Monday, March 23, 2015
A Quickie Guide to Colorado Craft Beer Week
Do you really need an excuse to celebrate locally made beer? The guess is that if you're enough of a beer geek to read this blog, you probably get twitchy if it's been over a week since you've been to a brewery or beer bar, and you use that as reason enough to go back out.
But if you need that extra push — like, purely hypothetically, if you have a 7-month-old at home and feel a little guilty calling home and telling your wife that you have to go support the craft-beer industry before you can feed him and put him to bed — this week gives that to you. It's Colorado Craft Beer Week, and a whole bunch of breweries and bars are offering one-of-a-kind or only-once-in-a-while activities that hold great interest.
This is not a comprehensive guide to what's out there; you can find that on the Colorado Brewers Guild's official event page. But for those who want the CliffsNotes version, here's a couple of the most interesting offerings over the next six days.
1) New Kids on the Block
Imbibe once again is bringing together many of the breweries that opened in the past two years, to show off what is new and what is experimental in the Colorado scene. Scheduled for 7:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday at The Lobby, the $45 event serves as a great opportunity (last year's is pictured above) to catch up with some of the non-Denver innovators especially that you might not find in every bar or liquor store yet.
2) 2nd Choice Collab Fest
Those who missed Saturday's Collaboration Fest missed one of the most audacious collections of beers in one room in a long time, from fascinating new takes on the IPA style to Basil blonde/cherry kriek combos. The Terminal Bar at Union Station will be serving a number of the offerings all week — and it might be the last chance you'll have to try them.
3) Fuss Off
Speaking of collaborations, the most intriguing event of the week will be a Wednesday-night gathering of a number of breweries that decided to make a pumpkin-peach ale of some sort after Budweiser's Super Bowl ad mocked the style. Only people who buy a ticket will be informed of the location of the get-together. That's planning something the hard way.
4) New Beer Tappings
Countless ales will make their debut this week. A few of the more intriguing ones are:
• Denver Beer Co. releases its Cocoa Creme Graham Cracker Porter at 4 p.m. Thursday;
• Also at 4 p.m. Thursday, Odell will tap a smoked juniper and pepper version of its classic 90 Shilling at Stapleton Tap House; and,
• At 5 p.m. Friday, Trinity Brewing taps a 45th Parallel Oregon-style IPA.
5) Book Festival
From 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Dry Dock is hosting a Book Showcase at its North Dock facility. Signing and selling their wares will be beer authors Emily Hutto, Dan Rabin and ... well, me. So, seriously, stop by and say hello, even if you already have your copy of "Mountain Brew."
Do you really need an excuse to celebrate locally made beer? The guess is that if you're enough of a beer geek to read this blog, you probably get twitchy if it's been over a week since you've been to a brewery or beer bar, and you use that as reason enough to go back out.
But if you need that extra push — like, purely hypothetically, if you have a 7-month-old at home and feel a little guilty calling home and telling your wife that you have to go support the craft-beer industry before you can feed him and put him to bed — this week gives that to you. It's Colorado Craft Beer Week, and a whole bunch of breweries and bars are offering one-of-a-kind or only-once-in-a-while activities that hold great interest.
This is not a comprehensive guide to what's out there; you can find that on the Colorado Brewers Guild's official event page. But for those who want the CliffsNotes version, here's a couple of the most interesting offerings over the next six days.
1) New Kids on the Block
Imbibe once again is bringing together many of the breweries that opened in the past two years, to show off what is new and what is experimental in the Colorado scene. Scheduled for 7:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday at The Lobby, the $45 event serves as a great opportunity (last year's is pictured above) to catch up with some of the non-Denver innovators especially that you might not find in every bar or liquor store yet.
2) 2nd Choice Collab Fest
Those who missed Saturday's Collaboration Fest missed one of the most audacious collections of beers in one room in a long time, from fascinating new takes on the IPA style to Basil blonde/cherry kriek combos. The Terminal Bar at Union Station will be serving a number of the offerings all week — and it might be the last chance you'll have to try them.
