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
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
10 Best Colorado Beers of 2020
In a year that seemed so dark, maybe, just maybe, it was appropriate that Colorado beer makers stepped up their game particularly in the area of dark ales. To be sure, there was much more that highlighted the year, from barrel-aged barleywines to vibrant hazies to sour experiments that included Japanese citrus-based sauces. But it sure seemed as if the most textured, daring and successful creations of the year that was 2020 were those those turned to the dark side - and made it as enjoyable as possible.
This annual list of Colorado's best beers - at least those determined by one local beer writer - is somewhat challenged this year, as the beer festivals and gatherings that often provide the best look at what the state's breweries are doing did not happen after mid-March. But I tried to drink as much as I could from as many locally sourced creators as I could, and these are the most unique, complex and quaffable beers I found:
10) 4 Noses Lotus Rising
The hazy IPA is, by now, an established beverage, and longer-running gems from Weldwerks' Juicy Bits to Westfax Brewing's Urban Lumberjack made lockdown a lot easier to bear. But the best new addition to the category was this gem from Broomfield's 4 Noses Brewing, simultaneously thick with tropical notes and leaving just enough bitterness on the backtaste to remind you that being hoppy is still an important part of being a delicious hazy IPA.
9) Elevation Beer Montanya
Here is how you make an imperial porter stand out: Add Horchata spices and age it in rum barrels from the distiller of its namesake. This beer never seemed as boozy as its 10% ABV suggested, and every taste produced a bite from a seemingly different spice. But it landed both hugely and pleasantly, particularly if you were camping at the foot of a nearby fourteener, and it reminded you how valuable mountain-town breweries like this Poncha Springs beer maker are to the Colorado ecosystem.
8) Cannonball Creek The Return of the Mackaroon
Here's the other approach to dark beer: Take a traditional stout, made by a brewery known far more for its lagers and pale ales, and infuse it with coconut and macaroon to give it a sweetness that neither overwhelms nor is subsumed by it dark body. Rolled out in the spring, this beer felt like the perfect accompaniment to a brisk spring hike (and paired well with pizza). And it served as a reminder at just how versatile Colorado's most consecutively awarded Great American Beer Festival medalist can be.
7) Spangalang Brewery Ms. Behavin'
Anyone who believes that barleywine is a relic of an earlier time is challenged to drink this beautiful barrel-aged beer from one of Denver's most overlooked breweries and declare that it is anything but a full-mouthed joy. Its body is a like a lightly caramelized, raisins-soaked-in-booze blanket, covering over any sign of it s 12.5% ABV content and presenting a beer so smoothly presented that it forgoes astringency and passes straight to warmth. A masterful update of a classic style.
6) Strange Times Too
Strange Craft Beer has played with its traditional recipes in host of ways for 10 years, but few if any variants have landed as successfully as this Brettanomyces-laced version of its Cherry Kriek, which popped to life with a tartness that added to its fruit base and created enough of an edge to be daring without being at all difficult to swallow. Not all big-sellers should be messed with; this experiment, however, gave a whole new definition to a much-loved beer.
5) Purpose Brewing Itadakimasu #032
The boldest Colorado beer of 2020 was this Fort Collins provocateur's sour ale aged with a citrus soy sauce, creating a taste wholly unlike anything else at the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival where it was unleashed in January - which is a statement in itself. Both tart and unusually thick, this caused a minor flinch at first taste, followed by a stunned appreciation of how owner Peter Bouckaert (talking here, left, with Black Project co-owner James Howat) can blend such flavors together. A revelation into the possibilities of creativity.
4) Verboten German Chocolate Cake Not a Speck of Light
Just the second imperial stout produced by the quickly ascending Loveland brewery, this was a masterful effort with three variants, the German chocolate cake version being the one that packed the most flavor into a 13.6% ABV body that was dangerously easy to drink. Aged for more than a year in a blend of barrels, this took on the characteristics of everything that was in it, particularly Ugandan vanilla beans and Ghana cocoa husks, as well as the barrels that gave it more character.
3) Upslope Wild Christmas Ale
After years of producing some pretty sturdy wild-yeast holiday efforts, this Boulder brewery found a whole new dimension by adding Saigon cinnamon to the delicately tart orange flavor, creating a cacophony of tastes that were both funky and strangely sweet on the aftertaste. In many ways, this is the best original Colorado Christmas ale in the past half-decade, daring drinkers to rethink their definition of a holiday beer while still drawing forth a flavor that was spice-enhanced, even if in a radically different way. Let's hope Upslope does not decide to make this recipe a one-off.
2) Wiley Roots Du Hast Cake Imperial Stout
This gigantically flavored beer is everything that the idea of boundary-pushing pastry stouts purports to be - both unnaturally easy despite it big body and adding to the lexicon of flavors that beer, at its best, can bring forward in our taste buds. Here was coconut and chocolate and dessert sweetness layered upon the most solid traditionally dark-beer base that one could imagine. This Greeley auteur has been pushing boundaries for years - creating, for example, a cinnamon sour - but this is arguably its finest experimentation yet, a beer for beer lovers and sweets lovers and anyone who respects liquid adventure.
1) Casey Brewing & Blending No Title
It felt like a stroke of genius to blend three adjuncts that could make this beer un-drinkably sweet - Madagascar vanilla, coconut and almond - with a heavily roasted and slightly bitter chocolate body that turns this imperial stout from Glenwood Springs into a beer that imbues a bolder and seemingly easier flavor with every sip, despite its 10% ABV body. In a year in which tradition flew out the window at the same speed as our expectations of normalcy, this searing rebuke of Rheinheitsgebot laws was like a break from both the past and the present, daring drinkers to imagine a future in which beer styles are not defined so much as cemented by experimentation. From the first pour to the last swig, it was packed with intensely pleasing flavors without any alcohol burn. It was the beer that signaled both an escape from the surrounding landscape of 2020 and from any preconceptions about how much you could add to beer and still, importantly, make it taste like an excellent beer.
Labels: 4 Noses Brewing, Cannonball Creek Brewing, Casey Brewing, Elevation Beer, Purpose Brewing & Cellars, Strange Craft Beer, Top Beers of Year, Upslope Brewing, Verboten Brewing, Wiley Roots Brewing
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Your GABF/Denver Beer Week Events Guide 2019
This is where the magic happens. Denver. Great American Beer Festival week. The whole beer-drinking world is watching.
As always, I've tried to throw together a high-level list of the events happening around the country's biggest gathering of brewers - not a complete list of every tapping, dinner and mini festival, but a highlight reel of what is scheduled around the Oct. 3-5 festival. Get to one, get to many - but whatever you do, get out of your house, because all that craft beer has to offer will never be as much at your fingertips as it is this week.
Monday
11 a.m.: First Draft Taproom + Kitchen, Denver's leading pour-yourself-and-pay-by-the-ounce bar, has a stacked lineup all week. But today's kickoff with Western Distributing - featuring lesser-known Colorado gems like Pikes Peak, Bonfire and Lone Tree - is a good way to sample the far-flung scene.
Noon: Jagged Mountain also has a big week lined up, including Thursday's release of a doppelbock aged in 24-year-old rum barrels. Today launches the festivities, however, with the release of the Royal Gourdge Pumpkin Pie Ale, showing off the brewery's proclivity with unusual ingredients.
4-9 p.m.: Beginning on the hour each hour, a rambling tour will descend upon FlyteCo, The Emporium, DeSteeg, The Grateful Gnome and Call to Arms - the Tennyson neighborhood breweries participating in the Tennysinners Brewery Crawl. There's no charge except for your beers.
5ish: Falling Rock Tap House, Denver's lauded beer bar, kicks off every GABF week with 20 or so special beers on tap from auteurs both locally and nationwide. This year will be no exception. And, no, you don't even need to know the breweries pouring to justify making this trip.
6-8 p.m.: You'll be drinking a lot of barrel-aged beers this week. Want to really geek out on the art of aging before you start? Strange Craft Beer and Wit's End Brewing present a "Barrel Talk" that will feature samples of some of their aged creations.
Tuesday
Noon: When Great Divide Brewing boasts of releasing a new beer with an "otherworldly amount of hops," you would be wise to listen. Hopnaut Double Juicy IPA follows on the huge success of its Hazy IPA launch last year, and it will be on tap at both locations.
4-7 p.m.: Thirst Colorado puts together an annual Tour of Colorado event at Tap Fourteen's Ballpark location highlighting breweries from throughout the state making unique beers. This year's event showcases Boulder Beer, Bruz Beers, Wiley Roots, Fossil Craft and Bristol, among others.
4 p.m to 1 a.m..: Is hazy or clear IPA the path to true beer-drinking heaven? Finn's Manor gives you a chance to decide, offering hazies from the likes of Great Notion, Trillium and Outer Range and traditionals from folks such as Russian River, Beachwood and pFriem Family Brewers.
5-10 p.m.: Barrels and Bottles Brewery in Golden is showing off Crooked Stave Artisans Distribution beers as well as its own. Tonight's tap list of CSA beers includes gems from Half Acre, Perennial, Cascade, 3 Floyds and Societe.
