Beer Run Blog

A Georgia Beer Pioneer Comes to Colorado

Living in South Carolina in the late 1990s, SweetWater Brewing was an ideal that you hoped other brewers could achieve. Its 420 Extra Pale Ale was as edgy a taste as you could find in the hops arena, and the rest of its portfolio was a dive into different styles.

I didn't think it would be 20 more years (save for Great American Beer Festival tastings and occasional trips to Atlanta or Savannah) before I could sip SweetWater again in the comfort of my own home. And, like much in the craft-brewing scene, the Atlanta pioneer, which began distribution to Colorado on Feb. 1, has changed over the past two decades. But it remains a very relevant national brewery.

It entered Colorado this month with its hoppiest foot forward, coming in with four different IPA variants and a quartet of seltzers that will give the best light-bodied fruited malt beverages in Colorado a run for their money (for whatever that may be worth to beer drinkers). And while SweetWater is definitely a worthwhile addition to the Colorado-sold portfolio, it's going to have to rely on some of the unique niches it plays in to really stand out in this crowded field.

The best way to do that is to show off its G13 IPA, a beer that smells so dank you might mistake it for a joint but surprises you with a pleasantly drinkable body that is reminiscent of biting into a dandelion and is reflective of an old-school West Coast IPA. In fact, what stands out most about it is that its aroma, which walks a tight line between being boldly assertive and being overbearing, actually seems to balance the medium-sized body and make it more intense. Made with a hemp flavor blend, this is a beer you don't soon forget, and you want more.

The same can't be said for the High Light Lo-Cal Easy IPA, which, like the rest of the 100-calorie, 4% ABV ilk, is a beer that seems to hope you can write off its lack of flavor as a small downside to its healthier makeup (and the fact it comes in 15-packs rather than 12-packs). There is an upfront, bitter bite from its hop blend that includes El Dorado and Simcoe, but it fades quickly into a light body that is a whole lot of nothing. It's not that this beer is any worse than 100-calorie IPAs in general, but it certainly doesn't elevate the style.

SweetWater's H.A.Z.Y. IPA, its newest addition to its year-round lineup, does a better job of capitalizing on a trendy style, though it lacks the bomb of tropical flavors that many of Colorado's best purveyors of this genre offer. Instead, it presents a softer flavor, with an exceptional grain base that doesn't diminish the hop presence so much as it makes the specific hops flavor harder to pinpoint. This is a worthwhile addition to the local scene specifically because it is so different from the pack, though dedicated haze bros might think it doesn't go far enough in pushing away from traditional IPAs.

And then there is 420, still enjoyable after all these years, though its hop profile — Centennial, Cascade, Simcoe and US Golding — feels like a throwback, particularly with the presence of a woody malt sweetness that emboldens the flavor even as it cuts down on the hop bite. Those with ties to the Southeast are likely to feel a pull to this, but those new to the brewery might find it hard to identify the characteristics that would make this beer memorable to those not taking notes on it. The palate is clean, the hops explosion is laid back, but its flavor falls short of standing out.

But then there is the Oasis hard seltzer line, which offers the biggest surprise kick of the bunch. No, really. Its Raspberry Lemon bursts with the nose of a fantastic popsicle and offers a spark from the combination of berry and citrus flavors, and its Strawberry Kiwi has one of the juiciest flavors of the genre and remains refreshing. Beer aficionados aren't going to turn their stripes over to the seltzer world because of these two offerings (two other Oasis brands are a bit more boring), but even they will have to admit that SweetWater at least manages to get a lot of flavor out of an often flavor-free sector.

SweetWater isn't stopping with just these initial offerings, as the brewery announced just last week that it's bringing a tropical wheat ale and a barrel-aged sour hazy IPA made for its 24th anniversary to town. Maybe some of the more experimental beers from its Woodlands Project will follow. 

If you haven't tried SweetWater, it's worth getting your hands on some and thinking about how similarly aged Colorado breweries, like Oskar Blues or Left Hand, have aged and kept pace with the massive changes in the craft beer scene. This is, no question, a brewery for hopheads who like their beer less tropical and more steeped in woody, grassy, more traditional hops, mixed in with some terpene advancement. But there's something to like here.

Labels: Georgia beers, hazy IPAs, IPA, Pale Ale, seltzers, Session beers, SweetWater Brewing

7 Beers That Got Me Through Lockdown

As Colorado is starting to take baby steps out of its nearly-two-month coronavirus lockdown, there's a lot about the period since mid-March we won't want to remember. Job losses. Illnesses or even deaths of family and friends. The feeling of uncertainty surrounding everything we do.

