What happens when the ultimate food pairing beer meets a pair of culinary masters? The answer: a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience featuring Innis & Gunn, two Michelin star celebrity chef Alex Atala, and fellow chef and friend Michael Hunter.
Hosted in May at Chef Hunter's acclaimed Toronto restaurant Antler, the YBIMC-created event was a celebration of global flavours — and a reunion of friends, with the two chefs having met through the fine dining and culinary circuit, bonding over a shared passion for sustainability, hunting, and foraging.
With beer partner Innis & Gunn, they created a menu that brought together the best of Canadian and Brazilian ingredients paired alongside the best of Scottish brewing. Innis & Gunn Founder and Master Brewer Dougal Gunn Sharp flew in from Glasgow to guide guests through the evening’s beer pairings.
The menu included a collaborative dish of raw Canadian spot prawns and Brazilian tapioca paired with Innis & Gunn The Original. Chef Hunter shared, “Innis & Gunn’s The Original beer was selected for this course because of its toffee notes and subtle sweet undertones. We knew it would contrast and complement nicely with the salty freshness and same sweetness of the B.C. spot prawn.”
The evening was a symphony of three countries coming together to create six courses of spectacular dishes, crafted meticulously with the finest ingredients — and closed with Atala’s famed Amazonian ant atop a maple tarte infused with Innis & Gunn The Original beer. The maple tarte had been inspired by Atala and Hunter’s trips into the Ontario wild foraging and hunting in the days leading up to the dinner.
The event took place just as it was announced the famed Michelin guide would be arriving in Canada – much to the delight of Canadian foodies. Together, the two chefs demonstrated the importance and culinary potential of local ingredients, along with how friendship and a shared passion for craftsmanship can produce innovative results.
