FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Boulder, CO): Just on the heels of being named one of the “Six Food and Beer Innovators” by Draft Magazine Executive Chef / Brew Master Ian Clark opened the doors to BRU handbuilt ales & eats today. Ian left his post as Executive Chef of Centro Latin Kitchen and a short stint at Jax Fish House 3 ½ months ago and hasn’t had a moment of rest since. Expanding his barely one year old garage nano-brewery to its new home at 5290 Arapahoe hasn’t been an easy feat. Ian took “handbuilt” to heart when crafting just about everything at his new brupub. Building each table and booth by hand, pouring the concrete bar, welding the handrails, building the barn door that separates his brewery from the dining room, the list goes on. Ian’s craftsmanship shines throughout the restaurant from the food, to the beer, to the tables.
On tap are 11 rotating handbuilt ales including Ian’s founding brews that have been available at local liquor stores and restaurants for the past year like his Obitus American Brown handbuilt with dates and caramelized sugar. His libations also include new offerings like his Rigley Red IPA, and Slocum Barleywine, as well as his Chef’s Collaboration BRU, Ian’s monthly collaboration beer with a local chef. Rounding out the beer selection is one handpicked beer from one of Colorado’s great craft breweries. Five handbuilt sodas including the irresistible Szechan Cheery, and a lineup of beer cocktails like the Beer Cooler with Belux pale ale, agave nectar, lime juice, and salt or the Dark Cross with barleywine and hard apple cider help round out the drink menu.
From the wood fire oven Ian has deliciously crafted what he calls urban American cuisine. Sumac and Cilantro Trail Mix with almonds, popcorn, and oat clusters, Crispy Pork Bahn Mi with pickled cucumber, kimchee, shaved daikon, lime aioli, and rooster sauce, and Colorado Trout with a dutch biscuit, arugula salad, and celery vinaigrette are just a few of his delicious handbuilt eats. The food exemplifies the kind of food that has inspired him, comforted him, and nurtured his soul for over 14 years standing in a kitchen. Crafted from high quality ingredients from local farmers who care about their craft just as much as he does. All perfectly roasted in the wood fire oven for a beautiful depth of flavor. Everything from scratch, the way it was meant to be prepared and waisting as little as possible. Butchering whole pigs for pepperoni, cured meats, and bacon, using spent grain from brewing for granola, English muffins and biscuits, and making vinegar from the beer.
BRU handbuilt ales & eats is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday 11am to close, as well as Sunday brunch and dinner, 9:30am to close*. For more details visit www.bruboulder.com.
*limited opening hours to start, please call 720.638.5193.
DETAILS:
BRU handbuilt ales & eats 5290 Arapahoe, Boulder CO 80303 720.638.5193
Open Mon-Sat 11am-close Sun 9:30am – close Happy Hour 3-6pm daily
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 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 was 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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