Sunday, December 30, 2018
10 Best Colorado Beers of 2018
As Colorado's brewing scene got more crowded this year, beer makers responded by getting more experimental. There were more collaborations, more barrel-aged creations, more breweries such as Liberati Oenobeers and Dos Luces Brewery and Cerveceria Colorado that make nothing like anyone else in the state makes.
What it added up to was a thrilling melange of one-offs and new entries into the scene that continued to redefine both what is possible and what is going to set the pace in future years. And the best beers of this year showcased not just how far afield the flavors can be but how widespread the creativity is across this state.
And with that said ...
10) Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers In Medio Stat Virtus
The newly opened grape-beer maker is an experience that must be had with multiple beers to understand just how much the addition of Viongnier or Gewurtztraminer grapes can alter and add to the beer styles you think you know. But nothing on the menu prepared by Alex Liberati (pictured here) is as fully transformative as this Belgian golden ale made with 48 percent Chardonnay grapes, a work of art that showcases the best of its beer and wine properties and leaves you wanting to delve into oenobeers much further.
9) Weldwerks/Casey Brewing and Blending Transmountain Diversion
In a year that may be remembered most for the hazy IPA takeover of craft beer - spoiler alert, there are three on this top 10 list - two of Colorado's best breweries proved the style could be elevated when great minds worked together. This Citra- and Nelson Sauvin-hopped joyride, a double IPA introduced at Collaboration Fest, was replete with pineapple and mango tastes and aptly highlighted the style not as a twist on IPA but a bold new category of beer on its own.
8) WildEdge Brewing Collective Birthday Barrel
Colorado's greatest secret, hidden in Cortez, celebrated its first anniversary with a barrel-aged tart saison fermented with Palisade peaches that stunned at the same time it encapsulated the style of this experimental small-town beer maker. Bold and sharp, it demonstrated why beer lovers must get outside of Denver and Fort Collins every once in a while to see how deep the state's reserves are.
7) Cannonball Creek Brewing Mike and Sebastian's Excellent Adventure
Amazingly crisp while still being hop-defined, this kolsch/IPA hybrid was singularly refreshing and eye-opening. A collaboration with Pizza Port Carlsbad and Germany's Freigeist Bierkultur, this introduced a new style that is begging to be replicated - if anyone can do it as well as the new king of Golden breweries.
6) Call to Arms Brewing Majestic Wolf Lamp
Huge congratulations go to the northwest Denver brewery for taking two beers that didn't work on their own - a Belgian quad and a petite saison - and blending them together in an oak barrel with black currants until it became something combining tartness, raspberry and a jamminess. Back story aside, it was one of the most interesting and cutting sour beers of this year.
5) Epic Brewing Lupulin Burst
This earned the title of standard-bearer among Colorado's single hazy IPAs in 2018 with a straightforward assault of guava, mango and pineapple that gave this a juice-like feel. Those who don't understand why hazies are garnering such devotion need try this to understand how different they are from traditional IPAs and how much tropical flavor the right hopping can imbue in a beer.
4) Paradox Beer Co. Divide Ethos
Coolship beers are, by their nature, unpredictable, which made this early 2018 offering all the more mind-bending for how drinkable and how nuanced it could be without taking on harsh characteristics. Like a kicked-up saison, this creation from one of the Pikes Peak area's finest breweries pricked your tongue with its wild yeast but then rolled smoothly and excitingly over your taste buds to create a truly unique flavor.
3) Telluride Brewing Fishwater Project
This barrel-aged double IPA is not a new offering. But in a year in which breweries barrel-aged beer with a huge range of results and did things to IPAs (brut IPAs, horrible milkshake IPAs) that did nothing to pump up their flavor, Fishwater Project has never been more relevant than it is today. It toes the line between boozy whiskey characteristics and an underlying superbly crafted five-hop flavor explosion in a way that few hybrids can. It is as complex and worthwhile as any beer you will find in Colorado.
2) Spangalang Brewery Vanguard 3000
There is nothing natural about blending a bourbon-barrel-aged Belgian tripel with an imperial stout made with vanilla and cinnamon. And yet in the hands of Five Points' too-often-overlooked auteurs, this is a pitch-dark ride that bursts with varying flavors as you swirl it over your tongue - and one that goes down far too easily for the alcohol bomb it is. There was genius in its making.
1) River North Brewery Quadruple Dry-Hopped Mountain Haze
It sounded like a gimmick. But the addition of Mosaic, Simcoe and Idaho 7 hops to River North's Citra-dominated hazy IPA created a super-charged version of both the beer and the style, leaving it overflowing with crisp, tropical flavors, all of which carry a classical hop back bite. It was a fuller and more complete beer, without an exceptional bitterness and booziness. And if you let it rest on your taste buds long enough, you could find new flavors in almost every tasting. Bravo.