6-11 p.m.: Are sessionable beers really "Dad Beers"? Ratio posits the question at The Occidental, where it will tap lower-ABV beers from it, 3 Floyds, Modern Times, Stone, Ska and Cannonball Creek as part of its "Punk Is Dad Beers" celebration.
6:30-10 p.m.: Odell Brewing really turned 30 this year. To celebrate the milestone, gastropub Euclid Hall is serving up a six-course dinner for $70 that includes a special Odell/Euclid Hall collaboration you won't find anywhere else.
Wednesday
Noon to 6 p.m.: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project will take the rare step of opening its barrel room to the public daily through Saturday. Visitors can just pop in for a taster for the first time in five years and also can get tours of the beautiful-bug-laden facility.
1-10 p.m.: Westfax Brewing has become one of the subtle stars of the Denver area scene, but because they are located in Lakewood, a lot of Denverites may not make it out. Today's the right time to cruise down Colfax, as the brewery is tapping both a hazy double IPA and a pastry stout.
4 p.m.: Finn's Manor once again will be a place worth visiting, as it pours beers from "Weldwerks and Friends" - friends that include Casey Brewing and Blending, Forbidden Root, Great Notion, Outer Range and Mikerphone.
6 p.m.: Speaking of breweries that are off the beaten path but well worth the drive, Burns Family Artisan Ales has been punching out envelope-pushing high-ABV experiments in the former Wit's End location for a year. Today it taps a pomegranate IIIPA.
6 p.m.: Former Saint Craft Kitchen & Taps will put on an Oktoberfest-themed beer dinner, but the beer it will pair throughout will be Sierra Nevada, likely outpacing most O-fest celebrations' selection. The dinner is $50; if you miss it, there will be a Sierra Nevada tap takeover on Thursday.
6-10 p.m.: Feeling like three days of GABF is not enough? Tivoli Brewing will lengthen the celebration with a Mini American Beer Festival, for $25, featuring ticketed pours from 4 Noses, Alpine, Destihl, Green Flash and Surly, among others.
9 p.m. to midnight: For true hopheads, few events satisfy quite like Falling Rock's annual All-Star IPA Throwdown hosted by Melvin Brewing. The ticketed event features taps from Moonraker, Parish, 3 Floyds, Toppling Goliath and Maine Beer, among others.
Thursday
11:30 a.m.: Boulder County is a drive from Denver, but it's worth it when Avery Brewing re-releases its rum-soaked, double espresso Mephistopheles Stout for the first time in ages at its Gunbarrel location.
Noon: Other Half Brewing of New York is making both some of the best hazy IPAs in the country and some of the best palate-pleasing imperial stouts. TRVE Brewing lets the visitor take over a bunch of its taps today.
Noon: Boulevard Brewing also turns 30 this year. To celebrate, both Falling Rock and Smok, a Kansas City BBQ restaurant in the Source Hotel, will tap its Changeling dark sour, its Chill Vibes cucumber sour and its 30th Anniversary Ale that is a blend of barrel-aged treats.
Noon: Austin Beer Garden is an annual big winner at GABF, but you can't find its beers in Denver very often. So, today, Our Mutual Friend is hosting a tap takeover for the rising Texas star.
Noon to 9: There is considerable debate over the aftertaste of the first GABF session should feature light or huge beers. If you tend toward the latter answer, Freshcraft will be pouring double hazies and blistering sours from the likes of Lawson's Finest Liquids, Creature Comforts and The Rare Barrel.
7-10 p.m.: If, however, you believe in giving your taste buds a break after a day of drinking, First Draft will have a Lager Party featuring creations from Wiseacre, Sun King, Chuckanut, Rhinegeist … and Creature Comforts.
Friday
11 a.m.: Kegged, delivered and tapped in a span of a few hours, Station 26 Brewing's Same Day Hazy IPA is an experiment that puts the fresh in fresh hopping. Highland Tap & Burger, Lowry Beer Garden and Walter's 303 are just a few of the locations that will be featuring it today.
11:30 a.m to 11 p.m.: Hops & Pie has a big week all week. But today's offering - 11 beers from Casey Brewing and Blending, seven from Toppling Goliath and five from Weldwerks - may be its standout event for Denver Beer Week.
Noon to 4 p.m.: Denver Rare Beer Tasting is the most worthwhile $200 festival you'll ever attend. In addition to raising money for Pints for Prostates, the event features supremely hard-to-find aged creations and experiments. Cascade, Side Project and Speciation are among 50-plus pourers.
Noon to 1 a.m.: Goed Zuur taps into two of the most renowned farmhouse breweries in America, as it offers eight beers from Jester King and three beers from Rowley Farmouse Ales in New Mexico.
4 p.m.: Is Austin or Ohio more of your beer scene? No matter, Freshcraft will feature libations from both regions simultaneously, with Jester King, Skull Mechanix and Vista Brewing repping Texas and MadTree, Jackie O's and Taft's among the Midwestern stars.
9:30 p.m.: Sure, you can get Bell's Brewery offerings in Denver these days. But how often do you enjoy them with cheese curds and fried fish in an authentic Midwestern joint? Wally's Wisconsin Tavern hosts a tap takeover following the GABF session.
Saturday
11 a.m.: Like Bell's, Brooklyn Brewery and 21st Amendment can now be found in Colorado liquor-store coolers. Still, a tap takeover like Former Saint is hosting all day is one that can show off why they are American classics.
1-5 p.m.: It's both a curse and a blessing to be celebrating your third anniversary in the midst of the country's biggest beer celebration. But that isn't stopping Briar Common Brewery & Eatery from busting out three new beers to go with its excellent menu.
1-8 p.m.: Is the Great American Beer Festival not international enough for you? Cerveceria Colorado, the Mexican-beer arm of Denver Beer Co., is hosting its Great Mexican Beer Fiesta, rolling out collaborations made with five south-of-the-border brewers - and the brewers themselves.
4-8 p.m.: It's a doubleheader at Rhein Haus, which is offering a Lawson's Finest Liquids tap takeover from 4 to 6, then a takeover of Crooked Stave-distributed beers - including Two Roads, Fremont and La Cumbre - from 6 to 8.
9 p.m. to 1 a.m.: Looking for a wind-down that's not all about big beer? Ratio Beerworks once again is throwing its karaoke contest. If you don't go, you'll never be able to try to guess whether your favorite brewer sings that way because they're hammered or just tone-deaf.
As always, I've tried to throw together a high-level list of the events happening around the country's biggest gathering of brewers - not a complete list of every tapping, dinner and mini festival, but a highlight reel of what is scheduled around the Oct. 3-5 festival. Get to one, get to many - but whatever you do, get out of your house, because all that craft beer has to offer will never be as much at your fingertips as it is this week.
Monday
11 a.m.: First Draft Taproom + Kitchen, Denver's leading pour-yourself-and-pay-by-the-ounce bar, has a stacked lineup all week. But today's kickoff with Western Distributing - featuring lesser-known Colorado gems like Pikes Peak, Bonfire and Lone Tree - is a good way to sample the far-flung scene.
4-9 p.m.: Beginning on the hour each hour, a rambling tour will descend upon FlyteCo, The Emporium, DeSteeg, The Grateful Gnome and Call to Arms - the Tennyson neighborhood breweries participating in the Tennysinners Brewery Crawl. There's no charge except for your beers.
5ish: Falling Rock Tap House, Denver's lauded beer bar, kicks off every GABF week with 20 or so special beers on tap from auteurs both locally and nationwide. This year will be no exception. And, no, you don't even need to know the breweries pouring to justify making this trip.
6-8 p.m.: You'll be drinking a lot of barrel-aged beers this week. Want to really geek out on the art of aging before you start? Strange Craft Beer and Wit's End Brewing present a "Barrel Talk" that will feature samples of some of their aged creations.
Tuesday
Noon: When Great Divide Brewing boasts of releasing a new beer with an "otherworldly amount of hops," you would be wise to listen. Hopnaut Double Juicy IPA follows on the huge success of its Hazy IPA launch last year, and it will be on tap at both locations.
4-7 p.m.: Thirst Colorado puts together an annual Tour of Colorado event at Tap Fourteen's Ballpark location highlighting breweries from throughout the state making unique beers. This year's event showcases Boulder Beer, Bruz Beers, Wiley Roots, Fossil Craft and Bristol, among others.
5-10 p.m.: Barrels and Bottles Brewery in Golden is showing off Crooked Stave Artisans Distribution beers as well as its own. Tonight's tap list of CSA beers includes gems from Half Acre, Perennial, Cascade, 3 Floyds and Societe.
6-11 p.m.: Are sessionable beers really "Dad Beers"? Ratio posits the question at The Occidental, where it will tap lower-ABV beers from it, 3 Floyds, Modern Times, Stone, Ska and Cannonball Creek as part of its "Punk Is Dad Beers" celebration.
6:30-10 p.m.: Odell Brewing really turned 30 this year. To celebrate the milestone, gastropub Euclid Hall is serving up a six-course dinner for $70 that includes a special Odell/Euclid Hall collaboration you won't find anywhere else.
Wednesday
Noon to 6 p.m.: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project will take the rare step of opening its barrel room to the public daily through Saturday. Visitors can just pop in for a taster for the first time in five years and also can get tours of the beautiful-bug-laden facility.