3) Fuss Off
Speaking of collaborations, the most intriguing event of the week will be a Wednesday-night gathering of a number of breweries that decided to make a pumpkin-peach ale of some sort after Budweiser's Super Bowl ad mocked the style. Only people who buy a ticket will be informed of the location of the get-together. That's planning something the hard way.
4) New Beer Tappings
Countless ales will make their debut this week. A few of the more intriguing ones are:
• Denver Beer Co. releases its Cocoa Creme Graham Cracker Porter at 4 p.m. Thursday;
• Also at 4 p.m. Thursday, Odell will tap a smoked juniper and pepper version of its classic 90 Shilling at Stapleton Tap House; and,
• At 5 p.m. Friday, Trinity Brewing taps a 45th Parallel Oregon-style IPA.
5) Book Festival
From 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Dry Dock is hosting a Book Showcase at its North Dock facility. Signing and selling their wares will be beer authors Emily Hutto, Dan Rabin and ... well, me. So, seriously, stop by and say hello, even if you already have your copy of "Mountain Brew."
Labels: collaboration beers, Colorado Craft Beer Week, Denver Beer Co, Mountain Brew book, New Colorado breweries, Odell Brewing, Stapleton Tap House, Trinity Brewing
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Throwing Caution to the Wind
A blog reader recently suggested that since I have no immediate plans to update "Mountain Brew," I should use this space to do more on breweries that opened since the book went to press in May 2011. And I thought that might be the best suggestion I'd heard in a long time.
So, while I've scrawled on a few of the state's newer breweries (see the last paragraph of this post), I wanted to start this series of posts by catching up with the first brewery to open after the deadline cutoff for the book - Caution Brewing in northeast Denver.
Since its June 2011 debut, Caution has evolved from the brewery making beer for co-owner Danny Wang's parents' restaurant (Lao Wang Noodle House) to one opening a second location in Lakewood this fall. And the appeal of his beers and the ensuing need to expand can be traced to one trait - Danny's unwillingness to make anything just to style.
Take his Lao Wang Lager, which has the classic light lager body - but then gets jazzed up with Asian spices from his parent's restaurant, making it the most interesting beer of its style in the state. Oh, and it might also be the best beer to pair with spicy or otherwise exotic tastes, its ginger and anise overtones settling in to any dish in front of you.
Or there's one of his newer creations, the Card Your Mom Saison, infused with cardamom to give a big nose of spice backed with a Belgian-candy-sugar body that makes this both inviting and appealing.
The more you drink of Caution's beers - such as the very new Frothy Sheet Wheat, a nitro-infused wheat that creates a Hefeweizen mouthfeel with the pillowy body of a Guinness - the more you find your expectations raised. So, if after a tasting you find that the Wild Blonde (brewed with rice) or the Honey Matrimony (brown ale brewed with Colorado wildflower honey) seem a bit dull, it may just be the comparison other beers have created.
Caution doesn't throw out the highly hopped beers like most other state breweries; even its Hippity Hops IPA with whole flower chrysanthemum and Chinese rock brown sugar uses sweetness to cut hop acidity. But it creates such interesting varieties that even a hop head may not mind.
Still brewing on the former Odell Brewing five-barrel system that notably produced 5 Barrel Pale Ale (pictured above), Caution will have 12 full taps to tinker with even more experiments at its second location. And Danny and co-owner Betty Fey (pictured way above) can hopefully find an even wider audience for beers that should be saluted for their uniqueness.
(To see write-ups on other breweries that have opened over the past two years, click here for Pikes Peak Brewing, Denver Beer Co., Hogshead Brewery, River North Brewery, Cannonball Creek Brewing and Colorado Plus Brew Pub. And I promise these will come a lot more frequently in the coming months.)
