Friday, April 08, 2016
How do beer bar chains blend with the Denver scene?
It was both somewhat surprising and slightly predictable to learn in February that World of Beer had shuttered its downtown Denver location after just 18 months.
There was surprise because the location offered more than 50 beers on tap, including an array of impressive local and national offerings and had the on-the-surface credibility of some of the better beer bars in the crowded LoDo scene. Its Sunday BEERunch (pictured below) had a tasty menu extending from breakfast classics to tasty chipotle porter wings.
But World of Beer, which still operates locations in Cherry Creek and Lakewood, also carried in its description a series of words that can spell death to craft-beer enthusiasts — "out-of-state chain." And while I visited the location occasionally until its demise, I also noticed that the crowds never appeared there the way they did at places like Freshcraft or Lucky Pie or Falling Rock Tap House.
It's worth noting that chains were some of America's original craft-beer bars, including the Colorado-based Old Chicago chain that opened its doors in 1976, the same year that the first beers rolled off the lines at New Albion Brewery. But in today's farm-to-pint, uber-local beer-drinking society, it's also worth asking what the place of chains is here in the Napa Valley of craft beer.
One way to do that is to look at two other chains that remain downtown and seem to be thriving, at least by the size of the crowds I encountered there in the past two weeks.
The California-based Yard House chain actually was one of the early beer bars in downtown, finding its way into Denver around the time that Freshcraft and Euclid Hall were opening. At 120 distinct taps of beer, it actually has more flowing from kegs than even Falling Rock, though no one has ever confused the two businesses.
Yard House has suffered rightly from those who take a cursory look at its beer list and note the number of macro beers and "crafty" macro-owned breweries that inhabit its taps - a far higher percentage of its lineup than those previously mentioned beer bars. But at the end of March, it rolled out 25 new beers at the 16th Street Mall location, and they showed its commitment to quality.
Dry Dock, Crooked Stave, Grimm Brothers and Odell's sour series found a permanent place on the tap list. Bigger national craft breweries like Rogue were on there too, but with offerings like its coffee/IPA-hybrid Cold Brew that you can't find everywhere else. And Yard House folks found a few gems, like the flowery and grapefruity Almanac IPA, that would have a proud place in any locally owned beer bar.
Yes, faux-craft breweries like Elysian and Kona still have quite a few taps on the Yard House list. But, despite its corporate nature, one can't walk into the bar anymore and not be able to find enough palate-pleasing originals to keep you busy for the full happy hour.
Two blocks down from Yard House is Henry's Tavern, a Portland-based concept that opened in the Denver Pavilions just before Great American Beer Festival last year. It brandishes a tap list of 100 offerings, including some new-to-market goodies like La Cumbre (the New Mexico brewer that's one of the country's up-and-coming IPA makers) and some atypical locals like Left Hand's Great Juju.
Henry's adds the bonus of a fairly impressive upscale beer-bar menu, featuring goodies like accessible sushi and Gorgonzola fries. And it's got a nice patio, which I discovered yesterday because a friend and I couldn't find a seat inside the bar.
Again, there is more of a splash of corporate beer on the menu than you'd ever find at a place like Star Bar or Hops 'n Pie. But it's clear the owners support more than just the 50 largest craft breweries also and are willing to pick up locals, like Comrade Brewing.
So, yes, it's still OK to prefer the locals. They support even more of the small and rising craft breweries, and keeping 100 percent of the money within the community can do nothing but help the craft beer scene grow.
But at this point, it at least is worth acknowledging that some of these out-of-state chains are making more of an effort to resemble the tap lists of the local joints. And that too is a win for the local beer scene, as we all appear to be Denver-fying the national chains and making them realize how important it is to know your crowd.
It was both somewhat surprising and slightly predictable to learn in February that World of Beer had shuttered its downtown Denver location after just 18 months.
There was surprise because the location offered more than 50 beers on tap, including an array of impressive local and national offerings and had the on-the-surface credibility of some of the better beer bars in the crowded LoDo scene. Its Sunday BEERunch (pictured below) had a tasty menu extending from breakfast classics to tasty chipotle porter wings.
