Sunday, December 29, 2019
10 Best Colorado Beers of 2019
As Colorado exceeded 400 breweries in 2019, the need for beer makers to stand out to attract customers was never more acute. Some developed all new flavors, some put new spins on traditional styles and some doubled down on what they do best.
The result was akin to a dream scenario for fans of experimental creations, offering a wide variety of efforts that sometimes landed with a thud but often seemed to produce stunning tastes, both in one-offs and in packaged or regular-rotation beers. As such, the 10 best Colorado beers of 2019 - beers that either were introduced this year or took on a special significance over the past 12 months - are heavy on envelope-pushing but still are wildly satisfying. Enjoy.
10) Storm Peak Brewing Hoochie Mama
As breweries across the country rush to nail the "accessible sour," they should look toward Steamboat Springs, where Storm Peak produces a sour blonde ale with guava that fills the mouth with unusual fruit flavors and then eases in a tart backtaste that sticks around. Hoochie Mama won a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival for fruited American-style sour ales, ensuring that 2019 was the year that Colorado began to know its greatness.
9) Briar Common Joyce + Brett
The first barrel-aged experiment from this too-often-overlooked Denver brewery was a saison that sat in one of its seven tanks for 18 months with Brettanomyces and then another nine months on French oak. But the immense outlay of facility space was more than worth it, as what came of it was a sharp beer (second from right in the lead photo in this blog) that crackles with the feel of its yeast and its barrel and at the same time is wildly smooth. If Briar Common had doubts about jumping into barrel aging, this should end them.
8) Weldwerks Peanut Butter Cup Medianoche
This beer is Weldwerks in a nutshell: An imperial stout that uses an unusual and easily flubbable ingredient coming in at an ABV (around 15%) that seemingly is too high to enjoy. Yet, the Greeley brewery nailed it, offering a thick and peanut-butter-laden creation that fills you up but also leaves you wanting more of the well-blended flavors it presents. It's another reminder that no matter what Weldwerks and founder/brewer Neil Fisher (pictured at left) is doing, it is worth trying.
7) Dueces Wild/Brass Brewing/Cerberus Imperial IPL
The most surprising find of the year was a rarely tried style from three Colorado Springs breweries that stole the show at Collaboration Beer Fest in March with a huge Polynesian hop taste that hasn't been seen before in an India pale lager. And it served as a reminder that at a time when visiting every brewery in the state is impossible, gems will continue to pop up outside the Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins area that deserve the beer community's attention.
6) Black Project Stargate Peach Rye: Nectarine Bourbon
Black Project isn't a brewery that tends to fly under the radar. But the hugely tart and complex spontaneously fermented sour ale it was pouring at January's Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival should have gotten even more attention than it did, for it ranked among the best creations ever from the Denver sour master. And it showed that no combination of barrels, yeast and fruit is too much to handle - either for Black Project or for a drinker's taste buds.
5) Great Divide Mexican Chocolate Yeti
Sixteen years into its brewery-defining Yeti imperial stout series, Great Divide continues to experiment with flavors and, in doing so, has produced its best creation yet. Vanilla, coffee and traditional Mexican spices combine to create a flavor profile that many other breweries have tried but that arguably none has pulled off so well before now - with a 9.5% ABV body that drinks like non-alcoholic coffee. Mexican Yeti proves once again that though Great Divide is a seemingly ancient 25 years of age, it's churning out experiments as well or better than its much younger competitors.
4) Spangalang Brewery Nonesuch
Once a year, like clockwork it happens: I drop into Spangalang, try a few new offerings and hit the floor with awe at how at least one experiment turns out. This year it was Nonesuch, a lighter-hued ale that was aged first in Chardonnay barrels and then in whiskey barrels and came out with a mouth-filling wallop of grape skins, woody overtones and a Brettanomyces zing that somehow blends into one artful and lasting sweet and sour taste. The Five Points brewery has become an absolute must-stop on any Denver beer tour.
3) Purpose Brewing Smoeltrekker # 13
What former New Belgium brewmaster Peter Bouckaert is doing at his small Fort Collins brewery is like rebellious, avant-garde art. There's an undefinable hoppy brew here, a taco-flavored brew there. But the piece de resistance of Purpose Brewing's portfolio in 2019 was a beer that approximated Bouckaert's celebrated La Folie creation - and than exceeded it with a flavor profile that hit your tart taste buds right away but then led you down a rabbit hole that embraced the well-used barrel it inhabited and let you feel an almost apple-and-cherry-like underbelly that soothed its wild overtones. This is a seasoned veteran at the height of his abilities.
2) Paradox Beer Smoked Maple Manhattan
There understandably will be people who say that the combined tastes of pancake syrup, an Italian amarena cherry made for cocktails and the base of a tart golden ale are just too much to handle in one drink. But for those who like their beers daring and dancing precariously on the edge of an overshot without stepping over it, there was no more rewarding beer made in Colorado this year. This beer changed from the first sip to the fourth to the 10th, revealing a different flavor each time - but one that continuously was unlike anything one has ever had in a beer. Fortune favors the bold, and there may be no brewery in Colorado taking chances like this Teller County artist today.
1) Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss Tropical IPA
Oskar Blues did not make the most earth-shattering beer of 2019. What it made, simply, was the most drinkable, most mesmerizing offering of the year, daring to take the hazy IPA style in a new direction by ditching the traditional hops and going all in on the tropical flavors imparted by Mosaic, Azaca, Galaxy, Eldorado and Idaho 7. Rather than redefining the style, it simply did it better and fuller and juicier and yet somehow produced a brew you want to drink both in the cold of winter and the heat of summer. The Longmont beer pioneer has never been better. And after years of producing in-your-face beers that left you impressed but wanting just one or two of them, it excelled with an IPA you feel you can drink all day and never tire of what could be best described as the feel of Hawaiian fruit salad in beer form.
As Colorado exceeded 400 breweries in 2019, the need for beer makers to stand out to attract customers was never more acute. Some developed all new flavors, some put new spins on traditional styles and some doubled down on what they do best.
The result was akin to a dream scenario for fans of experimental creations, offering a wide variety of efforts that sometimes landed with a thud but often seemed to produce stunning tastes, both in one-offs and in packaged or regular-rotation beers. As such, the 10 best Colorado beers of 2019 - beers that either were introduced this year or took on a special significance over the past 12 months - are heavy on envelope-pushing but still are wildly satisfying. Enjoy.
10) Storm Peak Brewing Hoochie Mama
9) Briar Common Joyce + Brett
The first barrel-aged experiment from this too-often-overlooked Denver brewery was a saison that sat in one of its seven tanks for 18 months with Brettanomyces and then another nine months on French oak. But the immense outlay of facility space was more than worth it, as what came of it was a sharp beer (second from right in the lead photo in this blog) that crackles with the feel of its yeast and its barrel and at the same time is wildly smooth. If Briar Common had doubts about jumping into barrel aging, this should end them.
