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
Thursday, March 14, 2019
8 Under-the-Radar Beers You Need to Try at Collaboration Fest
Collaboration Beer Fest, which has staked its claim as being one of the five best beer festivals in Colorado, goes from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday. Between the bomb cyclone and the college basketball conference tournaments, the event, which has more than 100 beers made together by anywhere from two to 10 breweries, seemed to sneak up this year.
"Sneak" is a term that rarely describes what's poured at this celebration of unity in the craft-beer industry, which often turns into a contest on who can make the strangest and yet most enjoyable experiment. This year, for example, Coal Mine Ave and Seedstock are making a margarita imperial gose, Jagged Mountain and 105 West have brewed a rum-barrel-aged imperial ice cream old ale, and eight RiNo-area brewers are presenting your run-of-the-mill mushroom schwarzbier.
But one of the secrets of the festival is that some breweries turn in another direction and go subtle - and they can often create some of the tastiest beers in the room. So, with that said, here are eight beers that are likely to fly under many attendees' radars but that should land solidly on yours if you are going (which you should).
1) Casey Brewing and Blending/Outer Range Brewing IPA
It's just a simple IPA, in a sea of double hazies, wood-added IPAs and blueberry protein milkshake IPAs (yes, that's an actual offering). But it's a simple IPA made by two of the finest brewers in Colorado who are not on the Front Range. And that sounds simply wonderful.
2) Ratio Beerworks/Revolution Brewing Southern Hemisphere Pilsner
The boom in recent years in Australian and New Zealand hops, particularly the wonderful and slightly woody Nelson Sauvin variety, typically have gone to create new tastes in IPAs. Having one of RiNo's best auteurs combine with one of Chicago's star breweries to spruce up a lighter-bodied pilsner with them should put the hops even more front and center for all to notice.
3) Cannonball Creek Brewing/Beer Media Pre-Prohibition Pilsner
Sure, I'm biased, since I was one of about a dozen beer writers who showed up at Golden's finest brewery on Feb. 1 to let Brian Hutchinson do the real work and then take turns between us stirring the mash (that's me above and Brian below). But Cannonball Creek has proven to have the magic touch with subtle beers, enough so that a bunch of hacks like us couldn't screw this up.
4) Living the Dream Brewing/Angry James Brewing Imperial Coffee Brown
You may not have made it up to Silverthorne yet to try Angry James' Two Tone Footer Stout, which is dry-hopped with coffee beans and takes on one of the least bitter, roasty mocha feels of any coffee brew in Colorado. But if you have, you know not to walk past another one of its coffee experiments, particularly when it's made with this underrated Littleton beer maker.
5) Tivoli Brewing/MSU Denver Belgian Tripel Brut
In a show full of daring professional brewers, you may not want to try the beer made partially by a bunch of college kids. But remember that Metro State has a program specifically for students to learn how to brew and to operate a brewery. And know too that this is a tripel spiced with orange zest, hibiscus flowers and Indian Coriander, so there's nothing dull about it.
6) Station 26 Brewing/Brink Brewing Imperial Milk Stout
Don't know Brink Brewing? The Cincinnati beer-maker just won Very Small Brewing Company of the Year at the 2018 Great American Beer Festival. And since Station 26 pretty much can't miss, this should be a fun, if semi-traditional, style.
7) Comrade Brewing/Epic Brewing Dry-Hopped California Common
Those who remember the Comrade/Uberbrew Triple IPA from Collaboration Fest 2017 were reinforced in their beliefs that this south Denver beer maker could do anything with hops. Dry-hopping a steam beer will put that statement to the test, but it and Epic have worked their own magic separately before.
8) Pikes Peak/Red Leg/Cerberus/FH Beer Works/Black Forest/Goat Patch/Dueces Wild/JAKs wine-beer hybrid with syrah grape must fermented with saison yeast
OK, there's nothing subtle about the beer here. But people may be tempted to overlook it because the eight breweries behind it are Colorado Springs-area crafters with limited to no distribution in Denver. In truth, the Springs scene has been improving significantly in recent years, and the breweries here (particularly Cerberus, Goat Patch and Pikes Peak) are among its stars.