But World of Beer, which still operates locations in Cherry Creek and Lakewood, also carried in its description a series of words that can spell death to craft-beer enthusiasts — "out-of-state chain." And while I visited the location occasionally until its demise, I also noticed that the crowds never appeared there the way they did at places like Freshcraft or Lucky Pie or Falling Rock Tap House.
It's worth noting that chains were some of America's original craft-beer bars, including the Colorado-based Old Chicago chain that opened its doors in 1976, the same year that the first beers rolled off the lines at New Albion Brewery. But in today's farm-to-pint, uber-local beer-drinking society, it's also worth asking what the place of chains is here in the Napa Valley of craft beer.
One way to do that is to look at two other chains that remain downtown and seem to be thriving, at least by the size of the crowds I encountered there in the past two weeks.
The California-based Yard House chain actually was one of the early beer bars in downtown, finding its way into Denver around the time that Freshcraft and Euclid Hall were opening. At 120 distinct taps of beer, it actually has more flowing from kegs than even Falling Rock, though no one has ever confused the two businesses.
Yard House has suffered rightly from those who take a cursory look at its beer list and note the number of macro beers and "crafty" macro-owned breweries that inhabit its taps - a far higher percentage of its lineup than those previously mentioned beer bars. But at the end of March, it rolled out 25 new beers at the 16th Street Mall location, and they showed its commitment to quality.
Dry Dock, Crooked Stave, Grimm Brothers and Odell's sour series found a permanent place on the tap list. Bigger national craft breweries like Rogue were on there too, but with offerings like its coffee/IPA-hybrid Cold Brew that you can't find everywhere else. And Yard House folks found a few gems, like the flowery and grapefruity Almanac IPA, that would have a proud place in any locally owned beer bar.
Yes, faux-craft breweries like Elysian and Kona still have quite a few taps on the Yard House list. But, despite its corporate nature, one can't walk into the bar anymore and not be able to find enough palate-pleasing originals to keep you busy for the full happy hour.
Two blocks down from Yard House is Henry's Tavern, a Portland-based concept that opened in the Denver Pavilions just before Great American Beer Festival last year. It brandishes a tap list of 100 offerings, including some new-to-market goodies like La Cumbre (the New Mexico brewer that's one of the country's up-and-coming IPA makers) and some atypical locals like Left Hand's Great Juju.
Henry's adds the bonus of a fairly impressive upscale beer-bar menu, featuring goodies like accessible sushi and Gorgonzola fries. And it's got a nice patio, which I discovered yesterday because a friend and I couldn't find a seat inside the bar.Again, there is more of a splash of corporate beer on the menu than you'd ever find at a place like Star Bar or Hops 'n Pie. But it's clear the owners support more than just the 50 largest craft breweries also and are willing to pick up locals, like Comrade Brewing.
So, yes, it's still OK to prefer the locals. They support even more of the small and rising craft breweries, and keeping 100 percent of the money within the community can do nothing but help the craft beer scene grow.
But at this point, it at least is worth acknowledging that some of these out-of-state chains are making more of an effort to resemble the tap lists of the local joints. And that too is a win for the local beer scene, as we all appear to be Denver-fying the national chains and making them realize how important it is to know your crowd.
Labels: Almanac Beer, beer bars, chains, Henry's Tavern, La Cumbre Brewing, Left Hand Brewing, Old Chicago, Rogue Ales, World of Beer, Yard House
Friday, February 20, 2015
New Left Hand at Old Chicago
Sometimes you find gems in unexpected places. And that's exactly what happened last night during a visit to Old Chicago.
The longtime beer-themed restaurant chain is about a year into its Explorer Series, in which it partners with craft breweries to feature a temporary lineup of beers including one typically made specifically for the promotion. It's now two weeks into the installment featuring Left Hand Brewing.