As Colorado's brewing scene got more crowded this year, beer makers responded by getting more experimental. There were more collaborations, more barrel-aged creations, more breweries such as Liberati Oenobeers and Dos Luces Brewery and Cerveceria Colorado that make nothing like anyone else in the state makes.
What it added up to was a thrilling melange of one-offs and new entries into the scene that continued to redefine both what is possible and what is going to set the pace in future years. And the best beers of this year showcased not just how far afield the flavors can be but how widespread the creativity is across this state.
And with that said ...
10) Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers In Medio Stat Virtus
The newly opened grape-beer maker is an experience that must be had with multiple beers to understand just how much the addition of Viongnier or Gewurtztraminer grapes can alter and add to the beer styles you think you know. But nothing on the menu prepared by Alex Liberati (pictured here) is as fully transformative as this Belgian golden ale made with 48 percent Chardonnay grapes, a work of art that showcases the best of its beer and wine properties and leaves you wanting to delve into oenobeers much further.
9) Weldwerks/Casey Brewing and Blending Transmountain Diversion
In a year that may be remembered most for the hazy IPA takeover of craft beer - spoiler alert, there are three on this top 10 list - two of Colorado's best breweries proved the style could be elevated when great minds worked together. This Citra- and Nelson Sauvin-hopped joyride, a double IPA introduced at Collaboration Fest, was replete with pineapple and mango tastes and aptly highlighted the style not as a twist on IPA but a bold new category of beer on its own.
8) WildEdge Brewing Collective Birthday Barrel
Colorado's greatest secret, hidden in Cortez, celebrated its first anniversary with a barrel-aged tart saison fermented with Palisade peaches that stunned at the same time it encapsulated the style of this experimental small-town beer maker. Bold and sharp, it demonstrated why beer lovers must get outside of Denver and Fort Collins every once in a while to see how deep the state's reserves are.
7) Cannonball Creek Brewing Mike and Sebastian's Excellent Adventure
Amazingly crisp while still being hop-defined, this kolsch/IPA hybrid was singularly refreshing and eye-opening. A collaboration with Pizza Port Carlsbad and Germany's Freigeist Bierkultur, this introduced a new style that is begging to be replicated - if anyone can do it as well as the new king of Golden breweries.
6) Call to Arms Brewing Majestic Wolf Lamp
Huge congratulations go to the northwest Denver brewery for taking two beers that didn't work on their own - a Belgian quad and a petite saison - and blending them together in an oak barrel with black currants until it became something combining tartness, raspberry and a jamminess. Back story aside, it was one of the most interesting and cutting sour beers of this year.
5) Epic Brewing Lupulin Burst
This earned the title of standard-bearer among Colorado's single hazy IPAs in 2018 with a straightforward assault of guava, mango and pineapple that gave this a juice-like feel. Those who don't understand why hazies are garnering such devotion need try this to understand how different they are from traditional IPAs and how much tropical flavor the right hopping can imbue in a beer.
4) Paradox Beer Co. Divide Ethos
Coolship beers are, by their nature, unpredictable, which made this early 2018 offering all the more mind-bending for how drinkable and how nuanced it could be without taking on harsh characteristics. Like a kicked-up saison, this creation from one of the Pikes Peak area's finest breweries pricked your tongue with its wild yeast but then rolled smoothly and excitingly over your taste buds to create a truly unique flavor.3) Telluride Brewing Fishwater Project
This barrel-aged double IPA is not a new offering. But in a year in which breweries barrel-aged beer with a huge range of results and did things to IPAs (brut IPAs, horrible milkshake IPAs) that did nothing to pump up their flavor, Fishwater Project has never been more relevant than it is today. It toes the line between boozy whiskey characteristics and an underlying superbly crafted five-hop flavor explosion in a way that few hybrids can. It is as complex and worthwhile as any beer you will find in Colorado.
2) Spangalang Brewery Vanguard 3000
There is nothing natural about blending a bourbon-barrel-aged Belgian tripel with an imperial stout made with vanilla and cinnamon. And yet in the hands of Five Points' too-often-overlooked auteurs, this is a pitch-dark ride that bursts with varying flavors as you swirl it over your tongue - and one that goes down far too easily for the alcohol bomb it is. There was genius in its making.
1) River North Brewery Quadruple Dry-Hopped Mountain Haze
It sounded like a gimmick. But the addition of Mosaic, Simcoe and Idaho 7 hops to River North's Citra-dominated hazy IPA created a super-charged version of both the beer and the style, leaving it overflowing with crisp, tropical flavors, all of which carry a classical hop back bite. It was a fuller and more complete beer, without an exceptional bitterness and booziness. And if you let it rest on your taste buds long enough, you could find new flavors in almost every tasting. Bravo.
Labels: Call to Arms Brewing, Cannonball Creek Brewing, Epic Brewing, Liberati Oenobeers, Paradox Brewing, River North Brewery, Spangalang Brewery, Telluride Brewing, Weldwerks Brewing, WildEdge Brewing Collective
