Fermentedly Challenged

Colorado Beer News 052413

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:17:00 +0000

Today is Don't Fry Day. It's a day to remember to protect your skin from over exposure to the sun and help prevent skin cancer. Avoid burning or tanning, seek out the shade, cover your skin while out in the sun, generously apply sunblock, and use extra caution near water, snow and sand. So while you enjoy a beer on this hot Memorial Weekend - do so safely and protect your skin! Here's what's happening around the Colorado beerosphere today Friday, May 24th, 2013.

Metro Denver

Denver Beer Company (Denver) - It's going to be a warm day today - time for a Luau! Stop in today between 3pm - 7pm for a Luau. Come listen to Ukelele tunes, beer filled coconuts, refreshing shaved ice from Maui Shaved Ice Co, wear grass skirts, and attend the tapping of their Pineapple Pale Ale. Wear your favorite Hawaiian shirt and get your hula on.

Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project (Denver) - Their newest batch of HopSavant dry hopped with experimental hop 462, is now bottled and on draft in their tasting room. Come taste the difference side by side! Also, batch #4 of Surette was bottled yesterday and is available in the taproom starting now. Also, according to Eric Gorski's article in First Drafts, Crooked Stave may be planning a slightly different rainbow series of beers in the future along with bringing back many of their recent beers from their cellar reserve series. The article also discusses the crowd reaction to being shut out at a recent release. Good reading.

Boulder County

Upslope Brewing Company (Boulder) - Grats to Upslope Brewing for being named the #5 fastest growing company in Boulder County by the Boulder County Business Report and the Mercury 100. Craft beer is still one of the fastest growing businesses around.

Very Nice Brewing Company (Nederland) - The brewery WILL be open this Monday from noon to 6pm. Stop by during your weekend travels through the Nederland area. Plenty of beer will be on tap for this long weekend.

Avery Brewing (Boulder) - Today's 5:00pm special tapping in the Avery Tap Room is Liliko'i Kepolo, their unfiltered Belgian White with Hawaiian passionfruit puree. This favorite will be on tap all weekend long. Also, #16 in their Barrel-aged series has just been announced and it's got a strange name: Ross's's' Malange Barrel-Aged Wild Ale. It's brewed with Chardonnay grape must and aged in Chardonnay barrels. Release date TBA. It was bottled on May 2nd and just 105 cases of 12oz bottles were packaged. It weighs in at 7.89% ABV.

Northern Colorado

Funkwerks (Ft. Collins) - Funkwerks is introducing “Secret Sixtel” - a small batch of experimental beer. This will not be on the menu and will only be available in the taproom, while it lasts. Today they are tapping a Belgian Quad that was inspired by the Trappist breweries of Belgium, this Belgian Style Quadrupel is the base beer that Funkwerks is currently aging in oak bourbon barrels. It's a malt-forward, yet with a fruity aroma that smoothly transitions into flavors of caramel and dark fruit.

Friday Fest (Greeley) - It's the first official Go-Cup Friday of the year in downtown Greeley. Stop down to your favorite watering hole along 9th Street plaza (like Patrick's Irish Pub with 31 craft beers on tap) and you can take your drink outside on the 9th Street Plaza. Beer and other beverages will be flowing freely. There will be plenty of live music each week to enjoy in one of Colorado's 1st outdoor entertainment zones. Every Friday from May 24th to September 20th the 9th Street Plaza will be filled with food, drink and fun. It's family friendly too and attendance is free! This week listen to the sounds of Moses Jones Band. Watch the amazing performers of Salida Circus. And view classic cars cruising "D" block downtown. More info on upcoming Friday Fests here.

Southern Front Range

Pikes Peak Brewing (Monument) - Coming up on More Beer Monday is a tapping of their Incline Imperial IPA. It's theoretically rated at 185 IBU! Also, if you are so inclined (sorry for the pun), a group from the brewery will be hiking up the Manitou Incline. Meet at the PPBC parkint lot on Monday May 27th at 7am or at the Barr Trail Parking lot at 7:30am. If you join them for the hike you'll get $1 off your first beer.

Bristol Brewing (Colorado Springs) - It's Friday - that means you can enjoy pints of Bristol Beehive Honey Wheat for just $3.50 from 6-9pm today.

Mountains and West

The Mountains are the place to be this Memorial Weekend for several outdoor festivals.

