Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Late Summer 2019: The Great, the Good and the Near Misses
Before summer fades - it is only five days gone, after all - there are a number of Colorado beers that are worth contemplating and that, in many cases, remain available at breweries, restaurants or liquor stores. Some were excellent, some were wonderfully pleasant and some were so close to being notable that you wanted to root for them to be better than they were.
Here, then, is a rundown of the beers of late summer that are still making an impression.
The Excellent
* Ratio King of Carrot Flowers
This was not the first year that Denver's seldom-miss Ratio Beerworks cooked up its seasonal carrot elderflower saison, but something just felt fresher and more vibrant this year. The beer popped with a citrus-y, almost juicy feel. The bitterness from the elderflower balanced it perfectly. And the orange-juice-hued doppelganger in your hands just felt like an experiment gone very, very right.
* Spangalang Cherry Bourbon Barrel Aged Nightwalker
No 10% ABV imperial stout has a right to be this drinkable. But Denver's most underrated brewery managed to concoct a version of its sturdy-bodied dark-as-night treat with 2-1/2 pounds per gallon of organic Colorado sweet cherries that didn't give it an overt cherry taste so much as it smoothed out the bold body and made this tough guy of beers seem almost desert-like, in a still-beer way.
* Denver Beer Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Porter
Peanut butter beers work when a brewery goes big and blasts you with flavor. Here, there was both a significant taste of thick peanut and the big, sweet base flavor of this award-winning porter - tastes that both converged harmoniously and stood out in their own right in the same glass.
The Pleasant
* Social Fare Griffin Wing
Crazy Mountain Brewing made the house beer for Social Fare, the restaurant inside the JW Marriott Denver Cherry Creek, and it made it very well. A pale ale with serious grapefruit overtures, this is a great hanging-on-the-patio-while-poking-at-your-charcuterie-board beer (see photo at top of blog) - or just a fine beer that goes down easily with an extra thrust of citrus to liven it.
* Edge Pale Ale
The summer's other notable collaboration between a Denver brewery and a hotel eatery, this pale ale from Tivoli and Edge Bar and Restaurant in the Four Seasons starts subtly but picks up in bitterness as it warms. There's really no outstanding taste here, but it flows so easily that you could be two beers in before you realize how you've enjoyed it.
The Near Misses
* Old 121 Brewhouse Rum-Barrel-Aged Oktoberfest
If you've ever wondered how marzen ages during months inside a rum barrel, the good news is the barrel cuts that medicinal edge that is too common to the style. But this experiment from Lakewood's newest brewery might have mellowed the body just a little too much to where neither the barrel nor the booze nor the malt jumped out. Still, it was good to sip while contemplating around a campfire.
* Left Hand White Russian Nitro
The Longmont brewery's latest spin on its flagship Nitro Milk Stout line was big - an 8.9% ABV concoction made with lactose, coffee and vanilla that even gave off hints of some buried cherry flavor and exuded the feel of a classic cocktail in beer form. But the melange of flavors proved overpowering, and the sweetness buried the coffee. It was a miss, but it was a bold miss.
Here, then, is a rundown of the beers of late summer that are still making an impression.
The Excellent
This was not the first year that Denver's seldom-miss Ratio Beerworks cooked up its seasonal carrot elderflower saison, but something just felt fresher and more vibrant this year. The beer popped with a citrus-y, almost juicy feel. The bitterness from the elderflower balanced it perfectly. And the orange-juice-hued doppelganger in your hands just felt like an experiment gone very, very right.
No 10% ABV imperial stout has a right to be this drinkable. But Denver's most underrated brewery managed to concoct a version of its sturdy-bodied dark-as-night treat with 2-1/2 pounds per gallon of organic Colorado sweet cherries that didn't give it an overt cherry taste so much as it smoothed out the bold body and made this tough guy of beers seem almost desert-like, in a still-beer way.
Peanut butter beers work when a brewery goes big and blasts you with flavor. Here, there was both a significant taste of thick peanut and the big, sweet base flavor of this award-winning porter - tastes that both converged harmoniously and stood out in their own right in the same glass.
The Pleasant
* Social Fare Griffin Wing
Crazy Mountain Brewing made the house beer for Social Fare, the restaurant inside the JW Marriott Denver Cherry Creek, and it made it very well. A pale ale with serious grapefruit overtures, this is a great hanging-on-the-patio-while-poking-at-your-charcuterie-board beer (see photo at top of blog) - or just a fine beer that goes down easily with an extra thrust of citrus to liven it.
The summer's other notable collaboration between a Denver brewery and a hotel eatery, this pale ale from Tivoli and Edge Bar and Restaurant in the Four Seasons starts subtly but picks up in bitterness as it warms. There's really no outstanding taste here, but it flows so easily that you could be two beers in before you realize how you've enjoyed it.
The Near Misses
If you've ever wondered how marzen ages during months inside a rum barrel, the good news is the barrel cuts that medicinal edge that is too common to the style. But this experiment from Lakewood's newest brewery might have mellowed the body just a little too much to where neither the barrel nor the booze nor the malt jumped out. Still, it was good to sip while contemplating around a campfire.
The Longmont brewery's latest spin on its flagship Nitro Milk Stout line was big - an 8.9% ABV concoction made with lactose, coffee and vanilla that even gave off hints of some buried cherry flavor and exuded the feel of a classic cocktail in beer form. But the melange of flavors proved overpowering, and the sweetness buried the coffee. It was a miss, but it was a bold miss.
Labels: Crazy Mountain Brewing Company, Denver Beer Co, hotel restaurant beers, Left Hand Brewing, Old 121 Brewhouse, Ratio Beerworks, Spangalang Brewery, Summer beers, Tivoli Brewing
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