But what I don't want to forget, frankly, are some of the brews that were comforting during this time, from a few that came out before the virus outbreak and stared lovingly from the beer-fridge shelf to ones that local breweries boldly debuted even when no one could sit in their taprooms to enjoy them. And while we wait to get the go-ahead to return to those taprooms — Gov. Polis said he is hoping for Memorial Day weekend, though not promising anything — let's raise a pint from our barrooms or front porches to some notable efforts that made this period just a little more palatable.

1) Westfax Sippin' on a Cloud
Truth be told, no beer has been more omnipresent in the Sealover household or become quite as much of a daily go-to as Urban Lumberjack, the deliciously soupy and bright hazy IPA from this wildly underrated Lakewood brewery. But Sippin' on a Cloud, its double hazy IPA effort, has been an eye-opener, packed with hops that burst forth in pineapple flavor but are cushioned perfectly by an oat-y body that absorbs the alcohol burn and gives you a smooth, full and very big alternative when you just want to forget about the world around you and lose yourself in a beer.

2) Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss Double IPA
One of the standout debuts of the 2019 Great American Beer Festival — No, seriously, how long ago does that feel? — this beer wisely made it into cans at the beginning of the year and holds up very well even for a while in your fridge. Full of Citra hops and extremely balanced, there is no residual alcohol in the flavor here. It's less fruity than its single little brother, which was arguably the best Colorado beer of 2019, but it's very smooth for what it is.

3)  Strange Times Too
Fans of Strange Craft Beer's fruity-with-a-tinge-of-funk Cherry Kriek may never look at it the same way again after sampling this Brett-infused version of the beer, which brings it a sparkling, sharp edge and ranks as one of the best experiments this brewery has made in its 10-year history. It provides a full mouth — sweet, tart and a decent-sized body to balance all the flavors — and makes for a perfect Zoom call beer (as demonstrated in the photo at the top).

4) Cannonball Creek Return of the Mackaroon
The next time you think of the Golden brewery as a pale-ale and flavorful-lager specialist, find this beer and re-set your thinking. Dark as night with a roasty body and yet quite sweet with the blend of coconut and macaroon, this oatmeal porter is a kaleidoscope of flavors that combine into a shockingly smooth experiment that lets you experience different sensations as you roll it over your tongue. Perfect with take-it-home pizza.

5) Denver Beer Tart Delight
This lighter-bodied sour offering is not the beer that makes you pucker up, but it is the offering you want if you desire a little prick of tartness in an easy-drinking form that you can wolf down with dinner, after a hike or sitting alone on your porch pondering where the world goes next. The lime/orange palate is permeating without penetrating your taste buds too deeply. Expect to enjoy this with cookouts when they return.

6) Sanitas Mama's Peaches IPA
An early 2020 offering, this special release is the rare fruited IPA that actually works, because the peach flavor here is solid but not overbearing, laying a groundwork where it meshes with the Centennial and Summit hops. You feel the pinecone resin that should peek out in a traditional West Coast IPA, but it's mixed with a sweetness that makes you stop to consider the melange of flavors. Simply, it's a beer for many tastes.

7) Sierra Nevada Hoppy Anniversary Ale
A shout-out needs to be given to this out-of-state pioneer for a beer that it released a number of months back but that holds up well in the bar fridge despite its hoppy nature. Sierra Nevada always has had the gift of balancing hops and malt, and this special release has an early-craft feel in its use of hops for bittering on top of a slightly woody body. It won't challenge you, but it will remind you of the first "microbrewery" offering that made you fall in love with the sector.

Labels: Cannonball Creek Brewing, Coronavirus, Denver Beer Co, IPA, Oskar Blues, Sanitas Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Strange Craft Beer, Westfax Brewing

A Short Piece about the new Michigan Brewery in Town

Those who have swung by the Short's Brewing Co. booth at Great American Beer Festival likely walked away thinking that the northern Michigan brewery was all about fun and experimental games. Offering flavors from carrot cake to strawberry to peaches and cream, it grew a reputation starting about a half-decade ago for turning your head as you walked by and daring you not to stop and try.

About three months ago, the 16-year-old brewery began distribution in Colorado. Yes, the event seemed overshadowed when the whole world blew up about a month after it arrived here (which, by the way, was pure coincidence). But what seemed almost as strange was the brewery entering the state with a portfolio of offerings that could be considered - gasp - somewhat normal.

Its flagship beers that it began selling at liquor stores throughout the area included an IPA, a heavily fruited ale and a light beer, of all things. It also brought along three ciders from the Starcut Ciders facility it operates, as well as a hard seltzer, Beaches, that seems a mandate for all growing craft breweries (but that, like all seltzers, merits no further words).