8) Weldwerks Peanut Butter Cup Medianoche
This beer is Weldwerks in a nutshell: An imperial stout that uses an unusual and easily flubbable ingredient coming in at an ABV (around 15%) that seemingly is too high to enjoy. Yet, the Greeley brewery nailed it, offering a thick and peanut-butter-laden creation that fills you up but also leaves you wanting more of the well-blended flavors it presents. It's another reminder that no matter what Weldwerks and founder/brewer Neil Fisher (pictured at left) is doing, it is worth trying.7) Dueces Wild/Brass Brewing/Cerberus Imperial IPL
The most surprising find of the year was a rarely tried style from three Colorado Springs breweries that stole the show at Collaboration Beer Fest in March with a huge Polynesian hop taste that hasn't been seen before in an India pale lager. And it served as a reminder that at a time when visiting every brewery in the state is impossible, gems will continue to pop up outside the Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins area that deserve the beer community's attention.
6) Black Project Stargate Peach Rye: Nectarine Bourbon
Black Project isn't a brewery that tends to fly under the radar. But the hugely tart and complex spontaneously fermented sour ale it was pouring at January's Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival should have gotten even more attention than it did, for it ranked among the best creations ever from the Denver sour master. And it showed that no combination of barrels, yeast and fruit is too much to handle - either for Black Project or for a drinker's taste buds.
5) Great Divide Mexican Chocolate Yeti
Sixteen years into its brewery-defining Yeti imperial stout series, Great Divide continues to experiment with flavors and, in doing so, has produced its best creation yet. Vanilla, coffee and traditional Mexican spices combine to create a flavor profile that many other breweries have tried but that arguably none has pulled off so well before now - with a 9.5% ABV body that drinks like non-alcoholic coffee. Mexican Yeti proves once again that though Great Divide is a seemingly ancient 25 years of age, it's churning out experiments as well or better than its much younger competitors.4) Spangalang Brewery Nonesuch
Once a year, like clockwork it happens: I drop into Spangalang, try a few new offerings and hit the floor with awe at how at least one experiment turns out. This year it was Nonesuch, a lighter-hued ale that was aged first in Chardonnay barrels and then in whiskey barrels and came out with a mouth-filling wallop of grape skins, woody overtones and a Brettanomyces zing that somehow blends into one artful and lasting sweet and sour taste. The Five Points brewery has become an absolute must-stop on any Denver beer tour.
3) Purpose Brewing Smoeltrekker # 13
What former New Belgium brewmaster Peter Bouckaert is doing at his small Fort Collins brewery is like rebellious, avant-garde art. There's an undefinable hoppy brew here, a taco-flavored brew there. But the piece de resistance of Purpose Brewing's portfolio in 2019 was a beer that approximated Bouckaert's celebrated La Folie creation - and than exceeded it with a flavor profile that hit your tart taste buds right away but then led you down a rabbit hole that embraced the well-used barrel it inhabited and let you feel an almost apple-and-cherry-like underbelly that soothed its wild overtones. This is a seasoned veteran at the height of his abilities.2) Paradox Beer Smoked Maple Manhattan
There understandably will be people who say that the combined tastes of pancake syrup, an Italian amarena cherry made for cocktails and the base of a tart golden ale are just too much to handle in one drink. But for those who like their beers daring and dancing precariously on the edge of an overshot without stepping over it, there was no more rewarding beer made in Colorado this year. This beer changed from the first sip to the fourth to the 10th, revealing a different flavor each time - but one that continuously was unlike anything one has ever had in a beer. Fortune favors the bold, and there may be no brewery in Colorado taking chances like this Teller County artist today.
1) Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss Tropical IPA
Labels: Black Project, Briar Common Brewery + Eatery, Cerberus Brewing, Great Divide, Oskar Blues, Paradox Brewing, Purpose Brewing, Spangalang Brewery, Storm Peak Brewing, Top Beers of Year, Weldwerks Brewing
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
Sunday, December 30, 2018
10 Best Colorado Beers of 2018
As Colorado's brewing scene got more crowded this year, beer makers responded by getting more experimental. There were more collaborations, more barrel-aged creations, more breweries such as Liberati Oenobeers and Dos Luces Brewery and Cerveceria Colorado that make nothing like anyone else in the state makes.
What it added up to was a thrilling melange of one-offs and new entries into the scene that continued to redefine both what is possible and what is going to set the pace in future years. And the best beers of this year showcased not just how far afield the flavors can be but how widespread the creativity is across this state.
And with that said ...
10) Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers In Medio Stat Virtus
The newly opened grape-beer maker is an experience that must be had with multiple beers to understand just how much the addition of Viongnier or Gewurtztraminer grapes can alter and add to the beer styles you think you know. But nothing on the menu prepared by Alex Liberati (pictured here) is as fully transformative as this Belgian golden ale made with 48 percent Chardonnay grapes, a work of art that showcases the best of its beer and wine properties and leaves you wanting to delve into oenobeers much further.
9) Weldwerks/Casey Brewing and Blending Transmountain Diversion
In a year that may be remembered most for the hazy IPA takeover of craft beer - spoiler alert, there are three on this top 10 list - two of Colorado's best breweries proved the style could be elevated when great minds worked together. This Citra- and Nelson Sauvin-hopped joyride, a double IPA introduced at Collaboration Fest, was replete with pineapple and mango tastes and aptly highlighted the style not as a twist on IPA but a bold new category of beer on its own.
8) WildEdge Brewing Collective Birthday Barrel
Colorado's greatest secret, hidden in Cortez, celebrated its first anniversary with a barrel-aged tart saison fermented with Palisade peaches that stunned at the same time it encapsulated the style of this experimental small-town beer maker. Bold and sharp, it demonstrated why beer lovers must get outside of Denver and Fort Collins every once in a while to see how deep the state's reserves are.
7) Cannonball Creek Brewing Mike and Sebastian's Excellent Adventure
Amazingly crisp while still being hop-defined, this kolsch/IPA hybrid was singularly refreshing and eye-opening. A collaboration with Pizza Port Carlsbad and Germany's Freigeist Bierkultur, this introduced a new style that is begging to be replicated - if anyone can do it as well as the new king of Golden breweries.
6) Call to Arms Brewing Majestic Wolf Lamp
Huge congratulations go to the northwest Denver brewery for taking two beers that didn't work on their own - a Belgian quad and a petite saison - and blending them together in an oak barrel with black currants until it became something combining tartness, raspberry and a jamminess. Back story aside, it was one of the most interesting and cutting sour beers of this year.
5) Epic Brewing Lupulin Burst
This earned the title of standard-bearer among Colorado's single hazy IPAs in 2018 with a straightforward assault of guava, mango and pineapple that gave this a juice-like feel. Those who don't understand why hazies are garnering such devotion need try this to understand how different they are from traditional IPAs and how much tropical flavor the right hopping can imbue in a beer.
4) Paradox Beer Co. Divide Ethos
Coolship beers are, by their nature, unpredictable, which made this early 2018 offering all the more mind-bending for how drinkable and how nuanced it could be without taking on harsh characteristics. Like a kicked-up saison, this creation from one of the Pikes Peak area's finest breweries pricked your tongue with its wild yeast but then rolled smoothly and excitingly over your taste buds to create a truly unique flavor.
