Beer Run Blog

Anatomy of a Beer Festival, Post-Covid

About 45 minutes into the Vail Craft Beer Classic on Saturday, a feeling wafted over the event that was, well, strangely normal. Beer geeks discussed the early finds of the day. A local brewery circulated word of a special tapping. Taster glasses jutted out from hands, subsequently filled with suds.

What no one talked about was coronavirus, except in terms of "hasn't it sucked that the pandemic has knocked out events like these for 17 months?" Glasses were cleaned well, but not excessively so. Hugs and pats on the back marked the day. Masks were nonexistent.

If there was an impact of the pandemic seen on the first specialty festival to come back - for a second straight year - since the world shut down, maybe it was the crowd limit self-imposed by Team Player Productions, which made the event all the more free-flowing and celebratory. Lines never exceeded about eight people for the 40 tents of booze purveyors, and that lent to an atmosphere where you stopped and chatted and even planted yourself in front of the band for a few minutes rather than rushed to the hot brewers to beat everyone else there. (Note the below picture of the lineless Weldwerks tent, which happened several times during the event.)

There was just a hell of a lot of smiles. Heck, this open-air festival even took on rain, but people ducked under tents or under their own umbrellas (see bottom of article), too eager to take part in the communal enjoyment of beer again to bother seeking more permanent shelter when the skies opened. And the Vail Craft Beer Classic offered a lot more reasons to stay than to overthink what might be purely the safest course, which frankly seemed an appropriate theme for a day when no one felt they were taking an undue risk.

Lagers ruled the roost at this summer gathering. Both the 4 Noses Jasmine Rice Lager - incredibly smooth with just a wanted hint of non-Rheinheitsgebot addition - and the perfectly crisp and clean FlyteCo Chinese Rice Lager just felt right to be consumed in an open green field. Wibby Brewing's Volksbier Vienna reminded you why the Longmont German beer specialist is one of the most underrated brewers in Colorado. And if Wild Blue Yonder Brewing's Oak-Barrel-Aged Lager added only a hint of vanilla to the backtaste of the creation, it was enough to let you know it still was something special.

But the creativity was big too. The aforementioned Weldwerks brought its Rockets Red Glare Berliner that was nothing short of the alcoholic version of a Bomb Pop. Bakers' Brewery's higher-alcohol In Bloom Saison served as a reminder of the creativity of brewers whose products don't make it to the Front Range - as did Ramblebine Brewing's incredibly drinkable Demberries, a slightly tart and fruity ale that doesn't forget that it's a beer first and foremost. And if you didn't get a sip of Launch Pad Brewery's Peacemaker Porter, the term "smoked session porter" may not light up a smile for you the way it does for me.

All in all, the event was a reminder why beer festivals remain both relevant and extremely doable. Conversations with folks you know and folks you don't make the beer-tasting experience a more elevated one because of thoughts shared in a collegial way. Good gatherings are ones where the brewers pour and then discuss their offerings. You leave wanting to seek out more adventures for your palate, both from the creators who just lit it up and others you hope to find.

Beer festivals are back, and they can be done safely and in a less crowded way than maybe we knew before. And events like Vail Craft Beer Classic show that it's time that more come back too.

Labels: 4 Noses Brewing, Baker's Brewery, Beer festivals, FlyteCo Brewing, Launch Pad Brewery, Ramblebine Brewing, Vail Craft Beer Classic, Weldwerks Brewing, Wibby Brewing, Wild Blue Yonder Brewing

Collaboration still is worth celebrating

It occurred to me as everyone was celebrating our nation's independence today 10 days ago that it would have three months exactly since we should have been celebrating something else noble — collaboration. Alas, Collaboration Fest was the first of Colorado's great beer events felled by coronavirus — a list that, sadly, stretches all the way now to include the Great American Beer Festival as we've known it.

