Brewer’s Plate fundraiser is back for its ninth year

Brewer’s Plate pairs local brewers with local restaurants, for a match made in beer heaven.
Credit: Fair Food

For food and booze lovers, Brewer’s Plate is pretty much Nirvana at the Constitution Center. It’s an all-you-can-eat-and-drink affair with 20 local and local-ish restaurants and 20 brewers. This fundraiser for Fair Food, happening on Sunday, March 10, is now in its ninth year, so it’s safe to say they know what they’re doing.

Of course, you can taste and sip however you want, but Fair Food has created a list of pairings that teams a restaurant with a brewer in the hopes of creating the most perfect coupling. Some match ups come naturally, like that of Triumph restaurant and Triumph brewery. Others, though, are not so obvious. Tex Mex barbeque joint El Camino Real, for instance, will be enhancing their food with the sudsy help of Easton’s Weyerbacher. And the classy wine bar and café Tria will have at its side beer from the anything but subtle Victory Brewing Company.

Make sure you try the fare from the soon-to-be-opened Cedar Point Bar & Kitchen. Fishtown has been waiting for this promising kitchen to open its doors, so don’t skip on the chance to sample their menu.

If you want to shell out a few more bucks — and why not, it is a fundraiser, after all — there are VIP tickets. Now, sometimes VIP tickets don’t get you much more than an early entrance and a chance to mingle with the pros, but this time that’s not the case. VIPs will be able to enjoy a “tutored tasting” with Aimee Olexy, co-owner of Talula’s Garden. And to keep the coupling theme going, local cheese makers are pairing their goods with a selected brewer. Plus, you lucky VIPs can try a Victory brew so new it’s not even on the shelves yet. Take that, general admission! And finally, the main reason we can see for going VIP is Weckerly’s “Man Full of Trouble” ice cream. It’s porter-flavored ice cream with chocolate-covered shortbread, and it’s the reason enough for us.

A sample of pairings

Many of the participating restaurants are keeping quiet about what they’re making, but a few have leaked the info.

Scrapple sliders from White Dog Café with Dogfish’s Chicory Stout

Mortadella hot dogs from Alla Spina with Stoudt’s Karnival Kolsch

Grilled cheese with BBQ portabella and apple slaw from Cedar Point with Boxcar’s Mango Ginger IPA

If you go
Brewer’s Plate
Sunday, March 10
National Constitution Center
525 Arch St.
6 to 9 p.m.
$70 general admission, $140 for VIP

Do this first
Before they head over to Brewer’s Plate, Nate Saar and Steve Koch of Bullfrog Brewery will be at Devil’s Den on 11th and Ellsworth for the restaurant’s boozy Bullfrog Brunch, marking the debut of Bullfrog in Philly.

Saar and Koch plan to pre-game for Brewer’s Plate with their own Edgar IPA, Aggro Funky Witbier, Sacre Bleu Blueberry Farmhouse and Pomme Par Jour Apple Farmhouse. All Bullfrog drafts and flights will be $1 off, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.