1-10 p.m.: Westfax Brewing has become one of the subtle stars of the Denver area scene, but because they are located in Lakewood, a lot of Denverites may not make it out. Today's the right time to cruise down Colfax, as the brewery is tapping both a hazy double IPA and a pastry stout.
4 p.m.: Finn's Manor once again will be a place worth visiting, as it pours beers from "Weldwerks and Friends" - friends that include Casey Brewing and Blending, Forbidden Root, Great Notion, Outer Range and Mikerphone.
6 p.m.: Speaking of breweries that are off the beaten path but well worth the drive, Burns Family Artisan Ales has been punching out envelope-pushing high-ABV experiments in the former Wit's End location for a year. Today it taps a pomegranate IIIPA.
6 p.m.: Former Saint Craft Kitchen & Taps will put on an Oktoberfest-themed beer dinner, but the beer it will pair throughout will be Sierra Nevada, likely outpacing most O-fest celebrations' selection. The dinner is $50; if you miss it, there will be a Sierra Nevada tap takeover on Thursday.
6-10 p.m.: Feeling like three days of GABF is not enough? Tivoli Brewing will lengthen the celebration with a Mini American Beer Festival, for $25, featuring ticketed pours from 4 Noses, Alpine, Destihl, Green Flash and Surly, among others.
Thursday
11:30 a.m.: Boulder County is a drive from Denver, but it's worth it when Avery Brewing re-releases its rum-soaked, double espresso Mephistopheles Stout for the first time in ages at its Gunbarrel location.
Noon: Boulevard Brewing also turns 30 this year. To celebrate, both Falling Rock and Smok, a Kansas City BBQ restaurant in the Source Hotel, will tap its Changeling dark sour, its Chill Vibes cucumber sour and its 30th Anniversary Ale that is a blend of barrel-aged treats.
Noon: Austin Beer Garden is an annual big winner at GABF, but you can't find its beers in Denver very often. So, today, Our Mutual Friend is hosting a tap takeover for the rising Texas star.
Noon to 9: There is considerable debate over the aftertaste of the first GABF session should feature light or huge beers. If you tend toward the latter answer, Freshcraft will be pouring double hazies and blistering sours from the likes of Lawson's Finest Liquids, Creature Comforts and The Rare Barrel.
7-10 p.m.: If, however, you believe in giving your taste buds a break after a day of drinking, First Draft will have a Lager Party featuring creations from Wiseacre, Sun King, Chuckanut, Rhinegeist … and Creature Comforts.
Friday
11 a.m.: Kegged, delivered and tapped in a span of a few hours, Station 26 Brewing's Same Day Hazy IPA is an experiment that puts the fresh in fresh hopping. Highland Tap & Burger, Lowry Beer Garden and Walter's 303 are just a few of the locations that will be featuring it today.
11:30 a.m to 11 p.m.: Hops & Pie has a big week all week. But today's offering - 11 beers from Casey Brewing and Blending, seven from Toppling Goliath and five from Weldwerks - may be its standout event for Denver Beer Week.
Noon to 1 a.m.: Goed Zuur taps into two of the most renowned farmhouse breweries in America, as it offers eight beers from Jester King and three beers from Rowley Farmouse Ales in New Mexico.
4 p.m.: Is Austin or Ohio more of your beer scene? No matter, Freshcraft will feature libations from both regions simultaneously, with Jester King, Skull Mechanix and Vista Brewing repping Texas and MadTree, Jackie O's and Taft's among the Midwestern stars.
9:30 p.m.: Sure, you can get Bell's Brewery offerings in Denver these days. But how often do you enjoy them with cheese curds and fried fish in an authentic Midwestern joint? Wally's Wisconsin Tavern hosts a tap takeover following the GABF session.
Saturday
11 a.m.: Like Bell's, Brooklyn Brewery and 21st Amendment can now be found in Colorado liquor-store coolers. Still, a tap takeover like Former Saint is hosting all day is one that can show off why they are American classics.
1-5 p.m.: It's both a curse and a blessing to be celebrating your third anniversary in the midst of the country's biggest beer celebration. But that isn't stopping Briar Common Brewery & Eatery from busting out three new beers to go with its excellent menu.
1-8 p.m.: Is the Great American Beer Festival not international enough for you? Cerveceria Colorado, the Mexican-beer arm of Denver Beer Co., is hosting its Great Mexican Beer Fiesta, rolling out collaborations made with five south-of-the-border brewers - and the brewers themselves.
4-8 p.m.: It's a doubleheader at Rhein Haus, which is offering a Lawson's Finest Liquids tap takeover from 4 to 6, then a takeover of Crooked Stave-distributed beers - including Two Roads, Fremont and La Cumbre - from 6 to 8.
9 p.m. to 1 a.m.: Looking for a wind-down that's not all about big beer? Ratio Beerworks once again is throwing its karaoke contest. If you don't go, you'll never be able to try to guess whether your favorite brewer sings that way because they're hammered or just tone-deaf.
Labels: Casey Brewing, Denver Beer Week, Falling Rock Taphouse, Finn's Manor, First Draft Taproom + Kitchen, Great American Beer Festival, Great Notion Brewing, Outer Range Brewing, Weldwerks Brewing
Wednesday, September 04, 2019
The Art of the Beer Dinner, Big Beers Style
If the tone of the evening was set by the rows of taster glasses splayed across the bar at the Quandary Grille when guests arrived, the mood was struck by Dave Thibodeau comparing the lifestyle of Durango to that of Nynashamn, Sweden. The Ska Brewing co-founder described outdoor adventures and big beers on the Baltic Sea while pouring five beers that ranged from effervescently sour to dark and pucker-worthy.
The January 2019 Traditional Brewmasters' Dinner was quintessential Big Beers Belgians & Barleywines Festival, combining a dissection of great fermented beverages, the appearance of hard-to-find libations (and the brewmaster from Nynashamns Angbryggeri, who flew in for the occasion) and events that elevate beer. And as tickets for the 2020 festival, scheduled from Jan. 9-11 in Breckenridge, go on sale again this week, it's worth considering why beer-food pairings like these can be so illuminating.
To start with, there is the beer, which is usually pulled from the shelves at the back of cellars where brewers like to keep offerings they open only for special occasions. Nynashamns' contributions included three aged beers and two imperial stouts, one of which it had not served before. Ska rolled out five beers from its sour collection, including its 23rd Anniversary Ale, seemingly showing off what it could do to anyone who dared think of its brewers as "the True Blonde guys."
Then there is the truly well-thought-out pairings of beers that you might suspect would be best enjoyed as stand-alone treats on cold evenings. Ska's Cru d'état, a mixed-culture Brett beer aged in a foeder that hasn't been cleaned in six years, accented the candied bacon on the duck cassoulet toasted pasta (pictured at left) in a way that was unexpected. Its Pink Vapor Stew brightened a parnsip, turnip and beet salad (pictured below) — partly because it shared some ingredients with the leafy feast. Nynashamns' three-year-old Botet Barleywine, aged in Portuguese sherry barrels, cut its own head-turning path with the salad.
The final ingredient for any successful dinner, of course, is good conversation, and this beer dinner had plenty of that. Thibodeau spoke of how difficult it was to break into the Swedish beer market - and how that turned into a friendship between the two breweries. Nynashamns co-founder Lasse Ericsson described the evolution of his country's brewing scene. Critiques of dishes were traded among diners, many of whom met for the first time at the meal.
Beer dinners are not cheap; this year's Traditional Brewmasters' Dinner, hosted on Jan. 9 by Neil Fisher of Weldwerks and Troy Casey of Casey Brewing & Blending, costs $135. You don't go daily to these events, nor do you go lightly. But when they are done correctly — and Big Beers has a long history of doing them correctly — you leave them jsmarter about brewing methods and culinary choices, as well as a little bit more stuffed than you expected.
Big Beers features a small plates and craft beer pairing as well next year, and the festival as a whole is a can't-miss event. Great American Beer Festival is lined with special beer dinners in the week heading into the Oct. 3-5 celebration next month, and a number of them will show the same creativity as the Big Beers event.
Wherever you go to blend beer and food under the guidance of brewers and chefs, just go. Then the next thing you know, you'll be hosting your own such dinners at your house and impressing guests with how much they can learn when they let their taste buds wander.
If the tone of the evening was set by the rows of taster glasses splayed across the bar at the Quandary Grille when guests arrived, the mood was struck by Dave Thibodeau comparing the lifestyle of Durango to that of Nynashamn, Sweden. The Ska Brewing co-founder described outdoor adventures and big beers on the Baltic Sea while pouring five beers that ranged from effervescently sour to dark and pucker-worthy.The January 2019 Traditional Brewmasters' Dinner was quintessential Big Beers Belgians & Barleywines Festival, combining a dissection of great fermented beverages, the appearance of hard-to-find libations (and the brewmaster from Nynashamns Angbryggeri, who flew in for the occasion) and events that elevate beer. And as tickets for the 2020 festival, scheduled from Jan. 9-11 in Breckenridge, go on sale again this week, it's worth considering why beer-food pairings like these can be so illuminating.