Collaboration Beer Fest, which has staked its claim as being one of the five best beer festivals in Colorado, goes from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday. Between the bomb cyclone and the college basketball conference tournaments, the event, which has more than 100 beers made together by anywhere from two to 10 breweries, seemed to sneak up this year.
"Sneak" is a term that rarely describes what's poured at this celebration of unity in the craft-beer industry, which often turns into a contest on who can make the strangest and yet most enjoyable experiment. This year, for example, Coal Mine Ave and Seedstock are making a margarita imperial gose, Jagged Mountain and 105 West have brewed a rum-barrel-aged imperial ice cream old ale, and eight RiNo-area brewers are presenting your run-of-the-mill mushroom schwarzbier.
But one of the secrets of the festival is that some breweries turn in another direction and go subtle - and they can often create some of the tastiest beers in the room. So, with that said, here are eight beers that are likely to fly under many attendees' radars but that should land solidly on yours if you are going (which you should).
1) Casey Brewing and Blending/Outer Range Brewing IPA
It's just a simple IPA, in a sea of double hazies, wood-added IPAs and blueberry protein milkshake IPAs (yes, that's an actual offering). But it's a simple IPA made by two of the finest brewers in Colorado who are not on the Front Range. And that sounds simply wonderful.
2) Ratio Beerworks/Revolution Brewing Southern Hemisphere Pilsner
The boom in recent years in Australian and New Zealand hops, particularly the wonderful and slightly woody Nelson Sauvin variety, typically have gone to create new tastes in IPAs. Having one of RiNo's best auteurs combine with one of Chicago's star breweries to spruce up a lighter-bodied pilsner with them should put the hops even more front and center for all to notice.
3) Cannonball Creek Brewing/Beer Media Pre-Prohibition PilsnerSure, I'm biased, since I was one of about a dozen beer writers who showed up at Golden's finest brewery on Feb. 1 to let Brian Hutchinson do the real work and then take turns between us stirring the mash (that's me above and Brian below). But Cannonball Creek has proven to have the magic touch with subtle beers, enough so that a bunch of hacks like us couldn't screw this up.
4) Living the Dream Brewing/Angry James Brewing Imperial Coffee Brown
You may not have made it up to Silverthorne yet to try Angry James' Two Tone Footer Stout, which is dry-hopped with coffee beans and takes on one of the least bitter, roasty mocha feels of any coffee brew in Colorado. But if you have, you know not to walk past another one of its coffee experiments, particularly when it's made with this underrated Littleton beer maker.
5) Tivoli Brewing/MSU Denver Belgian Tripel Brut
In a show full of daring professional brewers, you may not want to try the beer made partially by a bunch of college kids. But remember that Metro State has a program specifically for students to learn how to brew and to operate a brewery. And know too that this is a tripel spiced with orange zest, hibiscus flowers and Indian Coriander, so there's nothing dull about it.6) Station 26 Brewing/Brink Brewing Imperial Milk Stout
Don't know Brink Brewing? The Cincinnati beer-maker just won Very Small Brewing Company of the Year at the 2018 Great American Beer Festival. And since Station 26 pretty much can't miss, this should be a fun, if semi-traditional, style.
7) Comrade Brewing/Epic Brewing Dry-Hopped California Common
Those who remember the Comrade/Uberbrew Triple IPA from Collaboration Fest 2017 were reinforced in their beliefs that this south Denver beer maker could do anything with hops. Dry-hopping a steam beer will put that statement to the test, but it and Epic have worked their own magic separately before.
8) Pikes Peak/Red Leg/Cerberus/FH Beer Works/Black Forest/Goat Patch/Dueces Wild/JAKs wine-beer hybrid with syrah grape must fermented with saison yeast
OK, there's nothing subtle about the beer here. But people may be tempted to overlook it because the eight breweries behind it are Colorado Springs-area crafters with limited to no distribution in Denver. In truth, the Springs scene has been improving significantly in recent years, and the breweries here (particularly Cerberus, Goat Patch and Pikes Peak) are among its stars.
