Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Before GABF Arrives, September Is Rocking with Beer Events
We've reached the point where the Great American Beer Festival is only three weeks away. This is cause for celebration. But it shouldn't obscure what is right in front of us.
In fact, even as area breweries and beer bars plan their biggest events of the year for Denver Beer Fest week, they also are offering up releases, competitions and unique beer festivals that should not be missed in the latter half of this month. And to that point, here are a few things you may want to put on your beer calendar.
Friday, Sept. 13
* From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., budding amateur brewers from small companies across the area will serve up their wares at Colorado Startup Brews, an event that is part beer festival and part networking-with-a-brew, organized by local startup Ombud. Tickets are $30 for the event at the McNichols Center.
Saturday, Sept. 14
* From noon to 6 p.m., Raices Brewing will host Suave Fest, a first-of-its kind beer festival for Latino-owned breweries. Ten breweries will be pouring beer at Steam on the Platte, and Latin food trucks will be there to highlight the community's culinary enterprises. Tickets are $45.
* From 4 to 7 p.m., Beer Fight Club returns, pitting eight breweries against each other in a tournament-style competition decided by attendees. The latest event, at Pour Tap House in Commerce City, features Alpine Dog, Crystal Springs, Goldspot, Joyride, Mountain Cowboy, Peak to Peak, Something Brewery and Station 26. For the cost of $35, this is an underrated event that not only offers great beer but also brings in knowledgeable crowds and brewers who want to discuss said beer.
Saturday, Sept. 21
* Burns Family Artisan Ales turns 1 year old - with a gusto. It will release Solar Eclipse, an 18.5% ABV Russian imperial stout aged in a Laws Whiskey barrel at midnight. After a short nap, owners Wayne Burns and Laura Worley will roll out seven other new beers after reopening around lunchtime, including a Deerhammer-barrel-aged old ale and a Grand Cru made with local honey. If you haven't visited the big-beer specialist yet, this is a good time to come and see what the hype is about.
Sunday, Sept. 22
* This will be the last day for Denver International Airport's beer flights, an annual event (pictured at top) that's been going on since Sept. 9 at which a $10 ticket will get you up to 20 two-ounce samples of Colorado's finest. Open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., beers from the likes of Avery, Great Divide, Left Hand, Odell and Wibby will be poured.
Friday, Sept. 27
* Black Shirt Brewing will celebrate its seventh anniversary - yes, RiNo's second-oldest brewery has hit that milestone - in its beer garden with the special tappings, music and pizza that have earned it its reputation as a must-hit stop among Denver breweries.
Special Tappings
* Sept. 12: Jagged Mountain Mountain Grouse, a blood orange gose with coriander and pink sea salt
* Sept. 13: Seedstock Brewing taps its first English Special Bitter
* Sept. 13: Bruz Beers taps its Autumn Peach Ale, earning the ire of A-B marketing a-holes
* Sept. 18: Intersect Brewing of Fort Collins taps Seamstress for the Band Munich Helles
* Sept. 20: Strange Craft Beer brings back its annual Pumpkin Porter
We've reached the point where the Great American Beer Festival is only three weeks away. This is cause for celebration. But it shouldn't obscure what is right in front of us.
In fact, even as area breweries and beer bars plan their biggest events of the year for Denver Beer Fest week, they also are offering up releases, competitions and unique beer festivals that should not be missed in the latter half of this month. And to that point, here are a few things you may want to put on your beer calendar.
Friday, Sept. 13
* From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., budding amateur brewers from small companies across the area will serve up their wares at Colorado Startup Brews, an event that is part beer festival and part networking-with-a-brew, organized by local startup Ombud. Tickets are $30 for the event at the McNichols Center.
Saturday, Sept. 14
* From noon to 6 p.m., Raices Brewing will host Suave Fest, a first-of-its kind beer festival for Latino-owned breweries. Ten breweries will be pouring beer at Steam on the Platte, and Latin food trucks will be there to highlight the community's culinary enterprises. Tickets are $45.