3) Telluride Brewing Fishwater Project
This barrel-aged double IPA is not a new offering. But in a year in which breweries barrel-aged beer with a huge range of results and did things to IPAs (brut IPAs, horrible milkshake IPAs) that did nothing to pump up their flavor, Fishwater Project has never been more relevant than it is today. It toes the line between boozy whiskey characteristics and an underlying superbly crafted five-hop flavor explosion in a way that few hybrids can. It is as complex and worthwhile as any beer you will find in Colorado.
2) Spangalang Brewery Vanguard 3000
There is nothing natural about blending a bourbon-barrel-aged Belgian tripel with an imperial stout made with vanilla and cinnamon. And yet in the hands of Five Points' too-often-overlooked auteurs, this is a pitch-dark ride that bursts with varying flavors as you swirl it over your tongue - and one that goes down far too easily for the alcohol bomb it is. There was genius in its making.
1) River North Brewery Quadruple Dry-Hopped Mountain Haze
It sounded like a gimmick. But the addition of Mosaic, Simcoe and Idaho 7 hops to River North's Citra-dominated hazy IPA created a super-charged version of both the beer and the style, leaving it overflowing with crisp, tropical flavors, all of which carry a classical hop back bite. It was a fuller and more complete beer, without an exceptional bitterness and booziness. And if you let it rest on your taste buds long enough, you could find new flavors in almost every tasting. Bravo.
As Colorado's brewing scene got more crowded this year, beer makers responded by getting more experimental. There were more collaborations, more barrel-aged creations, more breweries such as Liberati Oenobeers and Dos Luces Brewery and Cerveceria Colorado that make nothing like anyone else in the state makes.
What it added up to was a thrilling melange of one-offs and new entries into the scene that continued to redefine both what is possible and what is going to set the pace in future years. And the best beers of this year showcased not just how far afield the flavors can be but how widespread the creativity is across this state.
And with that said ...
10) Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers In Medio Stat Virtus
The newly opened grape-beer maker is an experience that must be had with multiple beers to understand just how much the addition of Viongnier or Gewurtztraminer grapes can alter and add to the beer styles you think you know. But nothing on the menu prepared by Alex Liberati (pictured here) is as fully transformative as this Belgian golden ale made with 48 percent Chardonnay grapes, a work of art that showcases the best of its beer and wine properties and leaves you wanting to delve into oenobeers much further.
9) Weldwerks/Casey Brewing and Blending Transmountain Diversion
In a year that may be remembered most for the hazy IPA takeover of craft beer - spoiler alert, there are three on this top 10 list - two of Colorado's best breweries proved the style could be elevated when great minds worked together. This Citra- and Nelson Sauvin-hopped joyride, a double IPA introduced at Collaboration Fest, was replete with pineapple and mango tastes and aptly highlighted the style not as a twist on IPA but a bold new category of beer on its own.
8) WildEdge Brewing Collective Birthday Barrel
Colorado's greatest secret, hidden in Cortez, celebrated its first anniversary with a barrel-aged tart saison fermented with Palisade peaches that stunned at the same time it encapsulated the style of this experimental small-town beer maker. Bold and sharp, it demonstrated why beer lovers must get outside of Denver and Fort Collins every once in a while to see how deep the state's reserves are.
7) Cannonball Creek Brewing Mike and Sebastian's Excellent Adventure
Amazingly crisp while still being hop-defined, this kolsch/IPA hybrid was singularly refreshing and eye-opening. A collaboration with Pizza Port Carlsbad and Germany's Freigeist Bierkultur, this introduced a new style that is begging to be replicated - if anyone can do it as well as the new king of Golden breweries.
6) Call to Arms Brewing Majestic Wolf Lamp
Huge congratulations go to the northwest Denver brewery for taking two beers that didn't work on their own - a Belgian quad and a petite saison - and blending them together in an oak barrel with black currants until it became something combining tartness, raspberry and a jamminess. Back story aside, it was one of the most interesting and cutting sour beers of this year.
5) Epic Brewing Lupulin Burst
This earned the title of standard-bearer among Colorado's single hazy IPAs in 2018 with a straightforward assault of guava, mango and pineapple that gave this a juice-like feel. Those who don't understand why hazies are garnering such devotion need try this to understand how different they are from traditional IPAs and how much tropical flavor the right hopping can imbue in a beer.
4) Paradox Beer Co. Divide Ethos
Coolship beers are, by their nature, unpredictable, which made this early 2018 offering all the more mind-bending for how drinkable and how nuanced it could be without taking on harsh characteristics. Like a kicked-up saison, this creation from one of the Pikes Peak area's finest breweries pricked your tongue with its wild yeast but then rolled smoothly and excitingly over your taste buds to create a truly unique flavor.3) Telluride Brewing Fishwater Project
This barrel-aged double IPA is not a new offering. But in a year in which breweries barrel-aged beer with a huge range of results and did things to IPAs (brut IPAs, horrible milkshake IPAs) that did nothing to pump up their flavor, Fishwater Project has never been more relevant than it is today. It toes the line between boozy whiskey characteristics and an underlying superbly crafted five-hop flavor explosion in a way that few hybrids can. It is as complex and worthwhile as any beer you will find in Colorado.
2) Spangalang Brewery Vanguard 3000
There is nothing natural about blending a bourbon-barrel-aged Belgian tripel with an imperial stout made with vanilla and cinnamon. And yet in the hands of Five Points' too-often-overlooked auteurs, this is a pitch-dark ride that bursts with varying flavors as you swirl it over your tongue - and one that goes down far too easily for the alcohol bomb it is. There was genius in its making.
1) River North Brewery Quadruple Dry-Hopped Mountain Haze
It sounded like a gimmick. But the addition of Mosaic, Simcoe and Idaho 7 hops to River North's Citra-dominated hazy IPA created a super-charged version of both the beer and the style, leaving it overflowing with crisp, tropical flavors, all of which carry a classical hop back bite. It was a fuller and more complete beer, without an exceptional bitterness and booziness. And if you let it rest on your taste buds long enough, you could find new flavors in almost every tasting. Bravo.
Labels: Call to Arms Brewing, Cannonball Creek Brewing, Epic Brewing, Liberati Oenobeers, Paradox Brewing, River North Brewery, Spangalang Brewery, Telluride Brewing, Weldwerks Brewing, WildEdge Brewing Collective
Sunday, December 16, 2018
5 Things I Learned from Denver Beer Festivus 2018
The biggest annual gathering of Denver breweries in one location found a new home this year at the Denver Sports Castle, and with it there seemed to be an even bigger drive among the 61 breweries in attendance to show off what they had. Beer makers brought six-deep pour lists more extensive than some offer at the Great American Beer Festival, Liberati Osteria introduced timed beer tappings to the event and everyone seemed to have a fresh, new take on classical holiday beers.
There frankly was a lot to be learned at the festival, and the vast majority of it was on the positive side. But here are a few things that jumped particularly to the top of the hit list on a day when most people had a different take on the best things being offered in the venue.
1) If a style sounded impossible, Denver breweries proved it could be done.
That was most apparent in the best beer of the festival - Spangalang's Vanguard 3000, a blend of a bourbon-barrel-aged tripel and an imperial stout flavored with vanilla and maple. Somehow, these vastly different styles melded seamlessly into one giant and surprisingly easy-drinking booze bomb that burst into the stratosphere with the maple addition offering refreshing sweetness.
