Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Colorado's Magical Mountain Malt (and Hops) Tour
As the beer world gets set to converge on Denver for the Great American Beer Festival next week, it's fair to say that the Mile High City has earned all of the plaudits it's received as one of the finest hop havens in America.
Yet, I can't shake the belief that the single best beer experiences I've had in Colorado this year have all involved visiting mountain breweries. And, frankly, that's not a statement on Denver so much as it is a booming assertion about how far the beer scene has come in small towns across this state.
Exhibit number one is Broken Compass Brewing, the Breckenridge beer maker tucked into an industrial strip mall outside the city center. It's well known for its GABF-medal-winning Coconut Porter - a beer that is both boozy and sweet and deserves the attention it gets - but a visit to the taproom shows just how much more the place is than one beer.
Its work imbuing huge flavors into its pale ales - both its crackling and eminently drinkable Ginger Pale Ale and its light-your-taste-buds-up-just-enough Chili Popper Pale Ale - shows a special skill in bringing out the flavor of experimental ingredients. Its Double IPA represents one of the most grassed-up dives into the style in the state. And it Imperial Bourbon Brown, a complex melange of bold tastes, was everything you could want in a glass.
But Summit County - now home to eight breweries - doesn't stop there, with the known or with the surprises. It's widely disseminated that Pug Ryan's can offer some of the most refreshing flavors in the state while served on its Tiki Bar overlooking Dillon Reservoir, and Outer Range Brewing has grown into one of the leaders in the burgeoning hazy IPA movement in Colorado. But Silverthorne holds a hidden gem as well in Angry James Brewing, and its Two Tone Footer Stout (pictured at right), mixed perfectly with chocolate malt and dry-hopped with coffee beans from nearby Jazzy Java, may be one of the easiest and tastiest coffee offerings around, as the dry-hopping gives a roasty mocha feel without any of the bitterness that can come with the bean.
But if Broken Compass is exhibit 1, than Telluride Brewing is exhibit 1A about how much can be done by a brewery miles from anything but mountains and beauty. Both, quite frankly, can make a legitimate case for being in the 15 best breweries out of the 370 that Colorado has to offer now.
A trip to Telluride's taproom - also outside downtown in an industrial area - is an experience in going into the belly of the brewery, standing around in a place with no bar stools and enjoying your beverage literally while leaning on a fermenter. But if there are five more complex and satisfying barrel-aged beers in this state that its Fishwater Project Double IPA, you would be hard-pressed to name them. And the variety that the brewery now offers, from Chardonnay-barrel-aged tripels to sours to the single best brown ale in the state (Face Down Brown) makes this a can't-miss stop.
I won't go on about nearby Durango, as its wares - from the gusto of Ska Brewing to the subtle brilliance of Steamworks Brewing - are well documented. And it's worth checking out the surrounding areas, from the state's single-most family-friendly beer garden (Pagosa Brewing) to the very-small-town Mancos Brewing (owner DeWayne Jackson is pictured at top), which crafts a Desert Drifter Rye Ale in which the rye truly is the star, making a unique taste that lasts.
But arguably the single-biggest surprise in the state may be WildEdge Brewing Collective in Cortez, a sleepy town on the edge of Mesa Verde National Park whose beer scene has been subdued previously. WildEdge offers up pure experimentation in the form of kettle sours, saisons and beers that break the mold of traditional styles. Its Birthday Barrel, a barrel-aged tart saison fermented with Palisade peaches to celebrate its one-year anniversary earlier this year, could have been mistaken for something coming off the taps at Avery Brewing.
No one should ever cut their time short drinking in Denver or Fort Collins or Boulder. But at this point, a trip into the mountains in Colorado no longer requires the choice of sacrificing world-class beer for world-class views. You can get both and never want to leave Colorado.
As the beer world gets set to converge on Denver for the Great American Beer Festival next week, it's fair to say that the Mile High City has earned all of the plaudits it's received as one of the finest hop havens in America.
Yet, I can't shake the belief that the single best beer experiences I've had in Colorado this year have all involved visiting mountain breweries. And, frankly, that's not a statement on Denver so much as it is a booming assertion about how far the beer scene has come in small towns across this state.
Exhibit number one is Broken Compass Brewing, the Breckenridge beer maker tucked into an industrial strip mall outside the city center. It's well known for its GABF-medal-winning Coconut Porter - a beer that is both boozy and sweet and deserves the attention it gets - but a visit to the taproom shows just how much more the place is than one beer.