Steamworks Brewing and Ska Brewing (Durango) - It is time to shine up your cruiser and get out to Ska Brewing at 5pm and then spin your way along the Animas to Steamworks via the Durango Cyclery. For those whose join in their celebration and pedal push their way will have a chance to win a Joint Effort Schwinn bicycle.

BREW Pub & Kitchen (Durango) - Two new tastes to try! Cid - a Belgian Trappist-style ale with notes of fruit, bread and spice. And also Corey - a traditional IPA, medium bodied, citrusy nose and rich hop resin bitterness. Stop in for a brew and a bite!

Paddles and Pints - River Side Happy Hour (Buena Vista) - Looking for a fun event this weekend? Head to Buena Vista tonight 4-8pm and Saturday 1-8pm for Paddles & Pints - it's a river side drinking event set up during the CKS PaddleFest. The Ark Valley Libation Society is sponsoring a special zone for drinking. Beverages will be available from Eddyline Brewing, Vino Salida, Deerhammer Distillery, Elevation Brewing, Woods High Mountain Distillery, Moonlight Pizza & Brewery, and Amicas. Watch paddlers head down the river and sip on a few cold drinks.

Blues, Brews & BBQ (Beaver Creek Village) - Beaver Creek's favorite early summer festival returns for a 10th year! Join in this Saturday and Sunday from 12pm - 6pm each day as visiting chefs from all over the country as well as Vail Valley favorites serve up delicious BBQ while live entertainment rocks Beaver Creek Village, and of course, microbrews from across the country for your sampling pleasure. The microbrew festival happens on Saturday, May 25 from 1-5pm, and a beer garden will be open 12pm to 6pm both Saturday and Sunday. Plenty of great music, food and beer. Plus fun for the whole family. More info here.

Festival of the Brewpubs (A-Basin) - This Sunday, May 26th fro 12pm to 4pm at A-Basin ski resort - It's a beach party in the mountains! Come celebrate the end of the ski season at A-Basin. This is their largest party of the year! Spend the day sampling beer from a variety of Summit County brewpubs for one low price per mug (must be 21). Breweries include Pug Ryan's, Breckenridge Brewery, Dillon Dam Brewery, and more. Enjoy live music 1-4pm, springtime skiing and much more. More information here.
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Catch up on Colorado Beer News from earlier this week:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

View Colorado Brewery Maps
[ Boulder-Longmont Map ] [ Denver Area Map ] [ Northern Colorado Map ]
[ Southeast Colorado Map ] [ Northwest Brewery Map ] [ Southwest Colorado Map ]

CO Beer Dinners - Expand your palate! How about a beer dinner or pairing event? Lots of events are taking reservations now. Check out the Colorado Beer Dinner & Pairing Events listing.

Live Music - Beer and music go great together and many Colorado breweries and top watering holes offer live entertainment every day. Check out the Colorado Brewery Music Listings and find out who's playing at your favorite brewery or beer bar. Updated daily.

CO Beer Festivals - Looking for info on upcoming beer festivals or related events in Colorado? Check out the listings on the 2013 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Calendar. Updated daily.

Like us on Facebook - There's even more Colorado beer happenings and discussions on the Fermentedly Challenged Facebook Page. Find recaps, special offers, and tips that you won't find on the blog.

Colorado Beer News is published daily (Monday through Friday) with craft beer stories as they break from newsletters, emails and social media sites. This news is intended for audiences of legal drinking age (21+). If you'd like to subscribe to this daily by email, sign-up here. Please, always drink responsibly and use a designated driver.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Over My Dead Body according to Grimm Bros

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:27:00 +0000

With a large list of Grimm Brothers fairy tales to choose from, it's not easy to choose a name for their next beer. But Grimm Brothers finally chose a name for their new India Pale Lager called "Over My Dead Body". Read all about this upcoming brew debuting next week on draft only. It weighs in at 6.37% ABV, over 100 IBUs and SRM 14. It's one of their hoppiest beers yet.

[PRESS RELEASE] Loveland, Colorado, May 24, 2013: Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, never one to be told what to do, will debut Over My Dead Body, an India Pale Lager (IPL) on Friday, May 31st, 2013. This will be a draft only release and generally available at that time in our Taproom and throughout our market.

“An IPL is not a typical beer for us”, stated Don Chapman, President of Grimm Brothers. “We’re more focused on German styles and in fact I've been known to say that we’d brew a beer like this ‘over my dead body’. Things change, I’m still alive.”

