Sunday, December 20, 2020
The 12 Beers of Christmas 2020
Lockdown has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to beer exploration. On the down side is the lack of seasonal beer festivals (a.k.a. Denver Beer Festivus) that allowed one to explore many Christmas creations in one fell swoop. On the plus side, however, is the fact that little this year is getting in the way of drinking multiple beers every night in the name of, um, journalism.
So, after a month of diving into as many seasonal offerings as could be scrounged, here is one drinker's guide to 12 Beers of Christmas this year, both from Colorado and from afar, that can help you get through the rest of this year in merry shape. Good beers to all, and to all a good night!
12) Shiner Holiday Cheer
This is the "wait, do I like this?" beer of the season - a dunkelweizen swimming in the flavor of Texas peaches that looks more like a dark champagne than a holiday ale. The fruit is so dominant here, and the beer is acutely sweet. But you won't forget it. And you'll realize there's some real talent behind this.
11) Briar Common Amnesia
Released just on Dec. 19, this is a bold concept - a 13% ABV wood-aged imperial stout brewed with tart cherries - that right now tastes a bit premature, with the thick body taking on more of a port wine characteristic than the feel of a stout. But pick up two and cellar one for six months, as this just feels like a budding masterpiece that can grow very well into its own complexity.
10) Avery Old Jubilation
An 8.3% ABV English-style old ale with a boozy enough feel to be mistaken for a light barleywine, this is truly a winter warmer. This is not an easy sipper, but it is multi-faceted and its blend of four malts makes this one of Avery's least hop-forward classic offerings.
9) Sierra Nevada Celebration
The California craft-beer pioneer long has swerved from the norm by dropping its fresh-hopped IPA as its Christmastime entry. And its Northwest hop profile and amber-brown body make this feel very old school. Still, that doesn't change the fact that it is simple and well-made.
8) Odell Isolation Ale
Much like Celebration, this straddles the "almost too familiar" line but then reminds you why Odell Brewing hasn't messed with the recipe. A malty ale in which neither the malts nor the hops are overbearing, it is plan and simple a perfectly enjoyable easy drinker. And that deserves honoring.
7) Strange Craft Beer Gingerbread Man
The American-style brown ale body almost felt a little lighter this year than in years past. But the spicing here is spot on: Ginger mixed with stabilizing malts in a way that truly approximates a cookie in not-overbearing beer form. This is the beer you bring to the Christmas party (whenever those resume) and have everyone smile with appreciation.
6) N'ice Chouffe
A big body that lays out this 10% ABV Belgian dark ale brewed with spices is even more impressive for its lack of alcohol burn. With its thick head, impenetrably dark body and lingering aftertaste, this annual treat from Belgium's Achouffe Brewery makes a bold statement. Be sure to share it with friends.
5) Westfax Cranberry and Sage Smoothie Sour
OK, technically the holiday this beer brings out is Thanksgiving. But the truth is, it's a phenomenal beer to sample with any elaborate dinner. The ruby red body shimmers like straight-out-of-the-can cranberry sauce, the hugely spiced nose calls to mind turkey stuffing and the tartness tones it down in a way that actually works miraculously well together. It may not be the beer you drink by the six-pack, but it's an impressive experiment from this Lakewood brewery that is worth seeking out and trying.
4) New Belgium Accumulation
The surprisingly long-lasting beer of this season is a light-bodied IPA with a late-breaking hop bite that presents such a cold crispness that it almost seems begging to be drunk in cooler climates. A slight hint of peppercorn adds to the unusual bitterness and makes it noteworthy.
3) Little Machine That's My Yam!
The full-bodied nature of this sweet potato stout lets you know that it's a serious beer, not a gimmick. But it's the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla beans used in the brewing that combine to give this a taste like an oddly cooling chai stout and make you think more and more about what's in here, even as you simply enjoy this.
2) Great Divide Hibernation Ale
Even in its 25th year of production, this English-style old ale feels surprisingly fresh and relevant. Its body touches the edges of being both woody and smoky but doesn't settle into either of those characteristics. It's all malt, but with a sweet and slightly boozy aspect that makes this incredibly approachable. It doesn't rely on any of the typical Christmas-beer trappings but feels like a slope-side cabin fire in liquid form. It's brewed to a style but remains indefinable. It's just great.
