Sunday, December 29, 2019
10 Best Colorado Beers of 2019
As Colorado exceeded 400 breweries in 2019, the need for beer makers to stand out to attract customers was never more acute. Some developed all new flavors, some put new spins on traditional styles and some doubled down on what they do best.
The result was akin to a dream scenario for fans of experimental creations, offering a wide variety of efforts that sometimes landed with a thud but often seemed to produce stunning tastes, both in one-offs and in packaged or regular-rotation beers. As such, the 10 best Colorado beers of 2019 - beers that either were introduced this year or took on a special significance over the past 12 months - are heavy on envelope-pushing but still are wildly satisfying. Enjoy.
10) Storm Peak Brewing Hoochie Mama
As breweries across the country rush to nail the "accessible sour," they should look toward Steamboat Springs, where Storm Peak produces a sour blonde ale with guava that fills the mouth with unusual fruit flavors and then eases in a tart backtaste that sticks around. Hoochie Mama won a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival for fruited American-style sour ales, ensuring that 2019 was the year that Colorado began to know its greatness.
9) Briar Common Joyce + Brett
The first barrel-aged experiment from this too-often-overlooked Denver brewery was a saison that sat in one of its seven tanks for 18 months with Brettanomyces and then another nine months on French oak. But the immense outlay of facility space was more than worth it, as what came of it was a sharp beer (second from right in the lead photo in this blog) that crackles with the feel of its yeast and its barrel and at the same time is wildly smooth. If Briar Common had doubts about jumping into barrel aging, this should end them.
8) Weldwerks Peanut Butter Cup Medianoche
This beer is Weldwerks in a nutshell: An imperial stout that uses an unusual and easily flubbable ingredient coming in at an ABV (around 15%) that seemingly is too high to enjoy. Yet, the Greeley brewery nailed it, offering a thick and peanut-butter-laden creation that fills you up but also leaves you wanting more of the well-blended flavors it presents. It's another reminder that no matter what Weldwerks and founder/brewer Neil Fisher (pictured at left) is doing, it is worth trying.
7) Dueces Wild/Brass Brewing/Cerberus Imperial IPL
The most surprising find of the year was a rarely tried style from three Colorado Springs breweries that stole the show at Collaboration Beer Fest in March with a huge Polynesian hop taste that hasn't been seen before in an India pale lager. And it served as a reminder that at a time when visiting every brewery in the state is impossible, gems will continue to pop up outside the Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins area that deserve the beer community's attention.
6) Black Project Stargate Peach Rye: Nectarine Bourbon
Black Project isn't a brewery that tends to fly under the radar. But the hugely tart and complex spontaneously fermented sour ale it was pouring at January's Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival should have gotten even more attention than it did, for it ranked among the best creations ever from the Denver sour master. And it showed that no combination of barrels, yeast and fruit is too much to handle - either for Black Project or for a drinker's taste buds.
5) Great Divide Mexican Chocolate Yeti
Sixteen years into its brewery-defining Yeti imperial stout series, Great Divide continues to experiment with flavors and, in doing so, has produced its best creation yet. Vanilla, coffee and traditional Mexican spices combine to create a flavor profile that many other breweries have tried but that arguably none has pulled off so well before now - with a 9.5% ABV body that drinks like non-alcoholic coffee. Mexican Yeti proves once again that though Great Divide is a seemingly ancient 25 years of age, it's churning out experiments as well or better than its much younger competitors.
4) Spangalang Brewery Nonesuch
Once a year, like clockwork it happens: I drop into Spangalang, try a few new offerings and hit the floor with awe at how at least one experiment turns out. This year it was Nonesuch, a lighter-hued ale that was aged first in Chardonnay barrels and then in whiskey barrels and came out with a mouth-filling wallop of grape skins, woody overtones and a Brettanomyces zing that somehow blends into one artful and lasting sweet and sour taste. The Five Points brewery has become an absolute must-stop on any Denver beer tour.
3) Purpose Brewing Smoeltrekker # 13
What former New Belgium brewmaster Peter Bouckaert is doing at his small Fort Collins brewery is like rebellious, avant-garde art. There's an undefinable hoppy brew here, a taco-flavored brew there. But the piece de resistance of Purpose Brewing's portfolio in 2019 was a beer that approximated Bouckaert's celebrated La Folie creation - and than exceeded it with a flavor profile that hit your tart taste buds right away but then led you down a rabbit hole that embraced the well-used barrel it inhabited and let you feel an almost apple-and-cherry-like underbelly that soothed its wild overtones. This is a seasoned veteran at the height of his abilities.