To start with, there is the beer, which is usually pulled from the shelves at the back of cellars where brewers like to keep offerings they open only for special occasions. Nynashamns' contributions included three aged beers and two imperial stouts, one of which it had not served before. Ska rolled out five beers from its sour collection, including its 23rd Anniversary Ale, seemingly showing off what it could do to anyone who dared think of its brewers as "the True Blonde guys."
Then there is the truly well-thought-out pairings of beers that you might suspect would be best enjoyed as stand-alone treats on cold evenings. Ska's Cru d'état, a mixed-culture Brett beer aged in a foeder that hasn't been cleaned in six years, accented the candied bacon on the duck cassoulet toasted pasta (pictured at left) in a way that was unexpected. Its Pink Vapor Stew brightened a parnsip, turnip and beet salad (pictured below) — partly because it shared some ingredients with the leafy feast. Nynashamns' three-year-old Botet Barleywine, aged in Portuguese sherry barrels, cut its own head-turning path with the salad.
Beer dinners are not cheap; this year's Traditional Brewmasters' Dinner, hosted on Jan. 9 by Neil Fisher of Weldwerks and Troy Casey of Casey Brewing & Blending, costs $135. You don't go daily to these events, nor do you go lightly. But when they are done correctly — and Big Beers has a long history of doing them correctly — you leave them jsmarter about brewing methods and culinary choices, as well as a little bit more stuffed than you expected.
Wherever you go to blend beer and food under the guidance of brewers and chefs, just go. Then the next thing you know, you'll be hosting your own such dinners at your house and impressing guests with how much they can learn when they let their taste buds wander.
Labels: barleywines, Beer dinners, Big Beers, Casey Brewing, Great American Beer Festival, Nynashamns Angbryggeri, Ska Brewing, sour ale, Weldwerks Brewing
Sunday, February 03, 2019
6 Moments that Could Only Have Happened at Big Beers
Most festivals are defined by the beers poured at them, and this year's Big Beers Belgians & Barleywines Festival could talk about nothing but its offerings and still rank with any festival in America. But after several weeks of reflection following this year's event, it's become clear that it's not just the outstanding pours that defined what may be Colorado's best beer event.
Instead, it was those moments that you keep coming back to that simply don't happen at other gatherings of brewers and beer connoisseurs. And it is worth noting them to explain why the 2019 version of the festival - the third since its move from Vail to Breckenridge - both jumped over the high bar it set for itself and sent the message that it is absolutely as required a place to be as the Great American Beer Festival that takes over Denver each fall.
1) Great Divide's Marriage Beer
The best festivals inspire brewers to make a new beer for them, or to break out of their cellar something they had saved for a special crowd. But when I asked Great Divide owner Brian Dunn - yes, he pours the beer at Big Beers - where his Maple Pecan Yeti that he was serving had been hiding, his answer floored me. It was something the brewery made for an employee's wedding reception, and he thought this would be a good chance to serve the rest of it.
So, it's not just one-offs that are poured at Big Beers, but one-offs made for a very limited crowd that the brewers then think are worth serving again at a festival because of the intimacy and knowledge of that crowd. And the Maple Pecan Yeti, by the way, was one of the highlights of the day - a celebration of blending a sweet flavor into a giant imperial stout that made the beer far more craveable and drinkable than one could have imagined it being.
2) Five minutes with James Howat
If there was a beer better than Maple Pecan Yeti, it was Black Project's Stargate Peach Rye: Nectarine Bourbon, a spontaneously fermented sour ale aged on peaches and nectarines in a fresh whiskey barrel. The beer is both pucker-worthy and succulent in its deep flavors, and one might be left wondering just how something so superior would be made.
But at Big Beers, I wasn't left wondering. In fact, I stood there for five minutes talking with brewery founder James Howat about just how the beer came together, when it would be available at the brewery and how he feels about the growth of beer makers around him in the South Broadway. There was no rush to finish the conversation, and there was no feeling that he wanted to move onto the next beer drinker. When the brewers pour at Big Beers, they interact like they're having conversations with old friends. That may be the best part of the festival.
3) Augie Carton and Nile Zacherle
If you're not from New Jersey, you probably don't know much about Carton Brewing; likewise with your familiarity with Zacherle's Mad Fritz Brewing if you don't live in the Napa Valley. But at Big Beers, two maniacal geniuses who don't sell beer outside their home states are at your beckon call to discuss the leading edge of experimentation in the country.
Carton (far left, above) took time in panel discussions to explain how he makes a beer, Decoy, that approximates the flavor of five-spice roast duck (a fascinating and delicious adventure) and then poured at the general tasting his Gilded Lily Tripel that was made with fresh white truffles. Zacherle (seated next to him, sniffing a beer) wowed the morning kick-off seminar with two pale lagers made with water from different springs that had unique tastes, and he popped out a geranium-thyme kolsch that made you want to forage for your own ingredients to add to traditional beers.
4) The "Lines"
At one point early in the commercial tasting, a friend directed me to Casey Brewing and Blending for its Jammy Sour Ale, a blackberry-added, oak-barrel-aged collaboration with Side Project that had a full and bright body. It was the biggest line I waited in all day - a full 10 people long.
Later, I stood in a nearly similarly sized line for the brilliant grape-infused beer at Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers when I decided that I was thirsty enough to step out and go directly to the front of the non-existent queue for Side Project's tart and intriguing Punchdown Pinot Noir Wild Ale. And so it went at a festival where your choices ran the gamut from brilliant brewers to very good ones, all of whom had something to offer that was great.
5) The Advice
A friend whom I attended the show with informed me that Bell's Barrel-Aged Third Coast Old Ale Barleywine was as perfect a beer as he'd tasted; a sentiment I largely agreed with after I tried it. And it was a co-owner of Grimm Brothers Brewhouse who insisted I try his Feisty Fearless, a Fearless Youth dunkel aged in Feisty Spirits barrels that transformed into a batch of orange-peel-sotted, slightly acidic goodness.
But throughout the day, I would set my beer down at a table to take notes, and whoever happened to be there segued naturally into conversation about what I was drinking, what they were drinking and what some of the hidden gems of the festival were. That's just the feeling in the Big Beers crowd. And through these pieces of advice, I found some of the other best beers of the festival, such as Dry Dock Coconut Belgian Dark, /Founders KBS 2018 and Kane Driftwood, an imperial brown brewed with molasses and maple syrup and aged in brandy barrels.
6) The Community
One of the underrated events of the three-day festival - two days of dinners and gatherings preceding the commercial tasting - is the beer and cigar pairing that is held on Friday night at Beaver Run Resort. You don't have to be a smoker to enjoy it, because those who want to pair their tobacco and alcohol are doing so outside on a patio, while everyone else is inside sampling a jaw-dropping supply of beers dropped off for the event by many of the breweries that are in town, and it turns into sampling and conversation that is like a pre-game event to the big tasting.
This year, the conversation was both serious and mournful at times among the attendees, as Big Beers co-founder Bill Lodge had lost his daughter, Megan, in a car accident just weeks before. And the word spread quickly through the crowd that what we all wanted to do was to help in this terrible moment in the only way we knew how - by contributing to a fundraiser for Eagle Valley High School's speech and debate team, which was a passion of Megan's, in honor of both her and Bill and Laura Lodge.
That's what a beer festival can be at its best - not just a random gathering of drinkers but a community of people who are there for the sharing, for the experimentation and for the human emotions that go beyond enjoying a great beer. And that's why Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines proved again that it's an experience much more than it is just the sum of its amazing tasting offerings.
Most festivals are defined by the beers poured at them, and this year's Big Beers Belgians & Barleywines Festival could talk about nothing but its offerings and still rank with any festival in America. But after several weeks of reflection following this year's event, it's become clear that it's not just the outstanding pours that defined what may be Colorado's best beer event.
Instead, it was those moments that you keep coming back to that simply don't happen at other gatherings of brewers and beer connoisseurs. And it is worth noting them to explain why the 2019 version of the festival - the third since its move from Vail to Breckenridge - both jumped over the high bar it set for itself and sent the message that it is absolutely as required a place to be as the Great American Beer Festival that takes over Denver each fall.
1) Great Divide's Marriage Beer
The best festivals inspire brewers to make a new beer for them, or to break out of their cellar something they had saved for a special crowd. But when I asked Great Divide owner Brian Dunn - yes, he pours the beer at Big Beers - where his Maple Pecan Yeti that he was serving had been hiding, his answer floored me. It was something the brewery made for an employee's wedding reception, and he thought this would be a good chance to serve the rest of it.
So, it's not just one-offs that are poured at Big Beers, but one-offs made for a very limited crowd that the brewers then think are worth serving again at a festival because of the intimacy and knowledge of that crowd. And the Maple Pecan Yeti, by the way, was one of the highlights of the day - a celebration of blending a sweet flavor into a giant imperial stout that made the beer far more craveable and drinkable than one could have imagined it being.
2) Five minutes with James Howat
If there was a beer better than Maple Pecan Yeti, it was Black Project's Stargate Peach Rye: Nectarine Bourbon, a spontaneously fermented sour ale aged on peaches and nectarines in a fresh whiskey barrel. The beer is both pucker-worthy and succulent in its deep flavors, and one might be left wondering just how something so superior would be made.
