Wednesday, December 30, 2020
10 Best Colorado Beers of 2020
In a year that seemed so dark, maybe, just maybe, it was appropriate that Colorado beer makers stepped up their game particularly in the area of dark ales. To be sure, there was much more that highlighted the year, from barrel-aged barleywines to vibrant hazies to sour experiments that included Japanese citrus-based sauces. But it sure seemed as if the most textured, daring and successful creations of the year that was 2020 were those those turned to the dark side - and made it as enjoyable as possible.
This annual list of Colorado's best beers - at least those determined by one local beer writer - is somewhat challenged this year, as the beer festivals and gatherings that often provide the best look at what the state's breweries are doing did not happen after mid-March. But I tried to drink as much as I could from as many locally sourced creators as I could, and these are the most unique, complex and quaffable beers I found:
10) 4 Noses Lotus Rising
The hazy IPA is, by now, an established beverage, and longer-running gems from Weldwerks' Juicy Bits to Westfax Brewing's Urban Lumberjack made lockdown a lot easier to bear. But the best new addition to the category was this gem from Broomfield's 4 Noses Brewing, simultaneously thick with tropical notes and leaving just enough bitterness on the backtaste to remind you that being hoppy is still an important part of being a delicious hazy IPA.
9) Elevation Beer Montanya
Here is how you make an imperial porter stand out: Add Horchata spices and age it in rum barrels from the distiller of its namesake. This beer never seemed as boozy as its 10% ABV suggested, and every taste produced a bite from a seemingly different spice. But it landed both hugely and pleasantly, particularly if you were camping at the foot of a nearby fourteener, and it reminded you how valuable mountain-town breweries like this Poncha Springs beer maker are to the Colorado ecosystem.
8) Cannonball Creek The Return of the Mackaroon
Here's the other approach to dark beer: Take a traditional stout, made by a brewery known far more for its lagers and pale ales, and infuse it with coconut and macaroon to give it a sweetness that neither overwhelms nor is subsumed by it dark body. Rolled out in the spring, this beer felt like the perfect accompaniment to a brisk spring hike (and paired well with pizza). And it served as a reminder at just how versatile Colorado's most consecutively awarded Great American Beer Festival medalist can be.
7) Spangalang Brewery Ms. Behavin'
Anyone who believes that barleywine is a relic of an earlier time is challenged to drink this beautiful barrel-aged beer from one of Denver's most overlooked breweries and declare that it is anything but a full-mouthed joy. Its body is a like a lightly caramelized, raisins-soaked-in-booze blanket, covering over any sign of it s 12.5% ABV content and presenting a beer so smoothly presented that it forgoes astringency and passes straight to warmth. A masterful update of a classic style.
6) Strange Times Too
Strange Craft Beer has played with its traditional recipes in host of ways for 10 years, but few if any variants have landed as successfully as this Brettanomyces-laced version of its Cherry Kriek, which popped to life with a tartness that added to its fruit base and created enough of an edge to be daring without being at all difficult to swallow. Not all big-sellers should be messed with; this experiment, however, gave a whole new definition to a much-loved beer.
5) Purpose Brewing Itadakimasu #032
The boldest Colorado beer of 2020 was this Fort Collins provocateur's sour ale aged with a citrus soy sauce, creating a taste wholly unlike anything else at the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival where it was unleashed in January - which is a statement in itself. Both tart and unusually thick, this caused a minor flinch at first taste, followed by a stunned appreciation of how owner Peter Bouckaert (talking here, left, with Black Project co-owner James Howat) can blend such flavors together. A revelation into the possibilities of creativity.
4) Verboten German Chocolate Cake Not a Speck of Light
Just the second imperial stout produced by the quickly ascending Loveland brewery, this was a masterful effort with three variants, the German chocolate cake version being the one that packed the most flavor into a 13.6% ABV body that was dangerously easy to drink. Aged for more than a year in a blend of barrels, this took on the characteristics of everything that was in it, particularly Ugandan vanilla beans and Ghana cocoa husks, as well as the barrels that gave it more character.
3) Upslope Wild Christmas Ale
After years of producing some pretty sturdy wild-yeast holiday efforts, this Boulder brewery found a whole new dimension by adding Saigon cinnamon to the delicately tart orange flavor, creating a cacophony of tastes that were both funky and strangely sweet on the aftertaste. In many ways, this is the best original Colorado Christmas ale in the past half-decade, daring drinkers to rethink their definition of a holiday beer while still drawing forth a flavor that was spice-enhanced, even if in a radically different way. Let's hope Upslope does not decide to make this recipe a one-off.
2) Wiley Roots Du Hast Cake Imperial Stout
This gigantically flavored beer is everything that the idea of boundary-pushing pastry stouts purports to be - both unnaturally easy despite it big body and adding to the lexicon of flavors that beer, at its best, can bring forward in our taste buds. Here was coconut and chocolate and dessert sweetness layered upon the most solid traditionally dark-beer base that one could imagine. This Greeley auteur has been pushing boundaries for years - creating, for example, a cinnamon sour - but this is arguably its finest experimentation yet, a beer for beer lovers and sweets lovers and anyone who respects liquid adventure.
1) Casey Brewing & Blending No Title
It felt like a stroke of genius to blend three adjuncts that could make this beer un-drinkably sweet - Madagascar vanilla, coconut and almond - with a heavily roasted and slightly bitter chocolate body that turns this imperial stout from Glenwood Springs into a beer that imbues a bolder and seemingly easier flavor with every sip, despite its 10% ABV body. In a year in which tradition flew out the window at the same speed as our expectations of normalcy, this searing rebuke of Rheinheitsgebot laws was like a break from both the past and the present, daring drinkers to imagine a future in which beer styles are not defined so much as cemented by experimentation. From the first pour to the last swig, it was packed with intensely pleasing flavors without any alcohol burn. It was the beer that signaled both an escape from the surrounding landscape of 2020 and from any preconceptions about how much you could add to beer and still, importantly, make it taste like an excellent beer.