2) Paradox Beer Smoked Maple Manhattan
There understandably will be people who say that the combined tastes of pancake syrup, an Italian amarena cherry made for cocktails and the base of a tart golden ale are just too much to handle in one drink. But for those who like their beers daring and dancing precariously on the edge of an overshot without stepping over it, there was no more rewarding beer made in Colorado this year. This beer changed from the first sip to the fourth to the 10th, revealing a different flavor each time - but one that continuously was unlike anything one has ever had in a beer. Fortune favors the bold, and there may be no brewery in Colorado taking chances like this Teller County artist today.
1) Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss Tropical IPA
Oskar Blues did not make the most earth-shattering beer of 2019. What it made, simply, was the most drinkable, most mesmerizing offering of the year, daring to take the hazy IPA style in a new direction by ditching the traditional hops and going all in on the tropical flavors imparted by Mosaic, Azaca, Galaxy, Eldorado and Idaho 7. Rather than redefining the style, it simply did it better and fuller and juicier and yet somehow produced a brew you want to drink both in the cold of winter and the heat of summer. The Longmont beer pioneer has never been better. And after years of producing in-your-face beers that left you impressed but wanting just one or two of them, it excelled with an IPA you feel you can drink all day and never tire of what could be best described as the feel of Hawaiian fruit salad in beer form.
As Colorado exceeded 400 breweries in 2019, the need for beer makers to stand out to attract customers was never more acute. Some developed all new flavors, some put new spins on traditional styles and some doubled down on what they do best.
The result was akin to a dream scenario for fans of experimental creations, offering a wide variety of efforts that sometimes landed with a thud but often seemed to produce stunning tastes, both in one-offs and in packaged or regular-rotation beers. As such, the 10 best Colorado beers of 2019 - beers that either were introduced this year or took on a special significance over the past 12 months - are heavy on envelope-pushing but still are wildly satisfying. Enjoy.
10) Storm Peak Brewing Hoochie Mama
9) Briar Common Joyce + Brett
The first barrel-aged experiment from this too-often-overlooked Denver brewery was a saison that sat in one of its seven tanks for 18 months with Brettanomyces and then another nine months on French oak. But the immense outlay of facility space was more than worth it, as what came of it was a sharp beer (second from right in the lead photo in this blog) that crackles with the feel of its yeast and its barrel and at the same time is wildly smooth. If Briar Common had doubts about jumping into barrel aging, this should end them.
8) Weldwerks Peanut Butter Cup Medianoche
This beer is Weldwerks in a nutshell: An imperial stout that uses an unusual and easily flubbable ingredient coming in at an ABV (around 15%) that seemingly is too high to enjoy. Yet, the Greeley brewery nailed it, offering a thick and peanut-butter-laden creation that fills you up but also leaves you wanting more of the well-blended flavors it presents. It's another reminder that no matter what Weldwerks and founder/brewer Neil Fisher (pictured at left) is doing, it is worth trying.7) Dueces Wild/Brass Brewing/Cerberus Imperial IPL
The most surprising find of the year was a rarely tried style from three Colorado Springs breweries that stole the show at Collaboration Beer Fest in March with a huge Polynesian hop taste that hasn't been seen before in an India pale lager. And it served as a reminder that at a time when visiting every brewery in the state is impossible, gems will continue to pop up outside the Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins area that deserve the beer community's attention.
6) Black Project Stargate Peach Rye: Nectarine Bourbon
Black Project isn't a brewery that tends to fly under the radar. But the hugely tart and complex spontaneously fermented sour ale it was pouring at January's Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival should have gotten even more attention than it did, for it ranked among the best creations ever from the Denver sour master. And it showed that no combination of barrels, yeast and fruit is too much to handle - either for Black Project or for a drinker's taste buds.
5) Great Divide Mexican Chocolate Yeti
Sixteen years into its brewery-defining Yeti imperial stout series, Great Divide continues to experiment with flavors and, in doing so, has produced its best creation yet. Vanilla, coffee and traditional Mexican spices combine to create a flavor profile that many other breweries have tried but that arguably none has pulled off so well before now - with a 9.5% ABV body that drinks like non-alcoholic coffee. Mexican Yeti proves once again that though Great Divide is a seemingly ancient 25 years of age, it's churning out experiments as well or better than its much younger competitors.4) Spangalang Brewery Nonesuch
Once a year, like clockwork it happens: I drop into Spangalang, try a few new offerings and hit the floor with awe at how at least one experiment turns out. This year it was Nonesuch, a lighter-hued ale that was aged first in Chardonnay barrels and then in whiskey barrels and came out with a mouth-filling wallop of grape skins, woody overtones and a Brettanomyces zing that somehow blends into one artful and lasting sweet and sour taste. The Five Points brewery has become an absolute must-stop on any Denver beer tour.