A blog reader recently suggested that since I have no immediate plans to update "Mountain Brew," I should use this space to do more on breweries that opened since the book went to press in May 2011. And I thought that might be the best suggestion I'd heard in a long time.
So, while I've scrawled on a few of the state's newer breweries (see the last paragraph of this post), I wanted to start this series of posts by catching up with the first brewery to open after the deadline cutoff for the book - Caution Brewing in northeast Denver.
Since its June 2011 debut, Caution has evolved from the brewery making beer for co-owner Danny Wang's parents' restaurant (Lao Wang Noodle House) to one opening a second location in Lakewood this fall. And the appeal of his beers and the ensuing need to expand can be traced to one trait - Danny's unwillingness to make anything just to style.
Take his Lao Wang Lager, which has the classic light lager body - but then gets jazzed up with Asian spices from his parent's restaurant, making it the most interesting beer of its style in the state. Oh, and it might also be the best beer to pair with spicy or otherwise exotic tastes, its ginger and anise overtones settling in to any dish in front of you.
Or there's one of his newer creations, the Card Your Mom Saison, infused with cardamom to give a big nose of spice backed with a Belgian-candy-sugar body that makes this both inviting and appealing.
The more you drink of Caution's beers - such as the very new Frothy Sheet Wheat, a nitro-infused wheat that creates a Hefeweizen mouthfeel with the pillowy body of a Guinness - the more you find your expectations raised. So, if after a tasting you find that the Wild Blonde (brewed with rice) or the Honey Matrimony (brown ale brewed with Colorado wildflower honey) seem a bit dull, it may just be the comparison other beers have created.
Caution doesn't throw out the highly hopped beers like most other state breweries; even its Hippity Hops IPA with whole flower chrysanthemum and Chinese rock brown sugar uses sweetness to cut hop acidity. But it creates such interesting varieties that even a hop head may not mind.
Still brewing on the former Odell Brewing five-barrel system that notably produced 5 Barrel Pale Ale (pictured above), Caution will have 12 full taps to tinker with even more experiments at its second location. And Danny and co-owner Betty Fey (pictured way above) can hopefully find an even wider audience for beers that should be saluted for their uniqueness.
(To see write-ups on other breweries that have opened over the past two years, click here for Pikes Peak Brewing, Denver Beer Co., Hogshead Brewery, River North Brewery, Cannonball Creek Brewing and Colorado Plus Brew Pub. And I promise these will come a lot more frequently in the coming months.)
Labels: Caution Brewing, Mountain Brew book, New Colorado breweries, Odell Brewing
Friday, January 06, 2012
Good Cheers and Big BeersIt's the wonderful weekend of the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival in Vail, one of the finest brewfests in Colorado each year. And while there will be more to discuss afterward - after deciding which of the multiple seminars to attend and which of the 200 or so strong beers to sample - there's at least two pieces of good news at the start.
First, from the festival website, all attendees get a $5 food ticket with their admission this year. I would say this is an added bonus all festivals should consider. Too many people - the Fearless Tasting Crew included - get too wrapped up in the beer selection and simply forget to put anything in their stomach to cushion the impact of drinking. This will provide an incentive to do that, at the least.
Second, a source - we'll just call him "Gary from Colorado Craft Beer Radio" - tells that the tasting portion of the the event will be spread out between two rooms this year. This is an even better move for the festival. No one has ever complained about the worldwide, rare selection of beers available at this gathering. But occasionally, the central tasting area has become so crowded that you have to ping-pong your way from table to table. Spreading it out will ensure everyone has a more pleasant good time, and festival organizers should be lauded for it.
If you don't have tickets yet, they are still available. And - shameless plug alert - if you're going up today but don't have plans for tonight - feel free to stop by Crazy Mountain Brewing in Edwards for a "Mountain Brew" book-signing.
Cheers.