But Ratio Beerworks managed to add candied sugar, cinnamon and cardamom to its Hold Steady chocolate rye scotch ale and land a beer that is the closest thing you'll try to mulled wine made with hops and barley. And Woods Boss threw candy canes into a chocolate stout to create its Magical Narwhal, and you could picture yourself drinking that throughout the winter by the fire if it wasn't a one-off.
2) Holiday beer variety is very much alive and well.
As Halloween beers seem to be dying from a lack of originality, Denver breweries are redefining Christmas beers in new and more interesting ways.
Zuni Street absolutely killed it with its Gingergrass, a German ale brewed with ginger, hibiscus and lemongrass from the Teatulia tea store next door to it. Little Machine brought back its That's My Yam! Sweet Potato Stout that is dark, refreshing and even a slight bit spicy. And Strange Craft Beer made good use of one of the hardest ingredients to blend effectively into beer - spruce tips - by melding it into a Belgian dubbel and using the malt to bring out the sweetness in the resin in its Just the Tip.
3) Denver continues its transition from a hop town to a sour town.
Yes, IPAs will continue to be the best-selling craft beers in this area by far. But no one was talking about a particular IPA that was being poured on Saturday.
Yet people (justifiably) wouldn't shut up about TRVE's Burning Arrow foeder saison with Citra hops, a whipsaw of big tart flavor and just enough hopping to keep it balanced. Or Baere Brewing's Frambruin sour brown ale that pelted you joyfully with the mouthfeel of sour cherries. Or pretty much everything poured by Black Project, but particularly its Gnomon, a spontaneous raw ale brewed with purple barley that made you think and think again about the wonderful liquid in your mouth.
4) Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers opened many eyes.
The month-and-a-half-old maker of oenobeers - those brewed with grapes as a fermenting ingredient - has thrilled anyone who stopped by, but the legions of devotees still have remained small. Judging by the lines it attracted Saturday, that may be about to end.
Jaws dropped particularly over its Oximonstrum, a 17.25% ABV concoction that was like malted port in a glass and drank far, far too easily. But the fact that the brewery reeled people in with timed tastings and repeatedly rolled out beers that shocked your preconceptions of what a beer can be was emblematic of the festival and of the evolving Denver beer scene.
5) Nobody needs more than 2 ounces at a beer festival.
I hesitate to complain about generosity. But I dumped more beer on Saturday that I can remember relinquishing at a festival - despite the fact that I, unlike others I was with, knew to avoid Burgundian Brewing. What that means is: I had to dump good beer!
When there are more than 60 breweries in a location, the object is to sample the full spectrum available in bits and bites, particularly when there were so many high-gravity beers on the menu. Thus, I felt bad asking so many brewers to toss their counterparts' efforts. But when I'm getting six-ounce pours, that's going to happen.
The biggest annual gathering of Denver breweries in one location found a new home this year at the Denver Sports Castle, and with it there seemed to be an even bigger drive among the 61 breweries in attendance to show off what they had. Beer makers brought six-deep pour lists more extensive than some offer at the Great American Beer Festival, Liberati Osteria introduced timed beer tappings to the event and everyone seemed to have a fresh, new take on classical holiday beers.
There frankly was a lot to be learned at the festival, and the vast majority of it was on the positive side. But here are a few things that jumped particularly to the top of the hit list on a day when most people had a different take on the best things being offered in the venue.
1) If a style sounded impossible, Denver breweries proved it could be done.
But Ratio Beerworks managed to add candied sugar, cinnamon and cardamom to its Hold Steady chocolate rye scotch ale and land a beer that is the closest thing you'll try to mulled wine made with hops and barley. And Woods Boss threw candy canes into a chocolate stout to create its Magical Narwhal, and you could picture yourself drinking that throughout the winter by the fire if it wasn't a one-off.
2) Holiday beer variety is very much alive and well.
As Halloween beers seem to be dying from a lack of originality, Denver breweries are redefining Christmas beers in new and more interesting ways.
Zuni Street absolutely killed it with its Gingergrass, a German ale brewed with ginger, hibiscus and lemongrass from the Teatulia tea store next door to it. Little Machine brought back its That's My Yam! Sweet Potato Stout that is dark, refreshing and even a slight bit spicy. And Strange Craft Beer made good use of one of the hardest ingredients to blend effectively into beer - spruce tips - by melding it into a Belgian dubbel and using the malt to bring out the sweetness in the resin in its Just the Tip.
3) Denver continues its transition from a hop town to a sour town.
Yes, IPAs will continue to be the best-selling craft beers in this area by far. But no one was talking about a particular IPA that was being poured on Saturday.
Yet people (justifiably) wouldn't shut up about TRVE's Burning Arrow foeder saison with Citra hops, a whipsaw of big tart flavor and just enough hopping to keep it balanced. Or Baere Brewing's Frambruin sour brown ale that pelted you joyfully with the mouthfeel of sour cherries. Or pretty much everything poured by Black Project, but particularly its Gnomon, a spontaneous raw ale brewed with purple barley that made you think and think again about the wonderful liquid in your mouth.
4) Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers opened many eyes.
The month-and-a-half-old maker of oenobeers - those brewed with grapes as a fermenting ingredient - has thrilled anyone who stopped by, but the legions of devotees still have remained small. Judging by the lines it attracted Saturday, that may be about to end.Jaws dropped particularly over its Oximonstrum, a 17.25% ABV concoction that was like malted port in a glass and drank far, far too easily. But the fact that the brewery reeled people in with timed tastings and repeatedly rolled out beers that shocked your preconceptions of what a beer can be was emblematic of the festival and of the evolving Denver beer scene.
5) Nobody needs more than 2 ounces at a beer festival.
I hesitate to complain about generosity. But I dumped more beer on Saturday that I can remember relinquishing at a festival - despite the fact that I, unlike others I was with, knew to avoid Burgundian Brewing. What that means is: I had to dump good beer!
When there are more than 60 breweries in a location, the object is to sample the full spectrum available in bits and bites, particularly when there were so many high-gravity beers on the menu. Thus, I felt bad asking so many brewers to toss their counterparts' efforts. But when I'm getting six-ounce pours, that's going to happen.
Labels: Baere Brewing, Black Project, Festivus, Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers, Little Machine Beer, Ratio Beerworks, Spangalang Brewery, Strange Craft Beer, TRVE, Woods Boss Brewing, Zuni Street Brewing
Sunday, January 01, 2017
Top 10 Colorado Beers of 2016
At a time when it seemed everyone was focused on something other than beer, Colorado breweries flew seemingly under the radar with their greatness during the year that just ended. The best and most memorable offerings came not from adding exotic new ingredients (with one exception) or from trying to ratchet alcohol or tartness to new levels, but from simplifying, aging a bit and just doing everything well.
So, before we bid goodbye to 2016 altogether, let's stop and admire once again the 10 beers that made the year one worth remembering.
