Wednesday, September 27, 2017
SomePlace Else at 1: Earning Its Moniker
As it celebrated its first birthday Saturday, guitars strumming and special brews pouring, SomePlace Else Brewery in Arvada lived every bit up to its name. For as a Colorado beer maker that has mastered the art of the dark and malty but still has work to do on its hoppy and sour ales, it's a place that transports you outside of the typical state beer scene.
The brewery, for those who haven't made it yet, is tucked into an industrial strip mall just north of Interstate 70, giving it a gritty feel. The atmosphere inside is one of laid-back fun, as Star Wars and Star Trek character cutouts look over the taproom, staring down on friendly staff dishing out brews one room over from the impressive cave of pinball machines that greets the visitor upon first entering the place.
SomePlace Else's tap list runs the gamut from a pilsner to several IPAs to a black saison, with a few things more experimental cropping up occasionally. But one run through a set of tasters makes it clear what the Darth Vader cardboard figure alludes to: This is a brewery that has embraced the dark side.
Chief among its black virtues is its Darth Saison (you're catching the theme here, right?), a Belgian-style ale sculpted with roasted barley and offering a complex blend of heavy body and gleaming esters that makes it feel even more substantial than its 6.3 percent alcohol-by-volume clout. It's a unique beer that few other area breweries attempt, and it's the kind of offering that SomePlace should boast of as its signature concoction.
But its Irish Stout packs a surprisingly roasted and full-bodied punch too and leaves an out-sized impression for a normally subdued style. Its Oatmeal Stout, meanwhile, is smooth and balanced and spectacularly easy - everything you want in a winter warmer low enough in alcohol (5.8 percent) that you can drink several in a sitting.
And arguably the star of the entire lineup is its Alpine Loop Amber, all full of chewy and subtly sweet malt, presenting itself as drinkable as a beer can get and yet full of pleasing malt quality.
For all of that malt magic, though, SomePlace Else is the rare Colorado beer maker that hasn't managed to put its best foot forward with its line of hoppy beers. The 1-3/4 IPA has a very subdued hop presence and the OIC IPA is a light-bodied beer that uses its orange peel and coriander a little too minimally, creating just a slightly spicy bitter back taste.
And its Squirmy Sour, a special one-year anniversary tapping, has the furthest to go to catch up with its Centennial State brethren, presenting a slightly acrid grapefruit flavor with strange plastic overtones in the body.
Most breweries continue to have kinks to work out still at its first year, and SomePlace Else is no exception to that truism. But the somewhat-hidden Arvada beer maker also deserves kudos for injecting life into its darker and malty beers at a time when some breweries seem to ignore those genres altogether, and for that alone it deserves your attention and a visit.
As it celebrated its first birthday Saturday, guitars strumming and special brews pouring, SomePlace Else Brewery in Arvada lived every bit up to its name. For as a Colorado beer maker that has mastered the art of the dark and malty but still has work to do on its hoppy and sour ales, it's a place that transports you outside of the typical state beer scene.
The brewery, for those who haven't made it yet, is tucked into an industrial strip mall just north of Interstate 70, giving it a gritty feel. The atmosphere inside is one of laid-back fun, as Star Wars and Star Trek character cutouts look over the taproom, staring down on friendly staff dishing out brews one room over from the impressive cave of pinball machines that greets the visitor upon first entering the place.
SomePlace Else's tap list runs the gamut from a pilsner to several IPAs to a black saison, with a few things more experimental cropping up occasionally. But one run through a set of tasters makes it clear what the Darth Vader cardboard figure alludes to: This is a brewery that has embraced the dark side.
Chief among its black virtues is its Darth Saison (you're catching the theme here, right?), a Belgian-style ale sculpted with roasted barley and offering a complex blend of heavy body and gleaming esters that makes it feel even more substantial than its 6.3 percent alcohol-by-volume clout. It's a unique beer that few other area breweries attempt, and it's the kind of offering that SomePlace should boast of as its signature concoction.
But its Irish Stout packs a surprisingly roasted and full-bodied punch too and leaves an out-sized impression for a normally subdued style. Its Oatmeal Stout, meanwhile, is smooth and balanced and spectacularly easy - everything you want in a winter warmer low enough in alcohol (5.8 percent) that you can drink several in a sitting.
And arguably the star of the entire lineup is its Alpine Loop Amber, all full of chewy and subtly sweet malt, presenting itself as drinkable as a beer can get and yet full of pleasing malt quality.
For all of that malt magic, though, SomePlace Else is the rare Colorado beer maker that hasn't managed to put its best foot forward with its line of hoppy beers. The 1-3/4 IPA has a very subdued hop presence and the OIC IPA is a light-bodied beer that uses its orange peel and coriander a little too minimally, creating just a slightly spicy bitter back taste.And its Squirmy Sour, a special one-year anniversary tapping, has the furthest to go to catch up with its Centennial State brethren, presenting a slightly acrid grapefruit flavor with strange plastic overtones in the body.
Most breweries continue to have kinks to work out still at its first year, and SomePlace Else is no exception to that truism. But the somewhat-hidden Arvada beer maker also deserves kudos for injecting life into its darker and malty beers at a time when some breweries seem to ignore those genres altogether, and for that alone it deserves your attention and a visit.
Labels: amber ale, Arvada breweries, IPA, Irish stout, New Colorado breweries, oatmeal stout, Saisons, SomePlace Else Brewery, sour ale