Since coronavirus shifted so much of our liquor-store buying to curbside pickup and delivery, old favorites are in and newcomers like Short's feel like a luxury that many drinkers may not have time or resources to discover. But there are a couple of Short's offerings that the Colorado craft-enjoying world shouldn't overlook, even as it's putting so much energy rightly into buying locally.

Huma Lupa Licious IPA is an old-school, West-Coast-reminiscent beer that is very balanced, with a medium pine nose but also a little breadiness around the edges when it comes to its aroma. Though 7.7% ABV, it sits like a beer you could drink several of without it weighing you down.

Soft Parade - brewed with puree of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries - looks like fruit juice and smells like berries but does not lack for real beer flavor. Plus, its 7.5% ABV base gives it just enough of a boozy, serious body to make you think about all the flavors you're imbibing.

Maybe the best offering of its entry class, however, was Pulsar, its dry cider made with Michigan apples and Pinot Noir yeast that has a tart enough tinge that it resembles an introductory sour ale. It's truly one of the more complex and advanced ciders you will try, and when considered alongside its Octorock hard cider, it demonstrates that Starcut, like the experimental Short's that beer geeks know, can draw a lot of flavor into its offerings.

That said, the Local's Light is an abundantly strange choice to bring into a mature beer market; there is little other than its smoothness that separates it from the megabreweries' light offerings, and it holds no appeal for those seeking new flavors. And Mosa, a blend of hard cider and orange juice, feels too much like the bad mixed drink you put together in college using orange juice stolen from the cafeteria, pounding you with sweetness and funk (though not the good Brett kind of funk) and just screaming "experiment gone wrong."

It frankly feels like an odd time to recommend any beer that was brewed more than 10 miles from your home. But when the world calms, Short's is a seasoned beer maker worth a try. And, just maybe, this guru of eclectic flavors can bring out to Colorado some more experiments the state will embrace.

Labels: American light lager, cider, Fruit beers, Great American Beer Festival, IPA, Michigan beers, Short's Brewing

An Overview of the Steamboat Beer Scene

One of the things Colorado can be proudest of is the breadth and depth of its beer scene outside of metro areas. Summit County features some of the best experimental (Broken Compass) and hazy (Outer Range) beer makers in the state. Durango (Ska, Steamworks) and its 18,000 residents rates on a per-capita basis with anywhere. And Greeley (Weldwerks, Wiley Roots), well, wow.

So it was interesting to note on a recent trip to Steamboat Springs that the 13,000-person skiing and hiking paradise now boasts four breweries of its own, ranging from a production brewery with statewide distribution to a 25-year-old restaurant brewery that offers its beer just there in its bar. But while the production brewery, Butcherknife Brewing, has a wide range of excellent offerings, the rest of the scene seems to be a work in progress, hitting at times with bold flavors and missing at other times with basic staples, particularly in the area of IPAs.

First, Butcherknife. You may know its Amputator IPA, which can be found up and down the Front Range, a boozy (7.2% ABV) and vaguely old-fashioned (it's crammed with Centennial hops) piny but balanced hop bomb that's won "Best of the Boat" five years running. It's a quality and reasonably unique offering, with its malt-heavy quality — but it's hardly the best thing on this excellent menu.

That distinction goes to Sunshine Express Pale Ale, the reigning GABF gold-medal-winner in the Australian pale ale category, which features an expertly blended mix of Citra, Mosaic and Amarillo hops in a medium-light body where the hops get to do all the speaking without preaching bitterness. Throw in a crisp Pilsner, a subtle but vibrant Champagne du Nord Berliner Weisse released not long ago and a banana-ful Hefeweizen (and pleasingly fruity Mango Hefeweizen offshoot) and the offerings show both great craftsmanship and impressive range.

Storm Peak Brewing, meanwhile, is the beer maker everyone seems to be talking about, and with roughly 15 beers on tap, it certainly makes an impression from the moment you see its menu board. But while its Hoochie Mama — a sour blonde ale with guava that pleases by having a high fruit-to-tart ratio that makes it both intriguing and accessible — is one of the best things you'll find in town, the quality of beers varies significantly from there.

The Arborist, a spruce tip saison, is sweet with just enough pine bite to make this a fun experiment, and the Chowder hazy IPA flashes pineapple and tangerine tastes in a subtle body. But the rest of the IPA and hopped offerings tend toward the lighter side — not bad, but leaving you wanting more bite — and the darker offerings include a Zomb brown ale that couldn't stand up to the wings from the barbecue joint next door and a milk stout, Coffee Moos, that was almost all java and little sweetness.

Mountain Tap Brewery is the downtown spot, with a wood-burning oven that makes its full food menu, and its location just feet away from the path winding beside the Yampa River (see photo at bottom) makes this a must-hit for juggling both beers and beauty in a short period of time.  But the beer here is even more inconsistent than Storm Peak.