The IPL recipe was developed by Grimm founder Aaron Heaton and was championed by Director of Marketing/Adult Supervision (yes, that’s his real title), Paul Ferguson, who participated in the brewing. “We decided to let the marketing guy take a shot at a brew”, added Chapman.

“Lead Brewer, Michael Becker had a firm hand on the controls at all times.”, Ferguson emphasized. “My roll was closer to head cheerleader than quarterback. It was hugely fun and we managed to create a great beer!”

According to Heaton, “It’s close to an American IPA but uses our signature lager yeast instead of an ale yeast. With the softer and more rounded character of this yeast, we emphasize the up-front grapefruit and other citrus notes to showcase the hops. A touch of malt and caramel and a light zing from the bitterness brings balance, but don't be fooled, this is a hop forward IPL using Centennial, Citrus, Cascade, Amarillo, and Sorachi Ace”

The name, Over My Dead Body, was inspired both by Chapman’s earlier sentiments and by the Grimm Brothers’ Fairy Tale, The Three Snake-Leaves (Die drei Schlangenblätter). It’s a clever tale of deceit, betrayal, and ultimate redemption.

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About Grimm Brothers

Grimm Brothers Brewhouse is one of the premier craft brewers of Northern Colorado. Founded in July, 2010, Grimm Brothers is a two time Great American Beer Festival medal winner and Gnarly Barley Brew Festival People’s Choice award winner three years in a row. Located in Loveland, Colorado, Grimm Brothers specializes in German Style Ales and Lagers brewed in the traditional manner but with innovative American freedom. Grimm Brothers operates a Tap Room at 623 N. Denver Ave., Loveland, CO offering our fine beers for on premises consumption and carry-out sale and is widely distributed throughout Colorado.

Related articles:
- Grimm Brothers Maiden's Kiss Maibock Lager review.
- Grimm Brothers The Bleeding Heart Coffee Porter review.
- Grimm Brothers Sooty Brother Grätzer Ale review.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Colorado Beer News 052313

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:53:00 +0000

Today is Lucky Penny Day. There's an old saying - "See a penny pick it up, all day long you have good luck". Find your lucky penny today and see if you happen into some good luck. Sure, a penny won't buy you anything these days, but it may help put a smile on your face if but for a moment. Here's what's happening around the Colorado beerosphere today Thursday, May 23rd, 2013.

This day in Colorado Craft Beer History - a look back 1 year ago.

Metro Denver

Lone Tree Brewing Co (Lone Tree) - Trivia tonight - 2 rounds - one at 6pm and the other at 7pm. The winner of each round will receive a growler of beer of their choice. Bring your friends!

Arvada Beer Company (Arvada) - Stop in today for their new Kollaboration Kolsch and their Brewers Limited Reserve at 2pm. Friday's release will be their Double IPA. Then, on the last Saturday of the month (May 25), Arvada Beer Co is once again playing host to the Colorado Craft Beer Show (AM 760) from noon to 2pm. Arvada Beer Co will be giving away some goodies from their beer cellar during the show, plus Turk has some tickets to the upcoming Burning Can Fest to give away. Get a prize ticket every time you buy a beer and you might get your number drawn.

CAUTION: Brewing Company (Denver/Lakewood) - Earlier this week, CAUTION: Brewing Company announced the location of their upcoming 2nd location in Lakewood, Colorado. This location will host a larger taproom, a canning line for their Lao Wang Lager, and have 12 taps. The location is at: 1057 S. Wadsworth Blvd, Unit 60. They plan to open this location sometime around October 2013.

Kokopelli Beer Company (Westminster) - Due to concerns from the city of Westminster about not wanting a stand alone brewery, Kokopelli Beer Company will open as a brewpub with not only their own beer but also with their own food menu. The City of Westminster didn't want just a drinking establishment, but wanted people to also have food as well. So rather than fight it, owner Christine Wares decided to convert into a brewpub with food. Look for Kokopelli Beer Company to open by early July 2013.

Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project (Denver) - According to a Westword report, Crooked Stave has struck a deal with a New York City importer that will distribute Crooked Stave Beer in NYC. At the same time, this same importer, 12 Percent Imports, will begin shipping beers from Evil Twin in Denmark and also Stillwater Artisan Ales from Baltimore who specializes in Belgian-style and sour ales. There will also be two other Belgian breweries who will be included in the deal. So while Crooked Stave beers may be harder to get here, some additional international and quality East Coast beer will be headed this way. Crooked Stave also plans to ship beer to Oregon and California as well.

