Wednesday, March 04, 2020
Barquentine brings its own style to Edgewater
Say what you will about Barquentine Brewing Co., which opened Saturday in Edgewater Public Market, but don't say that head brewer Kyle Knudson doesn't already have his recipes dialed in coming out of the gate. And that's a refreshing thing.
Knudson spent eight years filming movies and commercials in New York and hanging with a very serious homebrew club that has produced eight commercial breweries. When he and his wife decided it was time to move home and go pro with his fermentation skills, he spent several years brewing at Edgewater's first brewery - Joyride Brewing - before seizing the opportunity to open up just about nine blocks away in the food hall that debuted in late 2019.
Barquentine is not an everything-for-everyone type of brewery. Instead, it's Knudson's exploration of yeast and how various yeasts can flavor a beer. And the initial six beers he tapped (pictured with him below) give an entry-level course on how that one crucial element can spawn so many different tastes.
Sometimes the influence is subtle, like in Sloans Lake Yacht Club, a 5.2% ABV table beer that uses Roquefort yeast to add the slightest citrus touch on the back of a dry and drinkable body and make it what Knudson calls a "gateway to Belgian beers."
Sometimes it's heavier, like in the Leapling, a Kveik pale ale with New Zealand hops and wild Norwegian yeast that serves as the requisite "hoppy" beer at Barquentine but where the bitterness is tempered by an herbal overtone that extols all of the ingredients. Hopheads may not see it as their dream beer, but it's an absolutely unique addition to the Denver beer portfolio.
Nowhere does Knudson show off his delicacy with yeast quite as much as in Sea Bear, a classic saison with a deep nose of orange and Belgian candi sugar that is wetter and fuller than the style has come to be defined by American brewers. It too announces its originality and dares you to try to not drink another.
Barquentine, which will allow people to bring in food from the market as well as take their beer with them in plastic cups while they wander among the dozen-and-a-half restaurant stalls, has 15 taps it can offer, though co-founder Ed Knudson - Kyle's father - believes 10 beers is a good goal. The brewery will move quickly to produce a line of dubbels, tripels and quads. It also will start barrel-aging soon and selling beers to go in both 16-ounce four-packs and corked-and-caged 750 ml bottles.
The debut lineup had only one miss - Mined, Bottled and Sold, an 8.6% Belgian golden ale whose high alcohol and prevalent citrus flavor couldn't fully cover up a burnt-plastic taste that was evident on the back of the tongue. But as patrons filled up the space quickly, it wasn't the flaws that were leading the conversation.
Instead, Barquentine should be celebrated both for having a singular vision in a crowded brew scene and for pulling it off.
Nothing in its debut lineup is likely to be the type of beer that make a brewery's reputation go viral and draw in crowds on its own. But the variety and uniqueness of the offerings show that this is a beer maker both with room to grow and with already-realized talent manning a brewery that we'll likely still be talking about (and drinking at) when less thoughtful craft breweries have come and gone from the scene.
Say what you will about Barquentine Brewing Co., which opened Saturday in Edgewater Public Market, but don't say that head brewer Kyle Knudson doesn't already have his recipes dialed in coming out of the gate. And that's a refreshing thing.
Knudson spent eight years filming movies and commercials in New York and hanging with a very serious homebrew club that has produced eight commercial breweries. When he and his wife decided it was time to move home and go pro with his fermentation skills, he spent several years brewing at Edgewater's first brewery - Joyride Brewing - before seizing the opportunity to open up just about nine blocks away in the food hall that debuted in late 2019.
Barquentine is not an everything-for-everyone type of brewery. Instead, it's Knudson's exploration of yeast and how various yeasts can flavor a beer. And the initial six beers he tapped (pictured with him below) give an entry-level course on how that one crucial element can spawn so many different tastes.
Sometimes the influence is subtle, like in Sloans Lake Yacht Club, a 5.2% ABV table beer that uses Roquefort yeast to add the slightest citrus touch on the back of a dry and drinkable body and make it what Knudson calls a "gateway to Belgian beers."
Sometimes it's heavier, like in the Leapling, a Kveik pale ale with New Zealand hops and wild Norwegian yeast that serves as the requisite "hoppy" beer at Barquentine but where the bitterness is tempered by an herbal overtone that extols all of the ingredients. Hopheads may not see it as their dream beer, but it's an absolutely unique addition to the Denver beer portfolio.
Nowhere does Knudson show off his delicacy with yeast quite as much as in Sea Bear, a classic saison with a deep nose of orange and Belgian candi sugar that is wetter and fuller than the style has come to be defined by American brewers. It too announces its originality and dares you to try to not drink another.
Barquentine, which will allow people to bring in food from the market as well as take their beer with them in plastic cups while they wander among the dozen-and-a-half restaurant stalls, has 15 taps it can offer, though co-founder Ed Knudson - Kyle's father - believes 10 beers is a good goal. The brewery will move quickly to produce a line of dubbels, tripels and quads. It also will start barrel-aging soon and selling beers to go in both 16-ounce four-packs and corked-and-caged 750 ml bottles.
The debut lineup had only one miss - Mined, Bottled and Sold, an 8.6% Belgian golden ale whose high alcohol and prevalent citrus flavor couldn't fully cover up a burnt-plastic taste that was evident on the back of the tongue. But as patrons filled up the space quickly, it wasn't the flaws that were leading the conversation.
Instead, Barquentine should be celebrated both for having a singular vision in a crowded brew scene and for pulling it off.
