A sojourn down to Colorado Springs to see the Garden of the Gods, found us hitting Phantom Canyon Brewing for lunch. Phantom Canyon is a real place, presumably nearby, so the name is an homage to the canyon and Chief Two Moons of the Cheyenne Indian Tribe. They are located in an historic old building called the Cheyenne Building in downtown Colorado Springs. The brewery might be one of the older ones in town as it opened in 1993. Those were the early days of craft breweries and to be still around says something.
Despite having to climb through a three foot snowdrift to get to the front door, we made it inside. I immediately spied a Amber Ale called Boxcar that had my name on it. A traditional English Ale, it had the familiar biscutey flavor and sweet taste that I like so well. It was good and flavorful. With an IBU of 27, it's very drinkable and it was an obvious choice for me. It is also one of their flagship beers, which also includes Steamliner, an American IPA and Alpenglow, a Bavarian style Hefeweizen.
While we were eating, I had our waiter search for a t-shirt for me. He came back with about 8 items, and I found one I liked. They take pride in their food, which is good. I like to eat while I'm checking out a brewery, but the vast majority of breweries I found in the metro area did not have their own food. Instead, offering food trucks or bring your own food. I'm kind of a hypocrite on this because in one of my very early posts I complained that a brewery that concentrates on their beer is key. Well, since I travel with my son a lot, I need to find one with food. I will try to pair my beer with a recommendation on the menu, if they have one. Here are the three types of pairings;
Contrast - The ideal contrast is to find a food with a rich strong flavor and pair it with something that can stand up to it, something with one dominant characteristic, like sweetness or maltiness.
Complement - This is probably the easiest pairing to accomplish. Heavy, rich foods with heavy rich beers. Porters and Stouts are common heavy beers. A salad or fish would go with a lighter, yellow beer. Wheat beers with fruity desserts and darker beers with chocolate.
Cleanse - Spicy food, like Korean and some Mexican dishes need a lighter beer to cleanse the palate.
Amber ales go good with pizza and fried foods, while steak and barbeque are best with an IPA. This isn't really a science as beers go with a lot of food, but you can make a mistake with salmon and a dark stout. It's similar with hot and cold weather. Drinking a heavy porter on a 100 degree day isn't as satisfying as it would be on a cold day. Some of this is obvious, but you get the point. There are several places to find beer and food pairing charts on the web.
Anyway, if you're looking for an award winning restaurant and brewery, Phantom Canyon has that. The old saloon setting is also nice and it's easy to get to and close to other attractions in town. Colorado Springs had some good brewery options, but the weather kind of spoiled our trip as a lot of things were closed. Maybe next time.
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