Labels: Big Beers, Colorado Craft Beer Radio, Crazy Mountain Brewing Company, Mountain Brew book
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
A Walk through Colorado Breweries, Radio-StyleI had the great please of talking with Ariana Brocious of KVNF radio in Paonia not long ago about my new book on Colorado breweries. But while the conversation centered around "Mountain Brew," I found that we ended up hitting more Colorado breweries in one interview than any I've done yet.
If you're interested in taking a 15-minute walk through the Colorado brewing industry, here is the link. Enjoy.
Labels: Mountain Brew book, Radio interviews
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Good News from Durango
Denverites, who are blessed with an abundance of breweries within just an hour's drive, too often tend to forget that southwest Colorado holds its own special draw.
The Beer Geekette and did a couple of book-signings this past weekend at the close of Durango's Beer Week - right before the start of GABF week up here - and found several fantastic pieces of beer news to recommend:
*Steamworks Brewing continues to diversify and master a number of styles. The Berliner Weisse on tap this weekend was smooth with just a hint of citrus sour - just like sour and wheat fans could hope.
*If you're looking for hop bitterness without it being overdone, Ska's Operation Ivy wet-hopped IPA packs it in. The brewery will have it on tap at events in Denver this week; try to catch it.
*And, yes, the guys at Ska still know how to party. Their 16th birthday bash, fueled appropriately enough with music from ska bands like The Toasters, seemed to bring out every brewery and beer drinker in southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico.
*Pagosa Brewing, still selling its wares only out of the brewery in tiny Pagosa Springs, continues to have beers worth driving for. The Belgian Amber in particular was about as easy-drinking yet still satisfying a beer you can get when mixing in a large quantity of Belgian yeast.
*Kudos to Mark Youngquist at Dolores River Brewery for continuing to make some of the best beers you've never tried (unless you've visited the 800-person town). His Snaggletooth double pale ale, packed with five different types of hops, made you stop and think about what you were drinking more than anything else at the Ska party.
Denverites, who are blessed with an abundance of breweries within just an hour's drive, too often tend to forget that southwest Colorado holds its own special draw.
The Beer Geekette and did a couple of book-signings this past weekend at the close of Durango's Beer Week - right before the start of GABF week up here - and found several fantastic pieces of beer news to recommend:
*Steamworks Brewing continues to diversify and master a number of styles. The Berliner Weisse on tap this weekend was smooth with just a hint of citrus sour - just like sour and wheat fans could hope.
*If you're looking for hop bitterness without it being overdone, Ska's Operation Ivy wet-hopped IPA packs it in. The brewery will have it on tap at events in Denver this week; try to catch it.
*And, yes, the guys at Ska still know how to party. Their 16th birthday bash, fueled appropriately enough with music from ska bands like The Toasters, seemed to bring out every brewery and beer drinker in southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico.
*Pagosa Brewing, still selling its wares only out of the brewery in tiny Pagosa Springs, continues to have beers worth driving for. The Belgian Amber in particular was about as easy-drinking yet still satisfying a beer you can get when mixing in a large quantity of Belgian yeast.
*Kudos to Mark Youngquist at Dolores River Brewery for continuing to make some of the best beers you've never tried (unless you've visited the 800-person town). His Snaggletooth double pale ale, packed with five different types of hops, made you stop and think about what you were drinking more than anything else at the Ska party.
Labels: Dolores River Brewery, Durango breweries, Mountain Brew book, Pagosa Brewing, Ska Brewing, Steamworks Brewing
Monday, September 26, 2011
Denver Beer Fest/GABF Week HighlightsIs it GABF week already? These things sneak up so fast, and you just don't have the proper amount of time to get your liver in shape. But rather than complaining about it, you might as well dive right into the mayhem. After all, this is not a week you want to miss.
