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
Saturday, June 12, 2021
Beer Festivals Are Back. Here is How One is Pulling That Off.
The Vail Craft Beer Classic is coming back for its second straight year of socially distanced drinking with limited crowds in just two weeks. But the moves it's making to stay safe and relevant this year may impact the way that it and a whole lot of other beer festivals change permanently.
Unless you were one of the 700 people spread across four sessions who attended the event in 2020, you may not realize there was actually one beer festival last summer. Organizers cut capacity crowds by 82%, eliminated lines at booths for the sake of keeping groups of attendees apart and reported zero transmissions of coronavirus at a time when most people still were hunkering down in their homes.
They expected to put the same safety measures in place this year but have been pleased to see a loosening on everything from mask requirements to crowd constraints. Still, Team Player Productions is limiting each of the four sessions on June 25 and 26 to 250 people, even in a park that holds about 1,000, and it believes it may have hit on the sweet spot of attendee comfort and crowd optimization.
Kristen Slater, event director for the Denver-based organization, noted that while many festivals run on a ratio of one brewery for every 50 people, the Vail Craft Beer Classic will offer one beverage provider for every eight to 12 attendees. While guests this year will be able to sample the beers at the booths where they're poured — something they couldn't do last year, when they had to remain masked and take them back to designated areas for each cadre of attendees — she expects lines won't grow more than two to three people long, and the vibe will be very relaxed.
"That's really a decision we made early on that we didn't want that environment," Slater said of the typical throngs converging on the most sought-after booths. "And people loved it and they loved not having the pressure of having to get your beer and move to the next line."
This year, to meet all guests where they are on their public-mingling comfort levels, the festival will offer reusable taster cups if they want to take them from booth to booth or will offer compostable single-use cups and frisbee trays that attendees can use to gather the cups and bring them back to their stations. The festival will take place in Ford Park and Sculpture Garden, and there will be the usual trappings of a beer festival as well, including music.
And, yes, there will be 40 breweries, with a mix of Colorado star players (WeldWerks, Odell, Great Divide, 4 Noses) and local finds that would make you want to travel into the mountains for the weekend (Vail Brewing Co., Ramblebine, Cabin Creek, Baker's Brewery). And the pour list is not, well, poor, offering treats from WeldWerks' Pop-Rocks-inspired Rockets Red Glare Sour to Cheluna Brewing's Rojo Tamarindo Gose to a Chardonnay-barrel-aged saison from Cabin Creek.
By keeping ticket prices relatively close to 2019 levels — $64, with tickets available still to the 2 and 5 p.m. Friday sessions and a small wait list building for the noon and 3 p.m. Saturday sessions — and crowds small, Slater believes the whole festival will feel like the uncrowded but higher-priced VIP sessions of other events. Plus it will have a special touch — West Vail Liquor Mart will have QR codes at the booths of each of the breweries whose products it has in stock (about two-thirds of them), and attendees can order those beers for post-festival pickup or delivery if they would like.
Organizers certainly look forward to welcoming in more guests in future years. But Slater, for one, doesn't think that the elbow-to-elbow festivals of pre-pandemic times will return fully at any point. And these less crowded, more experiential gatherings that are taking place this summer may just offer a peek into how beer events will be redefined in future years.
"I think we're kind of going to see a hybrid. I think there is a knee-jerk reaction to big crowds for some people," Slater said. "But we're also seeing that people are willing to pay more for an elevated experience."
Labels: 4 Noses Brewing, Baker's Brewery, Beer festivals, Cabin Creek Brewing, Cheluna Brewing, Great Divide, Odell Brewing, Team Player Productions, Vail Craft Beer Classic, Weldwerks Brewing
Sunday, December 20, 2020
The 12 Beers of Christmas 2020
Lockdown has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to beer exploration. On the down side is the lack of seasonal beer festivals (a.k.a. Denver Beer Festivus) that allowed one to explore many Christmas creations in one fell swoop. On the plus side, however, is the fact that little this year is getting in the way of drinking multiple beers every night in the name of, um, journalism.
So, after a month of diving into as many seasonal offerings as could be scrounged, here is one drinker's guide to 12 Beers of Christmas this year, both from Colorado and from afar, that can help you get through the rest of this year in merry shape. Good beers to all, and to all a good night!
12) Shiner Holiday Cheer
This is the "wait, do I like this?" beer of the season - a dunkelweizen swimming in the flavor of Texas peaches that looks more like a dark champagne than a holiday ale. The fruit is so dominant here, and the beer is acutely sweet. But you won't forget it. And you'll realize there's some real talent behind this.
11) Briar Common Amnesia
Released just on Dec. 19, this is a bold concept - a 13% ABV wood-aged imperial stout brewed with tart cherries - that right now tastes a bit premature, with the thick body taking on more of a port wine characteristic than the feel of a stout. But pick up two and cellar one for six months, as this just feels like a budding masterpiece that can grow very well into its own complexity.
10) Avery Old Jubilation
An 8.3% ABV English-style old ale with a boozy enough feel to be mistaken for a light barleywine, this is truly a winter warmer. This is not an easy sipper, but it is multi-faceted and its blend of four malts makes this one of Avery's least hop-forward classic offerings.