But at Big Beers, I wasn't left wondering. In fact, I stood there for five minutes talking with brewery founder James Howat about just how the beer came together, when it would be available at the brewery and how he feels about the growth of beer makers around him in the South Broadway. There was no rush to finish the conversation, and there was no feeling that he wanted to move onto the next beer drinker. When the brewers pour at Big Beers, they interact like they're having conversations with old friends. That may be the best part of the festival.
3) Augie Carton and Nile Zacherle
If you're not from New Jersey, you probably don't know much about Carton Brewing; likewise with your familiarity with Zacherle's Mad Fritz Brewing if you don't live in the Napa Valley. But at Big Beers, two maniacal geniuses who don't sell beer outside their home states are at your beckon call to discuss the leading edge of experimentation in the country.
Carton (far left, above) took time in panel discussions to explain how he makes a beer, Decoy, that approximates the flavor of five-spice roast duck (a fascinating and delicious adventure) and then poured at the general tasting his Gilded Lily Tripel that was made with fresh white truffles. Zacherle (seated next to him, sniffing a beer) wowed the morning kick-off seminar with two pale lagers made with water from different springs that had unique tastes, and he popped out a geranium-thyme kolsch that made you want to forage for your own ingredients to add to traditional beers.
4) The "Lines"
At one point early in the commercial tasting, a friend directed me to Casey Brewing and Blending for its Jammy Sour Ale, a blackberry-added, oak-barrel-aged collaboration with Side Project that had a full and bright body. It was the biggest line I waited in all day - a full 10 people long.
Later, I stood in a nearly similarly sized line for the brilliant grape-infused beer at Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers when I decided that I was thirsty enough to step out and go directly to the front of the non-existent queue for Side Project's tart and intriguing Punchdown Pinot Noir Wild Ale. And so it went at a festival where your choices ran the gamut from brilliant brewers to very good ones, all of whom had something to offer that was great.
5) The Advice
A friend whom I attended the show with informed me that Bell's Barrel-Aged Third Coast Old Ale Barleywine was as perfect a beer as he'd tasted; a sentiment I largely agreed with after I tried it. And it was a co-owner of Grimm Brothers Brewhouse who insisted I try his Feisty Fearless, a Fearless Youth dunkel aged in Feisty Spirits barrels that transformed into a batch of orange-peel-sotted, slightly acidic goodness.
But throughout the day, I would set my beer down at a table to take notes, and whoever happened to be there segued naturally into conversation about what I was drinking, what they were drinking and what some of the hidden gems of the festival were. That's just the feeling in the Big Beers crowd. And through these pieces of advice, I found some of the other best beers of the festival, such as Dry Dock Coconut Belgian Dark, /Founders KBS 2018 and Kane Driftwood, an imperial brown brewed with molasses and maple syrup and aged in brandy barrels.
6) The Community
This year, the conversation was both serious and mournful at times among the attendees, as Big Beers co-founder Bill Lodge had lost his daughter, Megan, in a car accident just weeks before. And the word spread quickly through the crowd that what we all wanted to do was to help in this terrible moment in the only way we knew how - by contributing to a fundraiser for Eagle Valley High School's speech and debate team, which was a passion of Megan's, in honor of both her and Bill and Laura Lodge.
That's what a beer festival can be at its best - not just a random gathering of drinkers but a community of people who are there for the sharing, for the experimentation and for the human emotions that go beyond enjoying a great beer. And that's why Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines proved again that it's an experience much more than it is just the sum of its amazing tasting offerings.
Labels: Bell's Brewing, Big Beers, Black Project, Carton Brewing, Casey Brewing, Dry Dock Brewing, Founders Brewing, Great Divide, Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, Laura Lodge, Mad Fritz Brewing, Side Project Brewing
Thursday, March 23, 2017
10 Beers To Try at Collaboration Fest
Saturday marks the fourth Collaboration Fest, and the beers that will be served there only continue to get more nuanced and more adventurous. But since there are 180 breweries combining on roughly 100 beers at the event, it can be a bit overwhelming to decide even which direction you want to head when entering the National Western Complex for the show.
Consider this, then, a high-level sneak peak at the strangest, wildest, most wonderful combinations that will be poured at the Two Parts/Colorado Brewers Guild event. And if you haven't gotten your tickets for the mid-afternoon adventure of the palate yet, consider this your chance to decide if you want to buy them - or, frankly, if you can afford not to attend.
1) Ladyfingers - Boulder Beer and New Holland Brewing
Maybe you feel like you've tried a lot of desert-style beers in recent years, but there's a good chance you haven't drunk a tiramisu brown ale before, especially one made with New Holland's house vanilla extract. After Boulder's creation of Shake Chocolate Porter in 2013, one is wise not to turn away sweet beers that America's oldest craft brewery may offer.
2) Uberpower Triple IPA - Comrade Brewing and Uberbrew
The idea of drinking a triple IPA from Comrade Brewing is enticing enough on its own, given how the east Denver brewery is pushing the boundaries of hoppy beers. But combining its talents with the talents of the 2016 Small Brewery of the Year winner out of Montana bumps this up to irresistible.
3) Japance Off - Denver Beer and Altitude Chophouse and Brewery
Altitude's absence at the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines festival this year was a sad one, but one of the most clever small breweries in the Rocky Mountain West found another reason to come back to Colorado - and partner with a Denver beer maker that continues to up its game. This is a hybrid Japanese and French saison made with sake yeast and floral French hops. No word yet on whether it's a traditional Japanese saison or a new-age version ....
4) Corner Store - Gravity Brewing and KettleHouse Brewing
The Louisville and Montana breweries are offering up a dry hopped imperial malt liquor. Just let that description sink in. And then try to imagine the reaction of an OE 800 fan trying one.
5) Spiciest Memelord - Odd 13 Brewing and Kane Brewing
One might worry that a kettle sour could be lost on the taste buds with all of the double IPAs and imperial stouts that breweries will be rolling out. Then you realize that this is made with habanero and raspberry. Oh, and that it's Odd 13 working with a respected New Jersey brewer.
6) Chocolate Orange Belgian Tripel - Ratio Beerworks and WeldWerks Brewing
If these two breweries made an American-style light lager, it would be worth trying. But this collaboration is as ambitious as it sounds. And it's hard to imagine it being anything short of startling.
7) Oaked Rye Dunkelweizen - Upslope Brewing and Resolute Brewing
Dunkelweizen is one of the most underutilized styles in America, and the appealing combination of this style aged on medium toast French oak cubes with some Colorado rye in there means a lot of good experimentation.
8) Brettxit - Bonfire Brewing and Casey Brewing
Casey can do sours. But an ESB fermented in wine barrels with four different Brett strains, made with an under-the-radar Eagle brewery? This is the kind of beer that defines a festival if it works out well.
9) Enemy of the People IPA - Great Divide Brewing and beer bloggers
Last year's Fourth Estate Belgian Chocolate Stout, made by bloggers and Lost Highway, was one of the real hits of the event. As an added bonus this year, I had to miss the group brew with Great Divide at the last minute even though my name is still on the beer - and that can only help its flavor profile.
10) Calvin and Hops - Something Brewery and New Boswell Brewing
I'm a guy who believes really well named beers deserve a taste. And this kumquat double IPA that is a product of a relatively new Brighton Brewery (Something) and an Indiana brewery you've probably never tried before boasts the coolest name of the festival.
Saturday marks the fourth Collaboration Fest, and the beers that will be served there only continue to get more nuanced and more adventurous. But since there are 180 breweries combining on roughly 100 beers at the event, it can be a bit overwhelming to decide even which direction you want to head when entering the National Western Complex for the show.
Consider this, then, a high-level sneak peak at the strangest, wildest, most wonderful combinations that will be poured at the Two Parts/Colorado Brewers Guild event. And if you haven't gotten your tickets for the mid-afternoon adventure of the palate yet, consider this your chance to decide if you want to buy them - or, frankly, if you can afford not to attend.
1) Ladyfingers - Boulder Beer and New Holland Brewing
Maybe you feel like you've tried a lot of desert-style beers in recent years, but there's a good chance you haven't drunk a tiramisu brown ale before, especially one made with New Holland's house vanilla extract. After Boulder's creation of Shake Chocolate Porter in 2013, one is wise not to turn away sweet beers that America's oldest craft brewery may offer.
2) Uberpower Triple IPA - Comrade Brewing and Uberbrew
The idea of drinking a triple IPA from Comrade Brewing is enticing enough on its own, given how the east Denver brewery is pushing the boundaries of hoppy beers. But combining its talents with the talents of the 2016 Small Brewery of the Year winner out of Montana bumps this up to irresistible.
3) Japance Off - Denver Beer and Altitude Chophouse and Brewery
Altitude's absence at the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines festival this year was a sad one, but one of the most clever small breweries in the Rocky Mountain West found another reason to come back to Colorado - and partner with a Denver beer maker that continues to up its game. This is a hybrid Japanese and French saison made with sake yeast and floral French hops. No word yet on whether it's a traditional Japanese saison or a new-age version ....
4) Corner Store - Gravity Brewing and KettleHouse Brewing
The Louisville and Montana breweries are offering up a dry hopped imperial malt liquor. Just let that description sink in. And then try to imagine the reaction of an OE 800 fan trying one.