Its work imbuing huge flavors into its pale ales - both its crackling and eminently drinkable Ginger Pale Ale and its light-your-taste-buds-up-just-enough Chili Popper Pale Ale - shows a special skill in bringing out the flavor of experimental ingredients. Its Double IPA represents one of the most grassed-up dives into the style in the state. And it Imperial Bourbon Brown, a complex melange of bold tastes, was everything you could want in a glass.But Summit County - now home to eight breweries - doesn't stop there, with the known or with the surprises. It's widely disseminated that Pug Ryan's can offer some of the most refreshing flavors in the state while served on its Tiki Bar overlooking Dillon Reservoir, and Outer Range Brewing has grown into one of the leaders in the burgeoning hazy IPA movement in Colorado. But Silverthorne holds a hidden gem as well in Angry James Brewing, and its Two Tone Footer Stout (pictured at right), mixed perfectly with chocolate malt and dry-hopped with coffee beans from nearby Jazzy Java, may be one of the easiest and tastiest coffee offerings around, as the dry-hopping gives a roasty mocha feel without any of the bitterness that can come with the bean.
But if Broken Compass is exhibit 1, than Telluride Brewing is exhibit 1A about how much can be done by a brewery miles from anything but mountains and beauty. Both, quite frankly, can make a legitimate case for being in the 15 best breweries out of the 370 that Colorado has to offer now.
A trip to Telluride's taproom - also outside downtown in an industrial area - is an experience in going into the belly of the brewery, standing around in a place with no bar stools and enjoying your beverage literally while leaning on a fermenter. But if there are five more complex and satisfying barrel-aged beers in this state that its Fishwater Project Double IPA, you would be hard-pressed to name them. And the variety that the brewery now offers, from Chardonnay-barrel-aged tripels to sours to the single best brown ale in the state (Face Down Brown) makes this a can't-miss stop.
I won't go on about nearby Durango, as its wares - from the gusto of Ska Brewing to the subtle brilliance of Steamworks Brewing - are well documented. And it's worth checking out the surrounding areas, from the state's single-most family-friendly beer garden (Pagosa Brewing) to the very-small-town Mancos Brewing (owner DeWayne Jackson is pictured at top), which crafts a Desert Drifter Rye Ale in which the rye truly is the star, making a unique taste that lasts.
But arguably the single-biggest surprise in the state may be WildEdge Brewing Collective in Cortez, a sleepy town on the edge of Mesa Verde National Park whose beer scene has been subdued previously. WildEdge offers up pure experimentation in the form of kettle sours, saisons and beers that break the mold of traditional styles. Its Birthday Barrel, a barrel-aged tart saison fermented with Palisade peaches to celebrate its one-year anniversary earlier this year, could have been mistaken for something coming off the taps at Avery Brewing.
No one should ever cut their time short drinking in Denver or Fort Collins or Boulder. But at this point, a trip into the mountains in Colorado no longer requires the choice of sacrificing world-class beer for world-class views. You can get both and never want to leave Colorado.
Labels: Angry James Brewing, Broken Compass Brewing, Great American Beer Festival, Mancos Brewing, Outer Range Brewing, Pug Ryan's, Ska Brewing, Steamworks Brewing, Telluride Brewing, WildEdge Brewing Collective
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Five Best Traditional Colorado Beers for Summer
Some say that summer is the acceptable time to break out "lawnmower" beers - lighter beers known for their drinkability rather than actual flavor. This thinking, however, is outdated and self-defeating.
These days, brewers throughout Colorado have found ways to take traditionally lighter beers and imbue them with big taste without losing the easiness to the body, giving you both craft quality and traditional quaffability in one can. And as the official start of summer approaches quickly, here are the five beers that do that best and will leave you both pleased and thirst-quenched, whether at the end of a hike or during an extended session on a porch.
1) Colorado Kolsch - Steamworks Brewing
This is refreshment defined in a craft beer. The easy-as-water body has both a satisfying fullness and crisp finish that features enough hops to register a bite without any feeling of citrus or pine. It will leave you both sated and satisfied.
2) Mama's Little Yella Pils - Oskar Blues
This is the rare pilsner that uses hops as a primary flavoring ingredient rather than as an afterthought. Yet they do not get in the way nor feel out of place. It's a smooth body with a gutsy finish, producing a lighter beer that just feels more purposeful than many other pilsners on the market.
3) Mexican Lager - Lone Tree Brewing
Too often, an overload of malts can make these traditional lagers feel awkward and heavy. But this is a beer that uses its ingredients judiciously, creating a flavor that is simple, subtly sweet and sharp enough at the finish to leave an impression. You've earned this after mowing a lawn, but you don't have to be hot and sweaty to appreciate its character.
4) 8 Second Kolsch - Elevation Beer Co.
Like Colorado Kolsch, this is refreshing first and foremost. But it has a big presence in your mouth, a combination of a smooth body with a little more hop crispness than one might expect. It's a unique melding that results in a beer that feels breezy but bites you here and there until you realize just how much you are enjoying it.