Labels: 4 Noses Brewing, Cannonball Creek Brewing, Casey Brewing, Elevation Beer, Purpose Brewing & Cellars, Strange Craft Beer, Top Beers of Year, Upslope Brewing, Verboten Brewing, Wiley Roots Brewing
Monday, November 16, 2020
5 Colorado Beers and Beer Trends that Have Made Fall Tastier
The time between pumpkin-beer season and Christmas-beer season has been anything but boring in Colorado this year. And while one beer in particular has stood out, there are several brews that are worth discussing while they remain available.
1) Verboten Brewing Not a Speck of Light
Just the second imperial stout offering from one of Loveland's most exciting breweries, this is, quite frankly, one of the best new beers of 2020 so far in Colorado. Aged for more than a year in a combination of whiskey barrels from Peach Street Distillers of Palisade and The Axe & The Oak Distillery in Colorado Springs, the three variants of this beauty each weigh in around 13.5% ABV.
Quite frankly, you would never know Not a Speck of Light carries that kind of strength - and that is one of the reasons why this monster is so impressive. Brewer Josh Grenz used enzymes in the mash to calm the taste of alcohol, leaving you to taste the sweet, chocolate-malt body in all its accessibility.
Of the three versions of the beer that Verboten has made, the German Chocolate Cake is the most impressive, with its combination of cocoa husks, heavy chocolate, coconut and pecans providing a sweetness that makes this dangerously smooth, the chocolate proving to be a taste that envelops the alcohol and makes it a surprising non-entity in the flavor profile. But the basic barrel-aged version of this triumph is one of those imperial stouts that stands on its chocolatey and also sweet-whiskey feel and lets you enjoy everything it is and everything it isn't.
2) Oskar Blues Death by Coconut
Oskar Blues has been making this seasonal chocolate- and coconut-infused Irish-style porter for a number of years, but never has it felt as dialed-in as it does this year. An inviting aroma with substantial coconut sweetness segues into a a body that tastes cake-like but is very smooth. The underlying body here is one of the keys - a solid effort that allows the sweet and solid flavoring to take center stage but gives it something to rest on that is classically excellent.
3) 4 Noses Lotus Rising
Released in September as the first beer the Broomfield brewery has made using Lotus hops, this New England IPA is simultaneously rich with citrus and tropical notes and yet very easy to drink. Just a lick of bitterness jumps up as the beer slides across the back of your tongue and gives this a memorable zing. Comes on juicy, leaves with enough bitterness to remind you it's all IPA.
4) Sanitas Dry-Hopped Sour
Sabro hops, as popular as they are, mar most otherwise impressive hop-focused beers by dulling a sharp impact with their coconut-oil overtones. But in this beer, they're put to good use cutting into the sharp tartness and giving the beer a more absorbing cushion that also makes it feel more laid-back in a still-exotic way. Don't kid yourselves, the hops are the backup singer here. But they act as contrasting flavors around the edges, and this all works very well together.
5) Packaging mixing multiple kinds of beers
When you're doing more of your drinking inside your home rather than trying to run the full menu at your local brewery via 14 tasters, you still need a way to get more variety in what you're imbibing. And over the past few months, breweries have stepped up to provide this, both through the packaging they are putting into stores and the way they are letting people bring their beer home from the tasting room.
Oskar Blues provided the perfect retail example with its mixed IPA pack late this summer, allowing you everything from the Pinner session IPA to a nice Double IPA in the Can-O-Bliss series. Other breweries have been offering these mixed packs for a while, but OB seemed the first to get that the same drinker wants variety in somewhat similar offerings, rather than reaching for a stout and a seltzer in the same pack.
Meanwhile, more breweries seem to allow the mix-it-yourself pack from their coolers, particularly by putting together a quartet of 16-ounce cans that allows the buyer to really dig into different flavors or different styles - but upon their choosing. Just in the examples below, I was able to get everything from an Oktoberfest to a Nelson Sauvin-hopped hazy IPA at Resolute Brewing in Centennial and everything from a Belgian red ale to a tropical sour at Barquentine Brewing of Edgewater - and learn a lot about the breweries in the process.
Labels: 4 Noses Brewing, Barquentine Brewing, Oskar Blues, Resolute Brewing, Sanitas Brewing, Verboten Brewing
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Three Variants of Notable Beers That Made Winter 2019 Special
Technically winter is done, and that means that people already have started talking about summer beers and festivals and front-porch pounders rather than fireplace sippers. But we shouldn't forget the most recent season so quickly.
Particularly, we shouldn't forget the way that a number of breweries took traditional beers, added to them and made variants to remember for a long time. It's not that they necessarily were better than the originals - well, in the case of Westfax Brewing and owner Anthony Martuscello (pictured above), yes it was - but it was that new ingredients and aging took beer that stood tall on its own and made a separate and unique beer that stood very tall on its own.
Here, then are three in particular that are worthy of mention - and of repeats in the future:
1) Westfax Brewing Rye Are You Judging Me
Silently Judging, a Laws Whiskey bourbon-barrel-aged imperial stout that the Lakewood brewery released in the fall, was big and smooth and roasty and slightly boozy - everything you want in an imperial stout. But aging the same base imperial stout in a Laws Whiskey rye barrel produced something entirely more flavorful, replete with pervasive vanilla and a back-bite spice and so much warmth that it lit up the cold night for the brewery's third anniversary in February. And, thankfully, there are still bottles available.
2) Verboten Brewing Sweet Chai Whiskey Barrel Boots
Killer Boots, the Loveland brewery's caramel porter, is a wonderful
beer that is made slightly bitter by its additive. But when the beer is aged with chai spices, brown sugar and vanilla, it takes on a complexity where the spice and sweetness take over the booze and create a level of flavor that almost gets overwhelming but stops right before it goes over the edge. Available now at the brewery (it's the third from left in the third row in this small sampler I had yesterday), it is something that has to be drank to be understood properly.