Black Shirt Brewing (Denver) - Hop shortage? Apparently so. Due to the lack of some particular hops for smaller accounts, BSB is being forced to change their Saison recipe to use different hops. Look for a slightly different brew when they brew it up next week. Perhaps some local breweries should pool their orders and get a better chance at a guaranteed hop delivery.

Breckenridge Brewery (Denver) - It's back! This Saturday, May 25th, bottles of their Well Built E.S.B. will be back on sale in their brewery tasting room for a limited time. This is their barrel-aged brew aged in Stranahan's barrels. The supply won't last long so stop in soon to pick up some bottles.

Cannonball Creek Brewing (Golden) - There's a full tapwall of CCBC beer for this holiday weekend. Check out their line-up: Mindbender IPA, Featherweight Pale, Highwater Wit, Solid Gold Belgian Golden, Victorville Red, Forêt Noir Black Saison, and Soul Doubt Stout.

Boulder County

Twisted Pine Brewing (Boulder) - Tickets are now on sale for their 18th Anniversary Party happening on July 13th from 2-7pm. Live music from multiple bands, 30+ different TP brews including some rare and small batch editions and lots of fun activities. Get tix online or in the taproom.

Northern Colorado

City Star Brewing (Berthoud) - Berthoud Day is slated for Saturday, June 1st. City Star will open their taproom at 11am for the parade and the beer will be flowing in the beer garden all day. City Star will have some primo seats to watch the parade. They'll even have a float in the parade too.

Pateros Creek Brewing (Ft. Collins) - Today's Thursday Outlaw tap is called "Virginia Dale" - an Elderflower Pale Ale. Plus, their Stimulator Pale is now back on tap as well. Also, there's something new in the seating area. A new foosball table! Come try some beer and work on your game while you're at it. The fun keeps growing at PCBC!

Funkwerks (Ft. Collins) - Fans of their award winning beer Deceit take note! Today at the brewery they packaged a new rum barrel-aged version of Deceit (Belgian-style Golden Strong) that has been aging in barrels since September of last year. Look for this beer to be available in bottles in late Summer.

Equinox Brewing (Ft. Collins) - Today marks the tapping of a firkin of "Nothing But Flowers IPA" - a brew conditioned with hibiscus and rose petals.

Echo Brewing Company (Frederick) - Today their Nocturnal Black IIPA is back on tap. Not only that, they've got live blues music playing starting at 7pm and some great BBQ outside from Shuffler Bros. BBQ.

Southern Front Range

Paradox Beer Company (Woodland Park) - New beer alert! Paradox just released the 3rd installment of their Paradise Nines IPA Project called "The Trippel Double" - an IPA Trippel. It's an Ameri-Belgo Golden IPA that was aged in wine barrels and bottle conditioned. This beer weighs in at 7.5% ABV and 80 IBU. It's their Batch #32 and was bottled on May 12th. Look for it on store shelves wherever Paradox beers are sold.

Mountains and West

Dillon Dam Brewery (Dillon) - Up in the mountains this week and want to turn up the heat? Stop into Dillon Dam Brewery and try their Chili Beer! It's a light, crisp Mexican-style lager with over 33 pounds of fresh roasted green chilies in each batch. It's got a spicy chili aroma, but is mild and very drinkable. Also, homebrewers can enter their Homebrewer Competition set for Friday, May 31st at 11:30am. Drop off four 12oz bottles to the brewery by Friday, May 31st. Awards ceremony will be set for June 14th.

San Luis Valley Brewing (Alamosa) - There's a few new tastes waiting for you in Alamosa the next time you visit the brewery. These beers include: Scenic Rail Pale Ale, Royal Gorge Route Rogue (a Red / IPA hybrid), and Western Wit (made with orange peel). These are beers designed for the this time of year.

Palisade Brewing Company (Palisade) - The brewery is celebrating the installation of their new 40 barrel bright tank. Room for more beer! They've also got a new raspberry blonde ale tapping from a firkin tonight.
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Catch up on Colorado Beer News from earlier this week:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday

View Colorado Brewery Maps
[ Boulder-Longmont Map ] [ Denver Area Map ] [ Northern Colorado Map ]
[ Southeast Colorado Map ] [ Northwest Brewery Map ] [ Southwest Colorado Map ]

CO Beer Dinners - Expand your palate! How about a beer dinner or pairing event? Lots of events are taking reservations now. Check out the Colorado Beer Dinner & Pairing Events listing.

