Today is the Beer Chef, Bruce Paton’s 70th birthday — The Big 7-O. Bruce has been doing fantastic dinners pairing great beer and gourmet food for over twenty years in the Bay Area starting at Barclay’s Restaurant and Pub in Oakland and continuing at the Clift and Cathedral Hill Hotels in San Francisco. He’s has been doing events and consulting at various food and beverage operations since the hotel closed in 2009, so look for more of his beer dinners in the coming months. I’ve been to many, many of Bruce’s food events and they’re all spectacularly top notch. He did around eight each year. More recently, he’s cooking at Fermentation Labs in San Francisco. Raise a toast and stuff your face in wishing Bruce a very happy birthday.

My hands down favorite photo of Bruce, which I took for the Chef’s Association of the Pacific Coast newsletter. I don’t think this is the one they used, but, by far, as I think it captures Bruce’s spirit and his great love and passion for what he does with his cooking and beer.

Giving a cooking demonstration with Garret Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery and author of The Brewmaster’s Table at the 2005 GABF.

Bruce with Russian River co-owner Natalle Cilurzo.

Me and Bruce New Year’s Day a few years ago at Barclay’s.