9) Sierra Nevada Celebration
The California craft-beer pioneer long has swerved from the norm by dropping its fresh-hopped IPA as its Christmastime entry. And its Northwest hop profile and amber-brown body make this feel very old school. Still, that doesn't change the fact that it is simple and well-made.
8) Odell Isolation Ale
Much like Celebration, this straddles the "almost too familiar" line but then reminds you why Odell Brewing hasn't messed with the recipe. A malty ale in which neither the malts nor the hops are overbearing, it is plan and simple a perfectly enjoyable easy drinker. And that deserves honoring.
7) Strange Craft Beer Gingerbread Man
The American-style brown ale body almost felt a little lighter this year than in years past. But the spicing here is spot on: Ginger mixed with stabilizing malts in a way that truly approximates a cookie in not-overbearing beer form. This is the beer you bring to the Christmas party (whenever those resume) and have everyone smile with appreciation.
6) N'ice Chouffe
A big body that lays out this 10% ABV Belgian dark ale brewed with spices is even more impressive for its lack of alcohol burn. With its thick head, impenetrably dark body and lingering aftertaste, this annual treat from Belgium's Achouffe Brewery makes a bold statement. Be sure to share it with friends.
5) Westfax Cranberry and Sage Smoothie Sour
OK, technically the holiday this beer brings out is Thanksgiving. But the truth is, it's a phenomenal beer to sample with any elaborate dinner. The ruby red body shimmers like straight-out-of-the-can cranberry sauce, the hugely spiced nose calls to mind turkey stuffing and the tartness tones it down in a way that actually works miraculously well together. It may not be the beer you drink by the six-pack, but it's an impressive experiment from this Lakewood brewery that is worth seeking out and trying.
4) New Belgium Accumulation
The surprisingly long-lasting beer of this season is a light-bodied IPA with a late-breaking hop bite that presents such a cold crispness that it almost seems begging to be drunk in cooler climates. A slight hint of peppercorn adds to the unusual bitterness and makes it noteworthy.
3) Little Machine That's My Yam!
The full-bodied nature of this sweet potato stout lets you know that it's a serious beer, not a gimmick. But it's the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla beans used in the brewing that combine to give this a taste like an oddly cooling chai stout and make you think more and more about what's in here, even as you simply enjoy this.
2) Great Divide Hibernation Ale
Even in its 25th year of production, this English-style old ale feels surprisingly fresh and relevant. Its body touches the edges of being both woody and smoky but doesn't settle into either of those characteristics. It's all malt, but with a sweet and slightly boozy aspect that makes this incredibly approachable. It doesn't rely on any of the typical Christmas-beer trappings but feels like a slope-side cabin fire in liquid form. It's brewed to a style but remains indefinable. It's just great.
1) Upslope Wild Christmas Ale
These Boulder auteurs have produced impressive versions of their typically tart Christmas ales for years now, but nothing has come close to the 2020 version. Aged in oak barrels with orange juice and orange peel with a Saigon cinnamon addition, this goes way beyond being a "sour" beer and kicks up the body with the cinnamon in such a smooth way that it seems it's what a generation of brewers have been looking to do with spice. The exotic flavor seems almost soothing in comparison to the bitterness, providing a hint of donut-esque sweetness that is a defining last taste to an already impressive complexity. It is a really, really unique effort.
Labels: Briar Common Brewery + Eatery, Great Divide, Little Machine Beer, New Belgium Brewing, Odell Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Strange Craft Beer, Upslope Brewing, Westfax Brewing
Sunday, December 29, 2019
10 Best Colorado Beers of 2019
As Colorado exceeded 400 breweries in 2019, the need for beer makers to stand out to attract customers was never more acute. Some developed all new flavors, some put new spins on traditional styles and some doubled down on what they do best.
The result was akin to a dream scenario for fans of experimental creations, offering a wide variety of efforts that sometimes landed with a thud but often seemed to produce stunning tastes, both in one-offs and in packaged or regular-rotation beers. As such, the 10 best Colorado beers of 2019 - beers that either were introduced this year or took on a special significance over the past 12 months - are heavy on envelope-pushing but still are wildly satisfying. Enjoy.
10) Storm Peak Brewing Hoochie Mama
As breweries across the country rush to nail the "accessible sour," they should look toward Steamboat Springs, where Storm Peak produces a sour blonde ale with guava that fills the mouth with unusual fruit flavors and then eases in a tart backtaste that sticks around. Hoochie Mama won a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival for fruited American-style sour ales, ensuring that 2019 was the year that Colorado began to know its greatness.
9) Briar Common Joyce + Brett
The first barrel-aged experiment from this too-often-overlooked Denver brewery was a saison that sat in one of its seven tanks for 18 months with Brettanomyces and then another nine months on French oak. But the immense outlay of facility space was more than worth it, as what came of it was a sharp beer (second from right in the lead photo in this blog) that crackles with the feel of its yeast and its barrel and at the same time is wildly smooth. If Briar Common had doubts about jumping into barrel aging, this should end them.
8) Weldwerks Peanut Butter Cup Medianoche
This beer is Weldwerks in a nutshell: An imperial stout that uses an unusual and easily flubbable ingredient coming in at an ABV (around 15%) that seemingly is too high to enjoy. Yet, the Greeley brewery nailed it, offering a thick and peanut-butter-laden creation that fills you up but also leaves you wanting more of the well-blended flavors it presents. It's another reminder that no matter what Weldwerks and founder/brewer Neil Fisher (pictured at left) is doing, it is worth trying.