3) Left Hand Raspberry Milk Stout
It's difficult to mess with one of Colorado's deservedly signature beers, but the level of raspberries used here and their pungency in this beer, from nose to taste, actually creates a whole different brew. This is fruity sweet bordering on tart - the rare stout where the dark body, while perfectly cushioning the beer, almost takes a back seat to the vibrant addition to it. This is not some gimmicky knock-off but a bold addition to the milk-stout line to show how the base beer can be used in a totally different and more supporting way to create something that's a style unto its own.
Technically winter is done, and that means that people already have started talking about summer beers and festivals and front-porch pounders rather than fireplace sippers. But we shouldn't forget the most recent season so quickly.
Particularly, we shouldn't forget the way that a number of breweries took traditional beers, added to them and made variants to remember for a long time. It's not that they necessarily were better than the originals - well, in the case of Westfax Brewing and owner Anthony Martuscello (pictured above), yes it was - but it was that new ingredients and aging took beer that stood tall on its own and made a separate and unique beer that stood very tall on its own.
Here, then are three in particular that are worthy of mention - and of repeats in the future:
1) Westfax Brewing Rye Are You Judging Me
Silently Judging, a Laws Whiskey bourbon-barrel-aged imperial stout that the Lakewood brewery released in the fall, was big and smooth and roasty and slightly boozy - everything you want in an imperial stout. But aging the same base imperial stout in a Laws Whiskey rye barrel produced something entirely more flavorful, replete with pervasive vanilla and a back-bite spice and so much warmth that it lit up the cold night for the brewery's third anniversary in February. And, thankfully, there are still bottles available.
2) Verboten Brewing Sweet Chai Whiskey Barrel Boots
Killer Boots, the Loveland brewery's caramel porter, is a wonderful
beer that is made slightly bitter by its additive. But when the beer is aged with chai spices, brown sugar and vanilla, it takes on a complexity where the spice and sweetness take over the booze and create a level of flavor that almost gets overwhelming but stops right before it goes over the edge. Available now at the brewery (it's the third from left in the third row in this small sampler I had yesterday), it is something that has to be drank to be understood properly.
3) Left Hand Raspberry Milk Stout
It's difficult to mess with one of Colorado's deservedly signature beers, but the level of raspberries used here and their pungency in this beer, from nose to taste, actually creates a whole different brew. This is fruity sweet bordering on tart - the rare stout where the dark body, while perfectly cushioning the beer, almost takes a back seat to the vibrant addition to it. This is not some gimmicky knock-off but a bold addition to the milk-stout line to show how the base beer can be used in a totally different and more supporting way to create something that's a style unto its own.
Labels: Barrel aging, imperial stouts, Left Hand Brewing, Verboten Brewing, Westfax Brewing, Winter seasonals
Tuesday, January 09, 2018
5 Things I Learned at Big Beers Fest 2018
Tiramisu, French toast, crickets: These were the flavors one can't forget from the 2018 Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival.
The collection of roundly amazing beers — I poured just one into a dump bucket during the four-hour tasting — was again a master study on barrel aging, hearty hopping and using bugs to bring the right level of tartness to beer. But this year, more so than in past years, it also felt like a grand experiment on the adjuncts that can push beers beyond their normal limit. And what a wonderful palate-wrecking experience it became.
There were desert beers, including a New England-style IPA made with Betty Crocker cake sprinkles (Thank you, Outer Range Brewing, for keeping the cake flavor light). There were sours that relied on the presence of multiple fruits to create new flavors. And by the time you got the gumption up to try Epic Brewing's Chapulin Gose, you literally found yourself saying: "I like the beer, but I'm not picking up the flavor of the crickets or the agave worm salt in here." And, yes, you were bummed.
So what were the biggest takeaways of the festival? Here's a few:
1) The bolder the range of flavors in big beers, the more they stood out.
Certainly, there were the big and dangerous classic bourbon-barrel-aged imperial stouts there. Loveland Aleworks had a 2015 version that was incredibly smooth. River North Brewery offered up a whiskey-barrel-aged English-style old ale that was so warming it set your insides ablaze.
But the real head-turners were gems like Cellar West Artisan Ales' Farmers Breakfast, a farmhouse-style imperial breakfast stout that was re-fermented in bourbon barrels with maple syrup and offered a fascinating melange of flavors that somehow became French toast in a glass. Or there was Epic's Triple Barrel Big Bad Baptist, which not only featured imperial stout aged in whiskey barrels but had barrel-aged coconut that made this spring to a new vibrancy and overshadow its high ABV.
2) Spices are on the rise as adjuncts, thankfully.
You saw this trend where the beer advertised it blatantly. Crazy Mountain's Rum Barrel Aged Spanish Coffee Stout, for example, was rendered unforgettable by the fact that the Denver brewery used Mexican chocolate to make what could have been a heavy beer burst with flavor.
But the trend appeared even where you were least expecting it, and it was pleasing. Verboten's Tiramisu Little Nonsense had a surprising shock of Saigon cinnamon that left you with hope that chefs can make deserts like this too. And Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project's Barrel-Aged Imperial Turkish Coffee Stout added even more Middle Eastern spicing than its regular-strength version - and took your palate to a far-off place.
3) It's time to elevate Paradox Beer Company to its place among Colorado's best.
If there was a single beer of the festival, it was this Teller County brewery's Divide Ethos, a spontaneously fermented wild ale that felt like a kicked-up saison, with the bugs pinching your tongue with just a bit of sour and a whole lot of wild. The fact that it was the brewery's first coolship beer speaks even more to its ability to create new flavors.
Paradox was a big winner last year as well. It doesn't get as much attention as some of Colorado's other great wild-yeast-ale makers, partly because of its out-of-the-way location west of Colorado Springs. But it sure should.
4) It's the fruit and unusual add-ins, as much as the bugs, that are propelling stand-out sours.
Maybe Modern Times pushed the sour envelope a little too much with its One Million Tomorrows, but by mixing a ton of blueberries and raspberries into its wine-barrel-aged saison, it created such a complex flavor that you were willing to forgive the brewery.