* From 4 to 7 p.m., Beer Fight Club returns, pitting eight breweries against each other in a tournament-style competition decided by attendees. The latest event, at Pour Tap House in Commerce City, features Alpine Dog, Crystal Springs, Goldspot, Joyride, Mountain Cowboy, Peak to Peak, Something Brewery and Station 26. For the cost of $35, this is an underrated event that not only offers great beer but also brings in knowledgeable crowds and brewers who want to discuss said beer.Saturday, Sept. 21
* Burns Family Artisan Ales turns 1 year old - with a gusto. It will release Solar Eclipse, an 18.5% ABV Russian imperial stout aged in a Laws Whiskey barrel at midnight. After a short nap, owners Wayne Burns and Laura Worley will roll out seven other new beers after reopening around lunchtime, including a Deerhammer-barrel-aged old ale and a Grand Cru made with local honey. If you haven't visited the big-beer specialist yet, this is a good time to come and see what the hype is about.
Sunday, Sept. 22
* This will be the last day for Denver International Airport's beer flights, an annual event (pictured at top) that's been going on since Sept. 9 at which a $10 ticket will get you up to 20 two-ounce samples of Colorado's finest. Open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., beers from the likes of Avery, Great Divide, Left Hand, Odell and Wibby will be poured.
Friday, Sept. 27
Special Tappings
* Sept. 12: Jagged Mountain Mountain Grouse, a blood orange gose with coriander and pink sea salt
* Sept. 13: Seedstock Brewing taps its first English Special Bitter
* Sept. 13: Bruz Beers taps its Autumn Peach Ale, earning the ire of A-B marketing a-holes
* Sept. 18: Intersect Brewing of Fort Collins taps Seamstress for the Band Munich Helles
* Sept. 20: Strange Craft Beer brings back its annual Pumpkin Porter
Labels: Beer Fight Club, Black Shirt Brewing, Bruz Beers, Burns Family Artisan Ales, Intersect Brewing, Jagged Mountain Brewery, Raices Brewing, Seedstock Brewing, Strange Craft Beer
Sunday, December 31, 2017
10 Best Colorado Beers of 2017
Truth be told, the more breweries that open in Colorado each year, the less beer you get to taste from any of them in particular. As such, these year-end lists become less about the beers that you drank over and over throughout the year and more about the one-offs and unique finds that left impressions long after you first enjoyed them.
Still, the variety of offerings in the Centennial State has never been greater, and the experimentation levels with classical styles have never been more rampant, giving breweries an opportunity to create something so stand-out that they can say it truly was one of a kind. And while imperial stout or IPA may be the base beer to many of these 2017 selections, it is the way those styles were interpreted that made them the ones that emblazoned 2017 with its personality.
As always, these aren't just beers that were produced for the first time this year but brews that jumped up in one way or another in the past 12 months and made their greatest marks.
10) River North/Funkwerks Saison Conspiracy Noir
A dark saison combining elements of Belgian tradition and a delicious malt-forward body, this really jumped to life because of its Syrah grape must and its Cabernet-barrel aging that teased at a slightly tart body but still let the base beer speak for itself.
9) Rockyard Plum Creek Sour
Quite a few people reacted with surprise when this unassuming Castle Rock brewery nabbed the Great American Beer Festival gold medal for wood- and barrel-aged sour beer. But this plum-forward beer (pictured at left) was both sweet and sour and truly was the best tart beer made in Colorado this year.
8) Jagged Mountain This Beer Really Ties The Room Together
Maybe the most improved Colorado brewery of 2017, Jagged Mountain hit its absolute stride with this blonde milk stout that featured the additions of lactose, coffee beans and cacao nibs. It created a full-bodied beer that tasted like it was dry-hopped with coffee rather than overwhelmed by the additive, offering a plethora of flavors that worked perfectly together.
7) Great Divide Barrel-Aged Hibernation Ale
The increasing efforts of Denver's largest brewery toward its barrel-aging program pay off again and again, this year letting a whiskey barrel soak into an already sweet and malt-forward old ale for a year and producing a delightfully unsubtle beer that hits you with a variety of flavors, each one seeming to become part of a bigger tasty picture.
6) Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project Turkish Coffee Stout
Denver's best new brewery adds unusual ingredients to its portfolio of beers like they were offered up in a "Chopped" basket. But nothing was both so unique and so style-redefining as this shockingly smooth dark ale that offered a lot of coffee grit and also a lingering sweetness that just made it taste, well, foreign.
5) New Image East Coast Transplant
A hazy double IPA that presents both a guava/mango nose and just enough hint of bittering hops on the backtaste that it both exemplifies the best qualities of the New England IPA style and defies easy definition with hints of both coasts in its complex profile.
4) Mountain Sun Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Chocolate Thunder Imperial Chocolate Milk Stout
The Boulder/Denver operators of the Mountain Sun concept go all out for their February stout month, both in terms of the number and variety of offerings they produce. Nothing, however, has ever been as magical as this, pulling together a huge body with the combined sweetness of chocolate, lactose and hints of bourbon to make a beer that is giant - but is far more flavorful than it is big, somehow.
3) Comrade/Uberbrew Triple IPA
The star of March's Collaboration Fest might just come to be the most-sought-after beer in Comrade's extensive hop portfolio if it were to offer it regularly. Highly floral and refreshingly grassy, the beer is made remarkable by its lack of alcohol burn. It's a master study in how to go big without scorching any taste buds.
2) City Star Wood Belly
Arguably, no single beer from 2017 did more to redefine the perception of a brewery than this barrel-aged imperial IPA double-dry-hopped with Amarillo, Mosaic and Citra hops. It manages to be so many things at once - wonderfully boozy (at 10.6% ABV), tropical in its hopping and imbued with such a deep oak taste that it's the rare hop bomb that becomes more flavorful as it warms. This Berthoud brewery has made solid beers for years; this, however, is a new level of successful experimentation that should garner a lot more attention for City Star.
1) Station 26 German Chocolate Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Dark Star Imperial Stout
This infinitely complex and drinkable beer debuted before 2017, but if there was a coming-out party for it, it was at January's Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival, where the increasingly confident Denver brewery held its own against every brewer in that room. The beer is, first and foremost, exactly what it promises - a slice of rich, dark, sweet cake in alcoholic liquid form. But the barrel aging gives it just enough of a pervading influence that it kicks the flavor to the next level, and the high alcohol content here is used to accent the richness rather than overshadow it. In a year when transcending the long-held definition of dark beers became almost a competitive sport for Colorado craft breweries, none of them jumped so far over the bar as Station 26 did with this masterpiece.
Truth be told, the more breweries that open in Colorado each year, the less beer you get to taste from any of them in particular. As such, these year-end lists become less about the beers that you drank over and over throughout the year and more about the one-offs and unique finds that left impressions long after you first enjoyed them.
Still, the variety of offerings in the Centennial State has never been greater, and the experimentation levels with classical styles have never been more rampant, giving breweries an opportunity to create something so stand-out that they can say it truly was one of a kind. And while imperial stout or IPA may be the base beer to many of these 2017 selections, it is the way those styles were interpreted that made them the ones that emblazoned 2017 with its personality.
As always, these aren't just beers that were produced for the first time this year but brews that jumped up in one way or another in the past 12 months and made their greatest marks.
10) River North/Funkwerks Saison Conspiracy Noir
A dark saison combining elements of Belgian tradition and a delicious malt-forward body, this really jumped to life because of its Syrah grape must and its Cabernet-barrel aging that teased at a slightly tart body but still let the base beer speak for itself.
Quite a few people reacted with surprise when this unassuming Castle Rock brewery nabbed the Great American Beer Festival gold medal for wood- and barrel-aged sour beer. But this plum-forward beer (pictured at left) was both sweet and sour and truly was the best tart beer made in Colorado this year.
8) Jagged Mountain This Beer Really Ties The Room Together
Maybe the most improved Colorado brewery of 2017, Jagged Mountain hit its absolute stride with this blonde milk stout that featured the additions of lactose, coffee beans and cacao nibs. It created a full-bodied beer that tasted like it was dry-hopped with coffee rather than overwhelmed by the additive, offering a plethora of flavors that worked perfectly together.