5) M.E.H. Cream Ale- Brewery Rickoli
This Wheat Ridge brewery, which caught the eye of Boston Beer early in its development, specializes more in boozy, complex ales than simple ones. But its cream ale is an undervalued secret of the local brewing scene, offering a terribly smooth and yet tasty body notable for its balance of malts that leaves it sippable but not overly sweet. And it's gluten-free, as a bonus.
Some say that summer is the acceptable time to break out "lawnmower" beers - lighter beers known for their drinkability rather than actual flavor. This thinking, however, is outdated and self-defeating.
These days, brewers throughout Colorado have found ways to take traditionally lighter beers and imbue them with big taste without losing the easiness to the body, giving you both craft quality and traditional quaffability in one can. And as the official start of summer approaches quickly, here are the five beers that do that best and will leave you both pleased and thirst-quenched, whether at the end of a hike or during an extended session on a porch.
1) Colorado Kolsch - Steamworks Brewing
This is refreshment defined in a craft beer. The easy-as-water body has both a satisfying fullness and crisp finish that features enough hops to register a bite without any feeling of citrus or pine. It will leave you both sated and satisfied.
2) Mama's Little Yella Pils - Oskar Blues
This is the rare pilsner that uses hops as a primary flavoring ingredient rather than as an afterthought. Yet they do not get in the way nor feel out of place. It's a smooth body with a gutsy finish, producing a lighter beer that just feels more purposeful than many other pilsners on the market.
3) Mexican Lager - Lone Tree Brewing
Too often, an overload of malts can make these traditional lagers feel awkward and heavy. But this is a beer that uses its ingredients judiciously, creating a flavor that is simple, subtly sweet and sharp enough at the finish to leave an impression. You've earned this after mowing a lawn, but you don't have to be hot and sweaty to appreciate its character.
4) 8 Second Kolsch - Elevation Beer Co.Like Colorado Kolsch, this is refreshing first and foremost. But it has a big presence in your mouth, a combination of a smooth body with a little more hop crispness than one might expect. It's a unique melding that results in a beer that feels breezy but bites you here and there until you realize just how much you are enjoying it.
5) M.E.H. Cream Ale- Brewery Rickoli
This Wheat Ridge brewery, which caught the eye of Boston Beer early in its development, specializes more in boozy, complex ales than simple ones. But its cream ale is an undervalued secret of the local brewing scene, offering a terribly smooth and yet tasty body notable for its balance of malts that leaves it sippable but not overly sweet. And it's gluten-free, as a bonus.
Labels: Brewery Rickoli, Elevation Beer, lager, Lone Tree Brewing, Oskar Blues, Steamworks Brewing, Summer beers
Monday, January 09, 2017
4 Things I Learned at Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival 2017
Colorado's best themed beer festival found a new home in Breckenridge after 16 years in Vail and, frankly, found a new energy. There was vibrancy throughout beer bars in the town and vibrancy throughout the Beaver Run Resort, where most events were held. And brewers clearly tried to raise their games with the beer they were pouring — and, in many cases, succeeded.
Here, then, are four big thoughts about what took place over the past four days, both in regard to the beer and in regard to the good folks who were ensuring the beers were poured.
1) The new wave of imperial stouts will redefine the style.
It may sound obvious, but you can't drink Russian imperial stouts for three-plus hours without them beginning to taste a lot alike. That is why the growing number of brewers adding unique ingredients to these creations — ingredients that go beyond the coffee and chocolate that brewers like Epic already have pioneered so well — were the ones most often turning heads at Big Beers.
Station 26 Brewing stood at the head of the pack with its German Chocolate Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Star Imperial Stout, which felt every bit like the desert it was named after and flowed so easily at 13 percent ABV that you didn't know whether to be enthralled or frightened. And very close to that creation in its palate-pleasing level was Weldwerks Brewing's Barrel Aged Mexican Achromatic, which bubbled over with cinnamon and vanilla and made Mexican coffee weep at what it could be with hops and barley added.
2) The barrel can make all the difference.
With more breweries trying more ways to age their beer in barrels, the possibilities are almost limitless at the flavor profiles that can come from the experiments. But not every decision to throw a beer into a barrel is a solid one — a truth that could be seen in the number of barrel-aged saisons from very good brewers that felt listless and undefined. (A major exception was the Old Order 6 bourbon-barrel-aged imperial black saison from Solemn Oath Brewing, whose malt backbone allowed the beer to stand up against the barrel).
But there were brilliant decisions with barrels too. Paradox Beer's Trois Ans Anniversary Ale, aged in Spanish Cedar barrels, gave off a wonderful blend of tart and smoky-wood complexity and made you stop to think about what you were tasting. Similarly, the choice by Grimm Brothers Brewhouse to age its Magic Mirror imperial koltbusser in oak barrels turned an adequate malt monster into a tart and challenging beer that showed off its honey and molasses in new and vibrant ways.