No forgiveness at all was needed for Three Barrel's Hermano X, a lambic made with coriander, orange peel and three types of pepper that was tart enough to wake up your taste buds and your mind. And if Caution Brewing's Mazu Sour Belgian Golden — made with orange peel, coriander and cardamom and aged in red-wine barrels — wasn't the best sour on the floor, it may have been the most unique.
5) More significantly aged beers are needed.
Two-and-three-year-old beers were everywhere. But the joy of sipping Stone Brewing's 2007 Old Guardian Barleywine and enjoying its sweetly aged body even as the hops diminished was a short-lived pleasure because it stood so alone among the largely newer beers on the floor (save for Sam Adams' 24-year-old Triple Bock).
There wasn't much one could have left wanting from the festival. But 10-year-or-older beers would have been fun to try more frequently.
Tiramisu, French toast, crickets: These were the flavors one can't forget from the 2018 Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival.
The collection of roundly amazing beers — I poured just one into a dump bucket during the four-hour tasting — was again a master study on barrel aging, hearty hopping and using bugs to bring the right level of tartness to beer. But this year, more so than in past years, it also felt like a grand experiment on the adjuncts that can push beers beyond their normal limit. And what a wonderful palate-wrecking experience it became.
There were desert beers, including a New England-style IPA made with Betty Crocker cake sprinkles (Thank you, Outer Range Brewing, for keeping the cake flavor light). There were sours that relied on the presence of multiple fruits to create new flavors. And by the time you got the gumption up to try Epic Brewing's Chapulin Gose, you literally found yourself saying: "I like the beer, but I'm not picking up the flavor of the crickets or the agave worm salt in here." And, yes, you were bummed.
So what were the biggest takeaways of the festival? Here's a few:
1) The bolder the range of flavors in big beers, the more they stood out.
Certainly, there were the big and dangerous classic bourbon-barrel-aged imperial stouts there. Loveland Aleworks had a 2015 version that was incredibly smooth. River North Brewery offered up a whiskey-barrel-aged English-style old ale that was so warming it set your insides ablaze.
But the real head-turners were gems like Cellar West Artisan Ales' Farmers Breakfast, a farmhouse-style imperial breakfast stout that was re-fermented in bourbon barrels with maple syrup and offered a fascinating melange of flavors that somehow became French toast in a glass. Or there was Epic's Triple Barrel Big Bad Baptist, which not only featured imperial stout aged in whiskey barrels but had barrel-aged coconut that made this spring to a new vibrancy and overshadow its high ABV.
2) Spices are on the rise as adjuncts, thankfully.
You saw this trend where the beer advertised it blatantly. Crazy Mountain's Rum Barrel Aged Spanish Coffee Stout, for example, was rendered unforgettable by the fact that the Denver brewery used Mexican chocolate to make what could have been a heavy beer burst with flavor.
But the trend appeared even where you were least expecting it, and it was pleasing. Verboten's Tiramisu Little Nonsense had a surprising shock of Saigon cinnamon that left you with hope that chefs can make deserts like this too. And Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project's Barrel-Aged Imperial Turkish Coffee Stout added even more Middle Eastern spicing than its regular-strength version - and took your palate to a far-off place.
If there was a single beer of the festival, it was this Teller County brewery's Divide Ethos, a spontaneously fermented wild ale that felt like a kicked-up saison, with the bugs pinching your tongue with just a bit of sour and a whole lot of wild. The fact that it was the brewery's first coolship beer speaks even more to its ability to create new flavors.
Paradox was a big winner last year as well. It doesn't get as much attention as some of Colorado's other great wild-yeast-ale makers, partly because of its out-of-the-way location west of Colorado Springs. But it sure should.
4) It's the fruit and unusual add-ins, as much as the bugs, that are propelling stand-out sours.
Maybe Modern Times pushed the sour envelope a little too much with its One Million Tomorrows, but by mixing a ton of blueberries and raspberries into its wine-barrel-aged saison, it created such a complex flavor that you were willing to forgive the brewery.
No forgiveness at all was needed for Three Barrel's Hermano X, a lambic made with coriander, orange peel and three types of pepper that was tart enough to wake up your taste buds and your mind. And if Caution Brewing's Mazu Sour Belgian Golden — made with orange peel, coriander and cardamom and aged in red-wine barrels — wasn't the best sour on the floor, it may have been the most unique.
5) More significantly aged beers are needed.
Two-and-three-year-old beers were everywhere. But the joy of sipping Stone Brewing's 2007 Old Guardian Barleywine and enjoying its sweetly aged body even as the hops diminished was a short-lived pleasure because it stood so alone among the largely newer beers on the floor (save for Sam Adams' 24-year-old Triple Bock).
There wasn't much one could have left wanting from the festival. But 10-year-or-older beers would have been fun to try more frequently.
Labels: Big Beers, Cellar West Artisan Ales, Crazy Mountain Brewing Company, Epic Brewing, Intrepid Sojourner, Loveland Aleworks, Modern Times, Paradox Brewing, Stone Brewing, Three Barrel Brewing, Verboten Brewing
Thursday, November 23, 2017
The Not-So-Subtle Joy of Drinking Imperial Stouts
Wandering through the third floor of the McNichols Civic Center Building last month during Denver Rare Beer Tasting was the equivalent of being trapped in a black hole. Everything being poured was heavy and dense, and no light could shine through any glass.
The biggest difference was, however, that this was an experience you enjoyed so much that you could even begin to pick up subtleties in the booth after booth of the 16- to 19-percent-ABV beers in which you were imbibing. And through that, you could see how far the craft beer industry has come in the past 10 years.
It's not that imperial stouts weren't tasty circa 2007. But those that pushed 10 or 11 percent ABV at the time tended to be beers whose alcohol content was readily apparent. A big beer often brought with it a big, boozy taste. And there was a limit to how many of those you could drink.
