Wednesday, November 04, 2009

 
The Most Colorado of All Colorado Beers

Small Colorado breweries can brag all they want about making homegrown products, but Odell's latest experiment, its Mountain Standard Reserve '09, lays more truth on that claim than anything that's come before it.

Made with 400 pounds of hops from Rising Sun Farms in Paonia, no beer has ever featured more of the locally grown flower than this. As Colorado's hop industry begins to grow, the Fort Collins auteurs have taken advantage of the trend and concocted an ale overflowing with cascade and chinook and creating a truly unique flavor.

This, after all, is a dark brown ale, one that is thick and hearty and the kind that you sip in the dead of winter. But the very first scent released from the corked 750-ml bottle that debuted on Monday is hops, citrusy hops - and the collision is rather stunning.

Here is a heavy beer, one sweet with a caramel cocoa tongue bath, that is also thick with a sweeter-than-usual hop character reflective of the unique taste of a Colorado-grown plant. Every drop is full of a multitude of flavors, and this slow sipper grows just a little sweeter with every rising degree in temperature.

It is one more testimony to the brewing genius that is becoming more and more apparent at Odell. But far from being just a tasty product, this is one that supports the local economy in every way - Colorado grown, Colorado brewed, Colorado sold (at least most of it) - and well worth the $15 you can invest in the many industries of this state.

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Comments:
I've been looking forward to tasting this one all week. I missed the tapping party. I think I'll head down to Odell's after work and pick up a bottle. I've really been liking Odell's latest reserve brews. Bourbon Barrel Stout was wonderful.
 
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