Live Music - Beer and music go great together and many Colorado breweries and top watering holes offer live entertainment every day. Check out the Colorado Brewery Music Listings and find out who's playing at your favorite brewery or beer bar. Updated daily.

CO Beer Festivals - Looking for info on upcoming beer festivals or related events in Colorado? Check out the listings on the 2013 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Calendar. Updated daily.

Like us on Facebook - There's even more Colorado beer happenings and discussions on the Fermentedly Challenged Facebook Page. Find recaps, special offers, and tips that you won't find on the blog.

Colorado Beer News is published daily (Monday through Friday) with craft beer stories as they break from newsletters, emails and social media sites. This news is intended for audiences of legal drinking age (21+). If you'd like to subscribe to this daily by email, sign-up here. Please, always drink responsibly and use a designated driver.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

New Belgium Trippel review

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:59:00 +0000

New Belgium is well known for their classic year round brews and every once in a while it's good to visit the classics and see what types of beer made New Belgium popular in the first place. This review is of New Belgium Trippel - an ale brewed with coriander. Trippel has been around since 1992 and has the Belgian look and taste of a beer from the same region.

Gone are the three robed ladies that used to grace the label. Instead New Belgium went to a rather plain looking brown and grey lettered label with the shadow outline of a coriander plant. It gave this beer a rather generic look, but New Belgium wanted to simplify their look on many of their beers. I suppose since this beer has some history to it, changing up the packaging might just spice things up a bit.

Here are the vital stats for New Belgium Trippel: 7.8% ABV - 25 IBU - a year round beer - Calories 221 - Hops: Saaz. Liberty, & Target - 1/2 lager yeast & 1/2 Belgian yeast - Pale, Munich and Victory malts - and Coriander. With both an ale yeast and a lager yeast in the same batch, one might believe it would ferment from both the top and the bottom of the beer, but at slightly different temperature conditions. OK, so let's pop the top and dive in.

Appearance: New Belgium's Trippel poured out a bright golden color with a generous near white head. This head stuck around for a while and left a sticky lacing along the edge of the glass. This Abbey-style Tripel had excellent clarity and no cloudiness or sediment found in the beer. The beer was decently carbonated and had plenty of bubbles.

Aroma: This beer has a lot of different aromas. The coriander and the hops gave this beer a spicy tone while the yeast gave off scents of clove and banana. There were some other fruity esters and bread-like quality in this brew's vapors as well. As this beer warmed a bit, the fruity esters really started coming out more as did the background herby hops.

Taste: Trippel was medium bodied and had a spicy clove and hop taste up front. The carbonation in this beer made the beer dance a bit on my tongue. There was a creaminess to the texture of this beer as well. The taste was definitely European in style. The yeast, coriander, hops and malts blended well together to give this a slightly sweet, somewhat herbal, malty and bitter brew with a bit of funk. The alcohol in this beer is noticeable and does affect the taste of this beer a bit.

This type of beer is a slow sipping beer. The alcohol level gives one pause to drink this one slowly. The bitterness sticks with you after the sip is gone. The taste was still rather clean. It's not the type of beer you'd reach for on a hot summer day, rather one for those late night encounters when there's a bit of coolness in the air. Still, it's a year round brew meant to be enjoyed anytime.

Overall: This beer has been one of New Belgium's staples for over 20 years. It was obviously made well and continues to be one of their classic standards that can appeal to many types of beer drinkers. I wouldn't recommend this beer to someone new to craft beer, rather it should be suggested to someone who's tried several different styles, especially someone who enjoys Belgian-style ales.

This is the type of beer that I would enjoy on special occasions, but not a beer that I'd reach for as a go to everyday kind of beer. New Belgium Trippel has a lot of flavor and was well balanced. Try one if you love beers with a bit of spice, yeast and hop. One beer will suit you just fine. Two beers in a row would tend to be all you're going to handle in an entire evening. It'll fill you up with flavor.

Disclosure: I paid full retail price for this beer at my local liquor store as part of a build-your-own 6-pack special.

Related articles:
- Avery Nineteen Belgian Style Tripel review.
- Victory Golden Monkey review.
- Westmalle Trappist Ale Tripel review.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Ska Brewing invades Sweden and collaborates

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Wed, 22 May 2013 23:44:00 +0000

Colorado craft beer is well known here in the USA, but now it's becoming known in Europe as well. Ska Brewing has been distributing beers to Sweden for a couple of years and are now collaborating with a Swedish brewery on another project. Read their Press Release from today and see what's happening in the Eastern hemisphere with Ska Brewing Company.