The highlights of the menu were the Mountain Macaroon — a brown ale aged on lightly toasted coconut that has a nice roast and just enough sweetness to make it unique — and the Passionate Pedal, a passionfruit wheat that refreshes completely and has a bonus tinge of tart. But the several IPAs on the menu were beers that let their malts talk more than their hops and even the more experimental tastings like the offshoot of Mountain Macaroon aged for several weeks with rum-soaked oak seem to diminish the original beer (with a shockingly boozy taste for a 6% ABV offering) rather than boosting creativity.

Maybe the biggest surprise in town was Mahogany Ridge Brewery & Grill, a 25-year-old restaurant brewery whose beer menu has changed only a little over the past 15 years despite the enormous changes in the craft-brewing scene. The offerings feel as dated as that description makes them sound, from an Alpenglow amber ale that is reminiscent of an early copper ale to an Elk River ESB that lacks hop bite and feels amateurish.

But if you go in knowing what to expect, the effect is a pleasant surprise. The Lil' Lyddie's IPA is a throwback to English-hopped IPAs and almost feels sentimental, and Uncle Daryl's Dunkelweizen, while lacking crispness, is full of banana and dark-malt overtones. And the Powdercat Porter is a shocker of a good beer that hits you with a crisp, roasted malt finish that combines with a medium body to produce a lovely winter-warmer effect without a high amount of alcohol.

When asked about the local scene, one beertender told me it was "up and coming." Truth be told, Steamboat Springs' breweries are a little more coming than consistently up at the moment, but there are quality offerings at each — and a wide range of special beers at Butcherknife — that give indications that an up-and-down selection may be on the upward curve in the local sector's taste evolution.

Labels: Butcherknife Brewing, coconut, IPA, Mahogany Ridge Brewery & Grill, Mountain Tap Brewery, mountain-town breweries, New Colorado breweries, Porters, sour ale, Steamboat Springs breweries, Storm Peak Brewing

Oskar Blues' Best Beer. Period.

Oskar Blues has been a national canning pioneer since 2002, released arguably the first session IPA that actually tasted like an IPA and has reeled off delicious beers in its 22 years ranging from an imperial red to a coconut Irish porter.

And that history and variety makes the following statement all the more amazing, even as it is true: Its new Can-O-Bliss Tropical IPA is the best beer that the Longmont brewery ever has made.

Cloudy enough in its fireball orange color to pass for a hazy, the recently released effort has qualities similar to the hot style, from its Polynesian fruit overtones to its smooth finish with a backbite of bitterness to remind you this isn't some kind of fruit-infused IPA. But this takes all those notes several steps further, creating a brew that is nothing less than Hawaiian fruit salad with enough traditional hop kick to finish strong and create a truly unique flavor profile.

The tropical IPA — or "island vacation in a can," as one rightly could call it — is the first in a planned series of Can-O-Bliss IPAs (and, yes, the name is the worst part of this beer) that will include a hazy IPA and a Citrus IPA over the next six months. It's a nice addition from a brewery that has become one of the 10 largest craft brewers in America — a sign that it is attempting to keep things fresh without venturing too far from the hopped-to-heaven prototype that's defined its rise since the days it shocked the craft-brewing establishment by putting its Dale's Pale Ale in cans.

To be sure, Oskar Blues has produced some fantastic products in its time. Its Death By Coconut infuses that tropical fruit into a subtle but solid body in a way that allows the flavor to shine without being sticky. G'Knight, its imperial red, is a phenomenal big beer (8.7 percent ABV) specifically because it balances the malt and hop characteristics. And its also newly released Bamburana double-barrel-aged imperial stout made in collaboration with Cigar City Brewing with figs, dates and Amburana wood spirals is a dangerously easy-drinking product melding spices and the subtle hint of vanilla from its barrels.

But Can-O-Bliss Tropical IPA creates a new genre in itself — one that uses Mosaic, Azaca, Galaxy, Eldorado and Idaho 7 hops to simulate the flavors of mango, guava and non-tart pineapple without adding anything artificial to the beer. It's a master class in making a bold beer that retains its hop bitterness while pulling out more new flavors than almost any offering in recent memory and, at the same time, pushing into a new, undiscovered style.

Let's hope other brewers follow Oskar Blues' lead in venturing here. And let's hope that what now is scheduled as a seasonal brew becomes year-round very quickly. It deserves that attention.

Labels: Cigar City Brewing, IPA, Oskar Blues, tropical IPA

The Undefinable Brewery Liberati


To be sure, Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers is not the place where you should plan to go if you want to kick back for a few typical beers with friends. No, it is somewhere you will need to set aside time to discern and discuss the beers in front of you, because each is a thought-provoking experience.