10) 4 Noses Pump Action Imperial Pumpkin Ale
When your beer takes gold in the pumpkin categories for both the World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festival in the same year, you know you have something special on your hands. What makes Pump Action stand out so much is its offering of a significant body (nearly 8 percent ABV) without overbearing alcohol or spice content. It's just smooth and silky.
9) Trinity Saison Delivery
One of Colorado's true saison specialists broke new ground even by its lofty standards with this gem, first made for the 2016 Craft Brewers Conference. Colorado apple, grains of paradise and dark candy sugar made this decidedly fruit-forward, while the Chardonnay-barrel aging gave it a slight pucker. Wrap it up, and it became a pretty eye-opening combination.
8) Great Divide The Smoothness
Black lager can be a forgettable style - right up until you decide to age it in Jameson barrels and imbue the lighter-bodied beer with a whiskey flavor that was perfectly balanced and managed to breathe new life into the simple malts in the beer. I'll come back to Great Divide at more length later, but this beer was shocking in its simplicity and tastiness.
7) Beryl's Beer Trent's Plums
If plum was a favorite new additive in 2016, no one made it sing more than this too-often-overlooked Denver brewery that brought out the fruit's tart properties by letting it age for two years in red-wine barrels with a sour brown ale. It took your taste buds right up to the edge but walked that delicate line of being significantly sour without being too acerbic.
6) AC Golden Kriek Noir
Speaking of pushing sour taste to the edge, Coors' experimental brewery - which also did some excellent work on the lighter end of the spectrum this year - made its own statement with this wine-barrel-aged Belgian ale with sour cherries added (pictured above). Almost sweet on the nose, this was aggressive and cutting in its flavor profile, rewarding drinkers with a constantly evolving complexity that was simultaneously edgy and refreshing.
5) Comrade Yellow Fever
Colorado's new poster child for hop-drenched beers showed off its versatility by ramping up the flavor profile of this Citra blonde ale infused with jalapenos and nabbing a World Beer Cup medal for it. With a mild look and less-than-fiery nose, this beer surprised twice. First, it announced its rising heat only as you swirled Yellow Fever in your mouth. Second, it let that heat cool just when you thought it might be too much, creating an exhilarating experience.
4) Weldwerks Double Dry Hopped Juicy Bits
You may love or hate the "New England IPA" trend, but you can not walk away from this beer (pictured above) - a hopped-up version of the Greeley brewery's hazy IPA - without feeling like you have somehow found a new frontier of a style of beer (IPA) that leaves few surprises anymore. It pelts you with fruity and grassy overtones without any lingering bitterness, allowing you to enjoy the hops for all the flavor they can impart. It's the kind of IPA that can make hop haters rethink their sentiments.
3) Crooked Stave Raspberry Petite Sour
While Crooked Stave is known rightly for its astringent, taste-bud-pushing creations, it may have found its greatest success yet by stepping just slightly off the pedal and letting the fruit and wild yeast mingle in a pleasing, almost soft way here. Eye-poppingly pink in its pour, this is both sweet and tart, both bullish on its wild side and more concerned with its fruit than its acid. It simply is delicious.
2) Spangalang Anniversary Ale
To celebrate its first birthday, this rising Denver star blended several of its hop-forward beers, combining barrel-aged and fresh IPAs in one big, never-again-reproducible batch. In doing so, it produced the most interesting one-off beer made in this state in years, a taste-bud-wowing experiment that was simultaneously hoppy and woody, earthy and pleasingly bitter. Before it turns two, Spangalang already is making some of the best beer in Colorado; this was evidence of just how much better it can be.
1) Great Divide Barrel-Aged Hercules
Ever since my book "Mountain Brew" came out in 2011, I've been asked what is my favorite brewery in Colorado. I usually duck the question but, when cornered, have tended to identify Great Divide as the single best in this state. By the end of 2015, though, I was starting to question that long-held assumption, wondering if the long-time experimental brewery was starting to lose ground to others that were innovating more. Then, everything changed this year.
Great Divide's barrel-aging program, which has been in place for years but got a major boost with the 2015 opening of its Barrel Bar on Brighton Boulevard, elevates this brewery into a class of its own for several reasons. First, it allows it to rediscover and reinvent already top-tier offerings and bring out new flavors in them, from its Old Ruffian barleywine to the aforementioned black lager. But second, it does so without simply dropping beers into wild-yeast-ridden barrels and turning everything sour. Its usage of oak and whiskey barrels that deepen the flavor and body of the beers gives it a real personality in an atmosphere when even great breweries begin to seem a little bit like each other in their experiments.
Putting its Hercules Double IPA into whiskey barrels for two years before unleashing this beast at its 22nd anniversary party this summer was the best beer idea of the year. The hops retained an amazingly out-front presence despite their age, and the whiskey took on just a supporting role, as wood and vanilla notes blended seamlessly with Cascade and Simcoe hops. Like much of the best of 2016, this didn't break new ground in flavor profiles. It just brought a classic recipe to bear in a new and better way that will set the mark for this brewery and all others going forward.
At a time when it seemed everyone was focused on something other than beer, Colorado breweries flew seemingly under the radar with their greatness during the year that just ended. The best and most memorable offerings came not from adding exotic new ingredients (with one exception) or from trying to ratchet alcohol or tartness to new levels, but from simplifying, aging a bit and just doing everything well.
So, before we bid goodbye to 2016 altogether, let's stop and admire once again the 10 beers that made the year one worth remembering.
10) 4 Noses Pump Action Imperial Pumpkin Ale
When your beer takes gold in the pumpkin categories for both the World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festival in the same year, you know you have something special on your hands. What makes Pump Action stand out so much is its offering of a significant body (nearly 8 percent ABV) without overbearing alcohol or spice content. It's just smooth and silky.
9) Trinity Saison Delivery
One of Colorado's true saison specialists broke new ground even by its lofty standards with this gem, first made for the 2016 Craft Brewers Conference. Colorado apple, grains of paradise and dark candy sugar made this decidedly fruit-forward, while the Chardonnay-barrel aging gave it a slight pucker. Wrap it up, and it became a pretty eye-opening combination.
8) Great Divide The Smoothness
Black lager can be a forgettable style - right up until you decide to age it in Jameson barrels and imbue the lighter-bodied beer with a whiskey flavor that was perfectly balanced and managed to breathe new life into the simple malts in the beer. I'll come back to Great Divide at more length later, but this beer was shocking in its simplicity and tastiness.
7) Beryl's Beer Trent's Plums
If plum was a favorite new additive in 2016, no one made it sing more than this too-often-overlooked Denver brewery that brought out the fruit's tart properties by letting it age for two years in red-wine barrels with a sour brown ale. It took your taste buds right up to the edge but walked that delicate line of being significantly sour without being too acerbic.
6) AC Golden Kriek Noir
Speaking of pushing sour taste to the edge, Coors' experimental brewery - which also did some excellent work on the lighter end of the spectrum this year - made its own statement with this wine-barrel-aged Belgian ale with sour cherries added (pictured above). Almost sweet on the nose, this was aggressive and cutting in its flavor profile, rewarding drinkers with a constantly evolving complexity that was simultaneously edgy and refreshing.
