Friday, May 31, 2019
6 Beers That Have Put a Spring in Spring's StepJudging by the weekday crowd at Elitch Gardens today, spring has already segued into summer, no matter what the calendar may say. But beer seasons stick around a little longer, giving that precious extra time to sup up what breweries have made to help Coloradans bridge the crucial months between ski season and full-out camping time.
This year brought a variety of tastes giving life to what used to be a blah few months for new creations and seasonal offerings. And in the catch-all spirit of spring-cleaning one's beer notebook, a half dozen that ran the gamuts of flavor and release timing need to be called out and, in some cases, lobbied to be brought back again when the calendar turns from snow to sunshine in the same week.
1) Paradox MF Gose Pamplemousse
2) Denver Beer Co. Juicy Freak IPA
3) 3 Superheroes Walk Into a Brewery
4) Melvin Brewing TGR Pilsgnar
5) Bell's Brewery Official IPA
6) Left Hand Wheels Gose 'Round
Labels: Bell's Brewing, Cannonball Creek Brewing, Denver Beer Co, Left Hand Brewing, Melvin Brewing, Odd 13 Brewing, Odyssey Beerwerks, Paradox Brewing, spring seasonals
Wednesday, January 04, 2017
Big Beers Has Some Big Changes
For 16 years the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival was synonymous with drinking in Vail. And now, for its 17th edition, it's being almost completely reborn - in a new city, in a new format, in a changing craft beer universe.
That kind of massive change would be enough to ruin some other festivals, or at least leave them caught in an identity crisis. But for Big Beers, whose festivities officially kick off Thursday evening (and whose tasting and seminar tickets are, shockingly, still available), it appears at first glance to be giving what already is one of America's best beer festivals a shot in the arm that allows organizers Laura and Bill Lodge to re-imagine the gathering in a whole new way.
Moving 38 miles down the road, the three-day celebration of the finest envelope-pushing beers in the state and the country lands this year at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge. There the main tasting event on Saturday will be split between two ballrooms in order to accommodate all of the breweries clamoring to pour their wares at the event - more than 150 will be in attendance, even as roughly 40 more beer makers had to be put onto a waiting list this year/
But, much like with the Great American Beer Festival, not all of the action will be on the floor of the event anymore. When Laura Lodge went searching for a city to replace Vail because the former host hotel is in the midst of massive renovations, one of the things she found was a willingness on the part of Breckenridge restaurants and bars not just to embrace the beer geeks coming into town but to line up a whole series of special events on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings to give visitors a chance to experience great beers outside of just the grand tasting.
From rare tappings by the likes of Odell and Avery to tap takeovers of luminaries like Melvin and Casey to beer dinners themed around everything from burgers to exotic small plates, Big Beers attendees almost could skip the festival and still have their palates sated. Then again, no one really would want to do that.
The festival, after all, remains a showcase of barrel-aged rarities (such as a Law’s Rum Barrel-Aged Sour Ale with Pluots and Elephant Heart Plums from Black Project), full experimental lines (the Metallurgy Sour Collection of beers aged in stainless steel barrels from Destihl Brewing), beers that have been cellaring for years and are impossible to find outside this event (2009 Fort from Dogfish Head) and a collection of breweries (Jester King, Surly, Troegs) whose beers can't be found elsewhere in Colorado. (See the program here.)
In fact, there's a good chance that this wholly new Big Beers festival will be its best one yet and lay a foundation for even more innovation to come. And Lodge feels very fortunate that she has this opportunity, even if it means having to leave her hometown for the weekend.
"It's been very gratifying to find out that not only is there a great beer culture here but everyone's very enthusiastic," she said. "We didn't lose any enthusiasm."
For 16 years the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival was synonymous with drinking in Vail. And now, for its 17th edition, it's being almost completely reborn - in a new city, in a new format, in a changing craft beer universe.
That kind of massive change would be enough to ruin some other festivals, or at least leave them caught in an identity crisis. But for Big Beers, whose festivities officially kick off Thursday evening (and whose tasting and seminar tickets are, shockingly, still available), it appears at first glance to be giving what already is one of America's best beer festivals a shot in the arm that allows organizers Laura and Bill Lodge to re-imagine the gathering in a whole new way.