7) Dueces Wild/Brass Brewing/Cerberus Imperial IPL
The most surprising find of the year was a rarely tried style from three Colorado Springs breweries that stole the show at Collaboration Beer Fest in March with a huge Polynesian hop taste that hasn't been seen before in an India pale lager. And it served as a reminder that at a time when visiting every brewery in the state is impossible, gems will continue to pop up outside the Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins area that deserve the beer community's attention.
6) Black Project Stargate Peach Rye: Nectarine Bourbon
Black Project isn't a brewery that tends to fly under the radar. But the hugely tart and complex spontaneously fermented sour ale it was pouring at January's Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival should have gotten even more attention than it did, for it ranked among the best creations ever from the Denver sour master. And it showed that no combination of barrels, yeast and fruit is too much to handle - either for Black Project or for a drinker's taste buds.
5) Great Divide Mexican Chocolate Yeti
Sixteen years into its brewery-defining Yeti imperial stout series, Great Divide continues to experiment with flavors and, in doing so, has produced its best creation yet. Vanilla, coffee and traditional Mexican spices combine to create a flavor profile that many other breweries have tried but that arguably none has pulled off so well before now - with a 9.5% ABV body that drinks like non-alcoholic coffee. Mexican Yeti proves once again that though Great Divide is a seemingly ancient 25 years of age, it's churning out experiments as well or better than its much younger competitors.
4) Spangalang Brewery Nonesuch
Once a year, like clockwork it happens: I drop into Spangalang, try a few new offerings and hit the floor with awe at how at least one experiment turns out. This year it was Nonesuch, a lighter-hued ale that was aged first in Chardonnay barrels and then in whiskey barrels and came out with a mouth-filling wallop of grape skins, woody overtones and a Brettanomyces zing that somehow blends into one artful and lasting sweet and sour taste. The Five Points brewery has become an absolute must-stop on any Denver beer tour.
3) Purpose Brewing Smoeltrekker # 13
What former New Belgium brewmaster Peter Bouckaert is doing at his small Fort Collins brewery is like rebellious, avant-garde art. There's an undefinable hoppy brew here, a taco-flavored brew there. But the piece de resistance of Purpose Brewing's portfolio in 2019 was a beer that approximated Bouckaert's celebrated La Folie creation - and than exceeded it with a flavor profile that hit your tart taste buds right away but then led you down a rabbit hole that embraced the well-used barrel it inhabited and let you feel an almost apple-and-cherry-like underbelly that soothed its wild overtones. This is a seasoned veteran at the height of his abilities.
2) Paradox Beer Smoked Maple Manhattan
There understandably will be people who say that the combined tastes of pancake syrup, an Italian amarena cherry made for cocktails and the base of a tart golden ale are just too much to handle in one drink. But for those who like their beers daring and dancing precariously on the edge of an overshot without stepping over it, there was no more rewarding beer made in Colorado this year. This beer changed from the first sip to the fourth to the 10th, revealing a different flavor each time - but one that continuously was unlike anything one has ever had in a beer. Fortune favors the bold, and there may be no brewery in Colorado taking chances like this Teller County artist today.
1) Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss Tropical IPA
Oskar Blues did not make the most earth-shattering beer of 2019. What it made, simply, was the most drinkable, most mesmerizing offering of the year, daring to take the hazy IPA style in a new direction by ditching the traditional hops and going all in on the tropical flavors imparted by Mosaic, Azaca, Galaxy, Eldorado and Idaho 7. Rather than redefining the style, it simply did it better and fuller and juicier and yet somehow produced a brew you want to drink both in the cold of winter and the heat of summer. The Longmont beer pioneer has never been better. And after years of producing in-your-face beers that left you impressed but wanting just one or two of them, it excelled with an IPA you feel you can drink all day and never tire of what could be best described as the feel of Hawaiian fruit salad in beer form.
As Colorado exceeded 400 breweries in 2019, the need for beer makers to stand out to attract customers was never more acute. Some developed all new flavors, some put new spins on traditional styles and some doubled down on what they do best.
The result was akin to a dream scenario for fans of experimental creations, offering a wide variety of efforts that sometimes landed with a thud but often seemed to produce stunning tastes, both in one-offs and in packaged or regular-rotation beers. As such, the 10 best Colorado beers of 2019 - beers that either were introduced this year or took on a special significance over the past 12 months - are heavy on envelope-pushing but still are wildly satisfying. Enjoy.
10) Storm Peak Brewing Hoochie Mama
9) Briar Common Joyce + Brett
The first barrel-aged experiment from this too-often-overlooked Denver brewery was a saison that sat in one of its seven tanks for 18 months with Brettanomyces and then another nine months on French oak. But the immense outlay of facility space was more than worth it, as what came of it was a sharp beer (second from right in the lead photo in this blog) that crackles with the feel of its yeast and its barrel and at the same time is wildly smooth. If Briar Common had doubts about jumping into barrel aging, this should end them.