The official website for Denver Beer Fest has the most extensive list of events from now until Sunday. But here are a few highlights for those of you who either didn't get tickets to the Thursday-Saturday Great American Beer Festival or simply can't wait that long:
Monday
* 5 p.m: Falling Rock Taphouse hosts its official GABF kickoff party, with beers galore.
* Vine Street Pub releases Four Virtue Reserve, a new Belgian beer
Tuesday
* Strange Brewing will be showing the movie "Strange Brew" all night - and serving special sausage plates.
* 5-7 p.m. Oskar Blues Brewery hosts its own rare beer tasting downtown at the Paramount Cafe.
Wednesday
* 5-8 p.m.: Shameless self plug: I'll be signing copies of my book, "Mountain Brew: A Guide to Colorado's Breweries," while chefs pair appetizers with Colorado beers at 16Mix downtown.
* 6-9 p.m.: Rackhouse Pub hosts a rare beer tasting for $35.
Thursday
* Shmaltz Brewing will be at Freshcraft all day, starting with a rare bottle tasting at 2 p.m.
* Falling Rock brings in out-of-state beer stars for some rare tappings, including Anchor Brewing (2 p.m.), Full Sail Brewing (10 p.m.) and Green Flash Brewing (11 p.m.)
Friday
* Avery Brewing is breaking at some rarities at Falling Rock at 2 p.m. and then hosting a Heaven and Hell party at Freshcraft at 10 p.m.
* Falling Rock's lineup includes tastings from Rogue (3 p.m.), Dogfish Head (10 p.m.) and Alaskan Brewing (11 p.m.)
Saturday
* Freshcraft features tappings from Upslope Brewing (11 a.m.), Oskar Blues (2 p.m.) and Widmer (10 p.m.)
* 10 p.m.: Still have a functioning liver after the GABF closes? Finish it off with rare beers - including a number of sour ales - from New Belgium Brewing at Falling Rock.
Labels: Denver Beer Fest, Great American Beer Festival, Mountain Brew book
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
This Week in Colorado Beer
Wow, it's been a while for this column. But there's some good stuff happening this week, so here's just a few of the highlights ...
Mountain Brew Book Signings
(And yeah, I'm a little biased toward these events)
*Wednesday, 6 p.m.: Ale House at Amato's in Denver
*Friday, 5:30 p.m.: Oskar Blues' Tasty Weasel Taproom in Longmont
Beer Festivals
*Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m.: San Juan Brewfest, Durango, $25
*Saturday, 6 to 10 p.m.: Foam Fest at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo, $20 plus festival admission
Anniversary Parties
*Saturday, 11 a.m. to close: Trinity Brewing's third anniversary party at the Colorado Springs brewery. No cover.
*Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.: Freshcraft's first anniversary celebration, featuring rare tappings from Oskar Blues, Avery and Upslope and rare bottles from Odell and Boulevard. No cover.
Firkin' Fun
*Wednesday, 4 p.m.: Elk Mountain taps Red-Headed Stepchild.
*Friday, 3 and 7 p.m.: Dry Dock taps Watermelon Kolsch.
New Releases
*Thursday, 6 p.m.: Rock Bottom Downtown Denver taps Red Rocks Irish Style Red.
*Friday: Twisted Pine releases Black Swan Saison.
*Saturday, 2 p.m: Oskar Blues releases Deviant Dale's IPA in Lyons.
Labels: Beer calendar, Mountain Brew book
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Five Craft Lager Festival Thoughts
It's been one week now since the Manitou Craft Lager Festival. Generally, if something sticks in your brain that long, it's made an impression. And there are several things from this year's event that made an impression.
1. Odell Brewing can do no wrong
Usually, small-batch pilot experiments are big, bold flavors too risky to appeal to the mass population. But this year, Odell made a pilot kolsch for the festival. And it may have been the best beer there. Glisteningly smooth and crisp, this version of the German style increased the standard amount of hops in a kolsch by just enough to make this a sharp but still very easy-drinking beer. Let's hope this moves from pilot batch to six packs very soon.
