Sunday, January 02, 2022
Top 10 Colorado Beers of 2021
Maybe it was something that Covid did to the tastebuds, or maybe to the collective thinking of Colorado's brewers. But as the world started to segue back to some sense of normalcy this year, the craft-brewing community provided what seemed a soft landing for the state's beer connoisseurs, offering simple pleasures from well-made pale ales to hazies that concentrated on the hops to the best single-year collection of pilsners in memory.
Oh, for sure, there were bulked-up imperial stouts and the occasional multi-fruit sour that were worthy of adulation. But as 2021 passes into memory, what is clearest about the year is that the beers that are most memorable aren't the ones that challenged you so much as those you enjoyed after the long hikes or when gathering with small groups in backyards and talking about each other as much as you discussed the beers. And in many ways, nothing could have been more needed than the gems of this year's class.
So, once again, here is one beer writer's takes on the best new or newly relevant beers of this year, served with a toast to those folks who just kept working while the world worried - and gave us all one more thing about which we could be unequivocally thankful.
10) The Earl — Woods Boss Brewing/Fermly
Of all the beers lost in recent years to brewery closings, few if any had as unique a place in the beer ecosystem as the dearly departed Caution Brewing's The Earl, an English mild ale made with Earl Grey tea that was smooth and eye-opening and as good a session beer as one could imagine. So, when Denver's Woods Boss announced it was bringing it back in collaboration with Caution founder Danny Wang's beer-testing lab Fermly, true fans sounded at least a mild note of trepidation, wondering if the remake could possibly be in the same class as the original. But the multi-faceted brewery nailed the recipe and added a dash of sweet orange peel that kicked up the flavor in a new way. And a true pioneer was reborn, reimagined and enjoyed again in a new atmosphere.
9) Synthetic Substitution - Casey Brewing & Blending/Weldwerks
Ask yourself what kind of beer two of Colorado's best breweries might make, and the "no shit" answer would be: Something very good. And that answer was right. Synthetic Substitution, an 11.5% ABV imperial stout made with coconut and cacao was both as simple as its ingredients suggested and a masterfully smooth big beer, one that was perfectly aligned for sipping on Casey's Glenwood Springs patio. Casey may be known best for its fruited sours, but its showed once again that when it goes big with a handful of ingredients — and in this case, works with another master — it can transform what might just be a "big beer" in some hands into an explosion of flavors.
8) Curator's Kolsch - Coda Brewing
The year's biggest beer surprise came at the Golden History Museum's Autumn Fest, when the simple act of taking a break to grab a beer turned into an eye-popping introduction into one of the crispest yet smoothest kolsches made in Colorado, courtesy of a Golden brewery that is off the beaten track and too often overlooked. It greets you with a snap on the front of your palate that hints at sweetness but quickly envelops your tongue in almost sparkling traditional hops and malts. This is refreshing and simultaneously full of flavor. And it's great year-round.
7) Maple Pecan Yeti - Great Divide Brewing
The variations of one of Colorado's best imperial stouts have been coming at a ramped-up rate in recent years, some memorable and some that one politely might call "experimental." But this year's Maple Pecan Yeti stood out because it took flavors that both blended effortlessly with the big beer and seemed to give it a bit of a new personality. The addition of Vermont maple syrup and candied pecans — ingredients that can crash a beer if used poorly — were welcoming and comforting and made this 9.5% ABV beer possibly a little dangerously approachable. There was no burn at all here, leaving it almost like an aperitif in its personality. Let's hope this makes it into regular rotation.
6) I Just Ryed in Your Arms Tonight — Cannonball Creek Brewing
Revived after a several-year absence, this beer was the embodiment in many ways of the best that 2021 offered in Colorado: A beer that was subtle in its nature — a 5.7% rye pale ale — but packed so full of flavor in that body that it clings to memory nearly a year after it was first consumed. The rye is incorporated perfectly, sweetening the beer just slightly but really backing off and letting the pale hops work their magic. Both tasty and approachable, it serves as another example of why the Golden brewery has the longest-running streak of Great American Beer Festival medals among all Colorado breweries, a streak that isn't likely to die any time soon.