Today, however, you can find a beer like Avery Brewing's Black Eye, a 3-year-old rum-barrel-aged imperial stout that grew to 18.8 percent ABV by the time it hit drinkers' glasses last month. Its body was bursting with depth and darkness, but it also was shockingly smooth, using its enormous malt base to cover any residual alcohol burn. It not only was a great beer; it was damn near dangerous.
At just that one event, however, you could also find River North Brewery's 18 percent Vicennial Shadowman, which presented a huge mouthful of almost sooty dark malt that was shockingly drinkable. There was WeldWerks' Medianoche Reserve, which weighed in at 13.5 percent but added an astounding smoothness to its underlying cocoa punch. And even a beer like New Holland Brewing's "Dragon's Milk: Michigan's Winter" added a little burn to its 16 percent body, but not enough to overshadow a bittersweet coffee palate that made you want more.
It isn't just at specialty beer festivals that you find these big-bodied gems, either. Taprooms across the state are featuring experimental and seasonal creations of substantial girth right now, much in the way that virtually every taproom is trying its hand at a New England-style IPA.
So, you can actively seek out a hammer of a beer like Verboten Brewing's Little Nonsense, which packs heavy flavors of both bourbon and vanilla from its barrel aging and manages to be every bit as tasty as it is aggressive.
Or you can find a hidden treasure like Goldspot Brewing's Black Whiskey River Imperial Stout. At 10.5 percent, it's almost a light beer compared to some in this group, and its body isn't as pelting with heaviness as others. But after sitting 5-1/2 months in a Laws Whiskey House barrel, it takes on a lot of warming whiskey flavor but still allows the rough-hewn, slightly mocha edge of the body to take center stage.
And let's not forget, the incomparable Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines festival - scheduled for Jan. 4-6 in Breckenridge - will be another showcase for the creativity in the imperial stout world.
The joy in drinking these beers is both complex and simple. The flavor profiles they raise bring up tastes ranging from sweetness to heat to bitterness, and picking them out of the big, meaty body is both challenging and satisfying. Yet there is a simplicity in enjoying the idea of a brewer tossing everything they have into one recipe, rolling the dice and letting the experiment end in a boozy, warming toast to their gutsy resolve.
While co-hosting American Craft Beer Radio a couple of weeks ago, I asked Wynkoop head brewer John Sims if I was crazy to think these beers were getting smoother and easier to drink even as they are getting bigger - while we were enjoying his Captain K's Final Daze, an imperial honey brown that offered both depth and a sweetness that was anything but cloying.
He told me that I was not nuts and that brewing techniques have evolved so much in the 24 years he's been in the industry that the methods for making and aging beers have taken off some of their alcoholic roughness while accenting the malts and the occasional additives even more.
To that, I say cheers. And as the nights turn colder, I plan to raise more pints (or smaller servings) of imperial stouts that will intoxicate me as much with their taste as they will with their alcohol content.
Wandering through the third floor of the McNichols Civic Center Building last month during Denver Rare Beer Tasting was the equivalent of being trapped in a black hole. Everything being poured was heavy and dense, and no light could shine through any glass.
The biggest difference was, however, that this was an experience you enjoyed so much that you could even begin to pick up subtleties in the booth after booth of the 16- to 19-percent-ABV beers in which you were imbibing. And through that, you could see how far the craft beer industry has come in the past 10 years.
It's not that imperial stouts weren't tasty circa 2007. But those that pushed 10 or 11 percent ABV at the time tended to be beers whose alcohol content was readily apparent. A big beer often brought with it a big, boozy taste. And there was a limit to how many of those you could drink.
Today, however, you can find a beer like Avery Brewing's Black Eye, a 3-year-old rum-barrel-aged imperial stout that grew to 18.8 percent ABV by the time it hit drinkers' glasses last month. Its body was bursting with depth and darkness, but it also was shockingly smooth, using its enormous malt base to cover any residual alcohol burn. It not only was a great beer; it was damn near dangerous.
At just that one event, however, you could also find River North Brewery's 18 percent Vicennial Shadowman, which presented a huge mouthful of almost sooty dark malt that was shockingly drinkable. There was WeldWerks' Medianoche Reserve, which weighed in at 13.5 percent but added an astounding smoothness to its underlying cocoa punch. And even a beer like New Holland Brewing's "Dragon's Milk: Michigan's Winter" added a little burn to its 16 percent body, but not enough to overshadow a bittersweet coffee palate that made you want more.
It isn't just at specialty beer festivals that you find these big-bodied gems, either. Taprooms across the state are featuring experimental and seasonal creations of substantial girth right now, much in the way that virtually every taproom is trying its hand at a New England-style IPA.
So, you can actively seek out a hammer of a beer like Verboten Brewing's Little Nonsense, which packs heavy flavors of both bourbon and vanilla from its barrel aging and manages to be every bit as tasty as it is aggressive.
Or you can find a hidden treasure like Goldspot Brewing's Black Whiskey River Imperial Stout. At 10.5 percent, it's almost a light beer compared to some in this group, and its body isn't as pelting with heaviness as others. But after sitting 5-1/2 months in a Laws Whiskey House barrel, it takes on a lot of warming whiskey flavor but still allows the rough-hewn, slightly mocha edge of the body to take center stage.
And let's not forget, the incomparable Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines festival - scheduled for Jan. 4-6 in Breckenridge - will be another showcase for the creativity in the imperial stout world.
The joy in drinking these beers is both complex and simple. The flavor profiles they raise bring up tastes ranging from sweetness to heat to bitterness, and picking them out of the big, meaty body is both challenging and satisfying. Yet there is a simplicity in enjoying the idea of a brewer tossing everything they have into one recipe, rolling the dice and letting the experiment end in a boozy, warming toast to their gutsy resolve.
While co-hosting American Craft Beer Radio a couple of weeks ago, I asked Wynkoop head brewer John Sims if I was crazy to think these beers were getting smoother and easier to drink even as they are getting bigger - while we were enjoying his Captain K's Final Daze, an imperial honey brown that offered both depth and a sweetness that was anything but cloying.