7) Great Divide Barrel-Aged Hibernation Ale
The increasing efforts of Denver's largest brewery toward its barrel-aging program pay off again and again, this year letting a whiskey barrel soak into an already sweet and malt-forward old ale for a year and producing a delightfully unsubtle beer that hits you with a variety of flavors, each one seeming to become part of a bigger tasty picture.
6) Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project Turkish Coffee Stout
Denver's best new brewery adds unusual ingredients to its portfolio of beers like they were offered up in a "Chopped" basket. But nothing was both so unique and so style-redefining as this shockingly smooth dark ale that offered a lot of coffee grit and also a lingering sweetness that just made it taste, well, foreign.
A hazy double IPA that presents both a guava/mango nose and just enough hint of bittering hops on the backtaste that it both exemplifies the best qualities of the New England IPA style and defies easy definition with hints of both coasts in its complex profile.
4) Mountain Sun Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Chocolate Thunder Imperial Chocolate Milk Stout
The Boulder/Denver operators of the Mountain Sun concept go all out for their February stout month, both in terms of the number and variety of offerings they produce. Nothing, however, has ever been as magical as this, pulling together a huge body with the combined sweetness of chocolate, lactose and hints of bourbon to make a beer that is giant - but is far more flavorful than it is big, somehow.
3) Comrade/Uberbrew Triple IPA
The star of March's Collaboration Fest might just come to be the most-sought-after beer in Comrade's extensive hop portfolio if it were to offer it regularly. Highly floral and refreshingly grassy, the beer is made remarkable by its lack of alcohol burn. It's a master study in how to go big without scorching any taste buds.
2) City Star Wood Belly
Arguably, no single beer from 2017 did more to redefine the perception of a brewery than this barrel-aged imperial IPA double-dry-hopped with Amarillo, Mosaic and Citra hops. It manages to be so many things at once - wonderfully boozy (at 10.6% ABV), tropical in its hopping and imbued with such a deep oak taste that it's the rare hop bomb that becomes more flavorful as it warms. This Berthoud brewery has made solid beers for years; this, however, is a new level of successful experimentation that should garner a lot more attention for City Star.
1) Station 26 German Chocolate Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Dark Star Imperial Stout
This infinitely complex and drinkable beer debuted before 2017, but if there was a coming-out party for it, it was at January's Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival, where the increasingly confident Denver brewery held its own against every brewer in that room. The beer is, first and foremost, exactly what it promises - a slice of rich, dark, sweet cake in alcoholic liquid form. But the barrel aging gives it just enough of a pervading influence that it kicks the flavor to the next level, and the high alcohol content here is used to accent the richness rather than overshadow it. In a year when transcending the long-held definition of dark beers became almost a competitive sport for Colorado craft breweries, none of them jumped so far over the bar as Station 26 did with this masterpiece.
Labels: City Star Brewing, Comrade Brewing, Funkwerks, Intrepid Sojourner, Jagged Mountain Brewery, Mountain Sun, New Image Brewing, River North Brewery, Rockyard Brewery, Station 26 Brewing, Top Beers of Year
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
5 Things I Learned at Denver Beer Festivus 2017
Putting 55 Denver breweries together in one room is just as good an idea as it sounds, and not just because you feel no desire ever to leave. Denver Beer Festivus, held Saturday at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, allowed for great contrast and comparison of what is happening in the city beer scene, especially as most participants brought offerings that were among their most unusual.
That strategy led to some reaffirmations about the breweries that are making the beer that can't be missed, as well as some discoveries about others who should be on beer-trail lists going forward. Here are a few of the things that jumped out.
1) The beer community needs to pay more attention to Jagged Mountain.
Known largely as a big beer maker when it opened, the brewery went through a subsequent shake-up among partners, and everyone seemed to stop talking about it. That appears to have been a big mistake, especially for anyone who found their way to enjoying beers like its spectacular blood-orange gose, Grouse Mountain, in the past year.
The most interesting beer of the entire festival was Jagged Mountain's This Beer Really Ties The Room Together, a blonde white Russian milk stout whose body was as subtle and smooth as a creation made with oats and lactose should be but whose striking taste impression was that of a rich coffee without any of the typical bitterness that accompanies that style. It felt like you were drinking something dry-hopped with coffee ("dry-beaned" was the term that was decided as correct), leaving an original taste clearly created by a masterful hand.