Opened on Oct. 29, it is the first exclusively oenobeer brewery - one that crafts all of its beers with some percentage of wine grapes - anywhere in the world. Italian native Alex Liberati chose Denver to be the home of this grand experiment after 11 years of operating Rome's most daring brewery and beer bar and then deciding it was too difficult to continue to run a business there.

The menu offers up roughly a dozen beers, though Liberati has tap space to grow that to 42 eventually. But even at this early "small" number of creations, the daring jumps off the menu - and is amped up even further when you dive into a sampler.

Some of the oenobeers, to be sure, are more intriguing than mind-blowing. Parvus Titan, a petite farmhouse ale brewed with East Kent Goldings hops and 20 percent Viongnier grapes, comes in at just 3.7 percent ABV and has a crisp-lager feel, but the grapes give it an intriguing flavor that makes you realize there is something more here, even if it's undefinable. Liberati (pictured below), a man who is looking to make a truly great small beer, calls this his favorite offering.


But then you start to work through the hoppy selections and realize that something is very different. The Nomen Omen IIPA with 20 percent Marsanne grapes takes on an oaky, almost vegetal flavor. The I-3PO Triple IPA with 25 percent Gewürztraminer grapes sends the hops to the background and covers up the 12.8 percent alcohol volume completely, making the grapes the stars of the show. These are not India pale ales for hopheads looking to get their lupulin fix; these are experiments that redefine the IPA in eye-opening ways.

Where Liberati really shines, though, is when the grapes become a near majority of the fermentables and the beer is transformed into something that seems a whole new beverage type. In Medio Stat Virtus, a Belgian golden ale made with 48 percent Chardonnay grapes, manages to blend the sweetness of its beer style with the strong dryness of its fruit, allowing you to sense both styles of drinks coming together in a strong and passionate way. And when you linger over the Recioto Denveris, a 12.8 percent ABV dark-as-night imperial stout made with 23 percent Petit Verdot grapes, you shock yourself that a beer so thick and viscous also can be so drinkable.

One theme is that the beers, which are served with charcuterie plates or pasta dishes, are uniformly dangerous - beers that carry a big impact without a big hit of booze, much like a fine Italian wine. The other is that nothing on the menu tastes like what you are expecting, even when you're going in with an open mind and not knowing what the hell to expect.

Liberati is a sensory trip, a flavorful experiment, a true effort in redefining beer. The truth is, I don't know what I'll think the second and third times I return, when the offerings will be less surprising but no less expertly made. But I know I'm going back, because uniqueness like this needs to be rewarded.

Labels: farmhouse ales, IPA, Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers, New Colorado breweries, oenobeers

From Idaho, With Love - But Also With Mixed Results

There aren't a whole lot of beers from Idaho that one can find in Colorado. Grand Teton Brewing, for one, invaded the state more than a decade ago and has left some tasty marks on liquor-store shelves, even if it's retired too many of its best beers. (Come back, Howling Wolf Weizenbock.)

Now, Payette Brewing - the seven-year-old Boise brewery that was the first in the Gem State to can its craft offerings, has entered the Denver market with a handful of its year-round beers. And while there are things to recommend it, this brewery may have a harder time finding its legs in a state that already is on the verge of being saturated with its own products.

First, the positive: Payette brings a quality lager to a market that is accused of being overflowing with hoppy and challenging beers but lacking in easy summertime drinkers (with some notable exceptions, such as these). A sharp beer, North Fork Lager uses its Bravo and Crystal hops to accentuate its flavor, both on the front end and in the pleasant aftertaste. It's tinged with both sweetness and crispness and is the kind of beer you can drink over and over in a season like this.

Its Aura: Guava & Hibiscus Sour Ale is not the most full-bodied or
most pucker-worthy sour you've ever tasted, and its lightness leaves the flavor less impactful than it should be. But the pleasant fruitiness of the guava is spot on, and the flavor grows on you, becoming slightly pricklier and more notable as it warms.

When it comes to its hoppy offerings, though, Payette will have a hard time standing up to Colorado's homegrown offerings.

Its Recoil India Pale Ale (pictured at top) features more bitterness on its back end than up front, leaving you too much time to ponder an unusually malty base that has a strange tinge of sweetness to it, as well as a surprising bite of alcohol for a 6.5% ABV beer. The body may be smooth, but the effect is one of leaving you confused as to exactly what kind of flavor this beer is looking to impart.

And Payette's Rodeo Citra Pale Ale simply feels lacking in hop bite. You accept that you are getting a sessionable beer (4% ABV) that's not going to rip your tongue apart. But the normally tropical flavor of Citra is lacking here, replaced by a late-breaking piny bitterness that is light even for its description and style.