3) Purpose Brewing Smoeltrekker # 13
What former New Belgium brewmaster Peter Bouckaert is doing at his small Fort Collins brewery is like rebellious, avant-garde art. There's an undefinable hoppy brew here, a taco-flavored brew there. But the piece de resistance of Purpose Brewing's portfolio in 2019 was a beer that approximated Bouckaert's celebrated La Folie creation - and than exceeded it with a flavor profile that hit your tart taste buds right away but then led you down a rabbit hole that embraced the well-used barrel it inhabited and let you feel an almost apple-and-cherry-like underbelly that soothed its wild overtones. This is a seasoned veteran at the height of his abilities.2) Paradox Beer Smoked Maple Manhattan
There understandably will be people who say that the combined tastes of pancake syrup, an Italian amarena cherry made for cocktails and the base of a tart golden ale are just too much to handle in one drink. But for those who like their beers daring and dancing precariously on the edge of an overshot without stepping over it, there was no more rewarding beer made in Colorado this year. This beer changed from the first sip to the fourth to the 10th, revealing a different flavor each time - but one that continuously was unlike anything one has ever had in a beer. Fortune favors the bold, and there may be no brewery in Colorado taking chances like this Teller County artist today.
1) Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss Tropical IPA
Labels: Black Project, Briar Common Brewery + Eatery, Cerberus Brewing, Great Divide, Oskar Blues, Paradox Brewing, Purpose Brewing, Spangalang Brewery, Storm Peak Brewing, Top Beers of Year, Weldwerks Brewing
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Three Denver Breweries Plow New Ground with Barrel Aging
Brian Grace said that he hears the sour and barrel-aging phase of craft beer may have reached its apex several years ago. Yet what Grace is doing now - and what several other brewers in the Denver area are undertaking in their study of barrels - may just prove that theorem wrong.
In fact, at least three brewers operating in the Mile High City are now taking their breweries' barrel-aging programs to new heights. And while this certainly does not encompass the whole of the experiments that are evolving in aging in the city, it gives a snapshot of what kind of ground still can be gained in an art that has been practiced for two decades but certainly has not jumped the shark.
Grace is the head brewer for Thirsty Monk's expanding national scope and is based in Denver. An alumnus of both Jolly Pumpkin and Crooked Stave, Grace started at Thirsty Monk about 14 months ago with a charge to develop a barrel-aged, sour-focused program for a three-state brewery that largely has been focused on traditional, non-biting Belgian recipes.
To launch the effort in Thirsty Monk's East 17th Avenue location, Grace brewed a Belgian dark strong ale with pluot and blackberry, aging it eight months in barrels and then five months in foeders tucked away in a south Denver warehouse. The resulting product is ready for public consumption, but it is being held back until early 2020 as the brewery figures out packaging and plans to get it to its Oregon and North Carolina locations. But Grace is satisfied with initial taste tests and believes he's onto a way to create new kinds of flavors for his traditional brewery.
"It's exciting. It's not intimidating as much as it is nerve-wracking," said Grace, who's already crafted sour mash beers for Thirsty Monk but has yet to do a classic Belgian sour like this. "You never know what you'll get with wild beers."
Kent and Greg Dawson of Briar Common Brewery + Eatery in Denver's Jefferson Park neighborhood had similar thoughts when they decided to dive into barrels. But the brothers made an even bolder move, putting aside one of the brewery's seven tanks shortly after it opened to age saison on Brettanomyces for 18 months then transfer it to French oak for another nine months to create Joyce and Brett, a beer that sparkles and works both as a smooth beer and as one that intensifies from its base style, becoming simultaneously drinkable and exquisite.
Those who head by the brewery now will find three barrel-aged beers on tap, including a porter and a Belgian dubbel in whiskey barrels. All three offer different perspectives on the barrel-aging process, but the Rochus porter aged 10 months in Wood's Whiskey barrels is a particularly pleasant sensation while still being boozy, contrasting well with Joyce on Brett and showing the many characteristics of the barrel.
"This is our first foray into barrels, and I had zero expectations," Kent Dawson said. "I just feel fortunate that they did turn out like they did."
Then there is Ratio Beerworks of RiNo, which is a relative barrel expert by now. The nearly-five-year-old brewery held its annual Genius Wizard Experience on Friday night, pairing food and art installations and, most importantly, six variants of its Genius Wizard Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout, each one of them combining the smoothness of barrels with added ingredients that brought a solid (and shockingly booze-light) big beer to new heights.
