Friday, April 08, 2016
How do beer bar chains blend with the Denver scene?
It was both somewhat surprising and slightly predictable to learn in February that World of Beer had shuttered its downtown Denver location after just 18 months.
There was surprise because the location offered more than 50 beers on tap, including an array of impressive local and national offerings and had the on-the-surface credibility of some of the better beer bars in the crowded LoDo scene. Its Sunday BEERunch (pictured below) had a tasty menu extending from breakfast classics to tasty chipotle porter wings.
But World of Beer, which still operates locations in Cherry Creek and Lakewood, also carried in its description a series of words that can spell death to craft-beer enthusiasts — "out-of-state chain." And while I visited the location occasionally until its demise, I also noticed that the crowds never appeared there the way they did at places like Freshcraft or Lucky Pie or Falling Rock Tap House.
It's worth noting that chains were some of America's original craft-beer bars, including the Colorado-based Old Chicago chain that opened its doors in 1976, the same year that the first beers rolled off the lines at New Albion Brewery. But in today's farm-to-pint, uber-local beer-drinking society, it's also worth asking what the place of chains is here in the Napa Valley of craft beer.
One way to do that is to look at two other chains that remain downtown and seem to be thriving, at least by the size of the crowds I encountered there in the past two weeks.
The California-based Yard House chain actually was one of the early beer bars in downtown, finding its way into Denver around the time that Freshcraft and Euclid Hall were opening. At 120 distinct taps of beer, it actually has more flowing from kegs than even Falling Rock, though no one has ever confused the two businesses.
Yard House has suffered rightly from those who take a cursory look at its beer list and note the number of macro beers and "crafty" macro-owned breweries that inhabit its taps - a far higher percentage of its lineup than those previously mentioned beer bars. But at the end of March, it rolled out 25 new beers at the 16th Street Mall location, and they showed its commitment to quality.
Dry Dock, Crooked Stave, Grimm Brothers and Odell's sour series found a permanent place on the tap list. Bigger national craft breweries like Rogue were on there too, but with offerings like its coffee/IPA-hybrid Cold Brew that you can't find everywhere else. And Yard House folks found a few gems, like the flowery and grapefruity Almanac IPA, that would have a proud place in any locally owned beer bar.
Yes, faux-craft breweries like Elysian and Kona still have quite a few taps on the Yard House list. But, despite its corporate nature, one can't walk into the bar anymore and not be able to find enough palate-pleasing originals to keep you busy for the full happy hour.
Two blocks down from Yard House is Henry's Tavern, a Portland-based concept that opened in the Denver Pavilions just before Great American Beer Festival last year. It brandishes a tap list of 100 offerings, including some new-to-market goodies like La Cumbre (the New Mexico brewer that's one of the country's up-and-coming IPA makers) and some atypical locals like Left Hand's Great Juju.
Henry's adds the bonus of a fairly impressive upscale beer-bar menu, featuring goodies like accessible sushi and Gorgonzola fries. And it's got a nice patio, which I discovered yesterday because a friend and I couldn't find a seat inside the bar.
Again, there is more of a splash of corporate beer on the menu than you'd ever find at a place like Star Bar or Hops 'n Pie. But it's clear the owners support more than just the 50 largest craft breweries also and are willing to pick up locals, like Comrade Brewing.
So, yes, it's still OK to prefer the locals. They support even more of the small and rising craft breweries, and keeping 100 percent of the money within the community can do nothing but help the craft beer scene grow.
But at this point, it at least is worth acknowledging that some of these out-of-state chains are making more of an effort to resemble the tap lists of the local joints. And that too is a win for the local beer scene, as we all appear to be Denver-fying the national chains and making them realize how important it is to know your crowd.
It was both somewhat surprising and slightly predictable to learn in February that World of Beer had shuttered its downtown Denver location after just 18 months.
There was surprise because the location offered more than 50 beers on tap, including an array of impressive local and national offerings and had the on-the-surface credibility of some of the better beer bars in the crowded LoDo scene. Its Sunday BEERunch (pictured below) had a tasty menu extending from breakfast classics to tasty chipotle porter wings.
But World of Beer, which still operates locations in Cherry Creek and Lakewood, also carried in its description a series of words that can spell death to craft-beer enthusiasts — "out-of-state chain." And while I visited the location occasionally until its demise, I also noticed that the crowds never appeared there the way they did at places like Freshcraft or Lucky Pie or Falling Rock Tap House.
It's worth noting that chains were some of America's original craft-beer bars, including the Colorado-based Old Chicago chain that opened its doors in 1976, the same year that the first beers rolled off the lines at New Albion Brewery. But in today's farm-to-pint, uber-local beer-drinking society, it's also worth asking what the place of chains is here in the Napa Valley of craft beer.
One way to do that is to look at two other chains that remain downtown and seem to be thriving, at least by the size of the crowds I encountered there in the past two weeks.