3) More chai beers and imperial IPAs are needed.
Two years ago, tiny Altitude Chophouse had maybe the beer of the festival with a chai-infused dunkelweizen, making one ask why more breweries don't use this palate-enlivening ingredient. This year, New Holland Brewing absolutely startled with its Dragon's Milk Reserve Vanilla Chai, which was a full-throttled expression of how bold flavors can make big beers seem like pleasant tea.
But while chai beers remain maybe unsurprisingly rare, it was a little shocking to see the lack of barrel-aged IPA and double IPA beers on display when the style combines the two most popular craft-brewing trends of the past 10 years. And one sip of Steamworks Brewing's 50/50 Barrel Aged Imperial IPA, with its huge whiskey mouthfeel almost perfectly balanced by its big hops, showed why this is a trend that needs to pick up.
4) One never needs to leave the resort to really enjoy Big Beers now.
A primary advantage in moving to Breckenridge was to plop the festival in the midst of a town that could support it with days of special tappings and beer/food pairings around the main event. And while reports where that the gatherings at places like Aprés Handcrafted Libations were phenomenal, you didn't have to step foot into the negative-11-degree weather to truly enjoy the event.
Late-night activities at Beaver Run featured welcoming collections of brewers and beer lovers alike, particularly the Friday night beer-cigar pairing that let drinkers try to combine smoking and drinking if they wanted - or just wander around and sample some of the best beer in the nation, often while talking to the man or woman who made it (without any pouring lines).
The seminars have ramped up throughout the morning and early-afternoon of the main tasting, providing attendees with more knowledge than you could ever want about the brewing process (more to come on that in a later blog about experimental malts). And the resort bar became a place to go by yourself, knowing you'd run into industry friends.
Laura and Bill Lodge exceeded expectations this year. And the festival keeps getting better.
Colorado's best themed beer festival found a new home in Breckenridge after 16 years in Vail and, frankly, found a new energy. There was vibrancy throughout beer bars in the town and vibrancy throughout the Beaver Run Resort, where most events were held. And brewers clearly tried to raise their games with the beer they were pouring — and, in many cases, succeeded.
Here, then, are four big thoughts about what took place over the past four days, both in regard to the beer and in regard to the good folks who were ensuring the beers were poured.
1) The new wave of imperial stouts will redefine the style.
It may sound obvious, but you can't drink Russian imperial stouts for three-plus hours without them beginning to taste a lot alike. That is why the growing number of brewers adding unique ingredients to these creations — ingredients that go beyond the coffee and chocolate that brewers like Epic already have pioneered so well — were the ones most often turning heads at Big Beers.Station 26 Brewing stood at the head of the pack with its German Chocolate Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Star Imperial Stout, which felt every bit like the desert it was named after and flowed so easily at 13 percent ABV that you didn't know whether to be enthralled or frightened. And very close to that creation in its palate-pleasing level was Weldwerks Brewing's Barrel Aged Mexican Achromatic, which bubbled over with cinnamon and vanilla and made Mexican coffee weep at what it could be with hops and barley added.
2) The barrel can make all the difference.
With more breweries trying more ways to age their beer in barrels, the possibilities are almost limitless at the flavor profiles that can come from the experiments. But not every decision to throw a beer into a barrel is a solid one — a truth that could be seen in the number of barrel-aged saisons from very good brewers that felt listless and undefined. (A major exception was the Old Order 6 bourbon-barrel-aged imperial black saison from Solemn Oath Brewing, whose malt backbone allowed the beer to stand up against the barrel).
But there were brilliant decisions with barrels too. Paradox Beer's Trois Ans Anniversary Ale, aged in Spanish Cedar barrels, gave off a wonderful blend of tart and smoky-wood complexity and made you stop to think about what you were tasting. Similarly, the choice by Grimm Brothers Brewhouse to age its Magic Mirror imperial koltbusser in oak barrels turned an adequate malt monster into a tart and challenging beer that showed off its honey and molasses in new and vibrant ways.
3) More chai beers and imperial IPAs are needed.
Two years ago, tiny Altitude Chophouse had maybe the beer of the festival with a chai-infused dunkelweizen, making one ask why more breweries don't use this palate-enlivening ingredient. This year, New Holland Brewing absolutely startled with its Dragon's Milk Reserve Vanilla Chai, which was a full-throttled expression of how bold flavors can make big beers seem like pleasant tea.
But while chai beers remain maybe unsurprisingly rare, it was a little shocking to see the lack of barrel-aged IPA and double IPA beers on display when the style combines the two most popular craft-brewing trends of the past 10 years. And one sip of Steamworks Brewing's 50/50 Barrel Aged Imperial IPA, with its huge whiskey mouthfeel almost perfectly balanced by its big hops, showed why this is a trend that needs to pick up.