Labels: Angry James Brewing, Cannonball Creek Brewing, Cerberus Brewing, collaboration beers, Comrade Brewing, Goat Patch Brewing, Pikes Peak Brewing, Ratio Beerworks, Station 26 Brewing, Tivoli Brewing
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Colorado's Magical Mountain Malt (and Hops) Tour
As the beer world gets set to converge on Denver for the Great American Beer Festival next week, it's fair to say that the Mile High City has earned all of the plaudits it's received as one of the finest hop havens in America.
Yet, I can't shake the belief that the single best beer experiences I've had in Colorado this year have all involved visiting mountain breweries. And, frankly, that's not a statement on Denver so much as it is a booming assertion about how far the beer scene has come in small towns across this state.
Exhibit number one is Broken Compass Brewing, the Breckenridge beer maker tucked into an industrial strip mall outside the city center. It's well known for its GABF-medal-winning Coconut Porter - a beer that is both boozy and sweet and deserves the attention it gets - but a visit to the taproom shows just how much more the place is than one beer.
Its work imbuing huge flavors into its pale ales - both its crackling and eminently drinkable Ginger Pale Ale and its light-your-taste-buds-up-just-enough Chili Popper Pale Ale - shows a special skill in bringing out the flavor of experimental ingredients. Its Double IPA represents one of the most grassed-up dives into the style in the state. And it Imperial Bourbon Brown, a complex melange of bold tastes, was everything you could want in a glass.
But Summit County - now home to eight breweries - doesn't stop there, with the known or with the surprises. It's widely disseminated that Pug Ryan's can offer some of the most refreshing flavors in the state while served on its Tiki Bar overlooking Dillon Reservoir, and Outer Range Brewing has grown into one of the leaders in the burgeoning hazy IPA movement in Colorado. But Silverthorne holds a hidden gem as well in Angry James Brewing, and its Two Tone Footer Stout (pictured at right), mixed perfectly with chocolate malt and dry-hopped with coffee beans from nearby Jazzy Java, may be one of the easiest and tastiest coffee offerings around, as the dry-hopping gives a roasty mocha feel without any of the bitterness that can come with the bean.
But if Broken Compass is exhibit 1, than Telluride Brewing is exhibit 1A about how much can be done by a brewery miles from anything but mountains and beauty. Both, quite frankly, can make a legitimate case for being in the 15 best breweries out of the 370 that Colorado has to offer now.
A trip to Telluride's taproom - also outside downtown in an industrial area - is an experience in going into the belly of the brewery, standing around in a place with no bar stools and enjoying your beverage literally while leaning on a fermenter. But if there are five more complex and satisfying barrel-aged beers in this state that its Fishwater Project Double IPA, you would be hard-pressed to name them. And the variety that the brewery now offers, from Chardonnay-barrel-aged tripels to sours to the single best brown ale in the state (Face Down Brown) makes this a can't-miss stop.
I won't go on about nearby Durango, as its wares - from the gusto of Ska Brewing to the subtle brilliance of Steamworks Brewing - are well documented. And it's worth checking out the surrounding areas, from the state's single-most family-friendly beer garden (Pagosa Brewing) to the very-small-town Mancos Brewing (owner DeWayne Jackson is pictured at top), which crafts a Desert Drifter Rye Ale in which the rye truly is the star, making a unique taste that lasts.
But arguably the single-biggest surprise in the state may be WildEdge Brewing Collective in Cortez, a sleepy town on the edge of Mesa Verde National Park whose beer scene has been subdued previously. WildEdge offers up pure experimentation in the form of kettle sours, saisons and beers that break the mold of traditional styles. Its Birthday Barrel, a barrel-aged tart saison fermented with Palisade peaches to celebrate its one-year anniversary earlier this year, could have been mistaken for something coming off the taps at Avery Brewing.
No one should ever cut their time short drinking in Denver or Fort Collins or Boulder. But at this point, a trip into the mountains in Colorado no longer requires the choice of sacrificing world-class beer for world-class views. You can get both and never want to leave Colorado.