The California-based Yard House chain actually was one of the early beer bars in downtown, finding its way into Denver around the time that Freshcraft and Euclid Hall were opening. At 120 distinct taps of beer, it actually has more flowing from kegs than even Falling Rock, though no one has ever confused the two businesses.
Yard House has suffered rightly from those who take a cursory look at its beer list and note the number of macro beers and "crafty" macro-owned breweries that inhabit its taps - a far higher percentage of its lineup than those previously mentioned beer bars. But at the end of March, it rolled out 25 new beers at the 16th Street Mall location, and they showed its commitment to quality.
Dry Dock, Crooked Stave, Grimm Brothers and Odell's sour series found a permanent place on the tap list. Bigger national craft breweries like Rogue were on there too, but with offerings like its coffee/IPA-hybrid Cold Brew that you can't find everywhere else. And Yard House folks found a few gems, like the flowery and grapefruity Almanac IPA, that would have a proud place in any locally owned beer bar.
Yes, faux-craft breweries like Elysian and Kona still have quite a few taps on the Yard House list. But, despite its corporate nature, one can't walk into the bar anymore and not be able to find enough palate-pleasing originals to keep you busy for the full happy hour.
Two blocks down from Yard House is Henry's Tavern, a Portland-based concept that opened in the Denver Pavilions just before Great American Beer Festival last year. It brandishes a tap list of 100 offerings, including some new-to-market goodies like La Cumbre (the New Mexico brewer that's one of the country's up-and-coming IPA makers) and some atypical locals like Left Hand's Great Juju.
Henry's adds the bonus of a fairly impressive upscale beer-bar menu, featuring goodies like accessible sushi and Gorgonzola fries. And it's got a nice patio, which I discovered yesterday because a friend and I couldn't find a seat inside the bar.Again, there is more of a splash of corporate beer on the menu than you'd ever find at a place like Star Bar or Hops 'n Pie. But it's clear the owners support more than just the 50 largest craft breweries also and are willing to pick up locals, like Comrade Brewing.
So, yes, it's still OK to prefer the locals. They support even more of the small and rising craft breweries, and keeping 100 percent of the money within the community can do nothing but help the craft beer scene grow.
But at this point, it at least is worth acknowledging that some of these out-of-state chains are making more of an effort to resemble the tap lists of the local joints. And that too is a win for the local beer scene, as we all appear to be Denver-fying the national chains and making them realize how important it is to know your crowd.
Labels: Almanac Beer, beer bars, chains, Henry's Tavern, La Cumbre Brewing, Left Hand Brewing, Old Chicago, Rogue Ales, World of Beer, Yard House
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
What stood out about the recently completed Great American Beer Festival was that so many beers stood out, maybe more than at any time in the past 10 years. And what's more, beer aficionados didn't have to wait in the 70-person lines at the hottest breweries to find experiments that were both fascinating and extremely well done.
With that said, here is one beer geek's opinion about the best the industry showed off in Denver this past weekend. I've deviated from past formats by failing to narrow it down to just one beer in several categories because, well, too many beers deserve recognition.
Best in Show: CHP, Heretic Brewing
This is almost a random pick with so many equally worthy contestants, but this northern California brewery's chocolate hazelnut porter was the most surprising and refreshing find of the weekend. At a time when more brewers are stepping up their games with use of chocolate, this offered the perfect blend of nuttiness and sweetness in a beer that went down smoothly and made you want to try it over and over again.
Best with Hops: Muffin Top (Clown Shoes) and Fan Boy (Elevation Beer)
The push to over-hop beers seems thankfully to have been replaced by a push to add new flavoring to go with big hops. And these two seemed to lead the way in that respect.
Muffin Top is a Belgian Tripel IPA from Massachusetts, blowing your taste buds with the sweet ester of a strong Belgian beer combined with mouth-consuming grassy hops. Fan Boy is a soon-to-be-released (if the government gets its act together) barrel-aged double IPA from Poncha Springs that imbues oak and vanilla through its big, bold character in a way that may even appeal to non-hopheads.
Best Traditional Sour: Salado Kriek, Freetail Brewing
This San Antonio brewery's kriek is both eye-openingly tart and wonderfully fruity, leaving it cherry-like and sharp at the same time.
Best Barrel-Aged Sours: Saint Dekkera Reserve Sour Paw Paw Ale (Destihl) and Farmer's Reserve No. 3 (Almanac Beer)
To hell with cherries. Breweries from across the countries are throwing rare fruits and fruit blends into barrels and producing complex and pucker-worthy beers of unique flavor.
Destihl, the barrel-aging masters from central Illinois, outdid themselves with their use of the "prairie banana" to make a very tart effort that leans somewhere between a citrus and sweeter fruit but satisfies immensely. San Francisco's Almanac, which earned its reputation as one of the "it" beers of the festival, brought strawberries and nectarines together and kept you guessing what you were tasting.
Best Aged Non-Sours: Dragon's Milk Reserve - Smaug's Breath (New Holland Brewing) and My Turn Series: Chris (Lakefront Brewery)
The increasing diversity of aged beers may be the biggest trend in craft brewing. And two one-off products showed why it should continue.