5) Anniversary 9 — River North Brewery
River North has continued to push boundaries as it has aged, even as it also has pushed out a variety of even more approachable beers. But it celebrated the last birthday of its first decade with one of its best experiments, a whiskey-barrel-aged coconut imperial stout that tasted nothing like its foreboding 12.5% ABV label might suggest and picked up in its flavor between its March release and the six-month point of its cellaring. River North often pushes boozier, usually with good results, but rarely does it pull out this much complexity. Hell, the brewery also made a Birthday Cake-flavored beer that showed how talented it is at drawing out flavors. But this beer truly something special.
4) Redwood Grand - Bruz Beers/Cuvée des Jacobins
Bruz truly burst out of its shell in 2019 when it opened its second location on East Colfax Avenue, growing out from its well-attended home in unincorporated Adams County. But for those who hadn't noticed its maturity before, it sent a huge shot this year with a multi-part collaboration series with Belgium's Cuvée des Jacobins, capped by its jaw-dropping blend of sour beer and its barrel-aged quadrupel. Tart yet fully packed with a deep body enhanced by the huge beer and barrel, this was an eye-opener at its successful Belgian Brew Festival this summer and a reminder of how much the brewery has grown every year. Belgian history courses through the veins of this beer, but its extra bite is a signal that American artistry can blend impressively with centuries-old tradition.
3) In the Steep DDH with Nelson — Outer Range Brewing
This is not the first time that the Frisco auteur has double-dry-hopped Colorado's best hazy IPA with Nelson hops. But something felt more perfectly assimilated, more natural, more ... simply drinkable and admirable about this year's version than maybe anything the brewery has done before. Bursting with tropical flavors tempered enough by the hopping to pull this back into an IPA form lovable by all fans of the style, then tinged with enough hints of white wine to remind you how complex even the most quaffable hoppy beers can be. To sit in Outer Range's taproom and choose beers off the menu to pick up the subtle variations in them is an art. This, however, is maybe the brewery's most artistic work yet.
2) German-Style Pilsner — Upslope Brewing
This limited-edition release was an absolute triumph of beer-making, showcasing the increasingly impressive Boulder brewery's ability to take a subtle style and excite in ways that even barrel-aged beers can't do by combining Old World crispness with new-world crush-ability. The Loral and Tettnanger hops emerge slowly as the spring-runoff-like smoothness runs over your tongue. But when they do emerge, they do so with a boldness that lets you know they truly are the star of this show, maybe more than expected. This is crisp, surprisingly bitter and quite stealthy with its translucent body. It's the product of a mature brewery that knows it doesn't have to shock to be memorable.
1) Double-Dry-Hopped East Coast Transplant with Idaho 7 — New Image Brewing
In a year in which bold flavor burst forth from pale ales and hazy IPAs alike, what stood out about this version of the Arvada brewery's signature beer, double-dry-hopped with Idaho 7, was how much you wanted to drink it, plain and simple. Taking arguably the best hop right now to juice up a beer with, New Image made this all about the tropical richness of the flavor, letting hops gather 100% of the love and creating something that flowed across your taste buds while exciting them in every step of the journey. It absolutely didn't seem like a double IPA so much as a reachable IPA packed with melon and occasional pineapple bursts, yet neither thick or fruity. Describing this version of East Coast Transplant, in fact, takes a back seat to sitting on the brewery's back patio on a summer night, sharing conversation with friend and occasionally stopping to say "Wow, this is good." This is where beer is now: It is refreshing, it is comforting, it is not subtle but not tearing at your taste buds. And the next time you have a chance to order this beer, you won't hesitate for even a second.
Labels: Bruz Beers, Cannonball Creek Brewing, Casey Brewing, Coda Brewing, Great Divide, New Image Brewing, Outer Range Brewing, River North Brewery, Top Beers of Year, Upslope Brewing, Woods Boss Brewing
Sunday, July 26, 2020
6 Gems that Colorado Breweries Have Produced in this Covid Summer
This is neither a normal time to be producing beers nor a normal time to be reviewing them. Breweries are scrambling to hang on in the face of coronavirus restrictions. Most people are worried more about surviving than thriving.
Yet breweries continue to produce unique, fascinating and sometimes crushable beers in the face of such odds. And while the search for complete lists of excellent summer beers becomes a lot harder when your tasting ability is truncated — oh, how I miss beer festivals — one should still shout out when gems are found. And it to that end that this column is dedicated.