5) Spiciest Memelord - Odd 13 Brewing and Kane Brewing
One might worry that a kettle sour could be lost on the taste buds with all of the double IPAs and imperial stouts that breweries will be rolling out. Then you realize that this is made with habanero and raspberry. Oh, and that it's Odd 13 working with a respected New Jersey brewer.
6) Chocolate Orange Belgian Tripel - Ratio Beerworks and WeldWerks Brewing
If these two breweries made an American-style light lager, it would be worth trying. But this collaboration is as ambitious as it sounds. And it's hard to imagine it being anything short of startling.
7) Oaked Rye Dunkelweizen - Upslope Brewing and Resolute Brewing
Dunkelweizen is one of the most underutilized styles in America, and the appealing combination of this style aged on medium toast French oak cubes with some Colorado rye in there means a lot of good experimentation.
8) Brettxit - Bonfire Brewing and Casey Brewing
Casey can do sours. But an ESB fermented in wine barrels with four different Brett strains, made with an under-the-radar Eagle brewery? This is the kind of beer that defines a festival if it works out well.
9) Enemy of the People IPA - Great Divide Brewing and beer bloggers
Last year's Fourth Estate Belgian Chocolate Stout, made by bloggers and Lost Highway, was one of the real hits of the event. As an added bonus this year, I had to miss the group brew with Great Divide at the last minute even though my name is still on the beer - and that can only help its flavor profile.
10) Calvin and Hops - Something Brewery and New Boswell Brewing
I'm a guy who believes really well named beers deserve a taste. And this kumquat double IPA that is a product of a relatively new Brighton Brewery (Something) and an Indiana brewery you've probably never tried before boasts the coolest name of the festival.
Labels: Boulder Beer, Casey Brewing, collaboration beers, Comrade Brewing, Denver Beer Co, Gravity Brewing, Great Divide, Odd 13 Brewing, Ratio Beerworks, Upslope Brewing, Weldwerks Brewing
Friday, January 20, 2017
Craft Malting: It's What's Next in Beer
In a small facility in western Massachusetts, Andrea Stanley is doing everything she can to come up with varieties of small-batch malt that are going to differentiate the small-batch brewers who use them. Sometimes that involves dipping back into brewing history to revitalize brown porter malt. And sometimes that means going where no one thought beer makers would want to go — like soaking malt for two weeks in a crock pot with kimchi to invent a whole new flavor.
What Stanley, owner of Valley Malt, and a small number of other craft maltsters — there are 44 operating in the United States now, with 26 more malt houses under construction — are doing is taking back an industry sector that largely is in the hands of big corporations. Craft maltsters produced just 0.4 percent of the supply in North America in 2016. Then again, that's about the percentage of American beer that craft brewers were making in the early 1980s as well.
And while big malt houses will churn out exciting products every once in a while, they are not coming up with the Kvaas malt or bourbon-barrel-smoked malt that Stanley is. And most are not offering single-variety malts like Colorado Malting Company of Alamosa, experimenting with the flavors that a lone crop can give to a beer.
"This is the way that things are moving," said Chad Yakobson, the founder of Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project who recently worked with Casey Brewing and Blending to make two versions of their Von Pilsner with two different malts and produced strikingly different flavors. "Malt is beer ... So, without it, what do we have?"
Stanley, Yakobson and others gathered at the recent Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival in Breckenridge for a panel discussion on experiments with local malt. The talk was eye-opening in regard to the possibilities of flavors not yet achieved by American brewers through the use of new varieties of one of the four main ingredients (with water, hops and yeast) that go into a beer.
Jason Cody, president and CEO of Colorado Malting Co., explained that he worked with the ever-experimental Three Barrel Brewing to make three varieties of the same ale, each with their own strain of single-variety malt — unusual in an industry that relies heavily on blended malt. And the samples of the beers they poured at the seminar were wholly unique - one light and jasmine-tinted, one traditionally earthy and a third almost flowery.
"This was a huge eye-opener for me," said Will Kreutzer, brewer and manager of the Del Norte beer maker, who works closely with father-in-law owner John Bricker (both pictured with Cody, above).
Yakobson's two Von Pilsners — one with Weyermann Pilsner malts and the other with Leopold Brothers floor-malted barley — also felt like different beers. Weyermann malts made the beer feel exceptionally clean and seemed to accent an airy quality, while the Leopold Brothers malt gave its offering qualities that were sweeter and somewhat chewy.
Stanley didn't bring beer samples but presented the malts almost as a breakfast supplement. (This, after all, was the 9:30 a.m. seminar on Saturday of the festival.) And while the kimchi malt was the most vibrant and palate-startling of the bunch — even if it would be difficult to pinpoint exactly what style of beer would benefit from its characteristics — varieties like the Kvaas malt, made from rye, gave hints of the bready, almost historical flavors that could be brought out with such new efforts.
"Are we going to transition all of our beer to be flavored with kimchi malt? The answer is obviously 'no,'" said John Mallett, the director of operations for Bell's Brewery who was presenting with Stanley. "But I love that malts like that are being made."
Craft brewers have used hops, yeast and additive ingredients to create new flavors and whole new styles of beer over the past 25 years. So, it's wonderful to see that by tweaking what is arguably the most staid of beer's primary ingredients, they may be about to push the flavor profile of this traditional beverage that much further.
In a small facility in western Massachusetts, Andrea Stanley is doing everything she can to come up with varieties of small-batch malt that are going to differentiate the small-batch brewers who use them. Sometimes that involves dipping back into brewing history to revitalize brown porter malt. And sometimes that means going where no one thought beer makers would want to go — like soaking malt for two weeks in a crock pot with kimchi to invent a whole new flavor.
What Stanley, owner of Valley Malt, and a small number of other craft maltsters — there are 44 operating in the United States now, with 26 more malt houses under construction — are doing is taking back an industry sector that largely is in the hands of big corporations. Craft maltsters produced just 0.4 percent of the supply in North America in 2016. Then again, that's about the percentage of American beer that craft brewers were making in the early 1980s as well.
And while big malt houses will churn out exciting products every once in a while, they are not coming up with the Kvaas malt or bourbon-barrel-smoked malt that Stanley is. And most are not offering single-variety malts like Colorado Malting Company of Alamosa, experimenting with the flavors that a lone crop can give to a beer.
"This is the way that things are moving," said Chad Yakobson, the founder of Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project who recently worked with Casey Brewing and Blending to make two versions of their Von Pilsner with two different malts and produced strikingly different flavors. "Malt is beer ... So, without it, what do we have?"
Stanley, Yakobson and others gathered at the recent Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival in Breckenridge for a panel discussion on experiments with local malt. The talk was eye-opening in regard to the possibilities of flavors not yet achieved by American brewers through the use of new varieties of one of the four main ingredients (with water, hops and yeast) that go into a beer.
Jason Cody, president and CEO of Colorado Malting Co., explained that he worked with the ever-experimental Three Barrel Brewing to make three varieties of the same ale, each with their own strain of single-variety malt — unusual in an industry that relies heavily on blended malt. And the samples of the beers they poured at the seminar were wholly unique - one light and jasmine-tinted, one traditionally earthy and a third almost flowery.
"This was a huge eye-opener for me," said Will Kreutzer, brewer and manager of the Del Norte beer maker, who works closely with father-in-law owner John Bricker (both pictured with Cody, above).
Yakobson's two Von Pilsners — one with Weyermann Pilsner malts and the other with Leopold Brothers floor-malted barley — also felt like different beers. Weyermann malts made the beer feel exceptionally clean and seemed to accent an airy quality, while the Leopold Brothers malt gave its offering qualities that were sweeter and somewhat chewy.
Stanley didn't bring beer samples but presented the malts almost as a breakfast supplement. (This, after all, was the 9:30 a.m. seminar on Saturday of the festival.) And while the kimchi malt was the most vibrant and palate-startling of the bunch — even if it would be difficult to pinpoint exactly what style of beer would benefit from its characteristics — varieties like the Kvaas malt, made from rye, gave hints of the bready, almost historical flavors that could be brought out with such new efforts.
"Are we going to transition all of our beer to be flavored with kimchi malt? The answer is obviously 'no,'" said John Mallett, the director of operations for Bell's Brewery who was presenting with Stanley. "But I love that malts like that are being made."
Craft brewers have used hops, yeast and additive ingredients to create new flavors and whole new styles of beer over the past 25 years. So, it's wonderful to see that by tweaking what is arguably the most staid of beer's primary ingredients, they may be about to push the flavor profile of this traditional beverage that much further.
Labels: Bell's Brewing, Big Beers, Casey Brewing, Colorado Malting Company, Craft malting, Crooked Stave, Leopold Brothers, Three Barrel Brewing
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Big Beers Has Some Big Changes
For 16 years the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival was synonymous with drinking in Vail. And now, for its 17th edition, it's being almost completely reborn - in a new city, in a new format, in a changing craft beer universe.
That kind of massive change would be enough to ruin some other festivals, or at least leave them caught in an identity crisis. But for Big Beers, whose festivities officially kick off Thursday evening (and whose tasting and seminar tickets are, shockingly, still available), it appears at first glance to be giving what already is one of America's best beer festivals a shot in the arm that allows organizers Laura and Bill Lodge to re-imagine the gathering in a whole new way.