2. Summit County brewers are underrated
The longest lines of the weekends formed at the Dillon Dam Brewery booth, where Cory Forster (far right in the photo) poured a malty, approachable Montezuma Marzen that seemed perfect for the summer heat. Next to it, Pug Ryan's brewmaster Dave Simmons (center in photo, next to me) doled out his thick, sweet Helles Bock and a smooth, easy Pallavicini Pilsner. Pug's sends a few beer in cans to the Front Range and Dillon Dam none; these two breweries are proving, however, that Summit County has a selection worth traveling for.
3. Highly hopped pilsners are an idea whose time has come
Avery debuted its Joe's Pilsner last year and shocked a lot of people with the amount of hops you can put into a 4.7 percent, light-bodied beer. It was back this year, but it was not alone in its genre. Lost Rhino Brewing of Virginia, which is set to begin Colorado distribution soon, showed up with an aggressively hopped Rhino Chaser Pils that added a firm, sweet malt backbone to its character. It would not surprise me to see the hopped pilsner, with its combination of refreshment and bitter joy, blowing up to become the next big style, ala the Belgian sour or black IPA.
4. The clown remains a prince
Shmaltz Brewing of New York and its creepy clown symbol remained the most talked-about out-of-state brewer at the festival. I asked a number of people who stopped by the Mountain Brew booth what their favorite beer was, and the most common answer I got was the Coney Island Albino Python, a wistful ginger-touched white lager. But the bock-like Blockhead and whiskey-tinged Barrel-Aged Blockhead added greatly to the resume of a brewery that should find a way to have a bigger presence in Colorado.
5. Festival organizers were attentive to attendees' pleas
Last year, half the beer booths had shut down with two hours to go on Saturday and attendees were up in arms. This year, festival organizers smartly reduced the two-ounce pours to one ounce, leaving lines a bit long at times but ensuring that drinkers could get whatever they wanted to try. They also added distillers, giving the daring another option of beverages to try. And the security was on the lookout for the excessively drunk, meaning that people who were really wanting to sample and discuss the beers weren't being pushed around by the belligerent. Other than the 30-minute rainstorm that stopped strolling and sampling for a while Sunday, this was a better festival all around than last year. And it once again should be regarded as one of the finest in the state.
Labels: Avery Brewing, Dillon Dam Brewery, Lost Rhino, Manitou Springs, Mountain Brew book, Odell Brewing, Pug Ryan's, Shmaltz Brewing
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Stop ... Lager Time
Colorado has more beer festivals than Batman has archenemies. But there are four that year in and year out stand out:
*Denver's Great American Beer Festival in late September;
*Vail's Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines festival in early January;
*Salida's Brewers Rendezvous in early July; and,
*The Manitou Craft Lager Festival, coming up this Saturday and Sunday.
Each of these brings a unique assortment of brewers from across the state and country. And each is notable because the brewers don't just show up but bring harder-to-find selections and even make unique offerings to roll out at the events.
But the Craft Lager Festival, entering its ninth year this year, earns special kudos among the group because it has played a significant role in Colorado breweries taking an outdated style of beer and spicing it up. And any event that makes the lager - the kind of beer most often associated with megaswill - special is worthy of our compliments.
And I'm not just saying that because this is the first festival at which we'll be selling my book, Mountain Brew.
Really, take a look at some of the offerings that will be available this year. Odell Brewing is rolling out a pilot kolsch beer. Rock Bottom Colorado Springs is bringing a chili pepper Mexican lager. And AC Golden, known largely for its Colorado Native lager, is bringing a German-style pilsner that you can't find on store shelves.
And, of course, that doesn't even count the fantastic offerings from smaller breweries that aren't available statewide, such as Pug Ryan's Helles Bock or Rocky Mountain Brewery's Smoked Hefeweizen.