He told me that I was not nuts and that brewing techniques have evolved so much in the 24 years he's been in the industry that the methods for making and aging beers have taken off some of their alcoholic roughness while accenting the malts and the occasional additives even more.
To that, I say cheers. And as the nights turn colder, I plan to raise more pints (or smaller servings) of imperial stouts that will intoxicate me as much with their taste as they will with their alcohol content.
Labels: American Craft Beer Radio, Avery Brewing, Big Beers, Denver Rare Beer Tasting, Goldspot Brewing, imperial stouts, New Holland Brewing, River North Brewery, Verboten Brewing, Weldwerks Brewing, Wynkoop Brewery
Monday, March 31, 2014
What the New Kids on the Block can teach us
Last week, a few of Denver's brewers and beer writers - and a lot of people in bad '80s outfits - got together for a "New Kids on the Block" party celebrating area breweries under two years old. It was revealing.
First, it's worth noting that outfits remembered as the typical clothing of the 1980s get worse every time someone throws a nostalgic party - and worse than those we were wearing in any high school pics from that actual time. But second, the event put on by Imbibe, Denver Off the Wagon, Porch Drinking and the Colorado Brewers Guild at The Lobby showed a few things about where we are evolving to in our new craft beer scene.
* These new kids are willing to try things.
Sure, a few people brought lagers and pale ales. But many offered styles that they are clearly making to try to set them apart from the old guard.
Verboten's Orange Blossom Honey Wheat has more a citrus bite than a drink this mellow sounds like it should - and to good effect. Meanwhile, Loveland Ale Works' Darkest Day, a chocolate coconut porter, was so full of malted righteousness that it subsumed the coconut enough to allow it to blend well with the chocolate without becoming overly sweet.
* These new kids are trying to take Belgians where their forebears didn't.
The aforementioned Loveland Ale Works, a rising star on the scene, whipped up a raspberry saison that was so tart as to be almost pucker-worthy, and it presented a full body as well.
Meanwhile, Black Bottle Brewing brought its Social Insecurity, a Belgian session ale that was a little light-bodied for its own good but was still a gutsy attempt at a new style.
* The next generation of new kids might be even better.
Maybe the most talked-about beer of the event was Intergalactic IPA, a fragrant and hop-bountiful double IPA from Powder Keg Brewing of Niwot, which is set to open this summer. With that as a lead-in, I can't wait to see what else may be on its way.
Last week, a few of Denver's brewers and beer writers - and a lot of people in bad '80s outfits - got together for a "New Kids on the Block" party celebrating area breweries under two years old. It was revealing.
First, it's worth noting that outfits remembered as the typical clothing of the 1980s get worse every time someone throws a nostalgic party - and worse than those we were wearing in any high school pics from that actual time. But second, the event put on by Imbibe, Denver Off the Wagon, Porch Drinking and the Colorado Brewers Guild at The Lobby showed a few things about where we are evolving to in our new craft beer scene.
* These new kids are willing to try things.
Sure, a few people brought lagers and pale ales. But many offered styles that they are clearly making to try to set them apart from the old guard.
Verboten's Orange Blossom Honey Wheat has more a citrus bite than a drink this mellow sounds like it should - and to good effect. Meanwhile, Loveland Ale Works' Darkest Day, a chocolate coconut porter, was so full of malted righteousness that it subsumed the coconut enough to allow it to blend well with the chocolate without becoming overly sweet.
* These new kids are trying to take Belgians where their forebears didn't.
The aforementioned Loveland Ale Works, a rising star on the scene, whipped up a raspberry saison that was so tart as to be almost pucker-worthy, and it presented a full body as well.
Meanwhile, Black Bottle Brewing brought its Social Insecurity, a Belgian session ale that was a little light-bodied for its own good but was still a gutsy attempt at a new style.* The next generation of new kids might be even better.
Maybe the most talked-about beer of the event was Intergalactic IPA, a fragrant and hop-bountiful double IPA from Powder Keg Brewing of Niwot, which is set to open this summer. With that as a lead-in, I can't wait to see what else may be on its way.
Labels: Black Bottle Brewing, Colorado Brewers Guild, Denver Off the Wagon, Loveland Aleworks, New Colorado breweries, Porch Drinking, Powder Keg Brewing, Verboten Brewing
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Five Things I Learned from Vail Big Beers 2014
Sam Calagione set the tone appropriately in declaring at Thursday's dinner that kicked off the 2014 Vail Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival that the event was "one of the top 10 beer festivals ... in the country." The next three days proved that, if anything, the Dogfish Head Brewery founder undersold it.
This was the year the Fearless Tasting Crew went big, splurging for a fantastic eating experience and gobbling up pretty much every seminar possible. And around every corner seemed a beer, a pairing, a bit of knowledge that opened more eyes.
The full spectrum of the lessons - and what they reveal about the current craft beer scene - will be played out here in the coming weeks over numerous columns. But it is worth saluting organizers Laura and Bill Lodge and noting a handful of things that stood out with all the subtlety of a Crooked Stave barrel-aged sour (which was on hand and wonderful).
1) Great Divide can still bring it
In a festival where one struggled to identify even a single disappointing beer (zero pour-outs in 3-1/2 hours of tasting for this guy), nothing stood out quite like Great Divide's Barrel Aged Grand Cru Cuvee. Aged in a single Syrah barrel, this creation screamed out all the joys of the festival - experimental, giant (12% ABV), tart (though not too much so) and stunningly balanced and drinkable.
Sometimes at the best festivals, people run to find the newest, hippest tastes - and those, mind you, are great. But 20 years into its life, this Denver legend still produces eye-opening surprises - enough to outdo even all the new kids on the block.
2) Sour is the new triple IPA
Sours have become more common, more clever and mixed with more ingredients in recent years. But now they appear to be going in the same direction that hop bombs went several years ago - more extreme. The difference is, these results might speak better for the genre than the envelope-pushing hop races did.