Moving 38 miles down the road, the three-day celebration of the finest envelope-pushing beers in the state and the country lands this year at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge. There the main tasting event on Saturday will be split between two ballrooms in order to accommodate all of the breweries clamoring to pour their wares at the event - more than 150 will be in attendance, even as roughly 40 more beer makers had to be put onto a waiting list this year/
But, much like with the Great American Beer Festival, not all of the action will be on the floor of the event anymore. When Laura Lodge went searching for a city to replace Vail because the former host hotel is in the midst of massive renovations, one of the things she found was a willingness on the part of Breckenridge restaurants and bars not just to embrace the beer geeks coming into town but to line up a whole series of special events on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings to give visitors a chance to experience great beers outside of just the grand tasting.From rare tappings by the likes of Odell and Avery to tap takeovers of luminaries like Melvin and Casey to beer dinners themed around everything from burgers to exotic small plates, Big Beers attendees almost could skip the festival and still have their palates sated. Then again, no one really would want to do that.
The festival, after all, remains a showcase of barrel-aged rarities (such as a Law’s Rum Barrel-Aged Sour Ale with Pluots and Elephant Heart Plums from Black Project), full experimental lines (the Metallurgy Sour Collection of beers aged in stainless steel barrels from Destihl Brewing), beers that have been cellaring for years and are impossible to find outside this event (2009 Fort from Dogfish Head) and a collection of breweries (Jester King, Surly, Troegs) whose beers can't be found elsewhere in Colorado. (See the program here.)
In fact, there's a good chance that this wholly new Big Beers festival will be its best one yet and lay a foundation for even more innovation to come. And Lodge feels very fortunate that she has this opportunity, even if it means having to leave her hometown for the weekend.
"It's been very gratifying to find out that not only is there a great beer culture here but everyone's very enthusiastic," she said. "We didn't lose any enthusiasm."
Labels: Avery Brewing, Big Beers, Black Project, Casey Brewing, Destihl, Dogfish Head, Jester King Brewing, Melvin Brewing, nitro, Odell Brewing, Surly Brewing
Saturday, September 26, 2015
GABF 2015 Day Two Recap
There's something just a little more chaotic on Friday than on Thursday at the Great American Beer Festival. Being a part of that makes you want to move a little more rapidly between booths, search just a little harder for the next great beer and toss over the side those things that aren't quite hitting.
With that said, here are a few things that stood out on the second, hectic, fun-filled day of the largest beer festival in America.
* Sometimes the line is worth it.
The lengthy waits for beers have shifted from just the usual dozen or so (Russian River, Dogfish Head, New Glarus, etc.) to some up-and-comers. One that is worth the wait is Funky Buddha. Another beer writer described the Florida beer maker well as brewing every day the types of beers that most breweries make only as one-offs. Last Snow, a coconut and coffee porter that is teeming with both tastes in ways that others of its genre are not, is an example of what makes it so good.
* Shockingly short lines
Then again, there are still a number of booths the general GABF public somehow hasn't seemed to find. While lines at The Bruery stretch 30 people long, there was virtually no one last night at Bruery Terreux, the experimental arm of that brewery that produces gems like the uber-tart, cherry-rich Sans Pagaie. Similarly, one can slip easily in and out of Melvin Brewing, a multiple-award winner for its hoppy beers that is serving up incredibly fresh but balanced treats like its 2x4 double IPA.
* Embrace the cucumber.
In the past month especially, it's seemed that more breweries are using the crisp, green vegetable as an ingredient in a wide variety of styles. From the cucumber basil kolsch Horse and Dragon created to a cucumber gose on tap at Spangalang, these places are doing it well. But nothing is as eye-popping as Odd 13's Humulus Kalecumber, a sour ale with kale and cucumber that manages to bring out the freshness of the vegetable while lighting up your taste buds. Give in; you know you want it.
* An off-premises star
Speaking of Spangalang, it's worth noting that the less-than-3-month-old Five Points brewery isn't at the GABF this year because it thought it was too soon to make the investment. But while leading a bus tour of out-of-town beer writers yesterday, we stopped in there and found the taproom packed in mid-afternoon. It's easy to see why. From its Brett-fermented, fresh-hopped, peach-packed kettle sour (Colorado Junction) to its sour laced with cherry and rose water (Pure Funk), it's making beers that beg to be noticed, even outside the main hall.
