheeses, and pizza, to sodas. BRU handbuilt ales and eats will be a true expression of Ian’s passion, joy, honesty, creativity, and technique, with many sleepless nights, and a whole lot of love mixed in. As Chef Clark says, “I can’t even start to explain how excited I am to open BRU handbuilt ales and eats. The opportunity to finally share my passion for all things food and beer, that is going to be pretty amazing.” Chef Clark plans to open the doors for lunch and dinner at BRU handbuilt ales and eats in mid April.
For more details visit www.bruboulder.com and follow the full story of building BRU handbuilt ales and eats at www.facebook.com/bruboulder.
ABOUT BRU:
Our beer isn’t just a beer. It’s great beer, and a great beer isn’t just about barley, water, yeast, and hops. A great beer is about the people that make it; it is an expression of who we are. Our craft, our passion, and our love captured in a bottle (or a glass) for you to enjoy. First, it starts with writing the recipes and the thoughtful selection of the ingredients that go in them. Ingredients only a chef would know, because our brewer, or beer chef, as we like to call him, spends his nine to five life (or ten to ten in the restaurant world) in a kitchen, as the Executive Chef of a seriously delicious restaurant called Centro Latin Kitchen. Beer Chef Ian Clark uses ingredients that aren’t unique for unique sake, but ingredients that bring out the best flavors in our beer. As any great chef knows, great recipes take patience. Our beer has the flavor only time can bring to it because we don’t believe a great beer can be made without allowing carbonation to occur naturally. That’s why we bottle and keg condition all of our beer. We also don’t filter or pasteurize it because after we’ve put in all of that good stuff, why would we take anything out? Last, our beer is great because not only does it go beyond the typical beer experience by using the skillful ingredients and the fine-tuned techniques that only a chef would know, our beer also has our values in it; like using wind power and eco-friendly chemicals, as well as composting, recycling, and donating 1% to the planet.
So while we may list all of the ingredients on our label, we’ve left out a few; passion, joy, honesty, creativity, technique, sleepless nights, and a whole lot of love. We hope when you’re in one of the restaurants or liquor stores that carry our beer you’ll buy one, and that this time your tilt, tip, and sip is followed by the bubbling flavor of handbuilt BRU.
ABOUT BEER CHEF IAN CLARK:
If we had to choose two words to describe Ian, it would be passionate and fearless. He is a brewer, a chef, a gardener, a beekeeper, and a modern day MacGyver. He’ll try anything once, and somehow whatever he puts his hands on turns out with a little bit of remarkable mixed in.
His cooking career started at the young and eager age of 14. From there he went on to graduate from New England Culinary Institute and then travelled from one kitchen to the next learning his trade. Working at the acclaimed Black Point Inn in Prouts Neck, Maine, for the highly awarded Chef Mavro in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Ritz Carlton in Dana Point, CA before finding a home in Boulder, CO. In Boulder, he spent hours behind the lines at Q’s, Jax Fish House, and then Rhumba before helping open Centro in 2007. As Executive Chef at Centro he has defined soulful Latin cuisine. Winning numerous awards and accolades like an appearance on National Television on The Cooking Channel’s Unique Eats, which showcased his brunch program. As well as being selected, along with 5-leading chefs across the country, as the Mexican-cuisine expert for Atkins Chef Recipe Program. Under his skillful hands, Centro has been named as “Denver’s 10 Best New Restaurants” and “Denver’s Best Restaurants” by 5280 Magazine as well as being highlighted in national publications including Tasting Table and Sunset Magazine.
Ian’s passion and insatiable curiosity for food led seamlessly to his art of building seriously delicious beer. The weekend hobby quickly became an obsession as the four simple ingredients lead to endless possibilities in his chef’s mind. Ian continuously puts his soul and passion in everything he does, and you can truly taste it in his beer and food.
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