[PRESS RELEASE] Durango, CO., (May 22, 2013) — Ska Brewing Barroom Hero Arlo Grammatica is in Sweden this week, along with Head Brewer Thomas Larsen, to brew an imperial pilsner with Swedish craft brewer Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri.

Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri is a small and rising Swedish craft brewery whose relationship with the Ska crew was born at the Stockholm Beer and Whisky Festival last year, from a mutual love of outdoor adventure, and of course, great beer.

“I thought Arlo said they were going to California, so I gave him the okay,” Ska President and co-founder Dave Thibodeau. “It sounded like he said ‘Stockton.’ I wouldn’t knowingly let Arlo and Thomas go to Stockholm unsupervised. Plus, Thomas is Norwegian, so I’m a little concerned he could reject the Swedish government’s authority and try to form his own country.”

Grammatica and Larsen will also be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Oliver Twist, a Stockholm bar known for its selection of American craft beers and owned by the same partners as Great Brands, Ska’s distributor in Sweden. According to the Brewer’s Association, Sweden is the 2nd largest export market for U.S. craft brewers after Canada.

“We don’t believe in collaboration just for it’s own sake,” said Grammatica. “But when they told us that they surf the open ocean in the North Atlantic, it was clear to me that this was going to be a key relationship in the Swedish market. Building relationships is the key, no matter how many adventures I have to go on to do that.”

“We’re looking forward to mixing our approach and knowledge with Ska’s,” said Nynäshamns’ Marcus Wärme. “They started with the same love of beer, and have done the same hard work of building a business and a brewery. We live on the sea and they live in the mountains, but the guys at Ska aren’t that different from us. We’re putting in great elements from each brewery, and we think the outcome will be just as great.”

“They’re going to show us around on their boat and take us kitesurfing,” said Grammatica.

Ska has been selling its beer in Sweden for 2 years, after its flagship IPA Modus Hoperandi won the first-ever listing for a canned craft beer with the Systembolaget, Sweden’s alcoholic beverage monopoly.

About Ska Brewing

Based in Durango, Colorado, Ska Brewing was founded in 1995 and now produces over a dozen medal-winning beers including the Pinstripe Red Ale, True Blonde Ale and Steel Toe Stout. Four Ska beers are now widely available in cans: ESB Special Ale, True Blonde, Modus Hoperandi IPA and the summer seasonal Mexican Logger. For information, music and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com. Chat us up and get the latest news at facebook.com/skabrew and twitter.com/skabrewing.

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Related articles:
- Ska Brewing announces their 2012 results.
- Ska Brewing and DC Brau collaborate on Taster's Choice.
- Ska Brewing Hibernal Vinifera Stout review.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Colorado Beer News 052213

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:35:00 +0000

Today is World Goth Day. Embrace your inner Gothic spirit. Dress in black and embrace a lack of color today. What beer goes great with World Goth Day? Something dark of course. Try a Black IPA or a Stout. Even a porter will do. Here's what's happening around the Colorado beerosphere today Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013.

Metro Denver

Copper Kettle Brewing (Denver) - Today's Wednesday Firkin is a Cabernet Sauvignon Saison. It taps at 3:00pm. And don't forget, Texorado Bar-B-Que will be on hand at 5:00pm to satisfy your noms.

Prost Brewing (Denver) - For a limited time, you can get a $30 voucher for Prost Brewing Company for only $15 on Colorado's Best Deals. That's like getting half price beer for you and a few friends! You can only get this deal online - check terms & conditions before purchasing.

Yak & Yeti Restaurant & Brewpub (Arvada) - Looking for something new? Why not try some of their latest beer tappings. Now available: Chai Milk Stout (5.2% ABV and 28 IBU) - this was the 1st keg to blow at the new Colorado Plus, and Thin Air ESB - a traditional English ESB (5.3% ABV and 45 IBU). Then at 4pm on Wednesday - a new tapping - Big Hairy Feet - an English-style Barleywine (8.5% ABV and 96 IBU). This Wednesday is an Acoustic Jam with Prehbot from 6:30pm - 9:30pm in the bar area. Then on Sunday, May 26th it's Yak & Yeti Game Night from 3pm to close. Beginners welcome. Bring in a game or show up and learn a new one.

Mountain Toad Brewing (Golden) and Odyssey Beerwerks (Arvada) - both of these new breweries will have their Grand Openings on Saturday, May 25th. Add two more to the growing number of craft breweries in Colorado!