But one of the oddly positive things to come out of this time of isolation has been the slow rollout of collaboration beers. followed by an extended shelf life that's left a few of them available still. And it is to that effort that today's retrospective/perspective column is dedicated — a look at a select number of the great collaborations this year that you should either buy or tell your favorite breweries to make again soon.

Strange Times — Strange Craft Beer/Argonaut Wine & Liquor
This barrel-aged baltic porter was of the best and simultaneously most dangerous kind — a beer that churns with complex flavors yet doesn't appear to be anywhere as boozy as it actually is. Dark, roasty and chocolatey with just the right amount of bitterness, it's so easy to enjoy that you can put down four cans of it without ever stopping to take a photo ...


Strawberry Shortcake Pastry Sour — Crooked Stave/Molly's Spirits
In lesser hands, this beer could have been a juicy fruit bomb with an abnormally glowing red/pink body. Instead, it meshes all of its attributes beautifully, letting its fruit bring the sweetness, its yeast give it just a prick of sour that doesn't detract from its core taste and some wonderful brewing leave it with a backtaste of dough, as if you've just drank a tart-ish piece of cake.


The Odyssey of Flyte — Odyssey Beerwerks/FlyteCo Brewing
Every year among the bold and crazy creations that headline Collaboration Fest, one finds the almost subtle beer that you want to drink over and over again — and this beer allowed you to do just that as coronavirus shifted its production into cans. Classic in its Belgian feel, it put forth a slightly sharp, sweet taste but also a big body that heightened its drinkability, ending with tang of bitterness that made you feel you'd flown around the taste world in 12 ounces.

Jungle Rush — Westfax Brewing/Finkel & Garf
Sure, "fruited sour hazy IPA" sounded like a gimmick that was a milkshake short of a full trend house. But after a burst of orange-pineapple nose, the hops really did take over with a wonderful bitterness that stood up and complimented the citrus fruit well. Both bold and eerily subtle, it evolved as you drank it, giving you a run through a lot of techniques that all were impressive.

Strat Boy — Cannonball Creek/Pizza Port Carlsbad
While not the world's most interesting beer, these auteurs managed to make a hoppy American pilsner that also was not boring - and in doing so, created what could have been the summer sipper of the batch. Its defining characteristic was its crispness, and the surrounding bitterness helped to lay that quality down and make sure that there was something more going on in a simple creation.





Barrel Conspiracy: Mr. Sandman — River North Brewery/Molly's Spirits
As far as ambitious beers go, this bourbon-barrel-aged imperial stout with orange and chocolate had few peers, at least among the beers found in the Denver area in the months following what would have been the festival. Maybe the 12.8% ABV was a little too much for its own good. But the nose itself was the single most impressive aroma of a beer that has debuted this year, launching you into a world of candy and creativity that did not overstep the boundaries of sweetness, presumably because of its notable booze.

The Cure — Brewery Rickoli/Over Yonder Brewing
Not just the most appropriately named beer for a coronavirus-cancelled festival, this West Coast double IPA showed off a subtle touch from two overlooked breweries in Denver's western suburbs. Clean, classically hoppy and full of pine and dandelions, it recalled an earlier time in brewing, both before coronavirus and before the idea of collaborations.

Strangely Epic — Strange Craft Beer/Epic Brewing
This is not the first time the two Denver breweries have combined their signature beers to make a seemingly head-scratching whiskey-barrel-aged coffee cherry stout, but it has never seemed to blend so appropriately. Darker than night and scented heavily with coffee, it allowed the cherry to come through just strongly enough that it added a unique dimension to the featured taste in a warming, enveloping stout. Ask for seconds this winter; this is what a cold-weather nightcap should be.

Labels: Brewery Rickoli, Cannonball Creek Brewing, collaboration beers, Crooked Stave, Epic Brewing, Finkel & Garf Brewing, FlyteCo Brewing, Molly's Spirits, Odyssey Beerwerks, River North Brewery, Strange Craft Beer