Odell Brewing Orange You Glad
The authors of the Reinheitsgebot would hate this kettle-soured blood orange and lychee beer from the brewery's RiNo taproom, but yet its almost soda-like qualities are what makes it so appealing. Fruit sweetness tinged with just enough citrus bitterness to give it a backbone in lieu of an underlying malt presence turns this into a summer sour sipper, offering both the tartness you might seek for a tastebud challenge and a degree of refreshment largely foreign to this style.
Station 26 Desert Haze
As every brewer now comes out with their own interpretation of a hazy IPA, it takes some real skill to create one that is simple enough to defy easy description but impressive enough to make you stop, swirl it an extra time and really try to pick up all its flavors. Furnishing both a tropical-forward flavor and the kind of bitter tinge on the backtaste that reminds you of IPAs from another era, this blends the best of new and traditional brewing in a way that makes you want to lap up more while standing on your back patio cooking a brat.
Elevation Beer Montanya
To be sure, there is nothing that reeks of summer in this rum-barrel-aged horchata imperial porter. It is dark and heavy and pounds you with roasted malts mingling with cinnamon and just a lick of booze. But there is so much going on in here —swirling complexity with simple stout goodness with a surrounding barrel sweetness that only comes from the lingering presence of a sugarcane alcohol — that you won't care as you hoist this before or after a hike into the San Isabel National Forest, lauding all the flavors that leap out from here.
Bruz Beers Dawg Daze
Real conversation with a friend after discovering he too had tried this new Belgian IPA from the Adams County/Denver brewer: "Oh, you had it too? Wasn't it great to style, with heavy esters and an underlying bitterness?" "Yeah, but what really surprised me was how fast I drank it. I looked in my glass and I literally thought some had gone missing somewhere." "Yeah, same thing happened to me. Man, was it smooth."
New Belgium 1985 IPA
An unusual offering in the hazy catalog, bestowing one of the most pineapple-juice aromas of any beer yet produced but somehow managing to make that flavor both bold enough to jump out and balanced enough to not taste like some kind of overly fermented fruit juice. This is also the hazy IPA that gives off bolder flavors as it warms, so don't let the lighter body fool you into drinking this quickly.
Highside Brewing Green Machine
You may think you dislike milkshake IPA, but this creation from the brewery in downtown Frisco will make you reconsider that opinion. More akin to a melon-forward IPA, this pushes the boundaries of tropical flavors without losing any of the high underlying hop qualities that allow you to remember clearly where the flavor is coming from in its sharp body. Given that the brewery is literally across the road from a marina, this may be the perfect beer for kicking back and watching the world sail by your bare feet.
This is neither a normal time to be producing beers nor a normal time to be reviewing them. Breweries are scrambling to hang on in the face of coronavirus restrictions. Most people are worried more about surviving than thriving.
Yet breweries continue to produce unique, fascinating and sometimes crushable beers in the face of such odds. And while the search for complete lists of excellent summer beers becomes a lot harder when your tasting ability is truncated — oh, how I miss beer festivals — one should still shout out when gems are found. And it to that end that this column is dedicated.
Odell Brewing Orange You GladThe authors of the Reinheitsgebot would hate this kettle-soured blood orange and lychee beer from the brewery's RiNo taproom, but yet its almost soda-like qualities are what makes it so appealing. Fruit sweetness tinged with just enough citrus bitterness to give it a backbone in lieu of an underlying malt presence turns this into a summer sour sipper, offering both the tartness you might seek for a tastebud challenge and a degree of refreshment largely foreign to this style.
Station 26 Desert Haze
As every brewer now comes out with their own interpretation of a hazy IPA, it takes some real skill to create one that is simple enough to defy easy description but impressive enough to make you stop, swirl it an extra time and really try to pick up all its flavors. Furnishing both a tropical-forward flavor and the kind of bitter tinge on the backtaste that reminds you of IPAs from another era, this blends the best of new and traditional brewing in a way that makes you want to lap up more while standing on your back patio cooking a brat.
Elevation Beer Montanya
Bruz Beers Dawg Daze
New Belgium 1985 IPA
Highside Brewing Green Machine
Labels: Bruz Beers, Elevation Beer, Highside Brewing, New Belgium Brewing, Odell Brewing, Station 26 Brewing, Summer beers
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Before GABF Arrives, September Is Rocking with Beer Events
We've reached the point where the Great American Beer Festival is only three weeks away. This is cause for celebration. But it shouldn't obscure what is right in front of us.