4) One never needs to leave the resort to really enjoy Big Beers now.
A primary advantage in moving to Breckenridge was to plop the festival in the midst of a town that could support it with days of special tappings and beer/food pairings around the main event. And while reports where that the gatherings at places like Aprés Handcrafted Libations were phenomenal, you didn't have to step foot into the negative-11-degree weather to truly enjoy the event.
Late-night activities at Beaver Run featured welcoming collections of brewers and beer lovers alike, particularly the Friday night beer-cigar pairing that let drinkers try to combine smoking and drinking if they wanted - or just wander around and sample some of the best beer in the nation, often while talking to the man or woman who made it (without any pouring lines).
The seminars have ramped up throughout the morning and early-afternoon of the main tasting, providing attendees with more knowledge than you could ever want about the brewing process (more to come on that in a later blog about experimental malts). And the resort bar became a place to go by yourself, knowing you'd run into industry friends.
Laura and Bill Lodge exceeded expectations this year. And the festival keeps getting better.
Labels: Big Beers, Breckenridge, Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, Laura Lodge, New Holland Brewing, Paradox Brewing, Solemn Oath Brewery, Station 26 Brewing, Steamworks Brewing, Weldwerks Brewing
Monday, July 15, 2013
Colorado Brewers Rendezvous: Oh Yeah!
Sure, there were 73 breweries planted in Salida's Riverside Park - the largest gathering of beer makers at an outdoor festival in Colorado history. But it wasn't the number of brewers so much as the age; at least half of them, by my count, were less than three years old.
And it was that youth, that seeming camaraderie of spirit to define Colorado beer in their own terms, that just imbued this past Saturday's Colorado Brewers Rendezvous with a certain energy, a certain newness. And one couldn't help but walk away with a few trinkets of knowledge from the Colorado Brewers Guild's annual signature event about where the state of the craft brewing industry is going.
1) Tart sours were sooo 2012. Now, even the boundary-pushing beers are having their boundaries pushed in new directions.
Take, for example, Trinity Brewing's Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta, an intriguingly dark and chewy sour that combines the tastes of roasted chocolate, raisin and a tart cherry strain. It's enough to make you stop and think a little longer than usual.
Or, if roasty sour wasn't quite enough, Three Barrel Brewing took it a step further and added ancho chile to the already jarring taste of a chocolate sour and might have made the intriguing beer of the festival with its Melaza. The Del Norte brewery is supposed to have beer in at least one Denver liquor store by the end of the summer, and it couldn't come soon enough.
2) The more herbs or spices in the beer, the more fascinating it gets.
Example A is Cannonball Creek's Rosemary Sourdough Saison, whose lighter body allows you to taste not only the floral flavor of the rosemary but just a hint of sour. Combined with Strange Brewing's excellent Zora Rosemary Pale Ale, and you have two area beers that make a baker jealous of their flavors.
Example B is Copper Kettle's Mexican Chocolate Stout, a time-tested pleaser with a chocolate-cinnamon come-on and back-of-the-tastebud kick that is now available in bottles. Everyone should try this at least once.
3) Dare I say there is a kolsch battle going on in Colorado? Steamworks was serving up its Colorado Kolsch, which is by no means new but continues to set the standard for crisp and refreshing in this state with just enough light hops to give it full flavor.
But I have to hand it to Elevation Beer, whose 8 Second Kolsch was on tap at every bar in Salida. It is sweeter, with just a hint of light fruit to its heavier-than-hops malt taste. And it presents the state with a good problem: Which of two kolsch beers to spend time with this summer.
4) You know who's impressive? Fate Brewing. Yes, one could have picked out almost any brewer at the rendezvous, admittedly, for recognition. But the new Boulder brewer, which kicked convention in the teeth by making a fantastic watermelon kolsch already this summer, debuted its Gose Saturday.
It takes guts to make a German sour to begin with, but this version calms the salty overtones too often prevalent in the style and adds a citrus twang without a peltingly sour body. At the very least, it will be fascinating to watch where this 5-month-old brewery goes.
Sure, there were 73 breweries planted in Salida's Riverside Park - the largest gathering of beer makers at an outdoor festival in Colorado history. But it wasn't the number of brewers so much as the age; at least half of them, by my count, were less than three years old.
And it was that youth, that seeming camaraderie of spirit to define Colorado beer in their own terms, that just imbued this past Saturday's Colorado Brewers Rendezvous with a certain energy, a certain newness. And one couldn't help but walk away with a few trinkets of knowledge from the Colorado Brewers Guild's annual signature event about where the state of the craft brewing industry is going.