Lone Tree Brewing (Lone Tree) - The brewery just poured a new cement outdoor patio yesterday. For the next couple of days it will be off limits while it hardens, but very soon you'll be able to enjoy a pint out on the new patio.

Boulder County

Asher Brewing Company (Boulder) - Word from the brewery says that the first pieces of their new canning line have started arriving. Look for Asher beer to be in cans by this summer! Get ready for organic beer in a can.

Twisted Pine Brewing (Boulder) - On July 13th, Twisted Pine will celebrate their 18th Anniversary with a party from 2pm to 7pm. Get tickets in the tap room on on their website. There will be 30+ Twisted Pine brews pouring, Live Music, Food and lots of fun including a charity dunk tank.

Left Hand Brewing (Longmont) - Some rare stuff is on tap at Left Hand this week. Stop in for WTF #4 - a barrel-aged sour, Ambidextrous Step IV: Maibock, and St. Vrain Belgian Tripel Ale. And this Friday, they'll tap a firkin of oak aged 400 Pound Monkey. Time to get thirsty! Then on Saturday is the debut of a collaboration beer Homefront IPA at 5pm. It's an American IPA made with orange zest and aged on maple Louisville Slugger baseball bats! No kidding!

J Wells Brewery (Boulder) - Among the beers on tap today: Hop Haze - Imperial IPA, Jamie's Pale - APA, Jamie's Best - British Bitter, Gitana Brown - Northern English Brown Ale, Light Out Stout - 10% Russian Imperial, and Chocolate Milk Stout - w/cocoa nibs. Plus they've got hot dogs cooking!

Very Nice Brewing Company (Nederland) - Calling all poets, musicians, and performers! Join in Thursday, May 23rd at 7:30 p.m. for a Very Nice Open Mic Night! Sign up starts at 7:00 p.m. They will be open this Monday (usually closed on Mondays) to celebrate Memorial Day! Stop by for a brew after your hike or bike ride in the mountains. They'll be open Monday from 12:00-6:00 p.m.

Northern Colorado

Broken Plow Brewery (Greeley) - On May 21st, Randy, the owner of Broken Plow, gave a presentation before the Greeley City Council and got the necessary zoning change approved on their new brewery location on West 10th Street. This clears the way for getting their TTB application submitted. Once the current tenants of their building finish a remodeling and move they will be able to start getting the brewery ready for business by the Fall of this year.

Odell Brewing (Ft. Collins) - With Ride The Rockies just a few weeks away (June 8-15), Odell is preparing to release a special brew made specially for the post-ride cool down. Look for Ride The Rockies Recovery Pale Ale to be on tap during the Ride The Rockies event.

Patrick's Irish Pub (Greeley) - Not only do they have 31 beers on tap, Patrick's now has the Peace Pit Wood Fired Pizza on site serving up food outside their door on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Also - Coming up on Friday June 7th is an Oskar Blues Tap Takeover with the Bonewagon food truck. This is also a Go-Cup night which will allow you to take your drinks outside in the plaza. Oskar Blues is bringing a firkin of dry hopped Gubna with Zeus hops for that evening as well. It's the same night as the Greeley Blues Jam so they'll have a blues band playing in the pub all night.

Horse & Dragon Brewing Co (Ft. Collins) - There's a big job opening at this upcoming brewery slated to open in January 2014. They are looking for a Lead Brewer. For details, requirements and responsibilities for this job - check out their job posting. Think you've got da skillz to be a lead brewer at a Colorado brewery?

Colorado Brewers' Festival (Ft. Collins) - Tickets are now on sale for the 24th annual Colorado Brewers' Festival to be held on June 22-23, 2013 in Fort Collins, CO. Tickets this year are $22 advance and $28 at the gate. For that you get 10 tasting tickets. There will be around 40 Colorado breweries pouring beers this year. The event footprint spans Civic Center area - LaPorte Ave - Mason Street to Meldrum Street, Howes Street from Maple to Civic Center Park, and Washington Park. There will also be a special Connoisseur Event on Friday June 21st from 7pm to 10pm for $60. Festival times are 11am-6pm VIP, or 12pm-6pm General Saturday & Sunday. More info at the DowntownFortCollins.com site.

Pateros Creek Brewing (Ft. Collins) - Sign up now for Cornhole Wednesdays at PCBC! Registration closes soon as the leagues start June 5th and run Wednesdays from 6-9pm for 7 weeks. Each team has 6 players - 3 men and 3 women. The 8th week will be the playoffs. There will be beer specials every Wednesday during league night. Cost to join is $30 per person. Register your team here.