1) Upslope Wild Christmas Ale
These Boulder auteurs have produced impressive versions of their typically tart Christmas ales for years now, but nothing has come close to the 2020 version. Aged in oak barrels with orange juice and orange peel with a Saigon cinnamon addition, this goes way beyond being a "sour" beer and kicks up the body with the cinnamon in such a smooth way that it seems it's what a generation of brewers have been looking to do with spice. The exotic flavor seems almost soothing in comparison to the bitterness, providing a hint of donut-esque sweetness that is a defining last taste to an already impressive complexity. It is a really, really unique effort.
Labels: Briar Common Brewery + Eatery, Great Divide, Little Machine Beer, New Belgium Brewing, Odell Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Strange Craft Beer, Upslope Brewing, Westfax Brewing
Saturday, May 09, 2020
7 Beers That Got Me Through Lockdown
As Colorado is starting to take baby steps out of its nearly-two-month coronavirus lockdown, there's a lot about the period since mid-March we won't want to remember. Job losses. Illnesses or even deaths of family and friends. The feeling of uncertainty surrounding everything we do.
But what I don't want to forget, frankly, are some of the brews that were comforting during this time, from a few that came out before the virus outbreak and stared lovingly from the beer-fridge shelf to ones that local breweries boldly debuted even when no one could sit in their taprooms to enjoy them. And while we wait to get the go-ahead to return to those taprooms — Gov. Polis said he is hoping for Memorial Day weekend, though not promising anything — let's raise a pint from our barrooms or front porches to some notable efforts that made this period just a little more palatable.
1) Westfax Sippin' on a Cloud
Truth be told, no beer has been more omnipresent in the Sealover household or become quite as much of a daily go-to as Urban Lumberjack, the deliciously soupy and bright hazy IPA from this wildly underrated Lakewood brewery. But Sippin' on a Cloud, its double hazy IPA effort, has been an eye-opener, packed with hops that burst forth in pineapple flavor but are cushioned perfectly by an oat-y body that absorbs the alcohol burn and gives you a smooth, full and very big alternative when you just want to forget about the world around you and lose yourself in a beer.
2) Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss Double IPA
One of the standout debuts of the 2019 Great American Beer Festival — No, seriously, how long ago does that feel? — this beer wisely made it into cans at the beginning of the year and holds up very well even for a while in your fridge. Full of Citra hops and extremely balanced, there is no residual alcohol in the flavor here. It's less fruity than its single little brother, which was arguably the best Colorado beer of 2019, but it's very smooth for what it is.
3) Strange Times Too
Fans of Strange Craft Beer's fruity-with-a-tinge-of-funk Cherry Kriek may never look at it the same way again after sampling this Brett-infused version of the beer, which brings it a sparkling, sharp edge and ranks as one of the best experiments this brewery has made in its 10-year history. It provides a full mouth — sweet, tart and a decent-sized body to balance all the flavors — and makes for a perfect Zoom call beer (as demonstrated in the photo at the top).
4) Cannonball Creek Return of the Mackaroon
The next time you think of the Golden brewery as a pale-ale and flavorful-lager specialist, find this beer and re-set your thinking. Dark as night with a roasty body and yet quite sweet with the blend of coconut and macaroon, this oatmeal porter is a kaleidoscope of flavors that combine into a shockingly smooth experiment that lets you experience different sensations as you roll it over your tongue. Perfect with take-it-home pizza.
5) Denver Beer Tart Delight
This lighter-bodied sour offering is not the beer that makes you pucker up, but it is the offering you want if you desire a little prick of tartness in an easy-drinking form that you can wolf down with dinner, after a hike or sitting alone on your porch pondering where the world goes next. The lime/orange palate is permeating without penetrating your taste buds too deeply. Expect to enjoy this with cookouts when they return.
6) Sanitas Mama's Peaches IPA
An early 2020 offering, this special release is the rare fruited IPA that actually works, because the peach flavor here is solid but not overbearing, laying a groundwork where it meshes with the Centennial and Summit hops. You feel the pinecone resin that should peek out in a traditional West Coast IPA, but it's mixed with a sweetness that makes you stop to consider the melange of flavors. Simply, it's a beer for many tastes.
