By Jessica H.

The 2017 Denver BrunchFest was held in sunny Civic Center Park at the end of August. We’re a little late on our write up since we’ve been super busy at our day jobs, but finally — it’s here! BrunchFest was our type of festival, offering bottomless boozy drinks, bites, and plenty of other goodies like Califa Farms’ delicious coffee and Kevita probiotic drinks. There was a photo booth and plenty of iconic places to take photos– check out our shot below in front of the Denver City and County Building! Proceeds from BrunchFest went to support Kids’ Compassion Project and Minds Matter of Denver, two Mile High City-based nonprofits.

BrunchFest took place on one of the hottest days we had experienced all summer, so cold drinks were necessary for cooling our bodies down. An array of drinks was served at the main drink stand, ranging from a Morning Screw to the BrunchPunch, all made with Keel Vodka or champagne. Keel Vodka is low calorie and has a lower ABV than usual spirits so you wake up feeling good the next day! We are more accustomed to higher ABV though; we drank nearly 7 drinks each at BrunchFest without getting too buzzed.

Our favorite libations included the Bloody Mary and the Bullmosa– a twist on your classic mimosa with the addition of Red Bull Tangerine. We also were quite pleased with Bar Helix’s Tiger Woods cocktail, as well as Aperol’s good ol’ Aperol Spritz. Mind you, we probably should have started our morning with the Aperol Spritz instead of ending our morning with it, but alas we were so full after the event that the Aperol didn’t quite “whet our appetite” like aperitifs are supposed to.

Denver BrunchFest had an assortment of sweet and savory brunch foods from some of Denver’s hottest brunch spots. Traditionally we are fans of savory food, so our favorite bites were savory options. Element Kitchen’s steak and eggs won for our personal favorite dish. They made a perfectly cooked (i.e. medium rare) steak with scrambled eggs, sweet potato hash, and veggies (asparagus, anyone?). Esters Neighborhood Pub’s shrimp and grits were packed with flavor, while Departure’s Smoked Salmon Blini with creamy egg yolk, lemon miso, chili, mint, and lime combined Asian and Russian roots full of umami. The best sweet dish was Acero’s pancake stack– topped with glazed bananas!

We are already counting down the days to next year’s BrunchFest and we hope to see you there.