In fact, even as area breweries and beer bars plan their biggest events of the year for Denver Beer Fest week, they also are offering up releases, competitions and unique beer festivals that should not be missed in the latter half of this month. And to that point, here are a few things you may want to put on your beer calendar.
Friday, Sept. 13
* From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., budding amateur brewers from small companies across the area will serve up their wares at Colorado Startup Brews, an event that is part beer festival and part networking-with-a-brew, organized by local startup Ombud. Tickets are $30 for the event at the McNichols Center.
Saturday, Sept. 14
* From noon to 6 p.m., Raices Brewing will host Suave Fest, a first-of-its kind beer festival for Latino-owned breweries. Ten breweries will be pouring beer at Steam on the Platte, and Latin food trucks will be there to highlight the community's culinary enterprises. Tickets are $45.
* From 4 to 7 p.m., Beer Fight Club returns, pitting eight breweries against each other in a tournament-style competition decided by attendees. The latest event, at Pour Tap House in Commerce City, features Alpine Dog, Crystal Springs, Goldspot, Joyride, Mountain Cowboy, Peak to Peak, Something Brewery and Station 26. For the cost of $35, this is an underrated event that not only offers great beer but also brings in knowledgeable crowds and brewers who want to discuss said beer.
Saturday, Sept. 21
* Burns Family Artisan Ales turns 1 year old - with a gusto. It will release Solar Eclipse, an 18.5% ABV Russian imperial stout aged in a Laws Whiskey barrel at midnight. After a short nap, owners Wayne Burns and Laura Worley will roll out seven other new beers after reopening around lunchtime, including a Deerhammer-barrel-aged old ale and a Grand Cru made with local honey. If you haven't visited the big-beer specialist yet, this is a good time to come and see what the hype is about.
Sunday, Sept. 22
* This will be the last day for Denver International Airport's beer flights, an annual event (pictured at top) that's been going on since Sept. 9 at which a $10 ticket will get you up to 20 two-ounce samples of Colorado's finest. Open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., beers from the likes of Avery, Great Divide, Left Hand, Odell and Wibby will be poured.
Friday, Sept. 27
* Black Shirt Brewing will celebrate its seventh anniversary - yes, RiNo's second-oldest brewery has hit that milestone - in its beer garden with the special tappings, music and pizza that have earned it its reputation as a must-hit stop among Denver breweries.
Special Tappings
* Sept. 12: Jagged Mountain Mountain Grouse, a blood orange gose with coriander and pink sea salt
* Sept. 13: Seedstock Brewing taps its first English Special Bitter
* Sept. 13: Bruz Beers taps its Autumn Peach Ale, earning the ire of A-B marketing a-holes
* Sept. 18: Intersect Brewing of Fort Collins taps Seamstress for the Band Munich Helles
* Sept. 20: Strange Craft Beer brings back its annual Pumpkin Porter
We've reached the point where the Great American Beer Festival is only three weeks away. This is cause for celebration. But it shouldn't obscure what is right in front of us.
In fact, even as area breweries and beer bars plan their biggest events of the year for Denver Beer Fest week, they also are offering up releases, competitions and unique beer festivals that should not be missed in the latter half of this month. And to that point, here are a few things you may want to put on your beer calendar.
Friday, Sept. 13
* From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., budding amateur brewers from small companies across the area will serve up their wares at Colorado Startup Brews, an event that is part beer festival and part networking-with-a-brew, organized by local startup Ombud. Tickets are $30 for the event at the McNichols Center.
Saturday, Sept. 14
* From noon to 6 p.m., Raices Brewing will host Suave Fest, a first-of-its kind beer festival for Latino-owned breweries. Ten breweries will be pouring beer at Steam on the Platte, and Latin food trucks will be there to highlight the community's culinary enterprises. Tickets are $45.