2) Ratio's Genius Wizard is as good as any imperial stout in Denver.
And that's saying something, given that this is the town that is home to both Epic's Big Bad Baptist
and Great Divide's Yeti. But the 2016 version of the beer being poured on Saturday was dangerously easy for a 12 percent ABV bomb, presenting overtones of both coffee and chocolate in what was a very drinkable body. This beer should start getting a lot more love.
3) Sweet and subtle dark ales also ruled the day.
Declaration's Cinnatoast Porter was just sweet enough where you wouldn't want to drink it all night but just enjoyable enough that you could slurp down a pint easily. Bruz Beer's Onyx Stout jumped out with its combination of Belgian hints and roasted edge. And Blind Faith Brewing - the new beer maker that bought DeSteeg Brewing in October, according to Westword - made a strong impression with a dark beer (whose name I failed to catch) combining chocolaty malts and orange notes.
4) The range of New England IPAs at the event shows a maturing of the style.
Woods Boss had both the most impressive and the most by-the-book version of the hazy IPA with its delicious, pineapple-scented The Oswald. Yet, Ficton's Madame Psychosis seemed to want to straddle a line between fruity and bitter. And Epic's New England-Style IPA seemed to range a bit away from tropical notes and more toward the classical, balanced tastes of the long-honored IPA genre. You could pick your favorite; more importantly, there's enough variety that you can really tell now.
5) Sour beer fans need to seek out Baere Brewing.
Its Reciprocity golden sour blend was arguably the best tart beer poured at Festivus. It brought its bite in a way that was both challenging and refreshing. And it was a reminder that these guys are shining in whatever style of beer they want to tackle.
Putting 55 Denver breweries together in one room is just as good an idea as it sounds, and not just because you feel no desire ever to leave. Denver Beer Festivus, held Saturday at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, allowed for great contrast and comparison of what is happening in the city beer scene, especially as most participants brought offerings that were among their most unusual.
That strategy led to some reaffirmations about the breweries that are making the beer that can't be missed, as well as some discoveries about others who should be on beer-trail lists going forward. Here are a few of the things that jumped out.1) The beer community needs to pay more attention to Jagged Mountain.
Known largely as a big beer maker when it opened, the brewery went through a subsequent shake-up among partners, and everyone seemed to stop talking about it. That appears to have been a big mistake, especially for anyone who found their way to enjoying beers like its spectacular blood-orange gose, Grouse Mountain, in the past year.
The most interesting beer of the entire festival was Jagged Mountain's This Beer Really Ties The Room Together, a blonde white Russian milk stout whose body was as subtle and smooth as a creation made with oats and lactose should be but whose striking taste impression was that of a rich coffee without any of the typical bitterness that accompanies that style. It felt like you were drinking something dry-hopped with coffee ("dry-beaned" was the term that was decided as correct), leaving an original taste clearly created by a masterful hand.
2) Ratio's Genius Wizard is as good as any imperial stout in Denver.
And that's saying something, given that this is the town that is home to both Epic's Big Bad Baptist and Great Divide's Yeti. But the 2016 version of the beer being poured on Saturday was dangerously easy for a 12 percent ABV bomb, presenting overtones of both coffee and chocolate in what was a very drinkable body. This beer should start getting a lot more love.
3) Sweet and subtle dark ales also ruled the day.
Declaration's Cinnatoast Porter was just sweet enough where you wouldn't want to drink it all night but just enjoyable enough that you could slurp down a pint easily. Bruz Beer's Onyx Stout jumped out with its combination of Belgian hints and roasted edge. And Blind Faith Brewing - the new beer maker that bought DeSteeg Brewing in October, according to Westword - made a strong impression with a dark beer (whose name I failed to catch) combining chocolaty malts and orange notes.
4) The range of New England IPAs at the event shows a maturing of the style.