5) Comrade Yellow Fever
Colorado's new poster child for hop-drenched beers showed off its versatility by ramping up the flavor profile of this Citra blonde ale infused with jalapenos and nabbing a World Beer Cup medal for it. With a mild look and less-than-fiery nose, this beer surprised twice. First, it announced its rising heat only as you swirled Yellow Fever in your mouth. Second, it let that heat cool just when you thought it might be too much, creating an exhilarating experience.
4) Weldwerks Double Dry Hopped Juicy Bits
You may love or hate the "New England IPA" trend, but you can not walk away from this beer (pictured above) - a hopped-up version of the Greeley brewery's hazy IPA - without feeling like you have somehow found a new frontier of a style of beer (IPA) that leaves few surprises anymore. It pelts you with fruity and grassy overtones without any lingering bitterness, allowing you to enjoy the hops for all the flavor they can impart. It's the kind of IPA that can make hop haters rethink their sentiments.
3) Crooked Stave Raspberry Petite Sour
While Crooked Stave is known rightly for its astringent, taste-bud-pushing creations, it may have found its greatest success yet by stepping just slightly off the pedal and letting the fruit and wild yeast mingle in a pleasing, almost soft way here. Eye-poppingly pink in its pour, this is both sweet and tart, both bullish on its wild side and more concerned with its fruit than its acid. It simply is delicious.2) Spangalang Anniversary Ale
To celebrate its first birthday, this rising Denver star blended several of its hop-forward beers, combining barrel-aged and fresh IPAs in one big, never-again-reproducible batch. In doing so, it produced the most interesting one-off beer made in this state in years, a taste-bud-wowing experiment that was simultaneously hoppy and woody, earthy and pleasingly bitter. Before it turns two, Spangalang already is making some of the best beer in Colorado; this was evidence of just how much better it can be.
1) Great Divide Barrel-Aged Hercules
Ever since my book "Mountain Brew" came out in 2011, I've been asked what is my favorite brewery in Colorado. I usually duck the question but, when cornered, have tended to identify Great Divide as the single best in this state. By the end of 2015, though, I was starting to question that long-held assumption, wondering if the long-time experimental brewery was starting to lose ground to others that were innovating more. Then, everything changed this year.
Great Divide's barrel-aging program, which has been in place for years but got a major boost with the 2015 opening of its Barrel Bar on Brighton Boulevard, elevates this brewery into a class of its own for several reasons. First, it allows it to rediscover and reinvent already top-tier offerings and bring out new flavors in them, from its Old Ruffian barleywine to the aforementioned black lager. But second, it does so without simply dropping beers into wild-yeast-ridden barrels and turning everything sour. Its usage of oak and whiskey barrels that deepen the flavor and body of the beers gives it a real personality in an atmosphere when even great breweries begin to seem a little bit like each other in their experiments.Putting its Hercules Double IPA into whiskey barrels for two years before unleashing this beast at its 22nd anniversary party this summer was the best beer idea of the year. The hops retained an amazingly out-front presence despite their age, and the whiskey took on just a supporting role, as wood and vanilla notes blended seamlessly with Cascade and Simcoe hops. Like much of the best of 2016, this didn't break new ground in flavor profiles. It just brought a classic recipe to bear in a new and better way that will set the mark for this brewery and all others going forward.
Labels: 4 Noses Brewing, AC Golden, Beryl's Beer, Comrade Brewing, Crooked Stave, Great Divide, Spangalang Brewery, Top Beers of Year, Trinity Brewing, Weldwerks Brewing
Sunday, May 29, 2016
The Time of the Saison
Tucked back into the corner of Saturday's Funk and Farm Fest at Nighthawk Brewery, Trinity Brewing and Mu Brewery had an intriguing duo of beers on tap. Trinity was pouring a Saison Delivery - made with apples and grains of paradise and aged in chardonnay barrels - that was blowing everyone away by being tart and fruit-forward without being either blistering or cloying. And Mu was serving up a Key Lime Saison with Brett aged in Merlot barrels that, if slightly less polished, was a bold experiment at amping up both the sweetness and the pucker factor.
While different, the two beers offered great examples of just how many exciting directions the world of saison brewing is going. Surrounding them were farmhouse ales that tasted vaguely of cotton candy that cut through your taste buds with a sour golden bite and that clashed a sharp tartness with the big taste of the whiskey barrel in which they were aged - each one worthy of kudos.
To think, when New Belgium tried to introduce a saison 20 years ago - a story I recounted in my book, "Mountain Brew" - beer drinkers didn't take to it because they largely weren't ready for the traditional Belgian style to blend with the rising flavors of hops and roasted barley in America. Now no major brewery is without one in its portfolio, and the best are rolling out more and more variations - Great Divide's full, fruity and slightly flowery Nadia Kali hibiscus saison being the latest really tasty one to hit the market - just to keep up with demand.
To what should we attribute the saison boom? A big factor is the demand among beer geeks for more that is different and cutting edge. Saison as a style allows for greater experimentation that most, presenting a slightly estery, slightly spicy base that lends itself to a ton of different adjuncts. But it also is a medium-bodied beer that can appeal to a wide range of drinkers, depending on what is thrown into the brew kettle.
I think back to my birthday party in 2015, when I asked friends to bring a saison and we did a blind taste testing to determine our favorite. That a Casey Brewing and Blending Saison won the general poll was not a surprise, as the Glenwood Springs beer auteur has managed to craft a version of the style that is bright and slightly tart and excites the taste buds continually. But the variety of saisons that scored high in our tallies - from Epic's Sour Apple Saison to Three Barrel's peppery Pemba Sherpa Saison - made it clear that there was a lot to like on the market.
Similarly, Nighthawk's farmhouse festival left few stones un-turned. Wynkoop's Forethought Barrel-Aged Sour Saison was a jolting and fascinating combination of strong flavors. Atom Brewing's Arlo farmhouse-inspired ale presented a huge sweetness developed surprisingly through open-air fermentation. Spangalang's Ethel, a sour saison, was bright and eye-opening without being punishing on the taste buds.
There is a lot to enjoy in the greater saison field today. But what is more exciting is the nearly blank slate from which brewers can develop more creative and more challenging saison varieties to come. The style may have originated with farm owners in Belgium and France. But what American brewers are doing with it is taking it to a whole new level.
Tucked back into the corner of Saturday's Funk and Farm Fest at Nighthawk Brewery, Trinity Brewing and Mu Brewery had an intriguing duo of beers on tap. Trinity was pouring a Saison Delivery - made with apples and grains of paradise and aged in chardonnay barrels - that was blowing everyone away by being tart and fruit-forward without being either blistering or cloying. And Mu was serving up a Key Lime Saison with Brett aged in Merlot barrels that, if slightly less polished, was a bold experiment at amping up both the sweetness and the pucker factor.
While different, the two beers offered great examples of just how many exciting directions the world of saison brewing is going. Surrounding them were farmhouse ales that tasted vaguely of cotton candy that cut through your taste buds with a sour golden bite and that clashed a sharp tartness with the big taste of the whiskey barrel in which they were aged - each one worthy of kudos.