1) Tart sours were sooo 2012. Now, even the boundary-pushing beers are having their boundaries pushed in new directions.
Take, for example, Trinity Brewing's Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta, an intriguingly dark and chewy sour that combines the tastes of roasted chocolate, raisin and a tart cherry strain. It's enough to make you stop and think a little longer than usual.
Or, if roasty sour wasn't quite enough, Three Barrel Brewing took it a step further and added ancho chile to the already jarring taste of a chocolate sour and might have made the intriguing beer of the festival with its Melaza. The Del Norte brewery is supposed to have beer in at least one Denver liquor store by the end of the summer, and it couldn't come soon enough.2) The more herbs or spices in the beer, the more fascinating it gets.
Example A is Cannonball Creek's Rosemary Sourdough Saison, whose lighter body allows you to taste not only the floral flavor of the rosemary but just a hint of sour. Combined with Strange Brewing's excellent Zora Rosemary Pale Ale, and you have two area beers that make a baker jealous of their flavors.
Example B is Copper Kettle's Mexican Chocolate Stout, a time-tested pleaser with a chocolate-cinnamon come-on and back-of-the-tastebud kick that is now available in bottles. Everyone should try this at least once.
3) Dare I say there is a kolsch battle going on in Colorado? Steamworks was serving up its Colorado Kolsch, which is by no means new but continues to set the standard for crisp and refreshing in this state with just enough light hops to give it full flavor.
But I have to hand it to Elevation Beer, whose 8 Second Kolsch was on tap at every bar in Salida. It is sweeter, with just a hint of light fruit to its heavier-than-hops malt taste. And it presents the state with a good problem: Which of two kolsch beers to spend time with this summer.
4) You know who's impressive? Fate Brewing. Yes, one could have picked out almost any brewer at the rendezvous, admittedly, for recognition. But the new Boulder brewer, which kicked convention in the teeth by making a fantastic watermelon kolsch already this summer, debuted its Gose Saturday.It takes guts to make a German sour to begin with, but this version calms the salty overtones too often prevalent in the style and adds a citrus twang without a peltingly sour body. At the very least, it will be fascinating to watch where this 5-month-old brewery goes.
Labels: Cannonball Creek Brewing, Colorado Brewers Guild, Colorado Brewers Rendezvous, Copper Kettle Brewing, Elevation Beer, Fate Brewing, Steamworks Brewing, Strange Brewing, Three Barrel Brewing, Trinity Brewing
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Craft Lagers' Success Recipe: Doing It DifferentlyMy first inkling of the coming craft lager movement came in early 2010, when I was interviewing Adam Avery, he of the Avery Brewing fame, for my book, "Mountain Brew." He mentioned he was getting ready to make a pilsner, and when I seemed shocked, he responded that he was getting older and just couldn't handle drinking double IPAs every night anymore.
What his Boulder brewery produced, of course, was arguably the hoppiest lager ever made in Colorado, Avery Joe's Pilsner. And as other notable breweries have begun churning out their own pilsners and other styles of craft lagers, it bears noting that the formula for success has seemed to lay in the roots of Adam's idea: If you're going to do something lighter, at least do something different.
Now you can get pilsners from some of the state's best breweries that remind you of Germany, feel like a kicked-up American lager or frankly taste like nothing of the style. But it is those that fall into the latter category that really seem to strike the chord that reminds us of why craft beer is craft beer.
Now you can get pilsners from some of the state's best breweries that remind you of Germany, feel like a kicked-up American lager or frankly taste like nothing of the style. But it is those that fall into the latter category that really seem to strike the chord that reminds us of why craft beer is craft beer.
Take Breckenridge's Regal Double Pilsner, a double-hopped sensory assault that has the sweet aroma of a Belgian-style beer and the mouthfeel of some kind of honey ale. Is this going to win any awards for being on style? No. But it will make you admire its originality and reach for another bottle to figure out what it is that's throttling your tastebuds.
Or there's Denver Beer Co's Smoked Lager, which doesn't carry the heft and satisfaction of its recent William Wallace Scotch Ale but zips a light, lingering mesquite presence into a still thoroughly drinkable beer. This is a malt-heavy Bavarian-style lager, but one with an unusual twist.
Yes, there are good representations of traditional lager styles. Steamworks Brewing's Colorado Kolsch is the cleanest, crispest beer of its kind on the market. And Upslope's Craft Lager carries with it a vaguely toasty taste that lets the drinker know they weren't tossing corn and rice in to lighten the body, as major American breweries do.
Sometimes breweries miss when shifting into the lager style. Great Divide Brewing, which hits just about everything big and bold that it makes out of the park, produced an overly heavy and surprisingly bitter Bohemian-style pilsner called Nomad in late December.
