Over the past few years, women’s beer groups have become increasingly popular and widespread. I have heard of at least five in the Front Range area alone (and I imagine there are several more). And in January, the Colorado chapter of Barley’s Angels was established. Barley’s Angels has monthly events in both Denver and Boulder. This week I attended my first one, a beer and salsa pairing at Epic Brewing.

The event consisted of four pairings, with beers from Epic and salsas from Hacienda Colorado. We started off with a tomatillo salsa and Sour Apple Saison. The two complemented each other very well, both having a bit of tartness to them.

The next pairing was Hacienda’s house salsa with an Imperial Red Ale. The salsa was a little smoky and loaded with garlic. The beer really brought out these flavors in the salsa.

Next was an extremely hot jalapeno salsa. I loved it, but I needed a little something to help tame the heat a bit, and Epic’s Smoked Porter did just that.

Finally was a habanero salsa accompanied by Brainless on Peaches, a Belgian-style ale. Habanero salsas are always my favorite; I love how they can be firey yet sweet at the same time. So this pairing was especially delicious because the sweetness of the peaches was the perfect thing to highlight the sweetness of the habaneros.

All of the pairings were delicious! And very well thought out. All four were just right and could not have been done better. This Barley’s Angels event was a great night of tasting and learning about beers, enjoying fantastic pairings, and being in the company of a bunch of lively, fun ladies.  Check out the upcoming Barley’s Angels events here.