* From 4 to 7 p.m., Beer Fight Club returns, pitting eight breweries against each other in a tournament-style competition decided by attendees. The latest event, at Pour Tap House in Commerce City, features Alpine Dog, Crystal Springs, Goldspot, Joyride, Mountain Cowboy, Peak to Peak, Something Brewery and Station 26. For the cost of $35, this is an underrated event that not only offers great beer but also brings in knowledgeable crowds and brewers who want to discuss said beer.Saturday, Sept. 21
* Burns Family Artisan Ales turns 1 year old - with a gusto. It will release Solar Eclipse, an 18.5% ABV Russian imperial stout aged in a Laws Whiskey barrel at midnight. After a short nap, owners Wayne Burns and Laura Worley will roll out seven other new beers after reopening around lunchtime, including a Deerhammer-barrel-aged old ale and a Grand Cru made with local honey. If you haven't visited the big-beer specialist yet, this is a good time to come and see what the hype is about.
Sunday, Sept. 22
* This will be the last day for Denver International Airport's beer flights, an annual event (pictured at top) that's been going on since Sept. 9 at which a $10 ticket will get you up to 20 two-ounce samples of Colorado's finest. Open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., beers from the likes of Avery, Great Divide, Left Hand, Odell and Wibby will be poured.
Friday, Sept. 27
Special Tappings
* Sept. 12: Jagged Mountain Mountain Grouse, a blood orange gose with coriander and pink sea salt
* Sept. 13: Seedstock Brewing taps its first English Special Bitter
* Sept. 13: Bruz Beers taps its Autumn Peach Ale, earning the ire of A-B marketing a-holes
* Sept. 18: Intersect Brewing of Fort Collins taps Seamstress for the Band Munich Helles
* Sept. 20: Strange Craft Beer brings back its annual Pumpkin Porter
Labels: Beer Fight Club, Black Shirt Brewing, Bruz Beers, Burns Family Artisan Ales, Intersect Brewing, Jagged Mountain Brewery, Raices Brewing, Seedstock Brewing, Strange Craft Beer
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Riding the G Line of Beer
It's been two months now since the Regional Transportation District opened the G Line, extending from Wheat Ridge through Arvada and into Denver Union Station. Many people likely haven't experienced the ride yet. And that is a mistake — particularly from a beer perspective.
Urban dwellers may not realize it, but Arvada now has a brewing scene equal to any Denver-area town that is not Denver. One of the most underrated beer bars in the area sits just a five-minute walk from the first stop on the G Line. And the starting point of this excursion, Denver Union Station, sits in one of the most beer-friendly areas of downtown, even if you have only a short time to imbibe.
Here, then, is a beer-lovers' guide to the G Line — a trip I tried out myself during a birthday crawl of the new rail route that I organized last month.
Stop 1: Denver Union Station
There's too many options at the refurbished 19th-century train to list them all, but there are several key things to know. The Terminal Bar at the train station opens at 10 a.m. and has 30 taps that are dedicated solely to Colorado beers. Both the adjacent Hopdoddy Burger Bar and Thirsty Lion Gastropub are out-of-state chains but are replete with good beer and high-quality food starting at 11 a.m. And Wynkoop Brewing, just across the street from the station, has undergone a serious renaissance since John Sims took over as head brewer a few years ago and reintroduced serious experimentation to the 31-year-old brewpub.
Stop 2: 41st and Fox
The community surrounding this stop in north-central Denver remains in its nascent stages, but the Crafty Fox Taphouse & Pizzeria is literally a five-minute walk from the stop. The restaurant has a lengthy and excellent tap list (that's Weldwerks Juicy Bits in this photo from my birthday crawl) and is extremely family-friendly, with games and toys aplenty offered for kids. It's also got an impressive patio and is located next to a craft-heavy liquor store, Bogey's Beer and Wine, that will allow you the opportunity to take home a six-pack or bomber of many of the things you tasted next door.
(Note: I discovered after writing this post that Crafty Fox had closed less than two weeks beforehand. That's a loss not just for the G Line tour but for the Denver beer community. Let's hope another restaurant with good food and a good tap list can give it a shot at making this a great beer stop.)
Stop 3: Pecos Junction
Located near West 62nd and Pecos in unincorporated Adams County, the nearest businesses here are a truck- and tractor-part dealership, a self-storage facility and a garage. Bruz Beers (whose owners are pictured above) is a 20-minute walk up Pecos, though, and it's got an eclectic and improving selection of Belgian options, so if you really want to hit every stop on the line, have your Uber app ready and it will take you there. River North is a little further — 36 minutes by foot, though just five minutes by car, and its collection of hazy IPAs and liver-breaking 15% ABV Decennial series are worth spending the money on getting someone else to drive you around.
