BOULDER, CO. – Executive Chef Ian Clark of Centro Latin Kitchen & Refreshment Palace opened BRU handbuilt ales, a small half barrel nano brewery in his garage last April. Since then he has tirelessly been working to keep up with demand. Clark has been brewing four to six times a week to supply a consistent tap handle of his flavorful Obitus, an American Brown handbuilt with dates and caramelized sugar, at his restaurant Centro Latin Kitchen & Refreshment Palace, and providing limited quantities of both Obitus and Citrum, an American IPA handbuilt with lemon zest and juniper to The West End Tavern.
With hopes of expanding and staying on top of demand Beer Chef Ian Clark ordered a three barrel system and is thrilled to announce its arrival. With the increased capacity he plans to soon offer his beer at additional restaurants in Boulder as well as begin bottling and selling to liquor stores.
For more information please visit www.bruboulder.com or follow the progress at facebook.com/bruboulder.
ABOUT BRU:
Our beer isn’t just a beer. It’s great beer, and a great beer isn’t just about malt, 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. 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.