8) Weldwerks Peanut Butter Cup Medianoche
This beer is Weldwerks in a nutshell: An imperial stout that uses an unusual and easily flubbable ingredient coming in at an ABV (around 15%) that seemingly is too high to enjoy. Yet, the Greeley brewery nailed it, offering a thick and peanut-butter-laden creation that fills you up but also leaves you wanting more of the well-blended flavors it presents. It's another reminder that no matter what Weldwerks and founder/brewer Neil Fisher (pictured at left) is doing, it is worth trying.7) Dueces Wild/Brass Brewing/Cerberus Imperial IPL
The most surprising find of the year was a rarely tried style from three Colorado Springs breweries that stole the show at Collaboration Beer Fest in March with a huge Polynesian hop taste that hasn't been seen before in an India pale lager. And it served as a reminder that at a time when visiting every brewery in the state is impossible, gems will continue to pop up outside the Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins area that deserve the beer community's attention.
6) Black Project Stargate Peach Rye: Nectarine Bourbon
Black Project isn't a brewery that tends to fly under the radar. But the hugely tart and complex spontaneously fermented sour ale it was pouring at January's Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival should have gotten even more attention than it did, for it ranked among the best creations ever from the Denver sour master. And it showed that no combination of barrels, yeast and fruit is too much to handle - either for Black Project or for a drinker's taste buds.
5) Great Divide Mexican Chocolate Yeti
Sixteen years into its brewery-defining Yeti imperial stout series, Great Divide continues to experiment with flavors and, in doing so, has produced its best creation yet. Vanilla, coffee and traditional Mexican spices combine to create a flavor profile that many other breweries have tried but that arguably none has pulled off so well before now - with a 9.5% ABV body that drinks like non-alcoholic coffee. Mexican Yeti proves once again that though Great Divide is a seemingly ancient 25 years of age, it's churning out experiments as well or better than its much younger competitors.4) Spangalang Brewery Nonesuch
Once a year, like clockwork it happens: I drop into Spangalang, try a few new offerings and hit the floor with awe at how at least one experiment turns out. This year it was Nonesuch, a lighter-hued ale that was aged first in Chardonnay barrels and then in whiskey barrels and came out with a mouth-filling wallop of grape skins, woody overtones and a Brettanomyces zing that somehow blends into one artful and lasting sweet and sour taste. The Five Points brewery has become an absolute must-stop on any Denver beer tour.
3) Purpose Brewing Smoeltrekker # 13
What former New Belgium brewmaster Peter Bouckaert is doing at his small Fort Collins brewery is like rebellious, avant-garde art. There's an undefinable hoppy brew here, a taco-flavored brew there. But the piece de resistance of Purpose Brewing's portfolio in 2019 was a beer that approximated Bouckaert's celebrated La Folie creation - and than exceeded it with a flavor profile that hit your tart taste buds right away but then led you down a rabbit hole that embraced the well-used barrel it inhabited and let you feel an almost apple-and-cherry-like underbelly that soothed its wild overtones. This is a seasoned veteran at the height of his abilities.2) Paradox Beer Smoked Maple Manhattan
There understandably will be people who say that the combined tastes of pancake syrup, an Italian amarena cherry made for cocktails and the base of a tart golden ale are just too much to handle in one drink. But for those who like their beers daring and dancing precariously on the edge of an overshot without stepping over it, there was no more rewarding beer made in Colorado this year. This beer changed from the first sip to the fourth to the 10th, revealing a different flavor each time - but one that continuously was unlike anything one has ever had in a beer. Fortune favors the bold, and there may be no brewery in Colorado taking chances like this Teller County artist today.
1) Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss Tropical IPA
Labels: Black Project, Briar Common Brewery + Eatery, Cerberus Brewing, Great Divide, Oskar Blues, Paradox Brewing, Purpose Brewing, Spangalang Brewery, Storm Peak Brewing, Top Beers of Year, 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, August 09, 2018
A Treatise: Hazy IPA Is Here to Stay - And You Should Learn to Love It
Just one sip of Epic Brewing's Lupulin Burst leaves you no doubt that you are putting an entirely new style of beer into your mouth. It isn't just that you are looking into a glass of murky, almost soupy liquid. It's that what flows over your tongue is so full of pineapple and mango, so juicy and yet still so crisp in its hop backbone, that you can't categorize it as much as you can sit and admire.
Well, actually now you can categorize it - it's a hazy IPA, a strange-looking riff on America's contribution to the increased bitterness in worldwide ales that was mocked at first as the product of lazy brewers, then slowly grew an acceptance as it developed an increased following. This year, the Brewers Association created a category for Great American Beer Festival judging called "Hazy or Juicy IPA," and it received 414 entries - far more than traditional category leader American-style IPA and more than enough to tell haters of the style that their time was done.
But the realness of hazy IPA - and its true beauty - lies in more than its mass proliferation in the craft-beer scene. After two years of evolution, it lies in the fact that this style is no longer an off-shoot of IPA so much as it is something truly different. At its best, the beer represents an outpouring of tropical flavors that even the boldest traditional IPAs have only hinted at in their aroma and flavor. It signifies a blending of bitterness and softness that once might be considered unthinkable, as well as refreshment in a way that aggressively flavored beers have never presented.
And it's time to stop nitpicking, to quit complaining and just to give this evolutionary and revolutionary style its due, because it's not going away.