Moving 38 miles down the road, the three-day celebration of the finest envelope-pushing beers in the state and the country lands this year at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge. There the main tasting event on Saturday will be split between two ballrooms in order to accommodate all of the breweries clamoring to pour their wares at the event - more than 150 will be in attendance, even as roughly 40 more beer makers had to be put onto a waiting list this year/
But, much like with the Great American Beer Festival, not all of the action will be on the floor of the event anymore. When Laura Lodge went searching for a city to replace Vail because the former host hotel is in the midst of massive renovations, one of the things she found was a willingness on the part of Breckenridge restaurants and bars not just to embrace the beer geeks coming into town but to line up a whole series of special events on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings to give visitors a chance to experience great beers outside of just the grand tasting.
From rare tappings by the likes of Odell and Avery to tap takeovers of luminaries like Melvin and Casey to beer dinners themed around everything from burgers to exotic small plates, Big Beers attendees almost could skip the festival and still have their palates sated. Then again, no one really would want to do that.
The festival, after all, remains a showcase of barrel-aged rarities (such as a Law’s Rum Barrel-Aged Sour Ale with Pluots and Elephant Heart Plums from Black Project), full experimental lines (the Metallurgy Sour Collection of beers aged in stainless steel barrels from Destihl Brewing), beers that have been cellaring for years and are impossible to find outside this event (2009 Fort from Dogfish Head) and a collection of breweries (Jester King, Surly, Troegs) whose beers can't be found elsewhere in Colorado. (See the program here.)
In fact, there's a good chance that this wholly new Big Beers festival will be its best one yet and lay a foundation for even more innovation to come. And Lodge feels very fortunate that she has this opportunity, even if it means having to leave her hometown for the weekend.
"It's been very gratifying to find out that not only is there a great beer culture here but everyone's very enthusiastic," she said. "We didn't lose any enthusiasm."
For 16 years the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival was synonymous with drinking in Vail. And now, for its 17th edition, it's being almost completely reborn - in a new city, in a new format, in a changing craft beer universe.
That kind of massive change would be enough to ruin some other festivals, or at least leave them caught in an identity crisis. But for Big Beers, whose festivities officially kick off Thursday evening (and whose tasting and seminar tickets are, shockingly, still available), it appears at first glance to be giving what already is one of America's best beer festivals a shot in the arm that allows organizers Laura and Bill Lodge to re-imagine the gathering in a whole new way.
Moving 38 miles down the road, the three-day celebration of the finest envelope-pushing beers in the state and the country lands this year at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge. There the main tasting event on Saturday will be split between two ballrooms in order to accommodate all of the breweries clamoring to pour their wares at the event - more than 150 will be in attendance, even as roughly 40 more beer makers had to be put onto a waiting list this year/
But, much like with the Great American Beer Festival, not all of the action will be on the floor of the event anymore. When Laura Lodge went searching for a city to replace Vail because the former host hotel is in the midst of massive renovations, one of the things she found was a willingness on the part of Breckenridge restaurants and bars not just to embrace the beer geeks coming into town but to line up a whole series of special events on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings to give visitors a chance to experience great beers outside of just the grand tasting.From rare tappings by the likes of Odell and Avery to tap takeovers of luminaries like Melvin and Casey to beer dinners themed around everything from burgers to exotic small plates, Big Beers attendees almost could skip the festival and still have their palates sated. Then again, no one really would want to do that.
The festival, after all, remains a showcase of barrel-aged rarities (such as a Law’s Rum Barrel-Aged Sour Ale with Pluots and Elephant Heart Plums from Black Project), full experimental lines (the Metallurgy Sour Collection of beers aged in stainless steel barrels from Destihl Brewing), beers that have been cellaring for years and are impossible to find outside this event (2009 Fort from Dogfish Head) and a collection of breweries (Jester King, Surly, Troegs) whose beers can't be found elsewhere in Colorado. (See the program here.)
In fact, there's a good chance that this wholly new Big Beers festival will be its best one yet and lay a foundation for even more innovation to come. And Lodge feels very fortunate that she has this opportunity, even if it means having to leave her hometown for the weekend.
"It's been very gratifying to find out that not only is there a great beer culture here but everyone's very enthusiastic," she said. "We didn't lose any enthusiasm."
Labels: Avery Brewing, Big Beers, Black Project, Casey Brewing, Destihl, Dogfish Head, Jester King Brewing, Melvin Brewing, nitro, Odell Brewing, Surly Brewing
Sunday, May 29, 2016
The Time of the Saison
Tucked back into the corner of Saturday's Funk and Farm Fest at Nighthawk Brewery, Trinity Brewing and Mu Brewery had an intriguing duo of beers on tap. Trinity was pouring a Saison Delivery - made with apples and grains of paradise and aged in chardonnay barrels - that was blowing everyone away by being tart and fruit-forward without being either blistering or cloying. And Mu was serving up a Key Lime Saison with Brett aged in Merlot barrels that, if slightly less polished, was a bold experiment at amping up both the sweetness and the pucker factor.
While different, the two beers offered great examples of just how many exciting directions the world of saison brewing is going. Surrounding them were farmhouse ales that tasted vaguely of cotton candy that cut through your taste buds with a sour golden bite and that clashed a sharp tartness with the big taste of the whiskey barrel in which they were aged - each one worthy of kudos.
To think, when New Belgium tried to introduce a saison 20 years ago - a story I recounted in my book, "Mountain Brew" - beer drinkers didn't take to it because they largely weren't ready for the traditional Belgian style to blend with the rising flavors of hops and roasted barley in America. Now no major brewery is without one in its portfolio, and the best are rolling out more and more variations - Great Divide's full, fruity and slightly flowery Nadia Kali hibiscus saison being the latest really tasty one to hit the market - just to keep up with demand.
To what should we attribute the saison boom? A big factor is the demand among beer geeks for more that is different and cutting edge. Saison as a style allows for greater experimentation that most, presenting a slightly estery, slightly spicy base that lends itself to a ton of different adjuncts. But it also is a medium-bodied beer that can appeal to a wide range of drinkers, depending on what is thrown into the brew kettle.
I think back to my birthday party in 2015, when I asked friends to bring a saison and we did a blind taste testing to determine our favorite. That a Casey Brewing and Blending Saison won the general poll was not a surprise, as the Glenwood Springs beer auteur has managed to craft a version of the style that is bright and slightly tart and excites the taste buds continually. But the variety of saisons that scored high in our tallies - from Epic's Sour Apple Saison to Three Barrel's peppery Pemba Sherpa Saison - made it clear that there was a lot to like on the market.
Similarly, Nighthawk's farmhouse festival left few stones un-turned. Wynkoop's Forethought Barrel-Aged Sour Saison was a jolting and fascinating combination of strong flavors. Atom Brewing's Arlo farmhouse-inspired ale presented a huge sweetness developed surprisingly through open-air fermentation. Spangalang's Ethel, a sour saison, was bright and eye-opening without being punishing on the taste buds.
There is a lot to enjoy in the greater saison field today. But what is more exciting is the nearly blank slate from which brewers can develop more creative and more challenging saison varieties to come. The style may have originated with farm owners in Belgium and France. But what American brewers are doing with it is taking it to a whole new level.
Tucked back into the corner of Saturday's Funk and Farm Fest at Nighthawk Brewery, Trinity Brewing and Mu Brewery had an intriguing duo of beers on tap. Trinity was pouring a Saison Delivery - made with apples and grains of paradise and aged in chardonnay barrels - that was blowing everyone away by being tart and fruit-forward without being either blistering or cloying. And Mu was serving up a Key Lime Saison with Brett aged in Merlot barrels that, if slightly less polished, was a bold experiment at amping up both the sweetness and the pucker factor.
While different, the two beers offered great examples of just how many exciting directions the world of saison brewing is going. Surrounding them were farmhouse ales that tasted vaguely of cotton candy that cut through your taste buds with a sour golden bite and that clashed a sharp tartness with the big taste of the whiskey barrel in which they were aged - each one worthy of kudos.
To think, when New Belgium tried to introduce a saison 20 years ago - a story I recounted in my book, "Mountain Brew" - beer drinkers didn't take to it because they largely weren't ready for the traditional Belgian style to blend with the rising flavors of hops and roasted barley in America. Now no major brewery is without one in its portfolio, and the best are rolling out more and more variations - Great Divide's full, fruity and slightly flowery Nadia Kali hibiscus saison being the latest really tasty one to hit the market - just to keep up with demand.To what should we attribute the saison boom? A big factor is the demand among beer geeks for more that is different and cutting edge. Saison as a style allows for greater experimentation that most, presenting a slightly estery, slightly spicy base that lends itself to a ton of different adjuncts. But it also is a medium-bodied beer that can appeal to a wide range of drinkers, depending on what is thrown into the brew kettle.
I think back to my birthday party in 2015, when I asked friends to bring a saison and we did a blind taste testing to determine our favorite. That a Casey Brewing and Blending Saison won the general poll was not a surprise, as the Glenwood Springs beer auteur has managed to craft a version of the style that is bright and slightly tart and excites the taste buds continually. But the variety of saisons that scored high in our tallies - from Epic's Sour Apple Saison to Three Barrel's peppery Pemba Sherpa Saison - made it clear that there was a lot to like on the market.