7) Sierra Nevada Hoppy Anniversary Ale
A shout-out needs to be given to this out-of-state pioneer for a beer that it released a number of months back but that holds up well in the bar fridge despite its hoppy nature. Sierra Nevada always has had the gift of balancing hops and malt, and this special release has an early-craft feel in its use of hops for bittering on top of a slightly woody body. It won't challenge you, but it will remind you of the first "microbrewery" offering that made you fall in love with the sector.
As Colorado is starting to take baby steps out of its nearly-two-month coronavirus lockdown, there's a lot about the period since mid-March we won't want to remember. Job losses. Illnesses or even deaths of family and friends. The feeling of uncertainty surrounding everything we do.
But what I don't want to forget, frankly, are some of the brews that were comforting during this time, from a few that came out before the virus outbreak and stared lovingly from the beer-fridge shelf to ones that local breweries boldly debuted even when no one could sit in their taprooms to enjoy them. And while we wait to get the go-ahead to return to those taprooms — Gov. Polis said he is hoping for Memorial Day weekend, though not promising anything — let's raise a pint from our barrooms or front porches to some notable efforts that made this period just a little more palatable.
1) Westfax Sippin' on a Cloud
2) Oskar Blues Can-O-Bliss Double IPAOne of the standout debuts of the 2019 Great American Beer Festival — No, seriously, how long ago does that feel? — this beer wisely made it into cans at the beginning of the year and holds up very well even for a while in your fridge. Full of Citra hops and extremely balanced, there is no residual alcohol in the flavor here. It's less fruity than its single little brother, which was arguably the best Colorado beer of 2019, but it's very smooth for what it is.
3) Strange Times Too
Fans of Strange Craft Beer's fruity-with-a-tinge-of-funk Cherry Kriek may never look at it the same way again after sampling this Brett-infused version of the beer, which brings it a sparkling, sharp edge and ranks as one of the best experiments this brewery has made in its 10-year history. It provides a full mouth — sweet, tart and a decent-sized body to balance all the flavors — and makes for a perfect Zoom call beer (as demonstrated in the photo at the top).
4) Cannonball Creek Return of the Mackaroon
The next time you think of the Golden brewery as a pale-ale and flavorful-lager specialist, find this beer and re-set your thinking. Dark as night with a roasty body and yet quite sweet with the blend of coconut and macaroon, this oatmeal porter is a kaleidoscope of flavors that combine into a shockingly smooth experiment that lets you experience different sensations as you roll it over your tongue. Perfect with take-it-home pizza.
5) Denver Beer Tart Delight
6) Sanitas Mama's Peaches IPA
7) Sierra Nevada Hoppy Anniversary Ale
Labels: Cannonball Creek Brewing, Coronavirus, Denver Beer Co, IPA, Oskar Blues, Sanitas Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Strange Craft Beer, Westfax 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
Thursday, August 09, 2018
A Treatise: Hazy IPA Is Here to Stay - And You Should Learn to Love It
Just one sip of Epic Brewing's Lupulin Burst leaves you no doubt that you are putting an entirely new style of beer into your mouth. It isn't just that you are looking into a glass of murky, almost soupy liquid. It's that what flows over your tongue is so full of pineapple and mango, so juicy and yet still so crisp in its hop backbone, that you can't categorize it as much as you can sit and admire.
Well, actually now you can categorize it - it's a hazy IPA, a strange-looking riff on America's contribution to the increased bitterness in worldwide ales that was mocked at first as the product of lazy brewers, then slowly grew an acceptance as it developed an increased following. This year, the Brewers Association created a category for Great American Beer Festival judging called "Hazy or Juicy IPA," and it received 414 entries - far more than traditional category leader American-style IPA and more than enough to tell haters of the style that their time was done.
But the realness of hazy IPA - and its true beauty - lies in more than its mass proliferation in the craft-beer scene. After two years of evolution, it lies in the fact that this style is no longer an off-shoot of IPA so much as it is something truly different. At its best, the beer represents an outpouring of tropical flavors that even the boldest traditional IPAs have only hinted at in their aroma and flavor. It signifies a blending of bitterness and softness that once might be considered unthinkable, as well as refreshment in a way that aggressively flavored beers have never presented.