Big Beers presented sours that were pleasantly pucker-worthy (Cambridge Brewing's Cerise Casee Solera-aged American Sour Ale) and brimming with fruit that accented the wild yeast perfectly (Grand Teton Barrel Aged Huckleberry Sour). But if that wasn't enough, you could find an intriguingly good smoked sour (Paradox Skully Barrel No. 7) and a tart beer made with local ingredients (AC Golden Gooseberry Colorambic). Amp it up and push the envelope away; it only seems to be getting better.
3) The art of pumpkin beers is not dead
Less than three months ago, I lamented that every pumpkin beer of 2013 seemed to be over-spiced or under-flavored. Then I found at Big Beers that I was just trying the wrong ones.
Fate Brewing's Barrel-Aged Imperial Smoked Pumpkin Ale had all the complexity that its name implied, but the smoke was light enough to be unobtrusive and the pumpkin was pure baked sweetness. Meanwhile, Wiley Roots Brewing's Apumpalyptic Imperial Ale was filled with non-biting spices and alcoholic warmth, just begging to be enjoyed in greater quantities than it should be.
4) Any Fort Collins tour without a stop in Loveland is wasted
Those who haven't visited Grimm Brothers Brewhouse in the past year are missing a significantly evolved beer maker that has moved beyond its traditional German roots to incorporate new styles. At the Vail Cascade, it broke out a complex Devil's Riddle again and supplemented that with a lightly soured Once Upon A Time American wild ale and a Grandfather Grim foreign export stout that was dark like a cookie.
But Verboten Brewing, also of Loveland, showed up every bit as big, especially with a Bourbon Barrel-Aged Mountain Man that had a vanilla underbelly softening the bourbon kick in a way that made it approachable. And Loveland Aleworks didn't slack a bit with an Imperial Stout that was as dark and rich as its 12.5% ABV denoted but surprisingly easy-bodied and pleasant.
5) For the 2015 festival, go big. You won't regret it.
Even at $108 per person, the Tasting Crew walked away from the Avery/Dogfish Head dinner convinced it was a bargain. The chefs at Atwater on Gore Creek crafted five courses of incredible offerings (beef sushi and Gingersnap-crusted venison, to name two) and not only paired them in a spot-on fashion but did so with beers - especially from Avery - that ranged from hard to impossible to find. (The return of the very limited Thensaurum, aged 18 months to tart perfection in rum barrels, may have been the biggest highlight.)
Beyond that, though, the chance to meander around not just for one day but for the weekend allowed good time to learn about nuances, whether it was at Friday night's winter seasonals session with four brewers or at a beer-cigar pairing where non-presenting breweries (I'm looking at you, Epic Brewing) brought their own stashes to share with crowd. And after a weekend of walking through so many treasures, one could treat Saturday not like a rush around the bigger and more spacious tasting area (pictured a few paragraphs above) but a chance to catch up again with brewers and enjoy the scene calmly.
Sam Calagione set the tone appropriately in declaring at Thursday's dinner that kicked off the 2014 Vail Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival that the event was "one of the top 10 beer festivals ... in the country." The next three days proved that, if anything, the Dogfish Head Brewery founder undersold it.
This was the year the Fearless Tasting Crew went big, splurging for a fantastic eating experience and gobbling up pretty much every seminar possible. And around every corner seemed a beer, a pairing, a bit of knowledge that opened more eyes.
The full spectrum of the lessons - and what they reveal about the current craft beer scene - will be played out here in the coming weeks over numerous columns. But it is worth saluting organizers Laura and Bill Lodge and noting a handful of things that stood out with all the subtlety of a Crooked Stave barrel-aged sour (which was on hand and wonderful).
1) Great Divide can still bring it
In a festival where one struggled to identify even a single disappointing beer (zero pour-outs in 3-1/2 hours of tasting for this guy), nothing stood out quite like Great Divide's Barrel Aged Grand Cru Cuvee. Aged in a single Syrah barrel, this creation screamed out all the joys of the festival - experimental, giant (12% ABV), tart (though not too much so) and stunningly balanced and drinkable.
Sometimes at the best festivals, people run to find the newest, hippest tastes - and those, mind you, are great. But 20 years into its life, this Denver legend still produces eye-opening surprises - enough to outdo even all the new kids on the block.
2) Sour is the new triple IPA
Sours have become more common, more clever and mixed with more ingredients in recent years. But now they appear to be going in the same direction that hop bombs went several years ago - more extreme. The difference is, these results might speak better for the genre than the envelope-pushing hop races did.
Big Beers presented sours that were pleasantly pucker-worthy (Cambridge Brewing's Cerise Casee Solera-aged American Sour Ale) and brimming with fruit that accented the wild yeast perfectly (Grand Teton Barrel Aged Huckleberry Sour). But if that wasn't enough, you could find an intriguingly good smoked sour (Paradox Skully Barrel No. 7) and a tart beer made with local ingredients (AC Golden Gooseberry Colorambic). Amp it up and push the envelope away; it only seems to be getting better.
3) The art of pumpkin beers is not dead
Less than three months ago, I lamented that every pumpkin beer of 2013 seemed to be over-spiced or under-flavored. Then I found at Big Beers that I was just trying the wrong ones.
Fate Brewing's Barrel-Aged Imperial Smoked Pumpkin Ale had all the complexity that its name implied, but the smoke was light enough to be unobtrusive and the pumpkin was pure baked sweetness. Meanwhile, Wiley Roots Brewing's Apumpalyptic Imperial Ale was filled with non-biting spices and alcoholic warmth, just begging to be enjoyed in greater quantities than it should be.4) Any Fort Collins tour without a stop in Loveland is wasted
Those who haven't visited Grimm Brothers Brewhouse in the past year are missing a significantly evolved beer maker that has moved beyond its traditional German roots to incorporate new styles. At the Vail Cascade, it broke out a complex Devil's Riddle again and supplemented that with a lightly soured Once Upon A Time American wild ale and a Grandfather Grim foreign export stout that was dark like a cookie.
