Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Old 121 Brewing: Old Fashioned and Loving It
Caution Brewing reveled in making beer with ingredients that most brewers would enjoy only with the food portion of their dinners. Cardamom, a proprietary Chinese five-spice blend, a hearty helping of Earl Grey tea — these were the things that made the Lakewood brewery so magical and unique.
So, when the new brewery in Caution's former 1057 S. Wadsworth Boulevard home opens on Wednesday, the tap list might seem shocking in comparison: a honey brown ale, an Irish red, a lager, a pale ale with Mosaic hops. And in that sense, Old 121 Brewhouse might just be the anti-Caution.
The co-owners (pictured above) of what will be the sixth brewery in Lakewood have backgrounds with some of the largest and most experimental breweries in the area. Head brewer Jason Bailey learned the art at TRVE. Brett and Karla Zahrte held various roles at Coors Brewing. Both Brett and Jason spent time ramping up the production at Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project.
But when they and partner Eric Gupta decided to launch their own brewery, they wanted something laid back, with a focus on easy-drinking styles without the words "hazy" or "brut" or "pastry" anywhere in their descriptions. And while they may eventually work with nearby businesses to get some kegs out to them, they also have no interest in pushing Old 121 into the realm of distribution.
"I want to see people out here enjoying what they've got. It's not so much about making a big name for ourselves on the scene," Bailey said over a beer on Tuesday, one day before the soft opening. "We're not going to try to run the race with everybody else in the industry."
Instead, Old 121 wants to be the neighborhood brewery, a place that is easily accessible to the growing residential population in central Lakewood. Three of the four partners live in the western suburb, and the Zahrtes grew up in Golden going to a local bar that they considered to be like a community as it welcomed in families.
To that aim, Old 121 also will make its own sodas, including two dry-hopped sodas, and will be the first brewery in the Denver area offering iced tea on draft. It will have a video-game machine, and its owners hope it can be that place that people feel comfortable pulling into out of rush-hour traffic and having a beer or two without fears of being intoxicated.
The beers, by the way, are just what one may imagine for a place with the laid-back goals of Old 121. The honey brown is pleasant and easy - malty and a touch sweet without being cloying. The Irish Red (pictured in front of the brewery's beer engine that will be used for pouring an English mild collaboration with Grateful Gnome that is titled "tastes like beer — one star") is all malt with a medium body and a sessionable feel to it.
They're beers that you will enjoy if you're not expecting to have your taste buds blown away. They're beers that, appropriately, just have an old-school feel.
"Really, what we're trying to do here is build a community gathering space, open a local watering hole," Brett said. "We're trying to keep this taproom focused as a neighborhood fixture where you can come and get that after-shift lager."
Caution Brewing reveled in making beer with ingredients that most brewers would enjoy only with the food portion of their dinners. Cardamom, a proprietary Chinese five-spice blend, a hearty helping of Earl Grey tea — these were the things that made the Lakewood brewery so magical and unique.
So, when the new brewery in Caution's former 1057 S. Wadsworth Boulevard home opens on Wednesday, the tap list might seem shocking in comparison: a honey brown ale, an Irish red, a lager, a pale ale with Mosaic hops. And in that sense, Old 121 Brewhouse might just be the anti-Caution.
The co-owners (pictured above) of what will be the sixth brewery in Lakewood have backgrounds with some of the largest and most experimental breweries in the area. Head brewer Jason Bailey learned the art at TRVE. Brett and Karla Zahrte held various roles at Coors Brewing. Both Brett and Jason spent time ramping up the production at Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project.
But when they and partner Eric Gupta decided to launch their own brewery, they wanted something laid back, with a focus on easy-drinking styles without the words "hazy" or "brut" or "pastry" anywhere in their descriptions. And while they may eventually work with nearby businesses to get some kegs out to them, they also have no interest in pushing Old 121 into the realm of distribution.
"I want to see people out here enjoying what they've got. It's not so much about making a big name for ourselves on the scene," Bailey said over a beer on Tuesday, one day before the soft opening. "We're not going to try to run the race with everybody else in the industry."