And it's time to stop nitpicking, to quit complaining and just to give this evolutionary and revolutionary style its due, because it's not going away.
"The average bitterness (in IPAs) is coming down. I think that's about consumer preference," said Neil Fisher, head brewer and owner of Weldwerks Brewing, after an experimental brewing seminar on New England-style IPAs at this year's Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival. "We tried to veer away from brewing to the aesthetic and more toward brewing to the style that we love. Nobody who is doing this is saying 'I want to make it hazy.'"
Fisher, who is one of the true pioneers of the style, began making juicier, more approachable IPAs because he, like many beer geeks, was turned off in the late 2000s by the rush to produce triple IPAs and other such beers that exceeded 100 IBUs. He estimated at the Big Beers seminar that 95 percent of the brewers making hazy or New-England-style IPAs were brewers producing less than 20,000 barrels a year who don't have labs set up to record earth-shattering IBU levels in their products.
Much of the flavoring in these hazy IPAs comes from dry-hopping, giving them both a more appreciable nose and a more prevalent taste of these citrus hops, whether they be Mosaic or Citra or El Diablo. At certain rates of dry-hopping, you actually lower the IBUs in beer, making it less lastingly bitter while blowing up the flavor of the lupulin and letting it be so bold as to bend genres on the juiciness that one can pack into beer.
Weldwerks seemed to introduce Colorado to the idea of hazy IPAs through its Juicy Bits, a beer that is light on bitterness in the nose but heavy in pineapple in the taste, ultimately finishing smoothly while bombarding you with flavor. And quick to the party was Outer Range Brewing of Frisco, creating palate pleasers like In the Deep Steep Double IPA, a beer that offers both huge citrus and big hop acidity lingering on the back of your palate, producing oddly soft and tropical tones that leave you longing for more.
But if not every brewery was quick to jump on board with the trend, several have made up for lost time in just the past six months with beers that push the envelope even further away from sharp bitterness and toward an almost Hawaiian burst of flavors that celebrate the diversity of hops.
Epic is the poster child for adaptation of the style, jumping into the genre only this year but producing a beer in Lupulin Burst that is so uniquely flavorful that it very well may be the best beer of any type produced so far in 2018. But the Denver brewery deserves credit also for making a slightly smaller version of the style, RiNo APA, that want an easier haze that is delightfully subtle in both its bitterness and its juice.
Great Divide Brewing, which seemed slightly conflicted on how far it wanted to dive into the haze pool with its Heyday IPA introduced in April, went full-in this summer with its Hazy IPA, to great results. This presents a citrusy, lush hop that never fails to finish its introduction with a back hop bite, and it all comes at you so smoothly that you'll want to drink all night.
River North Brewing hits home too with its Mountain Haze, which relies on Citra hops to give you both sweet and bitter but threads a needle perfectly between the two flavors, leaving you both sated and thirsty for more of the flavor when you are done.
Still, some of the finest hazy IPAs in Colorado come from smaller brewers who have thrown caution to the wind and produced such genre-redefining examples of the beer that they can not be ignored.
Urban Lumbe
rjack IPA, from Lakewood's Westfax Brewing, resembles hop soup but boasts both sweet and full pine and satisfies in every drop.
And Colorado Springs' Cerberus Brewing has crafted an Elysium IPA that is slightly more bitter on the back bite than some of its stylistic brethren but envelops your taste buds in mango and guava on the way there such that you feel you've been feasting on something Polynesian with just a hint of pine needles as the aftertaste.
There undoubtedly will be more breakthroughs and more notable, crushable hazy IPAs to come. But the best way beer drinkers can prepare for them is to accept that this is not just some bastardization of the IPA - unlike, say, the milkshake IPAs that have earned their own level of hell in Dante's Inferno - but a turn toward a different flavor profile that opens up a new storehouse of tastes in craft beer.
This is worth celebrating.
Just one sip of Epic Brewing's Lupulin Burst leaves you no doubt that you are putting an entirely new style of beer into your mouth. It isn't just that you are looking into a glass of murky, almost soupy liquid. It's that what flows over your tongue is so full of pineapple and mango, so juicy and yet still so crisp in its hop backbone, that you can't categorize it as much as you can sit and admire.