There's something just a little more chaotic on Friday than on Thursday at the Great American Beer Festival. Being a part of that makes you want to move a little more rapidly between booths, search just a little harder for the next great beer and toss over the side those things that aren't quite hitting.
With that said, here are a few things that stood out on the second, hectic, fun-filled day of the largest beer festival in America.
* Sometimes the line is worth it.
The lengthy waits for beers have shifted from just the usual dozen or so (Russian River, Dogfish Head, New Glarus, etc.) to some up-and-comers. One that is worth the wait is Funky Buddha. Another beer writer described the Florida beer maker well as brewing every day the types of beers that most breweries make only as one-offs. Last Snow, a coconut and coffee porter that is teeming with both tastes in ways that others of its genre are not, is an example of what makes it so good.
* Shockingly short lines
Then again, there are still a number of booths the general GABF public somehow hasn't seemed to find. While lines at The Bruery stretch 30 people long, there was virtually no one last night at Bruery Terreux, the experimental arm of that brewery that produces gems like the uber-tart, cherry-rich Sans Pagaie. Similarly, one can slip easily in and out of Melvin Brewing, a multiple-award winner for its hoppy beers that is serving up incredibly fresh but balanced treats like its 2x4 double IPA.* Embrace the cucumber.
In the past month especially, it's seemed that more breweries are using the crisp, green vegetable as an ingredient in a wide variety of styles. From the cucumber basil kolsch Horse and Dragon created to a cucumber gose on tap at Spangalang, these places are doing it well. But nothing is as eye-popping as Odd 13's Humulus Kalecumber, a sour ale with kale and cucumber that manages to bring out the freshness of the vegetable while lighting up your taste buds. Give in; you know you want it.
* An off-premises star
Speaking of Spangalang, it's worth noting that the less-than-3-month-old Five Points brewery isn't at the GABF this year because it thought it was too soon to make the investment. But while leading a bus tour of out-of-town beer writers yesterday, we stopped in there and found the taproom packed in mid-afternoon. It's easy to see why. From its Brett-fermented, fresh-hopped, peach-packed kettle sour (Colorado Junction) to its sour laced with cherry and rose water (Pure Funk), it's making beers that beg to be noticed, even outside the main hall.
Labels: Funky Buddha Brewing, Great American Beer Festival, Melvin Brewing, Odd 13 Brewing, Spangalang Brewery, The Bruery
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Best of the 2014 GABF
After a couple of weeks of reflection, the theme statement from this year's Great American Beer Festival finally is coming into focus. It wasn't the year of any one style - like with imperial IPAs, bold sours or barrel-aged dark beers as in years past — but the year in which each of the 700 breweries there put forth something original, something bold that distinguished it from its neighbors and from the growing cacophony of beer makers nationwide.
This is wonderful for its variety of offerings— on Thursday night alone, I was able to taste a Bourbon Carrot Cake, a banana beer and a brew made with Szechuan popcorn. But it makes the job of finding a definitive beer of the GABF — or even choosing best beers in specific categories — hard to the point where such categorization is almost moot.
That said, here as always is one man's thoughts on the best of the very best that breweries had to offer at this year's gathering.
Best in Show: 2x4, Melvin Brewing
For once, even in a year of such diversity, this award wasn't hard, as a number of people seemed to come to the same conclusion. Rarely, if even, has a double IPA been so smooth and so aggressively hoppy at the same time. A spectacularly accessible palate of grassy hops rolled over the taste buds in a way that jolted you and pleased you. It showed why, even without winning a medal, this Wyoming brewery is becoming known as one of the national kings of hops.
Runner-up: Teche Hombres, Bayou Teche Brewing
Out of Louisiana came this Belgian-style wit brewed with agave nectar and aged in French white wine barrels with orange peel. Yes, it was as good as it sounds — and even more complex.
Best Sour Beer: Blue Sunday, New Holland Brewing
An anniversary blend of several previously made sour beers, this shouted a message of sharp, tart cherry and packed more a punch than any similar beers at the festival.