"The average bitterness (in IPAs) is coming down. I think that's about consumer preference," said Neil Fisher, head brewer and owner of Weldwerks Brewing, after an experimental brewing seminar on New England-style IPAs at this year's Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival. "We tried to veer away from brewing to the aesthetic and more toward brewing to the style that we love. Nobody who is doing this is saying 'I want to make it hazy.'"
Fisher, who is one of the true pioneers of the style, began making juicier, more approachable IPAs because he, like many beer geeks, was turned off in the late 2000s by the rush to produce triple IPAs and other such beers that exceeded 100 IBUs. He estimated at the Big Beers seminar that 95 percent of the brewers making hazy or New-England-style IPAs were brewers producing less than 20,000 barrels a year who don't have labs set up to record earth-shattering IBU levels in their products.
Much of the flavoring in these hazy IPAs comes from dry-hopping, giving them both a more appreciable nose and a more prevalent taste of these citrus hops, whether they be Mosaic or Citra or El Diablo. At certain rates of dry-hopping, you actually lower the IBUs in beer, making it less lastingly bitter while blowing up the flavor of the lupulin and letting it be so bold as to bend genres on the juiciness that one can pack into beer.
Weldwerks seemed to introduce Colorado to the idea of hazy IPAs through its Juicy Bits, a beer that is light on bitterness in the nose but heavy in pineapple in the taste, ultimately finishing smoothly while bombarding you with flavor. And quick to the party was Outer Range Brewing of Frisco, creating palate pleasers like In the Deep Steep Double IPA, a beer that offers both huge citrus and big hop acidity lingering on the back of your palate, producing oddly soft and tropical tones that leave you longing for more.
But if not every brewery was quick to jump on board with the trend, several have made up for lost time in just the past six months with beers that push the envelope even further away from sharp bitterness and toward an almost Hawaiian burst of flavors that celebrate the diversity of hops.
Epic is the poster child for adaptation of the style, jumping into the genre only this year but producing a beer in Lupulin Burst that is so uniquely flavorful that it very well may be the best beer of any type produced so far in 2018. But the Denver brewery deserves credit also for making a slightly smaller version of the style, RiNo APA, that want an easier haze that is delightfully subtle in both its bitterness and its juice.
Great Divide Brewing, which seemed slightly conflicted on how far it wanted to dive into the haze pool with its Heyday IPA introduced in April, went full-in this summer with its Hazy IPA, to great results. This presents a citrusy, lush hop that never fails to finish its introduction with a back hop bite, and it all comes at you so smoothly that you'll want to drink all night.
River North Brewing hits home too with its Mountain Haze, which relies on Citra hops to give you both sweet and bitter but threads a needle perfectly between the two flavors, leaving you both sated and thirsty for more of the flavor when you are done.
Still, some of the finest hazy IPAs in Colorado come from smaller brewers who have thrown caution to the wind and produced such genre-redefining examples of the beer that they can not be ignored.
Urban Lumbe
rjack IPA, from Lakewood's Westfax Brewing, resembles hop soup but boasts both sweet and full pine and satisfies in every drop.
And Colorado Springs' Cerberus Brewing has crafted an Elysium IPA that is slightly more bitter on the back bite than some of its stylistic brethren but envelops your taste buds in mango and guava on the way there such that you feel you've been feasting on something Polynesian with just a hint of pine needles as the aftertaste.
There undoubtedly will be more breakthroughs and more notable, crushable hazy IPAs to come. But the best way beer drinkers can prepare for them is to accept that this is not just some bastardization of the IPA - unlike, say, the milkshake IPAs that have earned their own level of hell in Dante's Inferno - but a turn toward a different flavor profile that opens up a new storehouse of tastes in craft beer.
This is worth celebrating.
Just one sip of Epic Brewing's Lupulin Burst leaves you no doubt that you are putting an entirely new style of beer into your mouth. It isn't just that you are looking into a glass of murky, almost soupy liquid. It's that what flows over your tongue is so full of pineapple and mango, so juicy and yet still so crisp in its hop backbone, that you can't categorize it as much as you can sit and admire.
Well, actually now you can categorize it - it's a hazy IPA, a strange-looking riff on America's contribution to the increased bitterness in worldwide ales that was mocked at first as the product of lazy brewers, then slowly grew an acceptance as it developed an increased following. This year, the Brewers Association created a category for Great American Beer Festival judging called "Hazy or Juicy IPA," and it received 414 entries - far more than traditional category leader American-style IPA and more than enough to tell haters of the style that their time was done.
But the realness of hazy IPA - and its true beauty - lies in more than its mass proliferation in the craft-beer scene. After two years of evolution, it lies in the fact that this style is no longer an off-shoot of IPA so much as it is something truly different. At its best, the beer represents an outpouring of tropical flavors that even the boldest traditional IPAs have only hinted at in their aroma and flavor. It signifies a blending of bitterness and softness that once might be considered unthinkable, as well as refreshment in a way that aggressively flavored beers have never presented.
And it's time to stop nitpicking, to quit complaining and just to give this evolutionary and revolutionary style its due, because it's not going away.