To think, when New Belgium tried to introduce a saison 20 years ago - a story I recounted in my book, "Mountain Brew" - beer drinkers didn't take to it because they largely weren't ready for the traditional Belgian style to blend with the rising flavors of hops and roasted barley in America. Now no major brewery is without one in its portfolio, and the best are rolling out more and more variations - Great Divide's full, fruity and slightly flowery Nadia Kali hibiscus saison being the latest really tasty one to hit the market - just to keep up with demand.To what should we attribute the saison boom? A big factor is the demand among beer geeks for more that is different and cutting edge. Saison as a style allows for greater experimentation that most, presenting a slightly estery, slightly spicy base that lends itself to a ton of different adjuncts. But it also is a medium-bodied beer that can appeal to a wide range of drinkers, depending on what is thrown into the brew kettle.
I think back to my birthday party in 2015, when I asked friends to bring a saison and we did a blind taste testing to determine our favorite. That a Casey Brewing and Blending Saison won the general poll was not a surprise, as the Glenwood Springs beer auteur has managed to craft a version of the style that is bright and slightly tart and excites the taste buds continually. But the variety of saisons that scored high in our tallies - from Epic's Sour Apple Saison to Three Barrel's peppery Pemba Sherpa Saison - made it clear that there was a lot to like on the market.
Similarly, Nighthawk's farmhouse festival left few stones un-turned. Wynkoop's Forethought Barrel-Aged Sour Saison was a jolting and fascinating combination of strong flavors. Atom Brewing's Arlo farmhouse-inspired ale presented a huge sweetness developed surprisingly through open-air fermentation. Spangalang's Ethel, a sour saison, was bright and eye-opening without being punishing on the taste buds.
There is a lot to enjoy in the greater saison field today. But what is more exciting is the nearly blank slate from which brewers can develop more creative and more challenging saison varieties to come. The style may have originated with farm owners in Belgium and France. But what American brewers are doing with it is taking it to a whole new level.
Labels: Atom Brewing, Casey Brewing, Epic Brewing, Great Divide, Mu Brewery, Nighthawk Brewing, Saisons, Spangalang Brewery, Three Barrel Brewing, Trinity Brewing, Wynkoop Brewery
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Spangalang: One Year In, Exceeding All Expectations
I've been having a debate in my mind lately that probably isn't worth having: What was the best Colorado brewery to open in 2015? Early on, I kept coming back to Ratio Beerworks, which I've gushed about both as opening with a bang then producing more unique and complex beers as it progressed over its first year.
But it's unrealistic to crown a single champion in any year that also saw the arrival onto the scene of Spangalang Brewery, the gutsy venture from three former Great Divide guys that opened in an old Department of Motor Vehicles office in Denver's Five Points neighborhood. Every experimental beer release seems to add a new twist to its repertoire, and a recent visit to the brewery showed just how much it has going for it.
Any brewery creates a certain lore when it wins a Great American Beer Festival gold medal less than four months after opening, as Spangalang did for its Belgian table beer, Sugarfoot. But while this lower-alcohol offering is light and solidly estery, it is not one of the multiple beers on the menu that actually will make you exclaim "Wow."
Pretty much anything in the Nightwalker series of imperial stouts will make you do that, from the deceptively smooth original to barrel-aged editions like the 2016 version that take on the feel of its Breckenridge Distillery vessels without being overbearing. Both, however, seem like common offerings compared to the Nightwalker Con Alma, which was re-fermented with grape juice and takes on a wine-beer hybrid quality that is head-scratching in its ability to incorporate both the chocolaty dark flavor of the base beer and the fruity mustiness of its addition.
That's not the most impressive thing Spangalang dreamt up for its one-year birthday celebration, however. That honor goes to its simply named Anniversary Ale, a blend of several hoppy offerings, some of them barrel-aged and some not. Deep, oak-y, full of complexity and offering you a chance to taste both the woodiness of the aging and the non-acidic underlying flavor of Simcoe, Chinook and other hops, this may well be the best beer a Denver brewery has produced so far in 2016.
Still, Spangalang comes back a third time to jolt you with its Protocrat Gose, a traditional offering with its hint of salt that is kicked up in tartness to match the American palate. At a time when gose is becoming one of the hip styles on the market, this could set the standard, at least in Denver.
Truth be told, there was nothing on the 11-beer tasting menu last week that could be called even a slight miss. The D-Train IPA was a big and slightly sweet hop bomb, the Hop Colossus Double IPA was surprising in its woodiness (despite its lack of barrel aging) and the Beatrice Saison, while not a stand-out, had a classical quality to it.
So, should Ratio or Spangalang wear the title of best new Colorado brewery of 2015? Or should that go to WeldWerks, which USA Today proclaimed the best new brewery in the country? In truth, it doesn't matter. But what is apparent is this: Whereas even the best new breweries would take a year or two to get up to full speed half a decade ago, there are places bolting from ribbon-cutting to national-interest-demanding in less than 12 months now. And Spangalang is absolutely one of them.
I've been having a debate in my mind lately that probably isn't worth having: What was the best Colorado brewery to open in 2015? Early on, I kept coming back to Ratio Beerworks, which I've gushed about both as opening with a bang then producing more unique and complex beers as it progressed over its first year.
But it's unrealistic to crown a single champion in any year that also saw the arrival onto the scene of Spangalang Brewery, the gutsy venture from three former Great Divide guys that opened in an old Department of Motor Vehicles office in Denver's Five Points neighborhood. Every experimental beer release seems to add a new twist to its repertoire, and a recent visit to the brewery showed just how much it has going for it.
Any brewery creates a certain lore when it wins a Great American Beer Festival gold medal less than four months after opening, as Spangalang did for its Belgian table beer, Sugarfoot. But while this lower-alcohol offering is light and solidly estery, it is not one of the multiple beers on the menu that actually will make you exclaim "Wow."
Pretty much anything in the Nightwalker series of imperial stouts will make you do that, from the deceptively smooth original to barrel-aged editions like the 2016 version that take on the feel of its Breckenridge Distillery vessels without being overbearing. Both, however, seem like common offerings compared to the Nightwalker Con Alma, which was re-fermented with grape juice and takes on a wine-beer hybrid quality that is head-scratching in its ability to incorporate both the chocolaty dark flavor of the base beer and the fruity mustiness of its addition.
That's not the most impressive thing Spangalang dreamt up for its one-year birthday celebration, however. That honor goes to its simply named Anniversary Ale, a blend of several hoppy offerings, some of them barrel-aged and some not. Deep, oak-y, full of complexity and offering you a chance to taste both the woodiness of the aging and the non-acidic underlying flavor of Simcoe, Chinook and other hops, this may well be the best beer a Denver brewery has produced so far in 2016.
Still, Spangalang comes back a third time to jolt you with its Protocrat Gose, a traditional offering with its hint of salt that is kicked up in tartness to match the American palate. At a time when gose is becoming one of the hip styles on the market, this could set the standard, at least in Denver.
Truth be told, there was nothing on the 11-beer tasting menu last week that could be called even a slight miss. The D-Train IPA was a big and slightly sweet hop bomb, the Hop Colossus Double IPA was surprising in its woodiness (despite its lack of barrel aging) and the Beatrice Saison, while not a stand-out, had a classical quality to it.