As the beer world gets set to converge on Denver for the Great American Beer Festival next week, it's fair to say that the Mile High City has earned all of the plaudits it's received as one of the finest hop havens in America.
Yet, I can't shake the belief that the single best beer experiences I've had in Colorado this year have all involved visiting mountain breweries. And, frankly, that's not a statement on Denver so much as it is a booming assertion about how far the beer scene has come in small towns across this state.
Exhibit number one is Broken Compass Brewing, the Breckenridge beer maker tucked into an industrial strip mall outside the city center. It's well known for its GABF-medal-winning Coconut Porter - a beer that is both boozy and sweet and deserves the attention it gets - but a visit to the taproom shows just how much more the place is than one beer.
Its work imbuing huge flavors into its pale ales - both its crackling and eminently drinkable Ginger Pale Ale and its light-your-taste-buds-up-just-enough Chili Popper Pale Ale - shows a special skill in bringing out the flavor of experimental ingredients. Its Double IPA represents one of the most grassed-up dives into the style in the state. And it Imperial Bourbon Brown, a complex melange of bold tastes, was everything you could want in a glass.But Summit County - now home to eight breweries - doesn't stop there, with the known or with the surprises. It's widely disseminated that Pug Ryan's can offer some of the most refreshing flavors in the state while served on its Tiki Bar overlooking Dillon Reservoir, and Outer Range Brewing has grown into one of the leaders in the burgeoning hazy IPA movement in Colorado. But Silverthorne holds a hidden gem as well in Angry James Brewing, and its Two Tone Footer Stout (pictured at right), mixed perfectly with chocolate malt and dry-hopped with coffee beans from nearby Jazzy Java, may be one of the easiest and tastiest coffee offerings around, as the dry-hopping gives a roasty mocha feel without any of the bitterness that can come with the bean.
But if Broken Compass is exhibit 1, than Telluride Brewing is exhibit 1A about how much can be done by a brewery miles from anything but mountains and beauty. Both, quite frankly, can make a legitimate case for being in the 15 best breweries out of the 370 that Colorado has to offer now.
A trip to Telluride's taproom - also outside downtown in an industrial area - is an experience in going into the belly of the brewery, standing around in a place with no bar stools and enjoying your beverage literally while leaning on a fermenter. But if there are five more complex and satisfying barrel-aged beers in this state that its Fishwater Project Double IPA, you would be hard-pressed to name them. And the variety that the brewery now offers, from Chardonnay-barrel-aged tripels to sours to the single best brown ale in the state (Face Down Brown) makes this a can't-miss stop.
I won't go on about nearby Durango, as its wares - from the gusto of Ska Brewing to the subtle brilliance of Steamworks Brewing - are well documented. And it's worth checking out the surrounding areas, from the state's single-most family-friendly beer garden (Pagosa Brewing) to the very-small-town Mancos Brewing (owner DeWayne Jackson is pictured at top), which crafts a Desert Drifter Rye Ale in which the rye truly is the star, making a unique taste that lasts.
But arguably the single-biggest surprise in the state may be WildEdge Brewing Collective in Cortez, a sleepy town on the edge of Mesa Verde National Park whose beer scene has been subdued previously. WildEdge offers up pure experimentation in the form of kettle sours, saisons and beers that break the mold of traditional styles. Its Birthday Barrel, a barrel-aged tart saison fermented with Palisade peaches to celebrate its one-year anniversary earlier this year, could have been mistaken for something coming off the taps at Avery Brewing.
No one should ever cut their time short drinking in Denver or Fort Collins or Boulder. But at this point, a trip into the mountains in Colorado no longer requires the choice of sacrificing world-class beer for world-class views. You can get both and never want to leave Colorado.
Labels: Angry James Brewing, Broken Compass Brewing, Great American Beer Festival, Mancos Brewing, Outer Range Brewing, Pug Ryan's, Ska Brewing, Steamworks Brewing, Telluride Brewing, WildEdge Brewing Collective