Payette's website lists a much larger range of beers than the brewery is spotlighting for its entrance to this market, leaving you with the impression that these folks, who expanded into a 60-barrel brewing system in 2016, have a following and a desire to mix things up. But its first offerings in Colorado, which come at a time when several notable breweries are closing and others are struggling, don't feature the kind of originality or ingenuity that is likely to avert in-state drinkers' eyes away from the deluge of options already available to them.

Labels: Grand Teton Brewing, Idaho beers, IPA, lager, Payette Brewing, Session beers, sour ale

Checking in on Georgetown's Only Brewery

The first brewery to operate in the town of Georgetown since the end of Prohibition turned a year old not long ago. And while Guanella Pass Brewery's offerings vary in quality, the family- and dog-friendly brewery on the edge of downtown is certainly worth a stop at the end of the hiking or train-riding adventure that brings you to the one-time mining boom town.

Despite its youth, the brewery is not short on options, as the 16 on-tap adventures during a visit last week to the beer maker demonstrated. And they ran the gamut from a pilsner and a raspberry blond to a double IPA and a whiskey-barrel-aged Russian imperial stout, with plenty of pales, browns and ambers in between.

One of the notable highlights of the menu is that Guanella Pass' best beers don't fit neatly into one style. Certain hoppy beers are sharp and classical, while other attempts fall flat. And malt monsters range from full-bodied to oddly citrusy (particularly the Saxon Mountain Stout, which smells roasty but tastes disconcertingly bitter.)

Maybe the best offering from the brewery, which opened last year around Memorial Day, is the Kataka Mountain IPA. Bitter without being overbearing, it feels likes a classic Northwest IPA - crisp, flavorful and enjoyable.

Similarly, the Brown Ale, with its roasty and almost chocolaty nose, is more classical composition than mind-opening experimentation, but it's tasty and springs a little bitterness on the back. And the Black American Ale, containing the hop bite of a black IPA/pale hybrid, is a well-blended combination of styles.

The most interesting offering on Guanella Pass' recent menu, though, was Russian Investigation Imperial Stout, a whiskey-barrel-aged RIS that tastes nowhere near as mild as its 8.2% ABV labeling might indicate. It has such a whiskey flavoring that it transitions all the way to being sweet. And while there are meatier versions of the style on the market, this is unique and memorable.

For all of those impressive offerings, however, Guanella Pass misses at times.

The aforementioned Saxon Mountain Stout has an almost lemony character running throughout it, leaving the drinker confused at what it's trying to do. The Raspberry Blond Ale fails to assert either of its personality characteristics. And for all the punch the IPA and black pale have, the Liquid Gold Double IPA lacks identity, presenting a heavy body without particular hoppy or malty dominance.

Still, this is not a brewery to be picked apart; it's one to be enjoyed for the satisfying easiness of its mountain-town offerings. And it's one that should be applauded for opening in a town where it clearly was needed.

Labels: Barrel aging, brown ale, Guanella Pass Brewery, IPA, New Colorado breweries

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."

Labels: Belgian-style beers, Deep Draft Brewing, Great Divide, IPA, New Colorado breweries, North Carolina breweries, Thirsty Monk

Surly Leaves Us Temporarily Sated ... And Definitely Wanting More


Each time a new brewery enters the Colorado market, one must ask: "What are it bringing to the local beer party, and how does it change the beer scene here?"

But with Zymurgy Magazine's 24th-ranked brewery in America making its full-time distribution debut in the state just this week, the more appropriate question seems to be: "What more is there to come?"

Surly Brewing of Minnesota has earned its national reputation for pushing taste boundaries and disregarding traditional style definitions. It's the most well-regarded brewery to emerge from the Gopher State, and it draws crowds at events like the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines festival, where its experimental beers are on offering here for at least one day a year.

What's intriguing about Surly's entrance into Colorado, then, is that it's coming in with one of its best-known beers (Furious, an IPA) and two drinkable others (Xtra-Citra pale ale and Hell pilsner) that may surprise people who are looking for its Pentagram sour dark ale or its Darkness, a Russian imperial stout. And it seems at first like the strategy may be to whet Coloradans' appetites enough to get us asking for more.

Just to be clear, the trio of Surly offerings now available at bars and liquor stores are quality beers. Furious greets you with a piny bite but leaves without residual bitterness. Hell is classic German lager, with just enough sweetness from its Carahell malts to make it stand out. And Xtra-Citra is arguably the jewel of the bunch, a melon-forward, full-mouthed pale that bounces between citrus and tropical flavors and leaves you wanting another — which is appropriate, since it's only 4.5% ABV.