Instead, Old 121 wants to be the neighborhood brewery, a place that is easily accessible to the growing residential population in central Lakewood. Three of the four partners live in the western suburb, and the Zahrtes grew up in Golden going to a local bar that they considered to be like a community as it welcomed in families.
To that aim, Old 121 also will make its own sodas, including two dry-hopped sodas, and will be the first brewery in the Denver area offering iced tea on draft. It will have a video-game machine, and its owners hope it can be that place that people feel comfortable pulling into out of rush-hour traffic and having a beer or two without fears of being intoxicated.
The beers, by the way, are just what one may imagine for a place with the laid-back goals of Old 121. The honey brown is pleasant and easy - malty and a touch sweet without being cloying. The Irish Red (pictured in front of the brewery's beer engine that will be used for pouring an English mild collaboration with Grateful Gnome that is titled "tastes like beer — one star") is all malt with a medium body and a sessionable feel to it.
They're beers that you will enjoy if you're not expecting to have your taste buds blown away. They're beers that, appropriately, just have an old-school feel.
"Really, what we're trying to do here is build a community gathering space, open a local watering hole," Brett said. "We're trying to keep this taproom focused as a neighborhood fixture where you can come and get that after-shift lager."
Labels: Caution Brewing, Coors Brewing, Crooked Stave, Grateful Gnome, honey brown ale, Irish red ale, Lakewood breweries, Old 121 Brewhouse, TRVE
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Caution Brewing's Last Call
Caution Brewing's closing tonight is only a temporary exit from the scene for its brewing provocateur, Danny Wang, rather than a permanent one - and that it is a good think for all Denver craft-beer drinkers.
Seven years ago, the brewery offered up its first creation, a simple lager ... with a proprietary spice mix served at Wang's parents' restaurant, Lao Wang Noodle House. And while Lao Wang Lager was an eye-opener for the unique flavor it added to the light-bodied genre, it was only a hint of the successful madness that was to come out of Caution.
Soon enough, Wang produced a cardamom-infused saison, plus an IPA with whole flower chrysanthemum and Chinese rock brown sugar. Shortly after moving Caution's primary taproom from very industrial northeast Denver to a strip mall in Lakewood, he produced the best beer the brewery has made — The Earl, an Earl Grey tea-infused English mild ale that is dripping in tea flavor yet somehow blended perfectly with a style of beer not know for its creativity.
But the creativity of Wang and of head brewer Scott Petrovits (pictured above at left, who needs to be snatched up by a growing brewery) never stopped, sometimes flying under the radar with a series of bold one-offs that could sound goofy if they weren't so drinkable. There was a milk stout made with Peeps, a gose made with both Chinese five spice and Peking duck. And there was the pumpkin peach ale - a beer that Wang suggested making in a tweet after Budweiser mocked the style of beer in a TV commercial and which Wang found dozens of other brewers wanting to brew in solidarity with him as well.
While gutsy creativity defined Caution, though, Wang got to be known too as one of the more likable guys in the Denver scene - and one who looked to help others. When he finally decided to leave behind his first location, he turned it over to Tiffany Fixter, whose Brewability Lab was the first (and likely still only) brewery in the country specifically looking to employ a staff of disabled workers. As he turns over the site at at 1057 S. Wadsworth Blvd., he declined to say who was buying it but noted Saturday that it was "the type of people who will fit in well."
While the number of brewery closures is up in the past year, as the Colorado craft market begins to be somewhat clogged, Caution's exit is not due to financial hardship. A relaxed Wang said Saturday that he could have gone on in the new location for 20 years at his current level of success. But he wants to step back and look at the changing craft-brewing scene — one where distribution is becoming harder to come by and the neighborhood brewery is again the dominant force — and figure out how to change with it.
As such, he's already got some projects in the works, and he will be back, he said as other brewers stopped in early in the day to say their farewells to Caution. Some of the brewery's best known beers, from Lao Wang Lager to The Earl, are very likely to come back with him.