Nothing in its debut lineup is likely to be the type of beer that make a brewery's reputation go viral and draw in crowds on its own. But the variety and uniqueness of the offerings show that this is a beer maker both with room to grow and with already-realized talent manning a brewery that we'll likely still be talking about (and drinking at) when less thoughtful craft breweries have come and gone from the scene.
Labels: Barquentine Brewing, Belgian-style beers, Joyride Brewing, Kveik, Saisons, West Side breweries, yeast
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Denver's Enhanced West Side
When talk of Denver's best beer neighborhoods comes up, River North, South Broadway and the beer-bar-laden downtown all jump to the forefront. But in recent months, some new arrivals are doing their best to make sure the city's west side is beginning to get its due.
It's not like the vast area west of Interstate 25 has been a craft-beer wasteland. Hops & Pie is one of the best beer bars in the city, offering a variety of hard-to-find taps. Hogshead Brewery serves spot-on English-style ales. And Diebolt Brewing, after a relatively slow start, is making some exceptional ales, particularly its fig-infused Algerian Biere de Garde.
But the introduction of two new breweries in particular to the scene in the past six months is beginning to raise the profile of the area, and deservedly so. And as such, it's worth paying a little more attention to Call to Arms Brewing and Little Machine Beer.
Call to Arms, the brainchild of three former Avery Brewing workers, opened in July with a full 14 taps and is getting accolades for its craftsmanship as well as its variety of beers. Located on the northern end of the increasingly hip Tennyson Street corridor, it's also very family-accessible, as Lincoln (pictured with coaster) was one of four kids there for early happy hour during a recent visit.
The vast selection of styles almost ensures that no one beer on Call to Arms' tap list stands out,
though the bold, dandelion-esque Son of a Beesting IPA that was on this fall stood above many others. But the surprisingly hoppy sessionable Clintonian Pale Ale, open-fermented Burkhalter dunkelweizen and Oats and Hose - an oatmeal porter with a hint of dark cherry - rank among the brewery's other standouts.
Even more impressive in many ways is Little Machine, which opened in October in the Jefferson Park neighborhood north of Sports Authority Field. It presents a more experimental vibe and has been able to score touchdowns with a few of its efforts.
Most exciting has been its Coffee Oatmeal Stout, a Nicaraguan-coffee-infused version of its solid Tractor Beam Oatmeal Stout that has both a big coffee flavor and an almost creamy undertone. Another more limited release, the Alternating Currant Kettle Sour, offered a hard-to-nail-down raspberry/blackberry feel in a way that did not overwhelm the taste buds.
Among its more regular beers, Little Machine's Colorado Stock Ale has a hop-forward taste for a pale ale that, at 5.3 percent ABV, could be sipped through the night. And its The Reason Saison, if not challenging to the palate, is malty and very drinkable.
Like in pretty much every neighborhood in Colorado, more breweries are sure to follow. But Denver's newcomers on the west side, following in the footsteps of a couple of their predecessors, are making the area worthy of a full-day tour.
When talk of Denver's best beer neighborhoods comes up, River North, South Broadway and the beer-bar-laden downtown all jump to the forefront. But in recent months, some new arrivals are doing their best to make sure the city's west side is beginning to get its due.
It's not like the vast area west of Interstate 25 has been a craft-beer wasteland. Hops & Pie is one of the best beer bars in the city, offering a variety of hard-to-find taps. Hogshead Brewery serves spot-on English-style ales. And Diebolt Brewing, after a relatively slow start, is making some exceptional ales, particularly its fig-infused Algerian Biere de Garde.
But the introduction of two new breweries in particular to the scene in the past six months is beginning to raise the profile of the area, and deservedly so. And as such, it's worth paying a little more attention to Call to Arms Brewing and Little Machine Beer.
Call to Arms, the brainchild of three former Avery Brewing workers, opened in July with a full 14 taps and is getting accolades for its craftsmanship as well as its variety of beers. Located on the northern end of the increasingly hip Tennyson Street corridor, it's also very family-accessible, as Lincoln (pictured with coaster) was one of four kids there for early happy hour during a recent visit.
The vast selection of styles almost ensures that no one beer on Call to Arms' tap list stands out,though the bold, dandelion-esque Son of a Beesting IPA that was on this fall stood above many others. But the surprisingly hoppy sessionable Clintonian Pale Ale, open-fermented Burkhalter dunkelweizen and Oats and Hose - an oatmeal porter with a hint of dark cherry - rank among the brewery's other standouts.
Even more impressive in many ways is Little Machine, which opened in October in the Jefferson Park neighborhood north of Sports Authority Field. It presents a more experimental vibe and has been able to score touchdowns with a few of its efforts.
Most exciting has been its Coffee Oatmeal Stout, a Nicaraguan-coffee-infused version of its solid Tractor Beam Oatmeal Stout that has both a big coffee flavor and an almost creamy undertone. Another more limited release, the Alternating Currant Kettle Sour, offered a hard-to-nail-down raspberry/blackberry feel in a way that did not overwhelm the taste buds.
Among its more regular beers, Little Machine's Colorado Stock Ale has a hop-forward taste for a pale ale that, at 5.3 percent ABV, could be sipped through the night. And its The Reason Saison, if not challenging to the palate, is malty and very drinkable.
Like in pretty much every neighborhood in Colorado, more breweries are sure to follow. But Denver's newcomers on the west side, following in the footsteps of a couple of their predecessors, are making the area worthy of a full-day tour.
Labels: Call to Arms Brewing, Coffee beer, Diebolt Brewing, Hogshead Brewery, Hops and Pie, IPA, Little Machine Beer, New Colorado breweries, West Side breweries