But while these lagers open the craft genre to a greater range of drinkers and show off breweries' ability to diversify, the art of craft brewing lies still in doing things differently than U.S. beer makers did for most of the 20th Century. So, when you're looking at where the craft lager movement goes, bets here are that it succeeds in producing styles that aren't found worldwide rather than in taking styles the rest of the world knows and trying to reproduce them for a domestic audience.
Labels: Avery Brewing, Breckenridge Brewery, Denver Beer Co, Great Divide, lager, Steamworks Brewing, Upslope Brewing
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Top 10 Colorado Beers of 2011The past year has been an exciting and experimental year for Colorado beers, even by its lofty standards. And so, to try to categorize the best offerings from 2011 is no easy task.
This list is not necessarily a list of the best beers you could buy at any moment in the state - don't worry, Avery Maharaja, I haven't forgotten about you - but a list of the most exciting beers of the past 12 months. These are the brews that inspired conversation in just the past year, excited taste buds and made you appreciate the brewing craft of this state so much that you wanted to share it with everyone.
10) Cherry Bomb Belgian Stout - Strange Brewing
This fascinating combination of roasted malt and tart cherries is not a new brew. But in the past year, the evolution of the beer to a happy medium between the stout and Belgian fruit styles, as well as the decision to keep it smoothly on nitro, has continued to make it one of Denver's most fascinating brews.
9) Steamworks Berliner Weisse - Steamworks Brewing
Many breweries experimented ) - and did very well - with this previously little-produced German sour wheat beer in the past year. But none made anything quite as tasty as the Durango brewery that is continuously experimenting and coming up with options like this that strike the interest of the palate without beating it to death with tartness.
8) Belgian Yeti - Great Divide Brewing
Great Divide has made a small amount of beers better than Belgian Yeti. But it's been a while since the last time it made something so provocative to combine Belgian yeast with its already bold and flavorful imperial stout recipe. And the fact that Great Divide was ballsy enough to release this in the summer lets you know how countercultural a good beer can be.
7) Summer Cab Ride - Breckenridge Brewery
Breckenridge's SummerBright Ale was a run-of-the-mill light offering - right up until the brewery decided to age it in cabernet sauvignon barrels and turned it into a fascinating and complex lighter beer with wine skin and slightly sour overtones. Now it's one of the most approachable and enjoyable barrel experiments in this state.
6) Mexican Chocolate Stout - Copper Kettle Brewing
Copper Kettle opened in late April and won a Great American Beer Festival medal in late September - a gap that brewery owners believe to be the shortest in history. But it was well-deserved for a beer that so artfully combined spice, cinnamon and dark malt that it felt like you were drinking dinner, not an aperitif.
5) Le Terroir - New Belgium Brewing
New Belgium had displayed Le Terroir in its taproom and at the GABF before. But it wasn't until this year that the dry hopped sour ale became a part of its Lips of Faith series that received general distribution. Tart like a cherry and yet grassy in its hops, it combines the best of Belgian and American brewing and gives you a beer that warms your cockles.
4) Brain of the Turtle - Trinity Brewing
Colorado complexity reached its peak in this sour ale aged with cherries, coffee and almonds - Jason Yester's latest freak show of a beer that conforms to no style but just turns heads and makes experimental beer fans smile. Nothing was talked about more among Colorado beer geeks at the Great American Beer Festival. And no other new beer deserves a statewide release so much in 2012.
3) Myrcenary Double IPA - Odell Brewing
Colorado has become the king state of double IPAs, which makes it particularly hard for a newcomer to break into its market. But Myrcenary, released at the end of 2010, ranks with its best products as a sharply hoppy offering with enough of a malt backbone to make it grassy without being overbearing. It's a four-pack worth picking up.
2) Nitro Milk Stout - Left Hand Brewing
No Colorado beer has been more hyped in its release than this one - which makes it incredibly impressive that the Longmont brewery not only met but exceeded expectations with a magically carbonated and sweet stout that may well the most drinkable beer in Colorado right now. I have turned IPA drinkers into stout drinkers with this selection, and Left Hand's influence is likely to turn a lot of typical dark beer producers into auteurs who put their beer on nitrogen to make it more interesting.
1) Buddha Nuvo - 14 breweries, led by Rockyard Brewing
Collaboration beers are, by their nature, complex and full of flavors that everyone wants to contribute. But no beer pushed the taste envelope so much to the edge - without sailing over it - as this collaboration saison from 14 breweries that presented drinkers with the combined tastes of grape skin, plum, pumpkin and a perfume-like overtaste that fades into simple fascination at the realization of what is in here. One of the highlights of my year as a writer was the opportunity to participate in a multiple-blog collaboration review of this masterpiece. But nothing we said could equal the melange of flavors cavorting in your mouth and making you realize that Colorado beer is producing experiments that will push it further up the charts as the state that should attract national attention both this year and in the future.
