The eleventh edition of the Barcelona Beer Festival (BBF) returns to the city on May 26, 27 and 28. It does so with a new location. It leaves behind the space of La Farga de l'Hospitalet de Llobregat that has welcomed them during the last five editions, and will now occupy Hall 7 of Fira de Barcelona. More than 150 breweries will be present at its 50 stands, presenting nearly 250 beers from 110 different countries. A whole feast for lovers of this drink.
"In the last ten years, the sector has reached a very interesting point of maturity and we can promote it from this new location," says Mikel Rius, founder and director of the festival. Another novelty is that the BFF hosts the InnBrew professional fair: The Brewers Convention in its celebration over three days. It is a meeting between professionals in the sector with monographic talks on trends, workshops, exhibition space for fifty specialized companies and networking opportunities.
Gastronomy will be one of the axes that this edition of the event will convey to demonstrate the maturity of a sector that wants to work "side by side" with gastronomic creators. For this reason, the Gastro Show will take place, where a total of ten chefs (two of them specialized in sweet cuisine) will each offer a dish, showing the good gastronomic ecosystem of the city with proposals for traditional and international cuisine.
Among the proposals, Pepa Tomate will offer crunchy spheres of salmon and avocado tartare; Mama Pizza the traditional Margherita; Familia Nuri a sea and mountain rice with cuttlefish, sausage and smoked red pepper aioli; Piel de Gallina, its famous Korean-style gourmet fried chicken; Chamako will toast his mestizo-style tacos with Chancho Cheddar and HaraKiri; Telefèric, a tuna tartare brioche marinated with guacamole and mayonnaise; roosters
The sweet note will be provided by Delacrem, by master ice cream maker Massimo Pignata, and La Dramerie, by pastry chef Sofia Janer and Víctor Gonzalo, who will offer dark chocolate ice cream with beer, birramisu and brownisu.
Each of the dishes will present a pairing suggestion with a style of beer. "We want to get the gastronomic sector to trust the specialization and professionalization of the beer sector, just as it trusts wine, so that these excellent beers and their quality are reflected in restaurant menus," says Rius.
This edition of the BFF will have activities with limited capacity for which reservations are required in advance: specialized-themed tastings, talks by breweries that will explain their trajectory, pop ups (such as l'Atélier, which will show how pastries and beer are good companions). avenues) and activities where hops will not be the only protagonist.
During the festival you can try Giga Beer, the beer created by Tesla, Elon Musk's company (although only six people will be lucky). There will also be the chance to learn about the history of Budwar, one of the great historical breweries in Czech Lager, or the Juicy microbrewery, trending in the United States.
On Friday, May 26, the winners of the Barcelona Beer Challenge will also be revealed, a competition in which 181 international breweries participate with 1,126 beers. It is a BFF who aspires to be more expert, more gastronomic and more ambitious.