But Verboten Brewing, also of Loveland, showed up every bit as big, especially with a Bourbon Barrel-Aged Mountain Man that had a vanilla underbelly softening the bourbon kick in a way that made it approachable. And Loveland Aleworks didn't slack a bit with an Imperial Stout that was as dark and rich as its 12.5% ABV denoted but surprisingly easy-bodied and pleasant.
5) For the 2015 festival, go big. You won't regret it.
Even at $108 per person, the Tasting Crew walked away from the Avery/Dogfish Head dinner convinced it was a bargain. The chefs at Atwater on Gore Creek crafted five courses of incredible offerings (beef sushi and Gingersnap-crusted venison, to name two) and not only paired them in a spot-on fashion but did so with beers - especially from Avery - that ranged from hard to impossible to find. (The return of the very limited Thensaurum, aged 18 months to tart perfection in rum barrels, may have been the biggest highlight.)
Beyond that, though, the chance to meander around not just for one day but for the weekend allowed good time to learn about nuances, whether it was at Friday night's winter seasonals session with four brewers or at a beer-cigar pairing where non-presenting breweries (I'm looking at you, Epic Brewing) brought their own stashes to share with crowd. And after a weekend of walking through so many treasures, one could treat Saturday not like a rush around the bigger and more spacious tasting area (pictured a few paragraphs above) but a chance to catch up again with brewers and enjoy the scene calmly.
Labels: AC Golden, Avery Brewing, Big Beers, Cambridge Brewing, Fate Brewing, Grand Teton Brewing, Great Divide, Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, Loveland Aleworks, Paradox Brewing, Verboten Brewing, Wiley Roots Brewing
Saturday, November 09, 2013
All Colorado Beer Festival Ascending
With so many beer festivals in Colorado, a lot of them tend to blend together. And for the first six years of its existence, the All Colorado Beer Festival in Colorado Springs fell into that category of fun but unspectacular.
Something was different about this year's version, though - different enough where the ACBF might have to move into that don't-miss category in 2014. And it was a combination of things that elevated it.
First, the sheer number of breweries set the festival apart. Last year there were 37 beer makers pouring their products there. This year the number rose to 68 - all from Colorado, many small, some just barely open. Kudos to organizer Randy Dipner for that.
Second, one of the drawbacks of this fest in the past, like many massive beer gatherings, was that many of the breweries crammed into the space were offering the same beers you could find on any shelf all year long. That wasn't true this year.
From Gravity Brewing's intriguing Belgian Peppercorn Ale to Epic Brewing's fabulous coffee bomb Big Bad Baptist to Verboten Brewing's Good Day to You - a chocolate porter with sea salt - the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center floor was lined with new and different offerings. Even when a brewery brought something that missed wildly - such as Fort Collins Brewery's overwhelming Mesquite Chili Lime Ale - it missed by trying, not resting on its laurels.
Third, the VIP area continues to shine and is well worth the extra money. It was there that Grimm Brothers poured the tastiest beer of the festival, if not of the entire year, in its Devil's Riddle Ale, a strong ale aged nine months in Buffalo Trace barrels packed with Brettanomyces to complex effect. And it was there where the likes of New Belgium, Three Barrel and Trinity could happily turn an ordinary festival into a sour festival.
Finally, as a "celebrity judge" for the second year, I had the privilege of helping choose the winners in the IPA/imperial IPA category, and I noticed a huge difference in the quality of entrants just from last year. So when we blindly picked New Belgium's Rampant Imperial IPA for the gold medal and Dry Dock's Hop Abomination IPA for the silver (as shown in the photo at the top), it felt like we were honoring about the best in the state, not just the best there.
The ACBF typically occurs about a month after the Great American Beer Festival. If you haven't been yet, it's worth making a trip to Colorado Springs next year to do so.
With so many beer festivals in Colorado, a lot of them tend to blend together. And for the first six years of its existence, the All Colorado Beer Festival in Colorado Springs fell into that category of fun but unspectacular.
Something was different about this year's version, though - different enough where the ACBF might have to move into that don't-miss category in 2014. And it was a combination of things that elevated it.
First, the sheer number of breweries set the festival apart. Last year there were 37 beer makers pouring their products there. This year the number rose to 68 - all from Colorado, many small, some just barely open. Kudos to organizer Randy Dipner for that.
Second, one of the drawbacks of this fest in the past, like many massive beer gatherings, was that many of the breweries crammed into the space were offering the same beers you could find on any shelf all year long. That wasn't true this year.
From Gravity Brewing's intriguing Belgian Peppercorn Ale to Epic Brewing's fabulous coffee bomb Big Bad Baptist to Verboten Brewing's Good Day to You - a chocolate porter with sea salt - the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center floor was lined with new and different offerings. Even when a brewery brought something that missed wildly - such as Fort Collins Brewery's overwhelming Mesquite Chili Lime Ale - it missed by trying, not resting on its laurels.
Third, the VIP area continues to shine and is well worth the extra money. It was there that Grimm Brothers poured the tastiest beer of the festival, if not of the entire year, in its Devil's Riddle Ale, a strong ale aged nine months in Buffalo Trace barrels packed with Brettanomyces to complex effect. And it was there where the likes of New Belgium, Three Barrel and Trinity could happily turn an ordinary festival into a sour festival.
Finally, as a "celebrity judge" for the second year, I had the privilege of helping choose the winners in the IPA/imperial IPA category, and I noticed a huge difference in the quality of entrants just from last year. So when we blindly picked New Belgium's Rampant Imperial IPA for the gold medal and Dry Dock's Hop Abomination IPA for the silver (as shown in the photo at the top), it felt like we were honoring about the best in the state, not just the best there.
The ACBF typically occurs about a month after the Great American Beer Festival. If you haven't been yet, it's worth making a trip to Colorado Springs next year to do so.
Labels: All Colorado Beer Festival, Dry Dock Brewing, Epic Brewing, Fort Collins Brewing, Gravity Brewing, Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, Three Barrel Brewing, Trinity Brewing, Verboten Brewing