Well, actually now you can categorize it - it's a hazy IPA, a strange-looking riff on America's contribution to the increased bitterness in worldwide ales that was mocked at first as the product of lazy brewers, then slowly grew an acceptance as it developed an increased following. This year, the Brewers Association created a category for Great American Beer Festival judging called "Hazy or Juicy IPA," and it received 414 entries - far more than traditional category leader American-style IPA and more than enough to tell haters of the style that their time was done.
But the realness of hazy IPA - and its true beauty - lies in more than its mass proliferation in the craft-beer scene. After two years of evolution, it lies in the fact that this style is no longer an off-shoot of IPA so much as it is something truly different. At its best, the beer represents an outpouring of tropical flavors that even the boldest traditional IPAs have only hinted at in their aroma and flavor. It signifies a blending of bitterness and softness that once might be considered unthinkable, as well as refreshment in a way that aggressively flavored beers have never presented.
And it's time to stop nitpicking, to quit complaining and just to give this evolutionary and revolutionary style its due, because it's not going away.
Fisher, who is one of the true pioneers of the style, began making juicier, more approachable IPAs because he, like many beer geeks, was turned off in the late 2000s by the rush to produce triple IPAs and other such beers that exceeded 100 IBUs. He estimated at the Big Beers seminar that 95 percent of the brewers making hazy or New-England-style IPAs were brewers producing less than 20,000 barrels a year who don't have labs set up to record earth-shattering IBU levels in their products.
Much of the flavoring in these hazy IPAs comes from dry-hopping, giving them both a more appreciable nose and a more prevalent taste of these citrus hops, whether they be Mosaic or Citra or El Diablo. At certain rates of dry-hopping, you actually lower the IBUs in beer, making it less lastingly bitter while blowing up the flavor of the lupulin and letting it be so bold as to bend genres on the juiciness that one can pack into beer.
Weldwerks seemed to introduce Colorado to the idea of hazy IPAs through its Juicy Bits, a beer that is light on bitterness in the nose but heavy in pineapple in the taste, ultimately finishing smoothly while bombarding you with flavor. And quick to the party was Outer Range Brewing of Frisco, creating palate pleasers like In the Deep Steep Double IPA, a beer that offers both huge citrus and big hop acidity lingering on the back of your palate, producing oddly soft and tropical tones that leave you longing for more.
But if not every brewery was quick to jump on board with the trend, several have made up for lost time in just the past six months with beers that push the envelope even further away from sharp bitterness and toward an almost Hawaiian burst of flavors that celebrate the diversity of hops.
Great Divide Brewing, which seemed slightly conflicted on how far it wanted to dive into the haze pool with its Heyday IPA introduced in April, went full-in this summer with its Hazy IPA, to great results. This presents a citrusy, lush hop that never fails to finish its introduction with a back hop bite, and it all comes at you so smoothly that you'll want to drink all night.
Still, some of the finest hazy IPAs in Colorado come from smaller brewers who have thrown caution to the wind and produced such genre-redefining examples of the beer that they can not be ignored.
Urban Lumbe
rjack IPA, from Lakewood's Westfax Brewing, resembles hop soup but boasts both sweet and full pine and satisfies in every drop.And Colorado Springs' Cerberus Brewing has crafted an Elysium IPA that is slightly more bitter on the back bite than some of its stylistic brethren but envelops your taste buds in mango and guava on the way there such that you feel you've been feasting on something Polynesian with just a hint of pine needles as the aftertaste.
There undoubtedly will be more breakthroughs and more notable, crushable hazy IPAs to come. But the best way beer drinkers can prepare for them is to accept that this is not just some bastardization of the IPA - unlike, say, the milkshake IPAs that have earned their own level of hell in Dante's Inferno - but a turn toward a different flavor profile that opens up a new storehouse of tastes in craft beer.
This is worth celebrating.
Labels: Big Beers, Cerberus Brewing, Epic Brewing, Great American Beer Festival, Great Divide, hazy IPAs, Outer Range Brewing, River North Brewery, Weldwerks Brewing, Westfax Brewing
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
8 Events for the 2nd Half of American Craft Beer Week
Beer events really can sneak up on you these days. Like American Craft Beer Week. Yes, the week that began Monday and runs through Sunday.