Fisher, who is one of the true pioneers of the style, began making juicier, more approachable IPAs because he, like many beer geeks, was turned off in the late 2000s by the rush to produce triple IPAs and other such beers that exceeded 100 IBUs. He estimated at the Big Beers seminar that 95 percent of the brewers making hazy or New-England-style IPAs were brewers producing less than 20,000 barrels a year who don't have labs set up to record earth-shattering IBU levels in their products.
Much of the flavoring in these hazy IPAs comes from dry-hopping, giving them both a more appreciable nose and a more prevalent taste of these citrus hops, whether they be Mosaic or Citra or El Diablo. At certain rates of dry-hopping, you actually lower the IBUs in beer, making it less lastingly bitter while blowing up the flavor of the lupulin and letting it be so bold as to bend genres on the juiciness that one can pack into beer.
Weldwerks seemed to introduce Colorado to the idea of hazy IPAs through its Juicy Bits, a beer that is light on bitterness in the nose but heavy in pineapple in the taste, ultimately finishing smoothly while bombarding you with flavor. And quick to the party was Outer Range Brewing of Frisco, creating palate pleasers like In the Deep Steep Double IPA, a beer that offers both huge citrus and big hop acidity lingering on the back of your palate, producing oddly soft and tropical tones that leave you longing for more.
But if not every brewery was quick to jump on board with the trend, several have made up for lost time in just the past six months with beers that push the envelope even further away from sharp bitterness and toward an almost Hawaiian burst of flavors that celebrate the diversity of hops.
Great Divide Brewing, which seemed slightly conflicted on how far it wanted to dive into the haze pool with its Heyday IPA introduced in April, went full-in this summer with its Hazy IPA, to great results. This presents a citrusy, lush hop that never fails to finish its introduction with a back hop bite, and it all comes at you so smoothly that you'll want to drink all night.
Still, some of the finest hazy IPAs in Colorado come from smaller brewers who have thrown caution to the wind and produced such genre-redefining examples of the beer that they can not be ignored.
Urban Lumbe
rjack IPA, from Lakewood's Westfax Brewing, resembles hop soup but boasts both sweet and full pine and satisfies in every drop.And Colorado Springs' Cerberus Brewing has crafted an Elysium IPA that is slightly more bitter on the back bite than some of its stylistic brethren but envelops your taste buds in mango and guava on the way there such that you feel you've been feasting on something Polynesian with just a hint of pine needles as the aftertaste.
There undoubtedly will be more breakthroughs and more notable, crushable hazy IPAs to come. But the best way beer drinkers can prepare for them is to accept that this is not just some bastardization of the IPA - unlike, say, the milkshake IPAs that have earned their own level of hell in Dante's Inferno - but a turn toward a different flavor profile that opens up a new storehouse of tastes in craft beer.
This is worth celebrating.
Labels: Big Beers, Cerberus Brewing, Epic Brewing, Great American Beer Festival, Great Divide, hazy IPAs, Outer Range Brewing, River North Brewery, Weldwerks Brewing, Westfax Brewing
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Thirsty Monk Is Not What You're Expecting
A part of me didn't want to like Thirsty Monk. It is, after all, an out-of-state brewery that took over an (albeit closing) local beer maker and brought its North Carolina wares to a town whose brewing scene is beginning to feel oversaturated.
But my outlook - and the likely attitude of any other hard-care Colorado craft-beer folk - changed not long after seeing the welcome mat that Denver's newest brewery threw down this week for others in the industry at its Uptown space that used to belong to Deep Draft Brewing. Like most of us who call the area home, Thirsty Monk may not have been Colorado-born, but it's trying to become a part of the community as quickly as possible.
That starts with the approach of owner Barry Bialik (pictured at right), who operated as a craft-beer bar when Thirsty Monk opened its first location in Asheville 11 years ago and tried to bring in beers not just from around his state but from throughout the country. He keeps a list of everything he's ever tapped there, and a quick look at the 30 offerings he's put up from Great Divide Brewing alone shows that Barry has likely tried and promoted some rarities that even most Denver beer aficionados haven't sipped.
When he moved into making beer, he decided that he wanted to concentrate on selling across the bar, even though he has limited distribution. So, despite opening Thirsty Monk in Denver officially on Monday and in Portland very soon, he will make enough beer at the three locations just to be sold at the three locations - literally shipping N.C-made beers to Denver and vice versa so that drinkers in other places will be able to try the tastes of different regions.
Oh, and he'll ship other kegs from Denver back to North Carolina as well - namely those of the breweries that don't now distribute out of state. In doing so, he'll give his Asheville patrons a chance to sample Denver in a way that most of the country can't - and give local breweries with small budgets the chance to expose national drinkers to their products.
And the beer? Well, Thirsty Monk's Belgian-style and Belgian-inspired offerings are spot on.
The Farmhouse IPA, which uses its yeast to give it just a hint of bubble gum on the front of the palate and its hops to give it a dry but not bitter finish on the back, is a fascinating combination of the old world and the new world. Brother Noah (pictured at left), a Belgian stout named after Barry's son and made with the chocolate made by the family of his son's best friend, is sooty and full of cocoa without being overly sweet. And the Saint Asheville 10th Anniversary Honey Citrus Tripel — which manages to be brimming with honey but not so much that it covers up an herby, complex body, shows what the brewery can do when it really reaches for something more.
