Monday, September 20, 2021
Great Mexican Beer Fiesta Offers Unique Tastes
Denver Beer Co. on Sept. 11 held its Great American Beer Fiesta once again, offering up three beers made in collaboration between the Denver brewery and three Mexican breweries. It was a tradition launched by Jason Buehler, the late Denver Beer brewmaster whose repeated trips to Mexico led not only to a deep connection to the budding beer makers in that country but to the launching of Cerveceria Colorado, the Mexican-style brewery housed in the former barrel room of Denver Beer Co's Platte Street taproom.
This year's three beers show a range of styles, each with a unique ingredient.
The best of the trio is Chipotle Amber Ale, made in collaboration with Cerveza Caserio in the Gulf Coast town of Tampico. Made with meco chipotle chiles, this was a fascinating experiment between two breweries that had never used chipotle in a beer before but kept adding it a little bit at a time until they reached the point where the burn was apparent but not overwhelming, Denver Beer director of innovation Andy Parker said.
What's impressive here is that the heat rises gradually — a little bit at first on the aroma, and then a little bit more on the tongue and a little bit more on the backbite, until you are entranced with the smoky zing and what it can do to a mild beer. Cerveza Caserio brewer Humberto Saldivar said he wanted to use something more balanced than the habaneros and poblano peppers that he's put into his beer before, and he clearly seems to have nailed it.
Also impressive is the Café de Olla Stout made in collaboration with Cerveceria San Pascual Baylon in the city of Cholula. Brewery co-founder Nico Capasso wanted to make something akin to the the traditional Mexican coffee made in earthen clay pots, and he and the Denver Beer team created a beer that tastes both exotic and familiar and leaves you swirling it around on your taste buds to see how many flavors you can pick up.
There is star anise, clove and orange peel in here, but what sets this apart is piloncillo, a caramelized sugar added to the kettle in just the right amount to give this a cushioning sweetness without making a dark and properly spiced beer into something that actually is sweet. It will remind you of some of the bigger-bodied stout experiments popular with Colorado breweries now, but there's nothing that tastes quite like this.
Finally, there is the Blood Orange Gose (pictured at top of blog), made in collaboration with Mexico City's Cerveza Cru Cru, a brewery known for its drinkable beers and the lauded beer competitions that it organizes. Head brewer Luis Enrique de la Reguera said he wanted to use a kind of fruit that can't be found in Mexico but add it to this classic style in a way that calls to mind a michelada, the traditional Mexican drink made with beer, lime juice, tomato juice and spices.
The kettle sour may be on the traditional side, but it's decidedly not sour, with any mild tartness overshadowed by a big dose of orange that renders it overly subtle. Still, if there was a Mexican/Denverite collaboration equivalent of a lawnmower beer, this may just be it, giving you refreshment without the lasting imprint that the other two beers will leave upon you.
The Great Mexican Beer Fiesta offerings are on tap until they run out at Cerveceria Colorado, but brewery co-owner Patrick Crawford said he expects they may last a month or longer.
Labels: Cerveceria Colorado, Cerveceria San Pascual Baylon, Cerveza Caserio, Cerveza Cru Cru, collaboration beers, Denver Beer Co, Great American Beer Festival, Mexican beer
Saturday, May 05, 2018
Cerveceria Colorado Will Change the Way You Look at Mexican Beer
Those who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s came to think of Mexican beer as watery amber lager at best. At worst, it was a urine-colored liquid that you jammed a lime into just to get past the skunk and make it palatable.
So, it's natural that eyebrows should raise with today's opening of Ceveceria Colorado, a Denver Beer Co. project that celebrates the cultures and flavors of Mexico across an opening-day lineup of eight beers. But you need to remove from your predispositions any concept of what you think Mexican beer is, because what has been created here is an explosion of flavors that is unlike anything you'll find in Mexican beers that export to the United States.
Roasted limes, pineapple, even churro add to base beers that are both native to Mexico and nowhere to be found in our neighbor to the south. In some ways, the offerings are more experimental and more satisfying than even the portfolio of beers found at Denver Beer.
"Some beers like this exist, for sure. But a lot of the craft breweries down there ... have pretty standard beer styles. They have an ale and a porter," said Jason Buehler, the head brewer at Denver Beer who has spent significant time brewing with Mexican craft purveyors. "This is a totally separate identity. It's a great space. It's a great place. And the beers are fun."
Buehler got introduced to Mexican brewing a few years ago when he was one of just two Americans that got to judge a craft beer festival in the country. Through the connections he made there, he began to travel more to the country, working with breweries to improve their beer but also soaking in the flavors that hadn't crossed the border and understanding the breadth of tastes that local Mexican breweries have to work with.
Denver Beer, meanwhile, had a barrel room next door to its main Platte Street location that too often went unused. It considered opening a sour brewery or a German brewery but decided that those concepts had been done and that it wanted to introduce something totally unique - "American-style craft beers with Mexican inspirations," co-owner Patrick Crawford said.