Some of you may be up to date on this celebration and may already have begun scratching events off your check list. But for those of you who, hypothetically, may be recovering from covering the brutal final month of the Colorado Legislature, haven't written a blog since early April and are just now waking up to the idea that you need to get out and enjoy the flurry of activities this week, here's a small checklist of things to do.
Thursday
• There are lots of beer-food pairings going on this week. But Joyride Brewing's 7 p.m. tasting with MouCo Cheese not only puts good beer with a great cheese company; at $15 a head, it's also one of the most affordable cheese pairings you will find.
• Cigar City ends its four-day celebration of launching in Colorado with an appropriate party at Star Bar, which has been slinging the Florida beer for years during the Great American Beer Festival. It's worth a stop between 8 and 10 p.m.
Friday
• Avery Brewing releases Reel Peel IPA, a tangerine IPA, at its Boulder County brewery starting at 11 a.m. before canning it in six-packs. I've largely resisted fruit-flavored IPAs as a fad that should go away soon. But if anyone is going to do this well, it's Avery.
• Strange Craft Beer releases its newest annual version of Dr. Strangelove Barleywine, one of the smoothest of its kind, at noon at the brewery.
Saturday
• Durango's sextet of breweries have combined to produce a double IPA to mark the first-ever celebration of Colorado Public Lands Day. This seems a good reason to stop by any of the six breweries and try it out.
• At noon, Strange ends not just its ACBW celebrations but its 7th-anniversary celebration with a 10-brewery Backyard BBQ celebration at the brewery. For $35 at the door, this could be the bargain of the week.
• Also at noon, Westfax Brewing of Lakewood taps its Cilantro Lime Ale. I don't know that cilantro is a viable ingredient to add to beer. But then, I said the same thing about rosemary, habaneros and a whole lot of other ingredients and been proven wrong on that.
• At 1 p.m., Upslope Brewing is having a music festival complete with new beers at its Flatiron Park Brewery. That sounds Boulder-tastic.
Beer events really can sneak up on you these days. Like American Craft Beer Week. Yes, the week that began Monday and runs through Sunday.Some of you may be up to date on this celebration and may already have begun scratching events off your check list. But for those of you who, hypothetically, may be recovering from covering the brutal final month of the Colorado Legislature, haven't written a blog since early April and are just now waking up to the idea that you need to get out and enjoy the flurry of activities this week, here's a small checklist of things to do.
Thursday
• There are lots of beer-food pairings going on this week. But Joyride Brewing's 7 p.m. tasting with MouCo Cheese not only puts good beer with a great cheese company; at $15 a head, it's also one of the most affordable cheese pairings you will find.
• Cigar City ends its four-day celebration of launching in Colorado with an appropriate party at Star Bar, which has been slinging the Florida beer for years during the Great American Beer Festival. It's worth a stop between 8 and 10 p.m.
Friday
• Avery Brewing releases Reel Peel IPA, a tangerine IPA, at its Boulder County brewery starting at 11 a.m. before canning it in six-packs. I've largely resisted fruit-flavored IPAs as a fad that should go away soon. But if anyone is going to do this well, it's Avery.
• Strange Craft Beer releases its newest annual version of Dr. Strangelove Barleywine, one of the smoothest of its kind, at noon at the brewery.
Saturday
• Durango's sextet of breweries have combined to produce a double IPA to mark the first-ever celebration of Colorado Public Lands Day. This seems a good reason to stop by any of the six breweries and try it out.
• At noon, Strange ends not just its ACBW celebrations but its 7th-anniversary celebration with a 10-brewery Backyard BBQ celebration at the brewery. For $35 at the door, this could be the bargain of the week.
• Also at noon, Westfax Brewing of Lakewood taps its Cilantro Lime Ale. I don't know that cilantro is a viable ingredient to add to beer. But then, I said the same thing about rosemary, habaneros and a whole lot of other ingredients and been proven wrong on that.
• At 1 p.m., Upslope Brewing is having a music festival complete with new beers at its Flatiron Park Brewery. That sounds Boulder-tastic.
Labels: American Craft Beer Week, Avery Brewing, Cigar City Brewing, Durango breweries, Joyride Brewing, Star Bar, Strange Craft Beer, Upslope Brewing, Westfax Brewing