But anyone who has tasted a creation like Surly's Five — its fifth-anniversary Brett dark ale that was aged in red wine barrels and was bursting with the flavor of tart cherries — knows the brewery is more than crushable post-hike beers and top-notch IPAs. This is a brewery, named for owner Omar Ansari's angst at not finding good beer options in his state before he decided to open his own place in 2004, that can present flavors that only a minimal number of Colorado beer makers are creating. And you just want the chance to pick those up locally.

So, welcome to the state, Surly and your tasty creations. And please don't leave us surly about what Minnesotans have that your new friends in Colorado can't yet get.

Labels: Barrel aging, Big Beers, IPA, lager, Pale Ale, Surly Brewing, Zymurgy

SomePlace Else at 1: Earning Its Moniker


As it celebrated its first birthday Saturday, guitars strumming and special brews pouring, SomePlace Else Brewery in Arvada lived every bit up to its name. For as a Colorado beer maker that has mastered the art of the dark and malty but still has work to do on its hoppy and sour ales, it's a place that transports you outside of the typical state beer scene.

The brewery, for those who haven't made it yet, is tucked into an industrial strip mall just north of Interstate 70, giving it a gritty feel. The atmosphere inside is one of laid-back fun, as Star Wars and Star Trek character cutouts look over the taproom, staring down on friendly staff dishing out brews one room over from the impressive cave of pinball machines that greets the visitor upon first entering the place.

SomePlace Else's tap list runs the gamut from a pilsner to several IPAs to a black saison, with a few things more experimental cropping up occasionally. But one run through a set of tasters makes it clear what the Darth Vader cardboard figure alludes to: This is a brewery that has embraced the dark side.

Chief among its black virtues is its Darth Saison (you're catching the theme here, right?), a Belgian-style ale sculpted with roasted barley and offering a complex blend of heavy body and gleaming esters that makes it feel even more substantial than its 6.3 percent alcohol-by-volume clout. It's a unique beer that few other area breweries attempt, and it's the kind of offering that SomePlace should boast of as its signature concoction.

But its Irish Stout packs a surprisingly roasted and full-bodied punch too and leaves an out-sized impression for a normally subdued style. Its Oatmeal Stout, meanwhile, is smooth and balanced and spectacularly easy - everything you want in a winter warmer low enough in alcohol (5.8 percent) that you can drink several in a sitting.


And arguably the star of the entire lineup is its Alpine Loop Amber, all full of chewy and subtly sweet malt, presenting itself as drinkable as a beer can get and yet full of pleasing malt quality.

For all of that malt magic, though, SomePlace Else is the rare Colorado beer maker that hasn't managed to put its best foot forward with its line of hoppy beers. The 1-3/4 IPA has a very subdued hop presence and the OIC IPA is a light-bodied beer that uses its orange peel and coriander a little too minimally, creating just a slightly spicy bitter back taste.

And its Squirmy Sour, a special one-year anniversary tapping, has the furthest to go to catch up with its Centennial State brethren, presenting a slightly acrid grapefruit flavor with strange plastic overtones in the body.

Most breweries continue to have kinks to work out still at its first year, and SomePlace Else is no exception to that truism. But the somewhat-hidden Arvada beer maker also deserves kudos for injecting life into its darker and malty beers at a time when some breweries seem to ignore those genres altogether, and for that alone it deserves your attention and a visit.

Labels: amber ale, Arvada breweries, IPA, Irish stout, New Colorado breweries, oatmeal stout, Saisons, SomePlace Else Brewery, sour ale

The Fruited IPA: Can We Just Kill This Trend?

Debate continues to rage after some two years on whether the New England IPA, a hazier take on the style with more citrus and tropical fruit overtones and less bitter bite, is inspired flavor or just laziness. But whether you like this slight variation on America's favorite craft-beer style or not, this discussion serves only to distract from a far more virulent strain of experimentation infecting the IPA.

For two summers, craft beerdom has been inundated with India pale ales inexplicably brewed with additives of fruit that sometimes are subtle and sometimes are really not. And it's time for the drinking public to stand up and say they want their hoppy beers to taste like pine and flowers and occasionally grapefruit but certainly not like a watered-down tangerine or pie-baking experiment gone awry.

These fruited IPAs may be considered gateways to the more acerbic, classically American version of the bitter beer, but in almost every instance they bastardize the heart of the beers that they are riffing on, and not to positive effect. And what you get, in many instances, is a strange knock-off of far better beers that should be left alone to define a brewery.