Stop 4: Clear Creek and Federal Station
While Adams County officials have some grand plans to make this an area to live, work and play — including possible features on the creek — you are currently out of luck at this stop around 60th and Federal, which is all industrial without a good beer in site. But give it time. And wave hello as you pass it by presently.
Stop 5: Arvada Gold Strike (60th and Sheridan)
Similar to Pecos Junction, this is an industrial zone. But Odyssey Beerwerks in Arvada is a 20-minute walk away, and new brewery operations director Chris Griffith - late of the closed Fate Brewing and its fantastic experiments in flavor — is ramping up the brewery's menu in exciting ways, including a chai version of its tasty Psycho Penguin Porter that took that beer to a new level. So why recommend this trip more vociferously than a similar one to Bruz on an RTD pub crawl? For this reason: Bruz, while it is a great brewery, is beyond the industrial zone surrounding its RTD stop in a residential community that is easily accessed by car. Odyssey, meanwhile, is almost buried in an industrial park that really speaks to where you are getting off here, and its inclusion in any pub crawl puts the neighborhoods of the new rail line in perspective.
Stop 6: Olde Town Arvada
You could take the G Line from Union Station to here and not leave, and you still have struck beer gold. Within a five-minute walk, you can stumble into New Image Brewing, whose collection of hazy IPAs and genre-pushing sours arguably puts it into the list of Colorado's 10-15 best breweries (and sports a great back patio, as seen in this photo). Denver Beer Co's suburban location, with its in-house burger trailer and range of Arvada-only beers, is a similar distance away. Do not, however, overlook, Homegrown Tap & Dough, an upscale pizza restaurant with a rewarding tap and bottle list that is literally a really strong stone's throw from the station (as opposed the 4-5 minutes you'll have to walk to get to the two breweries). And it's just an eight-minute walk down to Yak & Yeti, a Nepalese restaurant that also is home to Sun Temple Brewing and its daring beers, including its award-winning Chai Milk Stout.
Stop 7: Arvada Ridge
Adjacent to a shopping and dining area that features a lot of fast-casual chains, this stop just east of Kipling and Ridge Road in Arvada is probably more appropriate for a quick bite to calm your buzz if you are making this trip. But Li'l Nick's Pizza is just a six-minute walk from the station and has 14 beers on tap. And Discovery Tap House and its 28 beers are only an 11-minute walk, which, again, can be be rewarded with all kind of burgers, calzones or fast Chinese on the way back to the station.
Stop 8: Wheat Ridge - Ward Station
Like several of its brethren station on the G Line, this is not near beer oases just yet, though city leaders say they hope to build up a multi-use community around the stop that can feature restaurant and retail. But if you're willing to sit in a car for 10 minutes, you can get to either of the two Wheat Ridge breweries — Brewery Rickoli, which has taken the gluten-reduced taste profile in far-out directions, including a GABF-medal-winning barley wine and a lot of bold hoppy and sour flavors, and Colorado Plus, whose half-dozen in-house beers are supplemented by a tap list of 50-plus Colorado-only offerings, including some smaller breweries you won't find elsewhere. A trip to either place is well worth your time.
It's been two months now since the Regional Transportation District opened the G Line, extending from Wheat Ridge through Arvada and into Denver Union Station. Many people likely haven't experienced the ride yet. And that is a mistake — particularly from a beer perspective.
Urban dwellers may not realize it, but Arvada now has a brewing scene equal to any Denver-area town that is not Denver. One of the most underrated beer bars in the area sits just a five-minute walk from the first stop on the G Line. And the starting point of this excursion, Denver Union Station, sits in one of the most beer-friendly areas of downtown, even if you have only a short time to imbibe.
Here, then, is a beer-lovers' guide to the G Line — a trip I tried out myself during a birthday crawl of the new rail route that I organized last month.
Stop 1: Denver Union Station
Stop 2: 41st and Fox
(Note: I discovered after writing this post that Crafty Fox had closed less than two weeks beforehand. That's a loss not just for the G Line tour but for the Denver beer community. Let's hope another restaurant with good food and a good tap list can give it a shot at making this a great beer stop.)