"This is last call here," Wang said of the location in Lakewood, where his brewery became just the second one operating in the city. "Whether Caution comes back as Caution, who knows."
It's worth noting that Caution didn't cruise into its final day, either. All through the month, it kept rolling out new beers, including a Cherry Milkshake IPA it broke out only on its final day. Wang acknowledged, as would be expected, that he'll keep homebrewing in his down time.
Asked what he liked most about the seven-year run, Wang didn't hesitate. And his answer speaks volumes about why he'll be back — even if, at first, it will just be as a visitor to a lot of beer festivals rather than as someone who will be serving his wares there.
"The friendships we made," he said while looking over some thank-you cards with his wife, Emily. "I have a phonebook full of people we met that I otherwise would never have talked to ... That you can't buy, no matter what you do."
Seven years ago, the brewery offered up its first creation, a simple lager ... with a proprietary spice mix served at Wang's parents' restaurant, Lao Wang Noodle House. And while Lao Wang Lager was an eye-opener for the unique flavor it added to the light-bodied genre, it was only a hint of the successful madness that was to come out of Caution.
Soon enough, Wang produced a cardamom-infused saison, plus an IPA with whole flower chrysanthemum and Chinese rock brown sugar. Shortly after moving Caution's primary taproom from very industrial northeast Denver to a strip mall in Lakewood, he produced the best beer the brewery has made — The Earl, an Earl Grey tea-infused English mild ale that is dripping in tea flavor yet somehow blended perfectly with a style of beer not know for its creativity.
But the creativity of Wang and of head brewer Scott Petrovits (pictured above at left, who needs to be snatched up by a growing brewery) never stopped, sometimes flying under the radar with a series of bold one-offs that could sound goofy if they weren't so drinkable. There was a milk stout made with Peeps, a gose made with both Chinese five spice and Peking duck. And there was the pumpkin peach ale - a beer that Wang suggested making in a tweet after Budweiser mocked the style of beer in a TV commercial and which Wang found dozens of other brewers wanting to brew in solidarity with him as well.
While gutsy creativity defined Caution, though, Wang got to be known too as one of the more likable guys in the Denver scene - and one who looked to help others. When he finally decided to leave behind his first location, he turned it over to Tiffany Fixter, whose Brewability Lab was the first (and likely still only) brewery in the country specifically looking to employ a staff of disabled workers. As he turns over the site at at 1057 S. Wadsworth Blvd., he declined to say who was buying it but noted Saturday that it was "the type of people who will fit in well."
While the number of brewery closures is up in the past year, as the Colorado craft market begins to be somewhat clogged, Caution's exit is not due to financial hardship. A relaxed Wang said Saturday that he could have gone on in the new location for 20 years at his current level of success. But he wants to step back and look at the changing craft-brewing scene — one where distribution is becoming harder to come by and the neighborhood brewery is again the dominant force — and figure out how to change with it.
As such, he's already got some projects in the works, and he will be back, he said as other brewers stopped in early in the day to say their farewells to Caution. Some of the brewery's best known beers, from Lao Wang Lager to The Earl, are very likely to come back with him.
"This is last call here," Wang said of the location in Lakewood, where his brewery became just the second one operating in the city. "Whether Caution comes back as Caution, who knows."It's worth noting that Caution didn't cruise into its final day, either. All through the month, it kept rolling out new beers, including a Cherry Milkshake IPA it broke out only on its final day. Wang acknowledged, as would be expected, that he'll keep homebrewing in his down time.
Asked what he liked most about the seven-year run, Wang didn't hesitate. And his answer speaks volumes about why he'll be back — even if, at first, it will just be as a visitor to a lot of beer festivals rather than as someone who will be serving his wares there.
"The friendships we made," he said while looking over some thank-you cards with his wife, Emily. "I have a phonebook full of people we met that I otherwise would never have talked to ... That you can't buy, no matter what you do."
Labels: Brewability Lab, brewery closings, Caution Brewing, lager, Lakewood breweries