Thirsty Monk quickly will become part of the Denver brewing community, and it will be a welcome addition, given how few brewers within the city have a Belgian concentration. And with its 16 original taps, two guest taps and "snack" program pairing its beers with meats and cheeses from local shops, it understands the spirit of the city pretty well for being a transplant.
"I love the camaraderie here. I love this," Bialik said, noting the dozens of breweries who came to an industry reception and slapped stickers from their breweries on the back of his bar to welcome Thirsty Monk to the community. "I love that we threw a party with all the brewers, invited them on short notice and this many came."
A part of me didn't want to like Thirsty Monk. It is, after all, an out-of-state brewery that took over an (albeit closing) local beer maker and brought its North Carolina wares to a town whose brewing scene is beginning to feel oversaturated.
But my outlook - and the likely attitude of any other hard-care Colorado craft-beer folk - changed not long after seeing the welcome mat that Denver's newest brewery threw down this week for others in the industry at its Uptown space that used to belong to Deep Draft Brewing. Like most of us who call the area home, Thirsty Monk may not have been Colorado-born, but it's trying to become a part of the community as quickly as possible.
That starts with the approach of owner Barry Bialik (pictured at right), who operated as a craft-beer bar when Thirsty Monk opened its first location in Asheville 11 years ago and tried to bring in beers not just from around his state but from throughout the country. He keeps a list of everything he's ever tapped there, and a quick look at the 30 offerings he's put up from Great Divide Brewing alone shows that Barry has likely tried and promoted some rarities that even most Denver beer aficionados haven't sipped.
When he moved into making beer, he decided that he wanted to concentrate on selling across the bar, even though he has limited distribution. So, despite opening Thirsty Monk in Denver officially on Monday and in Portland very soon, he will make enough beer at the three locations just to be sold at the three locations - literally shipping N.C-made beers to Denver and vice versa so that drinkers in other places will be able to try the tastes of different regions.
Oh, and he'll ship other kegs from Denver back to North Carolina as well - namely those of the breweries that don't now distribute out of state. In doing so, he'll give his Asheville patrons a chance to sample Denver in a way that most of the country can't - and give local breweries with small budgets the chance to expose national drinkers to their products.
And the beer? Well, Thirsty Monk's Belgian-style and Belgian-inspired offerings are spot on.
Thirsty Monk quickly will become part of the Denver brewing community, and it will be a welcome addition, given how few brewers within the city have a Belgian concentration. And with its 16 original taps, two guest taps and "snack" program pairing its beers with meats and cheeses from local shops, it understands the spirit of the city pretty well for being a transplant.
"I love the camaraderie here. I love this," Bialik said, noting the dozens of breweries who came to an industry reception and slapped stickers from their breweries on the back of his bar to welcome Thirsty Monk to the community. "I love that we threw a party with all the brewers, invited them on short notice and this many came."
Labels: Belgian-style beers, Deep Draft Brewing, Great Divide, IPA, New Colorado breweries, North Carolina breweries, Thirsty Monk
Saturday, December 23, 2017
9 Christmas Beers to Get You Through the Rest of 2017
One of the cultural misconceptions of the 12 Days of Christmas is that it represents the 12 days leading into Christmas. Actually, the 12 days of Christmas in classical tradition actually begins on Dec. 25. And that seems unusually appropriate this year in the beer-drinking world.
After a season in which a number of retailers reported getting some of the gem Christmas beers late in the cycle and some breweries held off their winter-seasonal releases until December (what a concept), it only feels right to extend your drinking of these beers past the actual holiday. And while I don't want to do the full 12 beers of Christmas thing, there are enough notable offerings this year to leave you trying something new every night until the clock actually strikes 2018.
9) Strange Craft Beer Gingerbread Man
This annual offering is just as inviting as it sounds - both sweet and a little bit spicy, with a bready, almost cookie-like quality. Its only drawback is that it finishes a little too clean for a beer whose attributes you are hoping will linger.
8) Ratio Beerworks Reservoir
This old ale almost flies under the radar in the RiNo brewery's increasingly impressive portfolio. But with both roasty and nutty characteristics, it is both smooth and full - and as solid a winter seasonal as you'll find for the cold weather.
7) La Grivoise de Noel
"The Naughty Noel," a Belgian strong dark ale brewed by Canadian beer maker Le Trou Du Diable,
lives up to its billing with a slightly boozy Belgian candi sugar feel to its body, allowing it to warm you and loosen up family gatherings.
6) Diebolt Joyeux Noel
Another in the line of French- and Belgian-style treats for the season, this dark biere de garde ramps up the winter genre with its fuller-bodied undercurrents, but not so much that it takes away from the straight-up dark and roasted feel that makes it approachable even with its 8.2 percent ABV.
5) Odell Isolation Ale
There are classics out there that, for whatever reason, fall off your radar as so many more options come onto the market. But drinking Isolation again this year was a true rediscovery of a beer this is smooth, roasty and simultaneously aggressive and mellow in the approach to the alcohol in its body. This isn't a "wow" beer; it's just a damn good beer that's great for the season.
4) Bristol Winter Warlock
Similarly, this annual tradition is neither high-octane nor steeped in complexity. But one of Colorado's year-in-year-out Christmastime classics is so spot-on in its all-malt, non-bitter body that you are drawn to it like it's a throwback that delivers everything you want in a beer but more simply. The medium-bodied offering is the very definition of the fireside sipper.