Best Hop Bomb: Notorious, Boneyard Beer
If 2x4 was the best hoppy beer of the show, this was the most mind-blowing: a triple IPA whose flavor seeped into every crevice of your tongue but that still was phenomenally balanced.
Best New Hop Taste: Hop Drip IPA, Magic Hat Brewing (pictured above)
Adding a local coffee to an already bold body created a contrasting and yet strangely complimentary blend of bitter flavors that resulted in a new style of complexity for the genre.
Best Use of Fruit: Serendipity, New Glarus Brewing
This slightly sour ale blending apples and cranberries with a smaller amount of Wisconsin brewery's traditional cherries during a cherry shortage was heavy with apple and an eye-opener.
Best of the Unusual Beers: Roxie's Golden Bananas, Saucony Creek Brewing (at top)
Fifteen pounds of bananas went into this Pennsylvania brewery's 15-barrel batch of beer, producing a pleasant and interesting beer whose most impressive trait is that it's not overpowering.
Best in Show from Colorado: Swing Se Pliser, Trinity Brewing
Colorado Springs' most innovative beer maker continues to break new ground, this time with a tart and hoppy barrel-aged sour IPA that requires you to think about what you're tasting.
After a couple of weeks of reflection, the theme statement from this year's Great American Beer Festival finally is coming into focus. It wasn't the year of any one style - like with imperial IPAs, bold sours or barrel-aged dark beers as in years past — but the year in which each of the 700 breweries there put forth something original, something bold that distinguished it from its neighbors and from the growing cacophony of beer makers nationwide.
This is wonderful for its variety of offerings— on Thursday night alone, I was able to taste a Bourbon Carrot Cake, a banana beer and a brew made with Szechuan popcorn. But it makes the job of finding a definitive beer of the GABF — or even choosing best beers in specific categories — hard to the point where such categorization is almost moot.
That said, here as always is one man's thoughts on the best of the very best that breweries had to offer at this year's gathering.
Best in Show: 2x4, Melvin Brewing
For once, even in a year of such diversity, this award wasn't hard, as a number of people seemed to come to the same conclusion. Rarely, if even, has a double IPA been so smooth and so aggressively hoppy at the same time. A spectacularly accessible palate of grassy hops rolled over the taste buds in a way that jolted you and pleased you. It showed why, even without winning a medal, this Wyoming brewery is becoming known as one of the national kings of hops.
Runner-up: Teche Hombres, Bayou Teche Brewing
Out of Louisiana came this Belgian-style wit brewed with agave nectar and aged in French white wine barrels with orange peel. Yes, it was as good as it sounds — and even more complex.
Best Sour Beer: Blue Sunday, New Holland Brewing
An anniversary blend of several previously made sour beers, this shouted a message of sharp, tart cherry and packed more a punch than any similar beers at the festival.
Best Hop Bomb: Notorious, Boneyard Beer
If 2x4 was the best hoppy beer of the show, this was the most mind-blowing: a triple IPA whose flavor seeped into every crevice of your tongue but that still was phenomenally balanced.
Best New Hop Taste: Hop Drip IPA, Magic Hat Brewing (pictured above)
Adding a local coffee to an already bold body created a contrasting and yet strangely complimentary blend of bitter flavors that resulted in a new style of complexity for the genre.
Best Use of Fruit: Serendipity, New Glarus Brewing
This slightly sour ale blending apples and cranberries with a smaller amount of Wisconsin brewery's traditional cherries during a cherry shortage was heavy with apple and an eye-opener.
Best of the Unusual Beers: Roxie's Golden Bananas, Saucony Creek Brewing (at top)
Fifteen pounds of bananas went into this Pennsylvania brewery's 15-barrel batch of beer, producing a pleasant and interesting beer whose most impressive trait is that it's not overpowering.
Best in Show from Colorado: Swing Se Pliser, Trinity Brewing
Colorado Springs' most innovative beer maker continues to break new ground, this time with a tart and hoppy barrel-aged sour IPA that requires you to think about what you're tasting.
Labels: Bayou Teche Brewing, Boneyard Beer, Great American Beer Festival, Magic Hat Brewing, Melvin Brewing, New Glarus, New Holland Brewing, Saucony Creek Brewing, Trinity Brewing