Left Hand has expanded its portfolio significantly in recent years, ramping up its seasonal and limited releases and increasing the number of offerings it's putting on nitro. But in that growth, it hasn't broken out anything quite like De'Nile Coffee Ale, its new Explorer Series creation.
De'Nile is reminiscent of Beer Week Sauce, Left Hand's draft-only coffee porter that you typically find for special occasions like Great American Beer Festival week. But by putting this Allegro Coffee blend into a lighter-bodied base, it lets the coffee flavor shine a little more, unobscured by the extra bitterness often found in the roasted malts of most breweries' favorite base for the style, the porter.
In doing so, Left Hand has created what could be called an easy-drinking coffee beer, one that is accessible both to the coffee-adventurous who prefer their java in barrel-aged imperial stouts and to drinkers who like the flavor of coffee without the harshness that often accompanies it. And it's done so not in a wide-ranging release but in a limited edition found at just one restaurant.
I've written before about Old Chicago stepping up its game in recent years, and this Explorer Series is a good example of how that is happening. But it was interesting to see last night that its menu, at least at its Lakewood location, is stacked with smaller local craft breweries like Bonfire and Station 26 as well, and to learn that its St. Patrick's Day Mini Tour will feature Comrade Brewing's Defcon Red in Denver-area stores, right next to the Guinness and Smithwick's offerings you would expect.
The next suggestion for Left Hand: Don't let this be a purely limited-time offering. De'Nile would be a nice addition to the permanent collection.
Sometimes you find gems in unexpected places. And that's exactly what happened last night during a visit to Old Chicago.
The longtime beer-themed restaurant chain is about a year into its Explorer Series, in which it partners with craft breweries to feature a temporary lineup of beers including one typically made specifically for the promotion. It's now two weeks into the installment featuring Left Hand Brewing.
Left Hand has expanded its portfolio significantly in recent years, ramping up its seasonal and limited releases and increasing the number of offerings it's putting on nitro. But in that growth, it hasn't broken out anything quite like De'Nile Coffee Ale, its new Explorer Series creation.
De'Nile is reminiscent of Beer Week Sauce, Left Hand's draft-only coffee porter that you typically find for special occasions like Great American Beer Festival week. But by putting this Allegro Coffee blend into a lighter-bodied base, it lets the coffee flavor shine a little more, unobscured by the extra bitterness often found in the roasted malts of most breweries' favorite base for the style, the porter.
In doing so, Left Hand has created what could be called an easy-drinking coffee beer, one that is accessible both to the coffee-adventurous who prefer their java in barrel-aged imperial stouts and to drinkers who like the flavor of coffee without the harshness that often accompanies it. And it's done so not in a wide-ranging release but in a limited edition found at just one restaurant.
I've written before about Old Chicago stepping up its game in recent years, and this Explorer Series is a good example of how that is happening. But it was interesting to see last night that its menu, at least at its Lakewood location, is stacked with smaller local craft breweries like Bonfire and Station 26 as well, and to learn that its St. Patrick's Day Mini Tour will feature Comrade Brewing's Defcon Red in Denver-area stores, right next to the Guinness and Smithwick's offerings you would expect.
The next suggestion for Left Hand: Don't let this be a purely limited-time offering. De'Nile would be a nice addition to the permanent collection.
Labels: Coffee beer, Left Hand Brewing, Old Chicago
Friday, May 23, 2014
A New Old Chicago?
Truth is, American Craft Beer Week largely came and went without notice last week. Most breweries seemed to offer some discounted beer specials, but the brewing creativity they displayed during Colorado Craft Beer Week or before the Great American Beer Festival just wasn't there.
That made it all the more surprising, then, that one of the best finds of the week came not from an ultra-specialized craft brewery but from a locally based national chain whose one-time reputation as beer central seemed to have evaporated in recent years. And one can only hope that this is a sign of even better things to come from Old Chicago, whose new CEO came into his post earlier this year promising to make the chain stand out more.
