The IPA That Started it All

I still remember the first craft beer I had ever had in Bariloche – an Indian Pale Ale, fiery red in colour with a powerful hop burst to match. The snappy, dry finish cleansed the palate, leaving it fresh to enjoy the next gulp anew. I looked down into my pint in wonderment.

An old local man saddled up beside me. “It’s beautiful isn’t it,” he said in his lyrical English. “When all the parts come together and work as one, it can be magic,” he continued.

I readily agreed with him before realizing he was referring to the Salsa being danced in front of us and not the beer. I was in a local bar with students from my Spanish class. The Spanish school I was attending at the time put on nightly activities, and that night was Salsa lessons. I decided to leave the Salsa to the experts, besides I had already found my partner for the night. I ordered another.

The Perfect Match

The following day, slightly hung-over, I met Sofi. A beautiful Argentinean, who speaks perfect English – my type of girl. It didn’t take long before I had put aside my plans to travel the rest of South America and became ensconced in Bariloche life, learning the language (sort of), eating the delicious Patagonian food and trying many of the local craft beers. This lasted for six happy months before my dwindling bank account meant that I had to resume my journey. I had a one-year permit to work in Canada and managed to convince Sofi to join me. We ended up staying a year and a half and in that time, amongst many other things, I started to discover the delights of matching beer with food via Garrett Oliver's wonderful book The Brewmaster's Table, among many others.

An Unlikely Expert

Having now returned to Bariloche, I’ve decided to put this theory into practice. My plan is to visit each of the craft breweries here – there are quite a few as you will soon find out – and try to match their wonderful beers with the local cuisine. Not only that, I have decided to chronicle my adventures here, in this blog. Now I don’t profess to be a beer expert. I like beer to be sure, but an expert I am not. However, I own a bike, I have time on my hands and to be frank with you no one else applied for the job so you’re sort of stuck with me. So with that, let’s begin shall we?