Cerveceria Colorado's menu does feature a traditional Mexican lager, Venga, and it's the most boring offering on the menu, reminiscent of Tecate but without that lingering off-taste that makes you feel the beer went too long without being refrigerated. Buehler and co-owners Crawford and Charlie Berger think it will be the brewery's signature beer, but you're honestly better off skipping it.
Instead, go directly to the Cocolimón, a kettle sour made with roasted limes in collaboration with Cerveceria de Colima in the Mexican city of Colima. It's the roast that makes this beer stand out from any sour beer you've ever tasted, giving it a fresh, cooked base and making the lime less acidic than it is omnipresent, creating a unique taste that transports you elsewhere in your mind.
The Churro Stout is another winner — a beer that came about only after Buehler drove around the Denver area with his son one day trying to find the tastiest churro. What he developed — a milk stout with those winning churros thrown into the mash — is big on lactose and background cinnamon and so smooth and sweet that it has a slight complexity that's not present in many other sweet stouts.
Then there's Señor Piña, a blonde ale fermented with pineapples and dry-hopped with Mosaic hops. It's fruity without being cloying, subtle in its hopping and an altogether very drinkable experience.
The menu is filled with other treats, from a light but tasty poblano pilsner to a chocolate pale ale that feels naturally blended rather than some sort of gimmick. Around every turn, Cerveceria Colorado is willing to throw something new at you and demonstrate it knows what it's doing.
Berger acknowledges that this isn't the beer most Mexicans are drinking. But he thinks the melange of flavors would give them pride in what they taste. And it should rightfully please all the non-Mexican Denverites who want to stop in and learn just how fully realized a cultural effort this is.
Those who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s came to think of Mexican beer as watery amber lager at best. At worst, it was a urine-colored liquid that you jammed a lime into just to get past the skunk and make it palatable.
So, it's natural that eyebrows should raise with today's opening of Ceveceria Colorado, a Denver Beer Co. project that celebrates the cultures and flavors of Mexico across an opening-day lineup of eight beers. But you need to remove from your predispositions any concept of what you think Mexican beer is, because what has been created here is an explosion of flavors that is unlike anything you'll find in Mexican beers that export to the United States.
Roasted limes, pineapple, even churro add to base beers that are both native to Mexico and nowhere to be found in our neighbor to the south. In some ways, the offerings are more experimental and more satisfying than even the portfolio of beers found at Denver Beer.
"Some beers like this exist, for sure. But a lot of the craft breweries down there ... have pretty standard beer styles. They have an ale and a porter," said Jason Buehler, the head brewer at Denver Beer who has spent significant time brewing with Mexican craft purveyors. "This is a totally separate identity. It's a great space. It's a great place. And the beers are fun."
Buehler got introduced to Mexican brewing a few years ago when he was one of just two Americans that got to judge a craft beer festival in the country. Through the connections he made there, he began to travel more to the country, working with breweries to improve their beer but also soaking in the flavors that hadn't crossed the border and understanding the breadth of tastes that local Mexican breweries have to work with.
Denver Beer, meanwhile, had a barrel room next door to its main Platte Street location that too often went unused. It considered opening a sour brewery or a German brewery but decided that those concepts had been done and that it wanted to introduce something totally unique - "American-style craft beers with Mexican inspirations," co-owner Patrick Crawford said.
Cerveceria Colorado's menu does feature a traditional Mexican lager, Venga, and it's the most boring offering on the menu, reminiscent of Tecate but without that lingering off-taste that makes you feel the beer went too long without being refrigerated. Buehler and co-owners Crawford and Charlie Berger think it will be the brewery's signature beer, but you're honestly better off skipping it.
Instead, go directly to the Cocolimón, a kettle sour made with roasted limes in collaboration with Cerveceria de Colima in the Mexican city of Colima. It's the roast that makes this beer stand out from any sour beer you've ever tasted, giving it a fresh, cooked base and making the lime less acidic than it is omnipresent, creating a unique taste that transports you elsewhere in your mind.
The Churro Stout is another winner — a beer that came about only after Buehler drove around the Denver area with his son one day trying to find the tastiest churro. What he developed — a milk stout with those winning churros thrown into the mash — is big on lactose and background cinnamon and so smooth and sweet that it has a slight complexity that's not present in many other sweet stouts.Then there's Señor Piña, a blonde ale fermented with pineapples and dry-hopped with Mosaic hops. It's fruity without being cloying, subtle in its hopping and an altogether very drinkable experience.
The menu is filled with other treats, from a light but tasty poblano pilsner to a chocolate pale ale that feels naturally blended rather than some sort of gimmick. Around every turn, Cerveceria Colorado is willing to throw something new at you and demonstrate it knows what it's doing.
Berger acknowledges that this isn't the beer most Mexicans are drinking. But he thinks the melange of flavors would give them pride in what they taste. And it should rightfully please all the non-Mexican Denverites who want to stop in and learn just how fully realized a cultural effort this is.
Labels: blonde ale, Cerveceria Colorado, Denver Beer Co, kettle sour, lager, Mexican beer, sweet stout