Labels: Breckenridge Brewery, Copper Kettle Brewing, Great Divide, Left Hand Brewing, New Belgium Brewing, Odell Brewing, Rockyard Brewery, Steamworks Brewing, Strange Brewing, Trinity Brewing
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Good News from Durango
Denverites, who are blessed with an abundance of breweries within just an hour's drive, too often tend to forget that southwest Colorado holds its own special draw.
The Beer Geekette and did a couple of book-signings this past weekend at the close of Durango's Beer Week - right before the start of GABF week up here - and found several fantastic pieces of beer news to recommend:
*Steamworks Brewing continues to diversify and master a number of styles. The Berliner Weisse on tap this weekend was smooth with just a hint of citrus sour - just like sour and wheat fans could hope.
*If you're looking for hop bitterness without it being overdone, Ska's Operation Ivy wet-hopped IPA packs it in. The brewery will have it on tap at events in Denver this week; try to catch it.
*And, yes, the guys at Ska still know how to party. Their 16th birthday bash, fueled appropriately enough with music from ska bands like The Toasters, seemed to bring out every brewery and beer drinker in southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico.
*Pagosa Brewing, still selling its wares only out of the brewery in tiny Pagosa Springs, continues to have beers worth driving for. The Belgian Amber in particular was about as easy-drinking yet still satisfying a beer you can get when mixing in a large quantity of Belgian yeast.
*Kudos to Mark Youngquist at Dolores River Brewery for continuing to make some of the best beers you've never tried (unless you've visited the 800-person town). His Snaggletooth double pale ale, packed with five different types of hops, made you stop and think about what you were drinking more than anything else at the Ska party.
Denverites, who are blessed with an abundance of breweries within just an hour's drive, too often tend to forget that southwest Colorado holds its own special draw.
The Beer Geekette and did a couple of book-signings this past weekend at the close of Durango's Beer Week - right before the start of GABF week up here - and found several fantastic pieces of beer news to recommend:
*Steamworks Brewing continues to diversify and master a number of styles. The Berliner Weisse on tap this weekend was smooth with just a hint of citrus sour - just like sour and wheat fans could hope.
*If you're looking for hop bitterness without it being overdone, Ska's Operation Ivy wet-hopped IPA packs it in. The brewery will have it on tap at events in Denver this week; try to catch it.
*And, yes, the guys at Ska still know how to party. Their 16th birthday bash, fueled appropriately enough with music from ska bands like The Toasters, seemed to bring out every brewery and beer drinker in southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico.
*Pagosa Brewing, still selling its wares only out of the brewery in tiny Pagosa Springs, continues to have beers worth driving for. The Belgian Amber in particular was about as easy-drinking yet still satisfying a beer you can get when mixing in a large quantity of Belgian yeast.
*Kudos to Mark Youngquist at Dolores River Brewery for continuing to make some of the best beers you've never tried (unless you've visited the 800-person town). His Snaggletooth double pale ale, packed with five different types of hops, made you stop and think about what you were drinking more than anything else at the Ska party.
Labels: Dolores River Brewery, Durango breweries, Mountain Brew book, Pagosa Brewing, Ska Brewing, Steamworks Brewing
Saturday, February 21, 2009
We're New - And We've Brought Our Own BeerAs far as beer experiences go, a lot of Irish pubs can be letdowns. Sure, they have Harp and Bass on tap (right next to Bud and Miller). And, yeah, the menu will be loaded with all of the different crazy ways you can mix Guinness with other beers (I once combined Ireland's finest brew with a PBR, but that's a story for another time). But generally the taps and menus don't change from pub to pub.
Going to Katie Mullen's, the new Irish pub on Denver's 16th Street Mall, is more fulfilling than visits to most of its genre, however. First, the place is so big it actually has four separate full-length bars, meaning the large crowds that have populated it since Monday's opening seem a little less menacing. And after sampling a few of the menu items, you'll find something that's right there for you - and that is tasty.
From the beer perspective, though, the menu is fairly lengthy and includes both a couple of Colorado microbrews and some favorites from other European countries. There aren't a lot of other Irish pubs that have Hoegaarden on tap, for example.
My favorite touch, though, was Katie Mullen's Lager. It's an amber-style lager brewed for the bar by Steamworks Brewing Co. that has just enough malt backbone to stand up to the darker beers around it and to the boxties or shepherd's pies with which you will be enjoying it. Bars and restaurants that have a brewery create their own beer for them show they want to be unique; Katie Mullen's Lager is tasty, smooth and slightly chewy all at the same time. Slainte!
Labels: Irish pubs, Katie Mullen's, Steamworks Brewing