3) The Bruery 10 Lords-A-Leaping
This dark imperial wit ale brewed with 10 spices is a hell of a lot of things at once, producing an extremely complex portrait that is best enjoyed with people willing to discuss it. The cinnamon, clove and allspice are the headliners in this mix, though the coriander may be the piece de resistance, allowing the beer to exit with a spicy kick. Put aside a whole evening for this one.
2) Great Divide Barrel-Aged Hibernation Ale
The Denver brewery's 22-year-old old ale recipe is a winner by itself. But put it into whiskey barrels for a year, and it finds a delicate, unsubtle balance between the huge, malty sweetness of the original beer and a sweet-tinged, fairly boozy touch of the barrel. This may not scream "Christmas beer" like some others on this list, yet the sweet but not overwhelming nature of this malt bomb leaves it far too fascinating to ignore.
1) Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper
It's almost hard to describe what is so enjoyable about this 9.9 percent ABV Imperial Stout, perfect for sharing with friends even in its new 12-ounce packaging. But the heart of its pull lies in the fact that you can taste coffee, cocoa and roasted malts in this body and somehow not taste the alcohol that should be burning up your taste buds. Made with a masterful hand, this is big enjoyment presented in a way that nearly everyone will like. And it's exactly why you wait throughout the year for beers meant specifically to warm up the winter.
One of the cultural misconceptions of the 12 Days of Christmas is that it represents the 12 days leading into Christmas. Actually, the 12 days of Christmas in classical tradition actually begins on Dec. 25. And that seems unusually appropriate this year in the beer-drinking world.
After a season in which a number of retailers reported getting some of the gem Christmas beers late in the cycle and some breweries held off their winter-seasonal releases until December (what a concept), it only feels right to extend your drinking of these beers past the actual holiday. And while I don't want to do the full 12 beers of Christmas thing, there are enough notable offerings this year to leave you trying something new every night until the clock actually strikes 2018.
9) Strange Craft Beer Gingerbread Man
This annual offering is just as inviting as it sounds - both sweet and a little bit spicy, with a bready, almost cookie-like quality. Its only drawback is that it finishes a little too clean for a beer whose attributes you are hoping will linger.
8) Ratio Beerworks Reservoir
This old ale almost flies under the radar in the RiNo brewery's increasingly impressive portfolio. But with both roasty and nutty characteristics, it is both smooth and full - and as solid a winter seasonal as you'll find for the cold weather.
7) La Grivoise de Noel
"The Naughty Noel," a Belgian strong dark ale brewed by Canadian beer maker Le Trou Du Diable, lives up to its billing with a slightly boozy Belgian candi sugar feel to its body, allowing it to warm you and loosen up family gatherings.
6) Diebolt Joyeux Noel
Another in the line of French- and Belgian-style treats for the season, this dark biere de garde ramps up the winter genre with its fuller-bodied undercurrents, but not so much that it takes away from the straight-up dark and roasted feel that makes it approachable even with its 8.2 percent ABV.
5) Odell Isolation Ale
There are classics out there that, for whatever reason, fall off your radar as so many more options come onto the market. But drinking Isolation again this year was a true rediscovery of a beer this is smooth, roasty and simultaneously aggressive and mellow in the approach to the alcohol in its body. This isn't a "wow" beer; it's just a damn good beer that's great for the season.
4) Bristol Winter Warlock
Similarly, this annual tradition is neither high-octane nor steeped in complexity. But one of Colorado's year-in-year-out Christmastime classics is so spot-on in its all-malt, non-bitter body that you are drawn to it like it's a throwback that delivers everything you want in a beer but more simply. The medium-bodied offering is the very definition of the fireside sipper.
3) The Bruery 10 Lords-A-LeapingThis dark imperial wit ale brewed with 10 spices is a hell of a lot of things at once, producing an extremely complex portrait that is best enjoyed with people willing to discuss it. The cinnamon, clove and allspice are the headliners in this mix, though the coriander may be the piece de resistance, allowing the beer to exit with a spicy kick. Put aside a whole evening for this one.
2) Great Divide Barrel-Aged Hibernation Ale
The Denver brewery's 22-year-old old ale recipe is a winner by itself. But put it into whiskey barrels for a year, and it finds a delicate, unsubtle balance between the huge, malty sweetness of the original beer and a sweet-tinged, fairly boozy touch of the barrel. This may not scream "Christmas beer" like some others on this list, yet the sweet but not overwhelming nature of this malt bomb leaves it far too fascinating to ignore.
1) Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper
It's almost hard to describe what is so enjoyable about this 9.9 percent ABV Imperial Stout, perfect for sharing with friends even in its new 12-ounce packaging. But the heart of its pull lies in the fact that you can taste coffee, cocoa and roasted malts in this body and somehow not taste the alcohol that should be burning up your taste buds. Made with a masterful hand, this is big enjoyment presented in a way that nearly everyone will like. And it's exactly why you wait throughout the year for beers meant specifically to warm up the winter.
Labels: Bristol Brewing, Diebolt Brewing, Great Divide, Le Trou Du Diable, Odell Brewing, Port Brewing, Ratio Beerworks, Strange Craft Beer, The Bruery, Winter seasonals