So, should Ratio or Spangalang wear the title of best new Colorado brewery of 2015? Or should that go to WeldWerks, which USA Today proclaimed the best new brewery in the country? In truth, it doesn't matter. But what is apparent is this: Whereas even the best new breweries would take a year or two to get up to full speed half a decade ago, there are places bolting from ribbon-cutting to national-interest-demanding in less than 12 months now. And Spangalang is absolutely one of them.
Labels: Barrel aging, Gose, Great American Beer Festival, Great Divide, IPA, Ratio Beerworks, Spangalang Brewery, Top Beers of Year
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
Sunday, August 02, 2015
4 Things I Learned from Sesh Fest 2015
The prematurely tapped kegs and long lines that marred last year's otherwise noble first-time celebration of lower-alcohol beers were gone at Saturday's sequel event, as were a couple of the experimental brewers who created both good and bad buzz for their vanishing beers.
But a number of other breweries stepped up their games and brought creations that many people at the sold-out event were discussing. In fact, it was interesting to talk to a people throughout the day and hear many of them recommending the same handful of hop artists over and over.
That said, here are some of the biggest takeaways from Sesh Fest 2015, as brought to the beer world by Imbibe and the Colorado Brewers Guild
1) Baere Brewing is Killing It
Had the year-old Denver brewery brought only its Raspberry Table Sour, it would be remembered for creating a perfectly pitched and tart offering that was the beer of the festival. But it also offered up several versions of its Baere-Liner Weisse - including a Cascade-dry-hopped offshoot that was very sharp and well-defined by its subtle but effective hops - that left you wanting to head straight from Sculpture Park to its tasting room to see what more it's doing.
2) Two New Kids are Very Worth Watching
Neither Spangalang Brewery nor Call to Arms Brewing were operational when the first day of Spring rolled around. By the time Fall kicks off, they are likely to be on everyone's minds - and their offerings at Sesh Fest showed why.
Spangalang served up a dry-hopped Brett saison alive with grape taste, as well as a Citra-dry-hopped lemon wheat beer that just popped on your taste buds. Meanwhile, Call to Arms showed off its Clintonian Pale Ale that may have been the only full-bodied hoppy beer on display Saturday (more on that trend in just a bit).
3) Low-ABV Sour Beers are Here to Stay ...
Last year, they were one of the trends of the festival, as brewers dabbled in naturally sessionable goses and Berliner weisses. This year, attendees saw even more classical Belgian- and American-style sours just made more lightly in booze, and everyone seemed to put them near the tops of their must-drink lists.
Odd 13 Brewing, for example, served a Vincent Van Couch American-style sour that weighed in only at 4.6% ABV but burst with lemon and melon flavors. And New Belgium offered a Hop Tart hopped-up sour that felt a little like a poor man's version of its bigger-bodied, bold La Terroir but still jumped out on this day. Beer lovers should probably expect more of these experiments.
4) ... But it's time to end the "Session IPA" fad
More and more breweries seem to be tapping their own offerings of this style. But it was clear at Sesh Fest that these watered-down versions of what normally are intriguingly-hopped beers were the least interesting iteration of the session movement.
The Brew on Broadway, for example, offered up what it called a dry-hopped blonde that was distinctly lacking in hops. And Sanitas Brewing, which normally serves head-turners, poured a "session pale ale" that was nothing more than a malt-heavy, hop-deficient amber ale trying to jump on the bandwagon.
American craft brewers have done incredible things with hops over the past decade that no other brewing culture has managed. Note all the ways they are bringing life to other styles above by dry-hopping them, for example.
Of anyone, then, they should be the first ones to recognize that beers relying on hops for their primary flavoring should not be half-assed and should be backed with an ample malt backbone that is going to drive up ABVs. And they should find other ways to bring creativity and taste to session beers, as some Colorado brewers are showing that they can.
The prematurely tapped kegs and long lines that marred last year's otherwise noble first-time celebration of lower-alcohol beers were gone at Saturday's sequel event, as were a couple of the experimental brewers who created both good and bad buzz for their vanishing beers.
But a number of other breweries stepped up their games and brought creations that many people at the sold-out event were discussing. In fact, it was interesting to talk to a people throughout the day and hear many of them recommending the same handful of hop artists over and over.
That said, here are some of the biggest takeaways from Sesh Fest 2015, as brought to the beer world by Imbibe and the Colorado Brewers Guild
1) Baere Brewing is Killing It
Had the year-old Denver brewery brought only its Raspberry Table Sour, it would be remembered for creating a perfectly pitched and tart offering that was the beer of the festival. But it also offered up several versions of its Baere-Liner Weisse - including a Cascade-dry-hopped offshoot that was very sharp and well-defined by its subtle but effective hops - that left you wanting to head straight from Sculpture Park to its tasting room to see what more it's doing.
2) Two New Kids are Very Worth Watching
Neither Spangalang Brewery nor Call to Arms Brewing were operational when the first day of Spring rolled around. By the time Fall kicks off, they are likely to be on everyone's minds - and their offerings at Sesh Fest showed why.
Spangalang served up a dry-hopped Brett saison alive with grape taste, as well as a Citra-dry-hopped lemon wheat beer that just popped on your taste buds. Meanwhile, Call to Arms showed off its Clintonian Pale Ale that may have been the only full-bodied hoppy beer on display Saturday (more on that trend in just a bit).
3) Low-ABV Sour Beers are Here to Stay ...
Last year, they were one of the trends of the festival, as brewers dabbled in naturally sessionable goses and Berliner weisses. This year, attendees saw even more classical Belgian- and American-style sours just made more lightly in booze, and everyone seemed to put them near the tops of their must-drink lists.
Odd 13 Brewing, for example, served a Vincent Van Couch American-style sour that weighed in only at 4.6% ABV but burst with lemon and melon flavors. And New Belgium offered a Hop Tart hopped-up sour that felt a little like a poor man's version of its bigger-bodied, bold La Terroir but still jumped out on this day. Beer lovers should probably expect more of these experiments.
4) ... But it's time to end the "Session IPA" fad
More and more breweries seem to be tapping their own offerings of this style. But it was clear at Sesh Fest that these watered-down versions of what normally are intriguingly-hopped beers were the least interesting iteration of the session movement.
The Brew on Broadway, for example, offered up what it called a dry-hopped blonde that was distinctly lacking in hops. And Sanitas Brewing, which normally serves head-turners, poured a "session pale ale" that was nothing more than a malt-heavy, hop-deficient amber ale trying to jump on the bandwagon.
American craft brewers have done incredible things with hops over the past decade that no other brewing culture has managed. Note all the ways they are bringing life to other styles above by dry-hopping them, for example.Of anyone, then, they should be the first ones to recognize that beers relying on hops for their primary flavoring should not be half-assed and should be backed with an ample malt backbone that is going to drive up ABVs. And they should find other ways to bring creativity and taste to session beers, as some Colorado brewers are showing that they can.
Labels: Baere Brewing, Brew on Broadway, Call to Arms Brewing, Colorado Brewers Guild, Festivals, Imbibe, IPA, New Belgium Brewing, Odd 13 Brewing, Sanitas Brewing, Session beers, Spangalang Brewery