The boldest of the bunch was the Aged Maple Pecan variant, which was the most daring in terms of its big sweetness but also the most rewarding because it took the flavor furthest from the base beer and made you consider the additive values of heavy sugar. But the Aged Mayan Chocolate (pictured above), which was served without carbonation, and the Aged Chai, which sparkled with a ginger back taste, also ranked among the more interesting beers produced not just by Ratio but by any Denver brewery this year.
Ratio, frankly, shows what a brewery can do when it commands mastery of barrels - add in bold flavors and take a beer that might be perceived as heavy to drink and make it exceedingly easy to enjoy. The variants will be sold in multi-packs at the brewery until they run out, and it's highly advised you get there to buy some.
But all three of the explorer breweries should be lauded for trying to add a new flavor into a brewing scene that is becoming increasingly crowded. Each effort gives a reason for customers to stop in and a window into what bold experimentation can do, and they remind drinkers why the Denver craft beer scene may be an old dog, but it's still learning new tricks.
In fact, at least three brewers operating in the Mile High City are now taking their breweries' barrel-aging programs to new heights. And while this certainly does not encompass the whole of the experiments that are evolving in aging in the city, it gives a snapshot of what kind of ground still can be gained in an art that has been practiced for two decades but certainly has not jumped the shark.
Grace is the head brewer for Thirsty Monk's expanding national scope and is based in Denver. An alumnus of both Jolly Pumpkin and Crooked Stave, Grace started at Thirsty Monk about 14 months ago with a charge to develop a barrel-aged, sour-focused program for a three-state brewery that largely has been focused on traditional, non-biting Belgian recipes.
To launch the effort in Thirsty Monk's East 17th Avenue location, Grace brewed a Belgian dark strong ale with pluot and blackberry, aging it eight months in barrels and then five months in foeders tucked away in a south Denver warehouse. The resulting product is ready for public consumption, but it is being held back until early 2020 as the brewery figures out packaging and plans to get it to its Oregon and North Carolina locations. But Grace is satisfied with initial taste tests and believes he's onto a way to create new kinds of flavors for his traditional brewery.
"It's exciting. It's not intimidating as much as it is nerve-wracking," said Grace, who's already crafted sour mash beers for Thirsty Monk but has yet to do a classic Belgian sour like this. "You never know what you'll get with wild beers."
Kent and Greg Dawson of Briar Common Brewery + Eatery in Denver's Jefferson Park neighborhood had similar thoughts when they decided to dive into barrels. But the brothers made an even bolder move, putting aside one of the brewery's seven tanks shortly after it opened to age saison on Brettanomyces for 18 months then transfer it to French oak for another nine months to create Joyce and Brett, a beer that sparkles and works both as a smooth beer and as one that intensifies from its base style, becoming simultaneously drinkable and exquisite.
Those who head by the brewery now will find three barrel-aged beers on tap, including a porter and a Belgian dubbel in whiskey barrels. All three offer different perspectives on the barrel-aging process, but the Rochus porter aged 10 months in Wood's Whiskey barrels is a particularly pleasant sensation while still being boozy, contrasting well with Joyce on Brett and showing the many characteristics of the barrel.
"This is our first foray into barrels, and I had zero expectations," Kent Dawson said. "I just feel fortunate that they did turn out like they did."
Then there is Ratio Beerworks of RiNo, which is a relative barrel expert by now. The nearly-five-year-old brewery held its annual Genius Wizard Experience on Friday night, pairing food and art installations and, most importantly, six variants of its Genius Wizard Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout, each one of them combining the smoothness of barrels with added ingredients that brought a solid (and shockingly booze-light) big beer to new heights.
The boldest of the bunch was the Aged Maple Pecan variant, which was the most daring in terms of its big sweetness but also the most rewarding because it took the flavor furthest from the base beer and made you consider the additive values of heavy sugar. But the Aged Mayan Chocolate (pictured above), which was served without carbonation, and the Aged Chai, which sparkled with a ginger back taste, also ranked among the more interesting beers produced not just by Ratio but by any Denver brewery this year.
Ratio, frankly, shows what a brewery can do when it commands mastery of barrels - add in bold flavors and take a beer that might be perceived as heavy to drink and make it exceedingly easy to enjoy. The variants will be sold in multi-packs at the brewery until they run out, and it's highly advised you get there to buy some.
But all three of the explorer breweries should be lauded for trying to add a new flavor into a brewing scene that is becoming increasingly crowded. Each effort gives a reason for customers to stop in and a window into what bold experimentation can do, and they remind drinkers why the Denver craft beer scene may be an old dog, but it's still learning new tricks.
Labels: Barrel aging, Briar Common Brewery + Eatery, Crooked Stave, imperial stouts, Jolly Pumpkin, Ratio Beerworks, Saisons, sour ale, Thirsty Monk, whiskey barrels