Stop 3: Pecos Junction
Stop 4: Clear Creek and Federal Station
While Adams County officials have some grand plans to make this an area to live, work and play — including possible features on the creek — you are currently out of luck at this stop around 60th and Federal, which is all industrial without a good beer in site. But give it time. And wave hello as you pass it by presently.
Stop 5: Arvada Gold Strike (60th and Sheridan)
Similar to Pecos Junction, this is an industrial zone. But Odyssey Beerwerks in Arvada is a 20-minute walk away, and new brewery operations director Chris Griffith - late of the closed Fate Brewing and its fantastic experiments in flavor — is ramping up the brewery's menu in exciting ways, including a chai version of its tasty Psycho Penguin Porter that took that beer to a new level. So why recommend this trip more vociferously than a similar one to Bruz on an RTD pub crawl? For this reason: Bruz, while it is a great brewery, is beyond the industrial zone surrounding its RTD stop in a residential community that is easily accessed by car. Odyssey, meanwhile, is almost buried in an industrial park that really speaks to where you are getting off here, and its inclusion in any pub crawl puts the neighborhoods of the new rail line in perspective.
Stop 6: Olde Town Arvada
Stop 7: Arvada Ridge
Adjacent to a shopping and dining area that features a lot of fast-casual chains, this stop just east of Kipling and Ridge Road in Arvada is probably more appropriate for a quick bite to calm your buzz if you are making this trip. But Li'l Nick's Pizza is just a six-minute walk from the station and has 14 beers on tap. And Discovery Tap House and its 28 beers are only an 11-minute walk, which, again, can be be rewarded with all kind of burgers, calzones or fast Chinese on the way back to the station.Stop 8: Wheat Ridge - Ward Station
Like several of its brethren station on the G Line, this is not near beer oases just yet, though city leaders say they hope to build up a multi-use community around the stop that can feature restaurant and retail. But if you're willing to sit in a car for 10 minutes, you can get to either of the two Wheat Ridge breweries — Brewery Rickoli, which has taken the gluten-reduced taste profile in far-out directions, including a GABF-medal-winning barley wine and a lot of bold hoppy and sour flavors, and Colorado Plus, whose half-dozen in-house beers are supplemented by a tap list of 50-plus Colorado-only offerings, including some smaller breweries you won't find elsewhere. A trip to either place is well worth your time.
Labels: Arvada breweries, Brewery Rickoli, Bruz Beers, Colorado Plus Brew Pub, Crafty Fox, Denver Beer Co, Hopdoddy, New Image Brewing, Odyssey Beerwerks, Sun Temple Brewing, Thirsty Lion, Wynkoop Brewery
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
5 Things I Learned at Denver Beer Festivus 2017
Putting 55 Denver breweries together in one room is just as good an idea as it sounds, and not just because you feel no desire ever to leave. Denver Beer Festivus, held Saturday at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, allowed for great contrast and comparison of what is happening in the city beer scene, especially as most participants brought offerings that were among their most unusual.
That strategy led to some reaffirmations about the breweries that are making the beer that can't be missed, as well as some discoveries about others who should be on beer-trail lists going forward. Here are a few of the things that jumped out.
1) The beer community needs to pay more attention to Jagged Mountain.
Known largely as a big beer maker when it opened, the brewery went through a subsequent shake-up among partners, and everyone seemed to stop talking about it. That appears to have been a big mistake, especially for anyone who found their way to enjoying beers like its spectacular blood-orange gose, Grouse Mountain, in the past year.
The most interesting beer of the entire festival was Jagged Mountain's This Beer Really Ties The Room Together, a blonde white Russian milk stout whose body was as subtle and smooth as a creation made with oats and lactose should be but whose striking taste impression was that of a rich coffee without any of the typical bitterness that accompanies that style. It felt like you were drinking something dry-hopped with coffee ("dry-beaned" was the term that was decided as correct), leaving an original taste clearly created by a masterful hand.
2) Ratio's Genius Wizard is as good as any imperial stout in Denver.
And that's saying something, given that this is the town that is home to both Epic's Big Bad Baptist
and Great Divide's Yeti. But the 2016 version of the beer being poured on Saturday was dangerously easy for a 12 percent ABV bomb, presenting overtones of both coffee and chocolate in what was a very drinkable body. This beer should start getting a lot more love.
3) Sweet and subtle dark ales also ruled the day.
