Save the date: SAVOR 2011 will take place June 4, once again at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Cheers!

Ahh the memories!  Pictures from the SAVOR Red Carpet are now available to view and order!  Find your photo at Brightroom.com.

A special thanks to DRAFT Magazine, the official red carpet sponsor of SAVOR photos.

Brewers Association Launches “30 Pairings in 30 Days” Feature on CraftBeer.com

Boulder, CO • June 9, 2010 From all levels of the culinary world, a revolution is brewing: pairing food with craft beer. With the United States now boasting more than 1,500 breweries—the highest number since the pre-Prohibition era—the choice and diversity of craft beer has propelled increased interest in cooking with beer and pairing it with food.

This trend was apparent this past Saturday, June 5, when 2,000 beer enthusiasts and 70 craft breweries descended on Washington, D.C., for the sold-out SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience. SAVOR is considered the premier beer and food pairing event in the nation, with the Washington Post (see article) declaring “SAVOR lives up to its name.”

An online extension of SAVOR, 30 Pairings in 30 Days, launched today on CraftBeer.com. This month-long daily feature will highlight craft beer and food pairings from SAVOR, helping beer lovers discover new ways to enjoy their styles of choice at home.

30 Pairings in 30 Days: Asian BBQ salmon with sesame paired with a craft beer. Photo © 2010 Eddie Arrossi.

See full press release

The Washington Post summed it up: “SAVOR lives up to its name.” The Post goes on to note that “Great beer nowadays comes from just about anywhere. That was the lesson to be learned from the third annual SAVOR craft beer and food festival, which the Brewers Association staged Saturday evening at the National Building Museum.”

Houston Chronicle beer blogger Ronnie Crocker opines: “Talk about change we can believe in: The District of Columbia has become quite the beer capital.” Check out his photos and other SAVOR-y observations. DCist called it “geek paradise.”

Coming out of SAVOR, Washington City Paper profiles Saint Somewhere, one of the 70 craft breweries on hand for the event. DC Metromix posted its own SAVOR photo gallery. DC Beer’s SAVOR wrap-up includes photos and attendee comments.

Plus, podcasts of all nine SAVOR Educational and Private Tasting Salons are available online courtesy of CraftBeerRadio.com.

A sold out crowd endured a hot muggy DC night to attend the third SAVOR in as many years. View the 2010 high resolution photos posted for media. More 2010 photos will be viewable in the Attendee Resource section soon.

With SAVOR just around the corner, here’s a number-crunching look at what it takes to put on the premier beer and food pairing event in the US.

Cheese
300 pounds of cheese

Oysters
1,500 Choptank Salts
4 oyster shuckers

More Food
37,450 savory pieces
9,800 chocolate bites

Beer
420 cases or 10,000 bottles of beer – 140 different beers to choose from in 2-ounce sample pours

Ice
4,000 pounds

Materials
2,300 glasses
24,000 bio-degradable/compostable, recyclable bamboo tasting plates
4,000 bio-degradable/compostable, recyclable bamboo sporks
200 bio-degradable trash receptacles

Attendees
2,000

Here’s what the Washington City Paper said the week leading up to the event, “SAVOR madness begins in earnest tonight with several local beer events.” And The Washington Post said, “SAVOR festival brings beer events to D.C. bars.”

Event calendars with DC beer events include:

• CraftBeer.com
• DC On Tap
• Washington City Paper
• Washington Post

So why is this the hottest ticket in D.C. to have right now? Read full CraftBeer.com blog post to see…

What better place than Washington, D.C. to experience a congress of craft beer representatives? SAVOR will present just that, with eight regions of the country represented at the nation’s premier craft beer and food pairing event.

To ensure representation from all over the country, SAVOR planners carved up the U.S. into eight regions: Central, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Mountain, New England, Pacific, Pacific Northwest and the South. A lottery was held to select eight breweries from each region—among the hundreds that applied—to feature their craft beers at SAVOR.

This regional selection process affords SAVOR attendees the chance to sample beers from parts of the country that do not normally reach their local liquor store or brewpub. And not just the flagship beers, either. Expect to see some of the brewers’ reserved and special edition products, the stuff that rarely makes it out of the brewery.

Bruce Paton, the Beer Chef

In order to enhance the beer and food paring experience, Beer Chef Bruce Patton has worked to consult with the caterers and brewers to create the Beer and Food Pairings for this year’s SAVOR.

Need ideas for your next beer and food pairing?  With such a wide variety of beers from across the country represented at SAVOR, hopefully everyone can find one or more of the beers featured at SAVOR at their favorite local beer retailer. Seeing the types of foods and flavors that have been paired with each of these beers on the SAVOR menu might be just the inspiration you need to create your new favorite pairing.  Get in the kitchen and start experimenting! For additional help, learn about the Principles of Matching beer and food from CraftBeer.com.

Two hot tickets to sold-out SAVOR

SAVOR tickets for the June 5 event sold out in record time—about 10 minutes!  The beer and food pairing event, held at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. will feature 30 sweet and savory appetizers and 140 craft beers from 70 breweries.

To find out more about SAVOR behind the scenes, read Straight Dope on the SAVOR Sell-Out Part 1 including an interview of Julia Herz, Craft Beer Program Director at the Brewers Association, and Straight Dope on the SAVOR Sell-Out Part 2 including an  interview of Nancy Johnson, Events Director at the Brewers Association.