Thursday, March 21, 2019
6 Beers that Stood out at Collaboration Beer Fest
It used to be that Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines was the one festival after which you took out your notes the next day to revive your memory of what you had because there was so much good stuff on the floor that you inadvertently got drunk. Well, certainly after this year - if not before - Collaboration Beer Fest has moved into that category.
From daring ingredients to hopped-up gems to a surprisingly deep and wide variety of smooth dark beers, there was beauty as far as the tongue could taste at the Colorado Brewers Guild/Two Parts festival once again this year. And if there was something different from past years it was this: The beers everyone seemed to be talking about days afterward weren't the ridiculous 13 percent pastry stouts so much as a perfectly made Baltic porter or expertly crafted double IPA or even a California common. Yes, a steam beer got people talking at a beer festival.
With a few days worth of hindsight, then, here are the creations that people likely will be begging for months down the road:
1) Dueces Wild/Brass Brewing Cerberus Brewing Imperial IPL
Everyone was thoroughly ready for the Cerebral/Weldwerks New England-style double IPA, which packed in the expected pineapple rush with appropriate bitterness. But this gem from three Colorado Springs breweries actually seemed more impressive - a bright, hazy, juicy and highly Polynesian-style hop bomb that drank as easy as an India pale lager but with more mouth-filling flavor than ever has been associated with that style.
2) Station 26/Brink Brewing Imperial Milk Stout
The body was creamy and yet wonderfully dark, without any telltale sign of the high alcohol within it. But it was the cinnamon and chocolate adjuncts in here that absolutely lit up the mouth and made fantastic use of the already impressive base beer.
3) Ska Brewing/Call to Arms Baltic Porter
Yes, this is a style that appears to be on the rise again, and it's because of creations like this that imbue it with a deep roast atop an easy-drinking body. Nothing fancy here, just a lot of taste, done by two expert breweries.
4) Living the Dream/Angry James Brewing Imperial Coffee Brown
Silverthorne's Angry James deserves more attention as one of the finest coffee-beer makers in Colorado. This was a flat-out dark-roast, fill-your-mouth-and-make-you-want-to-swirl-it-more-for-fear-of-losing-the-flavor pleaser - simple yet absurdly tasty.
5) Comrade Brewing/Epic Brewing Dry-Hopped California Common
Maybe you should have figured that if anyone could have found a way to add hops to a very subtle style of beer and make it really, really interesting, it would have been the geniuses behind Superpower IPA and some of the best hazy beers made in Colorado. But truly, this flavor was complex and maybe even a little bit funky in the way the hops seemed to rest tantalizingly on top of the base beer, making for one of the most surprising finds of the day.
6) Jagged Mountain/105 West Rum-Barrel-Aged Imperial Ice Cream Old Ale
Of all the potentially gimmick beers in the show, this was the one that seemed to really capture a unique flavor that you would want to try again, even if maybe not by the six-pack. Enormous cherry from the chocolate-cherry Little Man Ice Cream that was thrown into the boil gave this a sweet but not cloying overtone, and the boozy old ale quality reminded you un-subtly that this was beer, not some kind of milkshake treat.
It used to be that Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines was the one festival after which you took out your notes the next day to revive your memory of what you had because there was so much good stuff on the floor that you inadvertently got drunk. Well, certainly after this year - if not before - Collaboration Beer Fest has moved into that category.
From daring ingredients to hopped-up gems to a surprisingly deep and wide variety of smooth dark beers, there was beauty as far as the tongue could taste at the Colorado Brewers Guild/Two Parts festival once again this year. And if there was something different from past years it was this: The beers everyone seemed to be talking about days afterward weren't the ridiculous 13 percent pastry stouts so much as a perfectly made Baltic porter or expertly crafted double IPA or even a California common. Yes, a steam beer got people talking at a beer festival.
With a few days worth of hindsight, then, here are the creations that people likely will be begging for months down the road:
1) Dueces Wild/Brass Brewing Cerberus Brewing Imperial IPL
Everyone was thoroughly ready for the Cerebral/Weldwerks New England-style double IPA, which packed in the expected pineapple rush with appropriate bitterness. But this gem from three Colorado Springs breweries actually seemed more impressive - a bright, hazy, juicy and highly Polynesian-style hop bomb that drank as easy as an India pale lager but with more mouth-filling flavor than ever has been associated with that style.
2) Station 26/Brink Brewing Imperial Milk Stout
The body was creamy and yet wonderfully dark, without any telltale sign of the high alcohol within it. But it was the cinnamon and chocolate adjuncts in here that absolutely lit up the mouth and made fantastic use of the already impressive base beer.
3) Ska Brewing/Call to Arms Baltic Porter
Yes, this is a style that appears to be on the rise again, and it's because of creations like this that imbue it with a deep roast atop an easy-drinking body. Nothing fancy here, just a lot of taste, done by two expert breweries.
4) Living the Dream/Angry James Brewing Imperial Coffee Brown
Silverthorne's Angry James deserves more attention as one of the finest coffee-beer makers in Colorado. This was a flat-out dark-roast, fill-your-mouth-and-make-you-want-to-swirl-it-more-for-fear-of-losing-the-flavor pleaser - simple yet absurdly tasty.
5) Comrade Brewing/Epic Brewing Dry-Hopped California Common
Maybe you should have figured that if anyone could have found a way to add hops to a very subtle style of beer and make it really, really interesting, it would have been the geniuses behind Superpower IPA and some of the best hazy beers made in Colorado. But truly, this flavor was complex and maybe even a little bit funky in the way the hops seemed to rest tantalizingly on top of the base beer, making for one of the most surprising finds of the day.
6) Jagged Mountain/105 West Rum-Barrel-Aged Imperial Ice Cream Old Ale
Of all the potentially gimmick beers in the show, this was the one that seemed to really capture a unique flavor that you would want to try again, even if maybe not by the six-pack. Enormous cherry from the chocolate-cherry Little Man Ice Cream that was thrown into the boil gave this a sweet but not cloying overtone, and the boozy old ale quality reminded you un-subtly that this was beer, not some kind of milkshake treat.
Labels: Angry James Brewing, Brink Brewing, Call to Arms Brewing, Cerberus Brewing, collaboration beers, Comrade Brewing, Dueces Wild Brewery, Epic Brewing, Living the Dream Brewing, Ska Brewing, Station 26 Brewing
