Wednesday, March 04, 2020
Barquentine brings its own style to Edgewater
Say what you will about Barquentine Brewing Co., which opened Saturday in Edgewater Public Market, but don't say that head brewer Kyle Knudson doesn't already have his recipes dialed in coming out of the gate. And that's a refreshing thing.
Knudson spent eight years filming movies and commercials in New York and hanging with a very serious homebrew club that has produced eight commercial breweries. When he and his wife decided it was time to move home and go pro with his fermentation skills, he spent several years brewing at Edgewater's first brewery - Joyride Brewing - before seizing the opportunity to open up just about nine blocks away in the food hall that debuted in late 2019.
Barquentine is not an everything-for-everyone type of brewery. Instead, it's Knudson's exploration of yeast and how various yeasts can flavor a beer. And the initial six beers he tapped (pictured with him below) give an entry-level course on how that one crucial element can spawn so many different tastes.
Sometimes the influence is subtle, like in Sloans Lake Yacht Club, a 5.2% ABV table beer that uses Roquefort yeast to add the slightest citrus touch on the back of a dry and drinkable body and make it what Knudson calls a "gateway to Belgian beers."
Sometimes it's heavier, like in the Leapling, a Kveik pale ale with New Zealand hops and wild Norwegian yeast that serves as the requisite "hoppy" beer at Barquentine but where the bitterness is tempered by an herbal overtone that extols all of the ingredients. Hopheads may not see it as their dream beer, but it's an absolutely unique addition to the Denver beer portfolio.
Nowhere does Knudson show off his delicacy with yeast quite as much as in Sea Bear, a classic saison with a deep nose of orange and Belgian candi sugar that is wetter and fuller than the style has come to be defined by American brewers. It too announces its originality and dares you to try to not drink another.
Barquentine, which will allow people to bring in food from the market as well as take their beer with them in plastic cups while they wander among the dozen-and-a-half restaurant stalls, has 15 taps it can offer, though co-founder Ed Knudson - Kyle's father - believes 10 beers is a good goal. The brewery will move quickly to produce a line of dubbels, tripels and quads. It also will start barrel-aging soon and selling beers to go in both 16-ounce four-packs and corked-and-caged 750 ml bottles.
The debut lineup had only one miss - Mined, Bottled and Sold, an 8.6% Belgian golden ale whose high alcohol and prevalent citrus flavor couldn't fully cover up a burnt-plastic taste that was evident on the back of the tongue. But as patrons filled up the space quickly, it wasn't the flaws that were leading the conversation.
Instead, Barquentine should be celebrated both for having a singular vision in a crowded brew scene and for pulling it off.
Nothing in its debut lineup is likely to be the type of beer that make a brewery's reputation go viral and draw in crowds on its own. But the variety and uniqueness of the offerings show that this is a beer maker both with room to grow and with already-realized talent manning a brewery that we'll likely still be talking about (and drinking at) when less thoughtful craft breweries have come and gone from the scene.
Say what you will about Barquentine Brewing Co., which opened Saturday in Edgewater Public Market, but don't say that head brewer Kyle Knudson doesn't already have his recipes dialed in coming out of the gate. And that's a refreshing thing.
Knudson spent eight years filming movies and commercials in New York and hanging with a very serious homebrew club that has produced eight commercial breweries. When he and his wife decided it was time to move home and go pro with his fermentation skills, he spent several years brewing at Edgewater's first brewery - Joyride Brewing - before seizing the opportunity to open up just about nine blocks away in the food hall that debuted in late 2019.
Barquentine is not an everything-for-everyone type of brewery. Instead, it's Knudson's exploration of yeast and how various yeasts can flavor a beer. And the initial six beers he tapped (pictured with him below) give an entry-level course on how that one crucial element can spawn so many different tastes.
Sometimes the influence is subtle, like in Sloans Lake Yacht Club, a 5.2% ABV table beer that uses Roquefort yeast to add the slightest citrus touch on the back of a dry and drinkable body and make it what Knudson calls a "gateway to Belgian beers."
Sometimes it's heavier, like in the Leapling, a Kveik pale ale with New Zealand hops and wild Norwegian yeast that serves as the requisite "hoppy" beer at Barquentine but where the bitterness is tempered by an herbal overtone that extols all of the ingredients. Hopheads may not see it as their dream beer, but it's an absolutely unique addition to the Denver beer portfolio.
Nowhere does Knudson show off his delicacy with yeast quite as much as in Sea Bear, a classic saison with a deep nose of orange and Belgian candi sugar that is wetter and fuller than the style has come to be defined by American brewers. It too announces its originality and dares you to try to not drink another.
Barquentine, which will allow people to bring in food from the market as well as take their beer with them in plastic cups while they wander among the dozen-and-a-half restaurant stalls, has 15 taps it can offer, though co-founder Ed Knudson - Kyle's father - believes 10 beers is a good goal. The brewery will move quickly to produce a line of dubbels, tripels and quads. It also will start barrel-aging soon and selling beers to go in both 16-ounce four-packs and corked-and-caged 750 ml bottles.
The debut lineup had only one miss - Mined, Bottled and Sold, an 8.6% Belgian golden ale whose high alcohol and prevalent citrus flavor couldn't fully cover up a burnt-plastic taste that was evident on the back of the tongue. But as patrons filled up the space quickly, it wasn't the flaws that were leading the conversation.
Instead, Barquentine should be celebrated both for having a singular vision in a crowded brew scene and for pulling it off.
Nothing in its debut lineup is likely to be the type of beer that make a brewery's reputation go viral and draw in crowds on its own. But the variety and uniqueness of the offerings show that this is a beer maker both with room to grow and with already-realized talent manning a brewery that we'll likely still be talking about (and drinking at) when less thoughtful craft breweries have come and gone from the scene.
Labels: Barquentine Brewing, Belgian-style beers, Joyride Brewing, Kveik, Saisons, West Side breweries, yeast