Declaration's Cinnatoast Porter was just sweet enough where you wouldn't want to drink it all night but just enjoyable enough that you could slurp down a pint easily. Bruz Beer's Onyx Stout jumped out with its combination of Belgian hints and roasted edge. And Blind Faith Brewing - the new beer maker that bought DeSteeg Brewing in October, according to Westword - made a strong impression with a dark beer (whose name I failed to catch) combining chocolaty malts and orange notes.
4) The range of New England IPAs at the event shows a maturing of the style.
Woods Boss had both the most impressive and the most by-the-book version of the hazy IPA with its delicious, pineapple-scented The Oswald. Yet, Ficton's Madame Psychosis seemed to want to straddle a line between fruity and bitter. And Epic's New England-Style IPA seemed to range a bit away from tropical notes and more toward the classical, balanced tastes of the long-honored IPA genre. You could pick your favorite; more importantly, there's enough variety that you can really tell now.
5) Sour beer fans need to seek out Baere Brewing.
Its Reciprocity golden sour blend was arguably the best tart beer poured at Festivus. It brought its bite in a way that was both challenging and refreshing. And it was a reminder that these guys are shining in whatever style of beer they want to tackle.
Putting 55 Denver breweries together in one room is just as good an idea as it sounds, and not just because you feel no desire ever to leave. Denver Beer Festivus, held Saturday at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, allowed for great contrast and comparison of what is happening in the city beer scene, especially as most participants brought offerings that were among their most unusual.
That strategy led to some reaffirmations about the breweries that are making the beer that can't be missed, as well as some discoveries about others who should be on beer-trail lists going forward. Here are a few of the things that jumped out.1) The beer community needs to pay more attention to Jagged Mountain.
Known largely as a big beer maker when it opened, the brewery went through a subsequent shake-up among partners, and everyone seemed to stop talking about it. That appears to have been a big mistake, especially for anyone who found their way to enjoying beers like its spectacular blood-orange gose, Grouse Mountain, in the past year.
The most interesting beer of the entire festival was Jagged Mountain's This Beer Really Ties The Room Together, a blonde white Russian milk stout whose body was as subtle and smooth as a creation made with oats and lactose should be but whose striking taste impression was that of a rich coffee without any of the typical bitterness that accompanies that style. It felt like you were drinking something dry-hopped with coffee ("dry-beaned" was the term that was decided as correct), leaving an original taste clearly created by a masterful hand.
2) Ratio's Genius Wizard is as good as any imperial stout in Denver.
And that's saying something, given that this is the town that is home to both Epic's Big Bad Baptist and Great Divide's Yeti. But the 2016 version of the beer being poured on Saturday was dangerously easy for a 12 percent ABV bomb, presenting overtones of both coffee and chocolate in what was a very drinkable body. This beer should start getting a lot more love.
3) Sweet and subtle dark ales also ruled the day.
Declaration's Cinnatoast Porter was just sweet enough where you wouldn't want to drink it all night but just enjoyable enough that you could slurp down a pint easily. Bruz Beer's Onyx Stout jumped out with its combination of Belgian hints and roasted edge. And Blind Faith Brewing - the new beer maker that bought DeSteeg Brewing in October, according to Westword - made a strong impression with a dark beer (whose name I failed to catch) combining chocolaty malts and orange notes.
4) The range of New England IPAs at the event shows a maturing of the style.
Woods Boss had both the most impressive and the most by-the-book version of the hazy IPA with its delicious, pineapple-scented The Oswald. Yet, Ficton's Madame Psychosis seemed to want to straddle a line between fruity and bitter. And Epic's New England-Style IPA seemed to range a bit away from tropical notes and more toward the classical, balanced tastes of the long-honored IPA genre. You could pick your favorite; more importantly, there's enough variety that you can really tell now.5) Sour beer fans need to seek out Baere Brewing.
Its Reciprocity golden sour blend was arguably the best tart beer poured at Festivus. It brought its bite in a way that was both challenging and refreshing. And it was a reminder that these guys are shining in whatever style of beer they want to tackle.
Labels: Baere Brewing, Blind Faith Brewing, Bruz Beers, Declaration Brewing, Epic Brewing, Festivus, Fiction Brewing, Jagged Mountain Brewery, Ratio Beerworks, Woods Boss Brewing