Example A of this is Weldwerks' Fruity Bits Strawberry Shortcake (right), a New England-style IPA made with strawberry. The brewery's Juicy Bits is Colorado's standard bearer for the hazy IPA, bursting to life with both the sweet and bitter sides of citrus fruit; when it's double-dry-hopped, it becomes simply one of the best beers in the state. But when ingredients as clashing with bitterness as strawberry and vanilla beans are introduced to the beer, it becomes an out-of-place, training-wheels IPA in which the hops become such an afterthought that is seems stylistically misplaced.

Avery's Real Peel IPA, made with tangerine peel, strikes a similar discordant note. Here is one of the chief hop purveyors in the state mixing in one of the most subtle citrus fruits on the planet to the effect that both the hops and the fruit get lost in the blend. Coming from the same brewery that will blow your taste buds out and make you smile with its Maharaja Imperial IPA, there is a disconnect.

New Belgium's range of fruit-accented beers tell a similar story. Its Citradelic tangerine IPA is aloof in both its fruit and hop tastes, and the medium-bodied beer seems unsure of what it wants to be. It sets the stage for its Juicy Mandarina IPA - a wheat IPA that isn't actually infused with fruit additives but leans so much toward fruit tastes in is hop profile that it too loses the flavor of said hops.

I mention these three breweries in particular because they literally are three of the best in Colorado that are taking these strange side roads when they have hit so many times over with full-flavored hop bombs and barrel-aged sours, and even with subtle delights like an Avery Joe's Pils or the sadly discontinued New Belgium Mothership Wit. They clearly know what they're doing.

Not all fruited IPAs miss the mark. Numerous breweries, for example, have used grapefruit to increase the bitterness of the style, appropriate as some hops can taste naturally like the fruit. Sam Adams livened up its Rebel IPA by adding in mango juice, giving it heightened tropical feel even as it did not tone down the natural grassiness of the hops. And Denver Beer scored a surprising victory this summer with its Maui Express Coconut IPA, using the coconut not to add a  particular island taste but to calm the hops just enough that you can feel a different element in what may be the closest thing to a summer IPA that the industry has developed.

But the fruited IPAs in general seem so hell-bent on yelling "Look at my creativity!" and trying to lure non-hop heads to the style that they become needless diversions in a genre of bitter beers that still has lots of room to grow without tossing in everything in a grocer's produce aisle. Let's recommit to the idea that IPAs are bitter, piny, earthy, flowery and sometimes naturally citrus-y without the need to introduce flavors that veer these offerings away from what has made the style great.

Labels: Avery Brewing, Denver Beer Co, Fruit beers, grapefruit IPA, hazy IPAs, IPA, New Belgium Brewing, Sam Adams, Weldwerks Brewing

Checking in on ... Evergreen Brewery & Tap House

Nestled at the feet of several mountains, Evergreen is a reachable world-away-from-the-world stop for Denverites, a place where one can lose themselves in a solitary hike for a few hours before facing the gauntlet of Interstate 70 again. But up until just the past few years, it was a place where folks had to do this without that one gem of city life they desired to transplant with them — a local brewery.

The 10,000-person hamlet now has three places that make their own brand of Evergreen-inspired beer. And for the outdoorsman with a thirst, particularly those hiking or biking at Elk Meadows Park, an oasis in the form of Evergreen Brewery and Tap House offers the kinds of refreshing ales and mountain views that are preferred — nay, necessary — to cap a perfect day in nature.

Now two years old, the brewery and kitchen consistently offers five or six of its own creations, plus an equal or greater number of visiting taps, including one typically small-batch sour that it lovingly refers to as its Microbe of the Week. Sandwiches are stacked with meat, and the five-item kids' menu adds to the family-friendly air of the completely enclosed porch with views of Snyder Mountain.

But to be sure, the main reason to stop here is the Ginger Cream, an exorbitantly refreshing and full-flavored ginger bomb for a creation with so light a body. The kick of spice, combined with the easiness of the body, may make this a perfect post-hike beer, refreshing you even as it makes you consider its unusual taste.

Evergreen doesn't rest on just one tasty brew, however. Its Elk Meadow IPA is balanced but still carries a piny bite. Its Two Kilts Red Ale has classical up-front malt with a late-breaking bitter bump in the back. And its West Coast Coast Quaker oatmeal stout presents a full-mouthed roasted feel that borders on coffee.

About the only recent beer that didn't land well was its Tiny Ricks Inter Dimensional Amarillo/Simcoe Pale Ale, a hazy beer that offered bitterness but no particular hop bite, leaving it to feel undefined.

But this is relaxation and mountain living in the form of a brewery. And it's worth a stop, either for the solitary hiker or for the brood of explorers, right after you peel off your boots.

Labels: Evergreen Brewery & Tap House, ginger beers, hazy IPAs, hiking, IPA, oatmeal stout, sour Belgian