The only complaint that patrons have had in the past about the festival is that it's grown so fast that breweries run out of beer too quickly. But organizers have always responded strongly to feedback, and there are great hopes that the beer flows until close to closing time this year.
So, cheers for the Craft Lager Festival, which runs from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. And I hope to see a number of you down there celebrating this unique take on the Colorado brewing tradition.
Labels: AC Golden, Manitou Springs, Mountain Brew book, Odell Brewing, Pug Ryan's, Rock Bottom Brewery, Rocky Mountain Brewery
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Mountain Brew - Yes, It's My Book - Debuts FridayAnyone who follows this blog knows its author's proclivity for drinking and writing. And they may have noticed too how all of that seemed to stop from January through mid-June of this year.
Well, here's what happened: In that time period, I was penning my first book, a look at each of the state's breweries and their unique personalities. And tomorrow, Mountain Brew: A Guide to Colorado's Breweries officially comes out.
The book is a labor of love for which I spent nearly two years travelling throughout the state to visit every brewery and to sit down with their brewers or owners and talk about the business. It does not feature critiques of beers, though it does list the signature beers of each establishment. Instead, it's meant to tell the stories of each institution and to serve as a companion guide for anyone who wants to travel through a city or even the state, visit breweries and understand the history of the beer makers they are enjoying.
Those who may want to visit some of the larger and better known breweries in the state can find out more about the outsized personalities in the industry in Colorado. When did Brian Dunn have the revelation that led him to open Great Divide? How did Kim Jordan come up with the idea of granting ownership in New Belgium to her employees? What is the most important thing Doug Odell wants people to know about his brewery? (Hint: It has nothing to do with Odell beer.)
Maybe the part I enjoyed most, though, was learning about the breweries in towns as small as 450 people across the state that rarely pop up on Denver beer-bar taps or at beer festivals but that have fantastic stories to tell. These are places like Three Barrel Brewing in Del Norte, a quiet San Luis Valley town where owner Jim Bricker brews his recipes in a room in the back of his insurance office. Or Ourayle House, a Ouray outpost where James Paul Hutchison makes 1-1/2-barrel batches that he hawks from a swing behind his bar and that he once traded for elk cleaned off a highway. Or Dolores River Brewery north of Cortez, where former Rock Bottom pioneer Mark Youngquist doles out as assortment of non-style-specific ales to rooms packed with what can be as much as 10 percent of the 800-person town's population on a Friday night.
The book will be available at local bookstores and national chains, at a number of breweries and online at places like Amazon or the website of my publisher, History Press. I'm also planning a number of book-signing events, including two launch parties: At 6 p.m. on Aug. 4 at the Denver Press Club and at 4 p.m. on Aug. 6 at Strange Brewing in Denver. I'd love to see any readers there.
The book will be available at local bookstores and national chains, at a number of breweries and online at places like Amazon or the website of my publisher, History Press. I'm also planning a number of book-signing events, including two launch parties: At 6 p.m. on Aug. 4 at the Denver Press Club and at 4 p.m. on Aug. 6 at Strange Brewing in Denver. I'd love to see any readers there.
Also, I've expanded beyond the blog and now have a Facebook page (Mountain Brew), a website for the book and a Twitter account at @MtnBrewBook. Between this site and those, I'm hoping to spend even more time writing about beer and exploring the breweries of this state.
In the end, if no one bought the book, I'd still look back fondly on my travels across the state, my conversations with the good people in this brewing industry and the adventures that come when you're trying to cram nine brewery visits into one weekend. (A special shout-out goes to Tony Simmons of Pagosa Brewing, who began our 10 a.m. interview by serving me a three-year flight of his barleywines.)
But I'm hoping a few people might buy Mountain Brew and learn the sheer joy, as I did, of the all-encompassing brewery culture of Colorado. And hopefully, I'll even see a few of you when I'm out at those breweries in the months to come.
Cheers.
Labels: Mountain Brew book