Michigan's New Holland offered a bourbon-barrel stout made with chile that left you with two extreme tastes surprisingly blending in your mouth rather than competing for your attention. Milwaukee's Lakefront rolled out a vanilla maple doppelbock - not barrel-aged, but aged naturally for 10 months to give it smoothness - that allowed the vanilla to mellow the maple while putting forth both tastes.
Best Unique Additives, Colorado Style: Basil Blonde (Copper Kettle Brewing) and Card Your Mom Saison (Caution Brewing)
Colorado isn't the only state using herbs and spices to liven up beers. But these two Denver breweries deserve a special call-out.
Copper Kettle's addition of basil allows the taste to permeate the blonde ale and give it an earthy, sweet feel without overdoing it or, most importantly, teasing you to the point where you can't taste it. Caution's cardamom saison offers flavors both big and exotic and raises the question of why there aren't more breweries trying Middle Eastern and Asian ingredients.
Labels: Almanac Beer, Caution Brewing, Clown Shoes, Copper Kettle Brewing, Destihl, Elevation Beer, Freetail Brewing, Great American Beer Festival, Heretic Brewing, Lakefront Brewery, New Holland Brewing
Friday, October 11, 2013
Tasting notes from GABF 2013, Day One
As the line swelled to get into the brewers and media entrance of the Great American Beer Festival Thursdsay, there was much anticipation about what could be found inside. And here is what this beer geek discovered.
1. Destihl exceeds expectations
After last year's eye-opening showing of sour beers in 2012, everyone wanted to try Destihl, the previously unknown brewery from Bloomington, Ill. again. And everyone agreed they hit it out of the park - again.
The biggest winner was the St. Dekkera Reserve Sour Paw Paw Ale, a tart and fascinating creation using the "prairie banana." But also fantastic was the Saint Dekkera Reserve Flanders, a sweeter but still tart cherry/raspberry mouth-filler.
2. Unknowns starred too
One of my favorite things to do is drop by a brewery with little to no name recognition - and even less of a line - and try their wares. That produced two great finds Thursday.
First was JAFB Wooster Brewery's Never Winter IPA, imbued with New Zealand Nelson Sauvin hops that give it a wonderfully grassy mouthfeel without being harsh. The second was Freetail Brewing's Salado Kriek, both fruity and tart and full of flavor.
3. Dark is the new hoppy
It seems brewers have reached their limits somewhat in pushing the hop; there don't appear to be any quadruple IPAs on the floor. But beer makers are going increasingly bigger, darker and more creative with their stouts.
It should be no surprise that a stand-out in this genre was Bell's Black Note, which combines their imperial stout and double cream stout to black out your taste buds in a satisfying way. Some other breweries, though, seemed to push it a bit too far, making stouts so roasted they were burnt.
4. Remember this name: Almanac Beer Co.
I didn't discover the San Francisco brewery's sours until the end of the night, but people hovered around its strawberry- and nectarine-laced barrel-aged projects for a reason. I'll be back there tonight.
As the line swelled to get into the brewers and media entrance of the Great American Beer Festival Thursdsay, there was much anticipation about what could be found inside. And here is what this beer geek discovered.
1. Destihl exceeds expectations
After last year's eye-opening showing of sour beers in 2012, everyone wanted to try Destihl, the previously unknown brewery from Bloomington, Ill. again. And everyone agreed they hit it out of the park - again.
The biggest winner was the St. Dekkera Reserve Sour Paw Paw Ale, a tart and fascinating creation using the "prairie banana." But also fantastic was the Saint Dekkera Reserve Flanders, a sweeter but still tart cherry/raspberry mouth-filler.
2. Unknowns starred too
One of my favorite things to do is drop by a brewery with little to no name recognition - and even less of a line - and try their wares. That produced two great finds Thursday.
First was JAFB Wooster Brewery's Never Winter IPA, imbued with New Zealand Nelson Sauvin hops that give it a wonderfully grassy mouthfeel without being harsh. The second was Freetail Brewing's Salado Kriek, both fruity and tart and full of flavor.
3. Dark is the new hoppy
It seems brewers have reached their limits somewhat in pushing the hop; there don't appear to be any quadruple IPAs on the floor. But beer makers are going increasingly bigger, darker and more creative with their stouts.
It should be no surprise that a stand-out in this genre was Bell's Black Note, which combines their imperial stout and double cream stout to black out your taste buds in a satisfying way. Some other breweries, though, seemed to push it a bit too far, making stouts so roasted they were burnt.
4. Remember this name: Almanac Beer Co.
I didn't discover the San Francisco brewery's sours until the end of the night, but people hovered around its strawberry- and nectarine-laced barrel-aged projects for a reason. I'll be back there tonight.
Labels: Almanac Beer, Bell's Brewing, Destihl, Freetail Brewing, Great American Beer Festival, JAFB Wooster Brewery