Woods Boss had both the most impressive and the most by-the-book version of the hazy IPA with its delicious, pineapple-scented The Oswald. Yet, Ficton's Madame Psychosis seemed to want to straddle a line between fruity and bitter. And Epic's New England-Style IPA seemed to range a bit away from tropical notes and more toward the classical, balanced tastes of the long-honored IPA genre. You could pick your favorite; more importantly, there's enough variety that you can really tell now.5) Sour beer fans need to seek out Baere Brewing.
Its Reciprocity golden sour blend was arguably the best tart beer poured at Festivus. It brought its bite in a way that was both challenging and refreshing. And it was a reminder that these guys are shining in whatever style of beer they want to tackle.
Labels: Baere Brewing, Blind Faith Brewing, Bruz Beers, Declaration Brewing, Epic Brewing, Festivus, Fiction Brewing, Jagged Mountain Brewery, Ratio Beerworks, Woods Boss Brewing
Sunday, November 26, 2017
An End to Wit’s First Chapter
It was, at best, a place you never thought you’d find
yourself drinking beer, located in an out-of-the-way strip of industrial warehouse
space in a part of south Denver not known for its business atmosphere. I once
invited four couples there for a happy hour, and three got lost.
But the now-former home of Wit’s End Brewing had a subtle
charm as well, a we-brew-unpretentious-beer-and-hang-out-wherever-we-can aura.
And it infected the offerings that sprang from Scott Witsoe’s taps – beer that
almost never met a Brewers Association style guideline but made you stop and
ponder every new creation all the same, admiring the complexities and unusual
flavors that sprang from them.
The final day for that quirky location came Saturday, six
days before Wit’s End will become the first brewery in the state to cohabitate with another and move into the space that Strange Craft Beer has occupied south
of Mile High Stadium since 2010. And it came with a packed house, made up
mainly of hard-core regulars and industry professionals.
“It should have been like this more often,” said Tim Myers,
co-owner of Strange (shown at right with Wits), which will share operations and taproom space with Wit’s
End going forward, even as the two craft breweries will remain independently
owned.
Wit’s End is a brewery that could throw anything into a
recipe — a trait honored in the name of its Kitchen Sink Porter, as in “we
threw everything in the kitchen sink into the mash.” It added Indian jaggery
sugar to an ESB to create its Mick Jaggery, quite possibly its most unique
recipe. And every time you thought it was going classically Belgian or
classically hoppy, Witsoe would add ingredients to make the beer a hybrid that
was unique and tastier.
Witsoe, the immaculately bearded former home brewer who will step back from the day-to-day running of
the brewery under the new partnership, said amidst the large crowd Saturday
that it was a bittersweet day – the end to a six-year road that saw him capture
Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup medals and end up once on the
cover of the New York Times.
Yet, even as he said that he’ll miss the old place at 2nd
and Bryant, he acknowledged that the partnership with Strange is likely to
expand his opportunities, both from the distribution standpoint and the ability
to get his beers in front of the wider audience that they deserve. Burns Family
Artisan Ales, a new brewery helmed by former Jagged Mountain founding brewer
Wayne Burns, will move in Dec. 1 and focus on high-alcohol beers.
Here’s hoping the folks who never made it into the original
Wit’s End location discover it at its new home and savor it for what it is — a
one-of-its-kind brewery that continues to stand out in a Denver beer scene
where doing so is becoming a harder task.
Labels: Burns Family Artisan Ales, Jagged Mountain Brewery, Strange Craft Beer, Wit's End Brewery
Thursday, October 02, 2014
The Abbreviated Great American Beer Festival Preview
I'll be honest: I didn't have time to do my usual lengthy GABF preview, picking out 25 to 50 beers that you have to try. I was unprepared that the time I typically spend getting ready for the festival would be rededicated to feeding and caring our my 7-week-old son. I imagine the time crunch will be less next year, but I hope you'll agree that, as a new dad, I had to re-prioritize this once.
That said, I want to offer up two things in preparation for the greatest festival in the history of the planet to start tonight.
First, I want to refer anyone who is interested to a Facebook chat I just did on how to attack the festival. It mentions some strategies, some up-and-coming breweries and a few tips. You can find it right here.
Second, I want to give a shout-out to some of the best beers I've tried during Denver Beer Fest, the ever-burgeoning lineup of events leading up to the GABF. Some will be served at the GABF, and others may be just at the breweries, whether now or at a future time. Either way, these are some beers that you should track down if given the opportunity.