Old Chicago, if you missed it, offered a Firestone Walker tap takeover of sorts. The limited-time gem of their menu was Opal, a saison whose soured version was one of the talks of Vail Big Beers 2013. But it also became the first place in Colorado to serve up Firestone's 805 Honey Blonde and offer a couple of other new or limited-time beers, including a pair of sessionable IPAs.
Honey Blonde is a two-year-old beer with limited availability but a growing California following that Daniel Imdieke, Old Chicago manager of beer operations, asked the company to debut in Colorado for the week. For my money, it didn't live up to its hype, offering just a touch of sweetness but not enough to differentiate it from a standard lighter ale.
However, Old Chicago's offering of Firestone's Summer Session IPA and Easy Jack, a pair of IPAs coming in at 4.5 percent ABV each, seemed to set a great tone for summer and offer a burst of hops that some other early attempts at the new style have lacked. Easy Jack had a good bitter mouthfeel but not an overwhelming bite on your tongue, and Summer Session was full of grassy character for its light body and went very well with the Sicilian Rolls in a beer/app pairing that was offered.
The tap takeover was the second locally for the chain, which offered a similar event with Stone Brewing earlier this year.
One should remember that in the late 1970s and early 1980s, shortly after future Rock Bottom founder Frank Day launched the chain, it was THE place to go for what was then a limited supply of beer creativity. And if last week's efforts and the brand makeover are any indication, Old Chicago won't be replacing Falling Rock on best beer-bar lists anytime soon, but it should be able to use its clout to bring some otherwise-hard-to-find offerings into this state and introduce them to a crowd that may be a little less hard-core beer geek than that which is scouring the downtown beer bars for gems.
And that sounds like a pretty good plan.
Truth is, American Craft Beer Week largely came and went without notice last week. Most breweries seemed to offer some discounted beer specials, but the brewing creativity they displayed during Colorado Craft Beer Week or before the Great American Beer Festival just wasn't there.
That made it all the more surprising, then, that one of the best finds of the week came not from an ultra-specialized craft brewery but from a locally based national chain whose one-time reputation as beer central seemed to have evaporated in recent years. And one can only hope that this is a sign of even better things to come from Old Chicago, whose new CEO came into his post earlier this year promising to make the chain stand out more.
Old Chicago, if you missed it, offered a Firestone Walker tap takeover of sorts. The limited-time gem of their menu was Opal, a saison whose soured version was one of the talks of Vail Big Beers 2013. But it also became the first place in Colorado to serve up Firestone's 805 Honey Blonde and offer a couple of other new or limited-time beers, including a pair of sessionable IPAs.
Honey Blonde is a two-year-old beer with limited availability but a growing California following that Daniel Imdieke, Old Chicago manager of beer operations, asked the company to debut in Colorado for the week. For my money, it didn't live up to its hype, offering just a touch of sweetness but not enough to differentiate it from a standard lighter ale.
However, Old Chicago's offering of Firestone's Summer Session IPA and Easy Jack, a pair of IPAs coming in at 4.5 percent ABV each, seemed to set a great tone for summer and offer a burst of hops that some other early attempts at the new style have lacked. Easy Jack had a good bitter mouthfeel but not an overwhelming bite on your tongue, and Summer Session was full of grassy character for its light body and went very well with the Sicilian Rolls in a beer/app pairing that was offered.
The tap takeover was the second locally for the chain, which offered a similar event with Stone Brewing earlier this year.
One should remember that in the late 1970s and early 1980s, shortly after future Rock Bottom founder Frank Day launched the chain, it was THE place to go for what was then a limited supply of beer creativity. And if last week's efforts and the brand makeover are any indication, Old Chicago won't be replacing Falling Rock on best beer-bar lists anytime soon, but it should be able to use its clout to bring some otherwise-hard-to-find offerings into this state and introduce them to a crowd that may be a little less hard-core beer geek than that which is scouring the downtown beer bars for gems.
And that sounds like a pretty good plan.
Labels: Firestone Walker Brewing, Old Chicago