Similarly, Nighthawk's farmhouse festival left few stones un-turned. Wynkoop's Forethought Barrel-Aged Sour Saison was a jolting and fascinating combination of strong flavors. Atom Brewing's Arlo farmhouse-inspired ale presented a huge sweetness developed surprisingly through open-air fermentation. Spangalang's Ethel, a sour saison, was bright and eye-opening without being punishing on the taste buds.
There is a lot to enjoy in the greater saison field today. But what is more exciting is the nearly blank slate from which brewers can develop more creative and more challenging saison varieties to come. The style may have originated with farm owners in Belgium and France. But what American brewers are doing with it is taking it to a whole new level.
Labels: Atom Brewing, Casey Brewing, Epic Brewing, Great Divide, Mu Brewery, Nighthawk Brewing, Saisons, Spangalang Brewery, Three Barrel Brewing, Trinity Brewing, Wynkoop Brewery
Friday, January 15, 2016
Top 10 Colorado Beers of 2015
First, I have to apologize to all of you — and yes, I mean both of you — who have been asking what's happened to my blog as of late. Between the Jan. 3 due date for my book and Jan. 16 due date for my second child, I've had to pull my attention elsewhere. But, hey, nothing gets a writer like me going quite like a deadline.
That said, 2015 as a whole was another year of experimentation by Colorado breweries but also a year of taking simple styles and just making them ridiculously good. And with that, you will see that the following list contains a little of both, with a complete rainbow of flavors that show once again how the biggest experiments can have some of the biggest payoffs.
10) Odd 13 Humulus Kalecumber
Few breweries took as giant a leap forward this year as this Lafayette beer maker, which dialed in on its sours and increased distribution in the metro area. But nothing was as shockingly tasty as this Berliner Weisse brewed with kale, cucumber and mint - tart and yet undefinable.
9) CaseyBrewing & Blending Saison
Troy Casey is building a cult following with the tart and fruit-infused beers he is putting together in Glenwood Springs. But his greatest feat was offering a clean and crisp saison that jumped to the top of its style in Colorado — and one that appeals to both edgier and more traditional palates.
8) Mockery Brewing Lapsang Souchong
This brewery tucked around the corner from Great Divide's Barrel Bar made its name in 2015 with beers that were made perfectly and had just a little twist. None was more satisfying that this smoked tea lager that was light-bodied but permeated the palate completely.
7) Ska Estival Cream Stout
Ska took your expectations and tossed them out the window twice with this masterpiece. First, it made its primary summer seasonal a stout — and one that was easy to drink even in the warmest weather. And then it added cream and orange zest and made a dark beer smooth and slightly fruity.
6) Avery Antonius' Carmen
The opening of Avery's destination brewery in Boulder County gave it more taps to dole out its growing barrel-aged collection. The biggest and best surprise of the year there was this dark sour ale aged in Madeira barrels, beautifully chewy and bright.
5) River North Third Anniversary Ale
A 17 percent saison designed to celebrate an anniversary of these Denver auteurs sounded at first like a gimmick that would backfire. On the contrary this was bold and sweet and shockingly smooth, and the alcohol was muted enough to make it both delicious and dangerous.
4) Horse & Dragon Sad Panda Coffee Stout
The best thing to come out of the craft-beer mecca that is Fort Collins this year not only was introduced originally in 2014 but was made by one of the smallest and newest breweries in the city. Yet, this coffee stout with a hint of sweetness drank like one of the most perfect blends of big and accessible in Colorado, and the hope is that it gets more widespread distribution this year.
3) Ratio New Wave
Arguably the best new Colorado brewery of 2015 opened in Denver's RiNo neighborhood with a saison and a scotch ale that tasted like the works of seasoned veterans. But what announced Ratio's presence with authority was this summer-released strawberry Berliner Weisse that sizzled with tartness and big, juicy fruit. It was a combo that worked with a touch of genius.
2) Dry Dock Whiskey Barrel-Aged Double Hazlenut Brown Ale
Dry Dock's introduction of a series of barrel-aged big beers at the start of 2015 was the herald of what already one of the state's best breweries turning a corner toward a whole new level. In this effort especially, the barrel didn't assault your taste buds; it blended remarkably with the muted alcohol and stunning malty sweetness of the beer to take a complex experience and make it more pleasing.
1) Strange Craft Beer/Copper Kettle Brewing Basil Kriek Blonde
Collaboration Fest ranked as one of the best beer festivals of 2015, largely because of the wide variety of experiments that worked so well. But the one that soared above the rest - and continued to strike wonder as Strange and Copper Kettle served it throughout the year was this combination of Strange's Cherry Kriek and Copper Kettle's Basil Blonde. Two beers that are laud-worthy in their own right took seemingly clashing strong flavor profiles and turned them into a blended burst of fruit and spice with a soft blonde base beer that fortified it without overpowering it. It was a truly memorable effort from a truly memorable event that proved its mettle as more than a 2-ounce one-off creation.
First, I have to apologize to all of you — and yes, I mean both of you — who have been asking what's happened to my blog as of late. Between the Jan. 3 due date for my book and Jan. 16 due date for my second child, I've had to pull my attention elsewhere. But, hey, nothing gets a writer like me going quite like a deadline.
That said, 2015 as a whole was another year of experimentation by Colorado breweries but also a year of taking simple styles and just making them ridiculously good. And with that, you will see that the following list contains a little of both, with a complete rainbow of flavors that show once again how the biggest experiments can have some of the biggest payoffs.
10) Odd 13 Humulus Kalecumber
Few breweries took as giant a leap forward this year as this Lafayette beer maker, which dialed in on its sours and increased distribution in the metro area. But nothing was as shockingly tasty as this Berliner Weisse brewed with kale, cucumber and mint - tart and yet undefinable.
9) CaseyBrewing & Blending Saison
Troy Casey is building a cult following with the tart and fruit-infused beers he is putting together in Glenwood Springs. But his greatest feat was offering a clean and crisp saison that jumped to the top of its style in Colorado — and one that appeals to both edgier and more traditional palates.
8) Mockery Brewing Lapsang Souchong
This brewery tucked around the corner from Great Divide's Barrel Bar made its name in 2015 with beers that were made perfectly and had just a little twist. None was more satisfying that this smoked tea lager that was light-bodied but permeated the palate completely.
7) Ska Estival Cream Stout
Ska took your expectations and tossed them out the window twice with this masterpiece. First, it made its primary summer seasonal a stout — and one that was easy to drink even in the warmest weather. And then it added cream and orange zest and made a dark beer smooth and slightly fruity.
6) Avery Antonius' Carmen
The opening of Avery's destination brewery in Boulder County gave it more taps to dole out its growing barrel-aged collection. The biggest and best surprise of the year there was this dark sour ale aged in Madeira barrels, beautifully chewy and bright.
5) River North Third Anniversary Ale
A 17 percent saison designed to celebrate an anniversary of these Denver auteurs sounded at first like a gimmick that would backfire. On the contrary this was bold and sweet and shockingly smooth, and the alcohol was muted enough to make it both delicious and dangerous.4) Horse & Dragon Sad Panda Coffee Stout
The best thing to come out of the craft-beer mecca that is Fort Collins this year not only was introduced originally in 2014 but was made by one of the smallest and newest breweries in the city. Yet, this coffee stout with a hint of sweetness drank like one of the most perfect blends of big and accessible in Colorado, and the hope is that it gets more widespread distribution this year.
3) Ratio New Wave
Arguably the best new Colorado brewery of 2015 opened in Denver's RiNo neighborhood with a saison and a scotch ale that tasted like the works of seasoned veterans. But what announced Ratio's presence with authority was this summer-released strawberry Berliner Weisse that sizzled with tartness and big, juicy fruit. It was a combo that worked with a touch of genius.
2) Dry Dock Whiskey Barrel-Aged Double Hazlenut Brown Ale
Dry Dock's introduction of a series of barrel-aged big beers at the start of 2015 was the herald of what already one of the state's best breweries turning a corner toward a whole new level. In this effort especially, the barrel didn't assault your taste buds; it blended remarkably with the muted alcohol and stunning malty sweetness of the beer to take a complex experience and make it more pleasing.
1) Strange Craft Beer/Copper Kettle Brewing Basil Kriek Blonde
Collaboration Fest ranked as one of the best beer festivals of 2015, largely because of the wide variety of experiments that worked so well. But the one that soared above the rest - and continued to strike wonder as Strange and Copper Kettle served it throughout the year was this combination of Strange's Cherry Kriek and Copper Kettle's Basil Blonde. Two beers that are laud-worthy in their own right took seemingly clashing strong flavor profiles and turned them into a blended burst of fruit and spice with a soft blonde base beer that fortified it without overpowering it. It was a truly memorable effort from a truly memorable event that proved its mettle as more than a 2-ounce one-off creation.
Labels: Avery Brewing, Casey Brewing, Copper Kettle Brewing, Dry Dock Brewing, Horse and Dragon Brewing, Mockery Brewing, Odd 13 Brewing, Ratio Beerworks, River North Brewery, Ska Brewing, Strange Craft Beer