• Boneyard Notorious: Triple IPAs can be a tricky lot as they try to balance big flavor without too big a presence of alcohol. Oregon's Boneyard Beer may have walked that line better than just about any triple IPA maker in recent history. (At GABF)
• Oude Tart: When considering which sours should be on your must list the next few days, don't overlook this Flanders red ale aged 18 months in red-wine barrels. (At GABF)
• Eclipse Imperial Stout: At 17.3 percent ABV, this biggest-ever product from Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery is deceptive in how easily the big, dark body goes down. (At brewery)
• Fresh-hopped 1000 Barrels Imperial IPA: Strange Craft Beer may never make this hop bomb, complete with 60 pounds of Cascade, Nugget and CNZ hops again. But it really, really should. (At brewery … at least it was)
I'll be honest: I didn't have time to do my usual lengthy GABF preview, picking out 25 to 50 beers that you have to try. I was unprepared that the time I typically spend getting ready for the festival would be rededicated to feeding and caring our my 7-week-old son. I imagine the time crunch will be less next year, but I hope you'll agree that, as a new dad, I had to re-prioritize this once.That said, I want to offer up two things in preparation for the greatest festival in the history of the planet to start tonight.
First, I want to refer anyone who is interested to a Facebook chat I just did on how to attack the festival. It mentions some strategies, some up-and-coming breweries and a few tips. You can find it right here.
Second, I want to give a shout-out to some of the best beers I've tried during Denver Beer Fest, the ever-burgeoning lineup of events leading up to the GABF. Some will be served at the GABF, and others may be just at the breweries, whether now or at a future time. Either way, these are some beers that you should track down if given the opportunity.
• Boneyard Notorious: Triple IPAs can be a tricky lot as they try to balance big flavor without too big a presence of alcohol. Oregon's Boneyard Beer may have walked that line better than just about any triple IPA maker in recent history. (At GABF)
• Oude Tart: When considering which sours should be on your must list the next few days, don't overlook this Flanders red ale aged 18 months in red-wine barrels. (At GABF)
• Eclipse Imperial Stout: At 17.3 percent ABV, this biggest-ever product from Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery is deceptive in how easily the big, dark body goes down. (At brewery)
• Fresh-hopped 1000 Barrels Imperial IPA: Strange Craft Beer may never make this hop bomb, complete with 60 pounds of Cascade, Nugget and CNZ hops again. But it really, really should. (At brewery … at least it was)
Labels: Boneyard Beer, Great American Beer Festival, Jagged Mountain Brewery, Strange Brewing, The Bruery
Sunday, March 09, 2014
Two Divergent New Breweries
Two of Denver's newer breweries celebrated big events yesterday. Jagged Mountain Brewery held its "grand opening," about four months after its soft opening. And Diebolt Brewing released its International Ale, a white IPA, seven months after opening.
The two events are separate points in the breweries' development, for sure. Both both are significant enough to allow to step back to look at their growth, which, it turns out, is actually a bit divergent.
Jagged Mountain came onto the scene with an early reputation that it was going to be among the biggest brewers in town in terms of alcohol-by-volume products. Its First Descent Old Ale, at 13 percent, quickly became the strongest regular offering in town. And it wowed crowds at festivals like Denver Beer Festivus with offerings like its Red Point Double Red Rye IPA that were both strong and creatively tasty.
But part of what makes this brewery someplace worth going out of your way to visit is its mastery of styles that are considered less than challenging. Its Junta Dog Enigma, for example, might be the best brown ale in town, fully of nutty sweetness with a hinted but not overpowering feel of chocolate. And its Spearhead saison — stronger than much of the style at 8.2% ABV — is a little short on the traditional peppery notes but makes up for it with a honey sweetness.
Jagged Mountain still has its flaws. Its Zero Gravity session saison, meant to appeal to the gaggle of Coors Light drinkers it expects to file in before Rockies games, tastes far too much like a bubble-gum-flavored jelly bean. But overall, its body of work ranges from solid to eyebrow-raising.
Diebolt, meanwhile, made less of a splash even as it presented a menu full of bold styles, from multiple saisons to an IPA to a Belgian dubbel. It's even hand-bottled several of its beers. But whatever Diebolt has done, it's seemed to draw little attention. And the reason is this: Whether the style is a big one or a more traditional one, the taste of its beers seems undersold.
The Diebolt Standard Porter, for example, is a little sweet but also watery, hinting at chocolate but not roastiness. The Colorado Greenback IPA, coming in sessionable at 4.8% ABV, has almost no hop mouthfeel. And while the Saison Voila is largely smooth, it's also quite boring, without a stand-out flavor to grab your attention.
Yet, to see the potential that Diebolt holds, one needs only to try its C'est La Saison, a winter saison bursting with a cherry-like flavor that resonates but is not overdone. It's the most flavorful beer on the menu, and one that shows such a level of originality and mastery of saison's possibilities that you can feel it as a gateway to the next level. The decision to age a separate version of the beer in tequila barrels, giving it both a smoky flavor and a fruit/vegetable edge that hints of sweet cucumber, shows even more potential.
So, Jagged Mountain and Diebolt have split somewhat in their growth so far, with the "big" brewery enhancing its reputation with well-made mainstream beers and the smaller brewery succeeding most when it's gone big and bold. It will be interesting to see what the next year brings for them.
Two of Denver's newer breweries celebrated big events yesterday. Jagged Mountain Brewery held its "grand opening," about four months after its soft opening. And Diebolt Brewing released its International Ale, a white IPA, seven months after opening.
The two events are separate points in the breweries' development, for sure. Both both are significant enough to allow to step back to look at their growth, which, it turns out, is actually a bit divergent.
Jagged Mountain came onto the scene with an early reputation that it was going to be among the biggest brewers in town in terms of alcohol-by-volume products. Its First Descent Old Ale, at 13 percent, quickly became the strongest regular offering in town. And it wowed crowds at festivals like Denver Beer Festivus with offerings like its Red Point Double Red Rye IPA that were both strong and creatively tasty.
But part of what makes this brewery someplace worth going out of your way to visit is its mastery of styles that are considered less than challenging. Its Junta Dog Enigma, for example, might be the best brown ale in town, fully of nutty sweetness with a hinted but not overpowering feel of chocolate. And its Spearhead saison — stronger than much of the style at 8.2% ABV — is a little short on the traditional peppery notes but makes up for it with a honey sweetness.
Jagged Mountain still has its flaws. Its Zero Gravity session saison, meant to appeal to the gaggle of Coors Light drinkers it expects to file in before Rockies games, tastes far too much like a bubble-gum-flavored jelly bean. But overall, its body of work ranges from solid to eyebrow-raising.
Diebolt, meanwhile, made less of a splash even as it presented a menu full of bold styles, from multiple saisons to an IPA to a Belgian dubbel. It's even hand-bottled several of its beers. But whatever Diebolt has done, it's seemed to draw little attention. And the reason is this: Whether the style is a big one or a more traditional one, the taste of its beers seems undersold.
The Diebolt Standard Porter, for example, is a little sweet but also watery, hinting at chocolate but not roastiness. The Colorado Greenback IPA, coming in sessionable at 4.8% ABV, has almost no hop mouthfeel. And while the Saison Voila is largely smooth, it's also quite boring, without a stand-out flavor to grab your attention.
Yet, to see the potential that Diebolt holds, one needs only to try its C'est La Saison, a winter saison bursting with a cherry-like flavor that resonates but is not overdone. It's the most flavorful beer on the menu, and one that shows such a level of originality and mastery of saison's possibilities that you can feel it as a gateway to the next level. The decision to age a separate version of the beer in tequila barrels, giving it both a smoky flavor and a fruit/vegetable edge that hints of sweet cucumber, shows even more potential.
So, Jagged Mountain and Diebolt have split somewhat in their growth so far, with the "big" brewery enhancing its reputation with well-made mainstream beers and the smaller brewery succeeding most when it's gone big and bold. It will be interesting to see what the next year brings for them.
Labels: Diebolt Brewing, Jagged Mountain Brewery, New Colorado breweries