Bikes & Beer Radio Show (88.9FM Fort Collins) - TOnight on the Bikes & Beer Radio show they'll be talking science, Napa California, delicious beer, some upcoming cycling events and many strange off-color topics! Tune in from 6:00pm - 7:00pm on 88.9 FM in FOCO.

Southern Front Range

Bristol Brewing Company (Colorado Springs) - Today and on every Wednesday at Bristol Brewing Company you can get $1 off all growler jug fills of your favorite beers. Which one is your favorite?

Mountains and West

Tommyknocker Brewery (Idaho Springs) - Did you know that Tommyknocker brewed and bottled a special Over the Bar Series beer that you can only get if you visit the brewery? Just over a week ago Tommyknocker release their Barrel Aged Imperial Nut Brown Ale. You can only get it in a glass at the brewery - and no - you can't take this one home even though they bottled this beer (Sorry I didn't make that rule). The Barrel Aged Imperial Nut Brown Ale was aged in a Breckenridge Distillery oak bourbon barrel for 10 months. It weighs in at 9% ABV. It's in a limited supply.

Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub (Salida) - This Friday and Saturday, Moonlight Pizza will be pouring their Moonlight Cram Ale at the CKS PaddleFest from 4pm to 8pm. It's a light, refreshing, pale straw ale that's lightly hopped and weighs in at 5%. Try one at PaddleFest!
_____________________________________________________________________

Catch up on Colorado Beer News from earlier this week:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday

View Colorado Brewery Maps
[ Boulder-Longmont Map ] [ Denver Area Map ] [ Northern Colorado Map ]
[ Southeast Colorado Map ] [ Northwest Brewery Map ] [ Southwest Colorado Map ]

CO Beer Dinners - Expand your palate! How about a beer dinner or pairing event? Lots of events are taking reservations now. Check out the Colorado Beer Dinner & Pairing Events listing.

Live Music - Beer and music go great together and many Colorado breweries and top watering holes offer live entertainment every day. Check out the Colorado Brewery Music Listings and find out who's playing at your favorite brewery or beer bar. Updated daily.

CO Beer Festivals - Looking for info on upcoming beer festivals or related events in Colorado? Check out the listings on the 2013 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Calendar. Updated daily.

Like us on Facebook - There's even more Colorado beer happenings and discussions on the Fermentedly Challenged Facebook Page. Find recaps, special offers, and tips that you won't find on the blog.

Colorado Beer News is published daily (Monday through Friday) with craft beer stories as they break from newsletters, emails and social media sites. This news is intended for audiences of legal drinking age (21+). If you'd like to subscribe to this daily by email, sign-up here. Please, always drink responsibly and use a designated driver.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

So you think you can be a brewer?

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:43:00 +0000

It's not often that a head brewer job comes along here in Colorado, but for some lucky person out there here is your chance to take the reins at an upcoming brewery in Fort Collins. That's provided of course you've got da skillz to earn the job.

Tim Cochran from Horse and Dragon Brewing Company is looking for a Lead Brewer and sent the job opening to me looking for some help in finding this person. Check out their job opening description and if you feel qualified - send in your credentials to info@horseanddragonbrewing.com and you might just get a call back for an interview. (Please don't send resumes or questions to Fermenetedly Challenged, 'cuz I'll simply ignore them.)

Job Opening at Horse & Dragon Brewing Co - Lead Brewer

The Horse & Dragon Brewing Company is a fully funded start-up located along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in the Napa Valley of Beer. We will produce high quality, great tasting craft beers and be an active participant in the vibrant beer culture that exists in Fort Collins and throughout Colorado. As with our beers, we strive to achieve balance in work, life and community. We are looking for a passionate, qualified brewer to hire in June/July 2013 to join us, targeting an opening date of January 2014.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Lead Brewer will oversee all aspects of beer production for the company and will be responsible for making great tasting, quality beers on our new 15 barrel system. Key responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Brewing operations. Lead and manage the company efforts coordinating ingredients supply/inventory management, brewing, quality control, packaging and all brew house operations. You will be responsible for what happens in the brewery.
• Recipe formulation. Lots of latitude to create tasty versions of multiple craft beer styles as well as working with the team to develop award-winning beers.
• Start-up involvement. While financing has been secured, we want to include our brewer when making key decisions about the brewery equipment and layout. We expect you to give expert input into these critical decisions as part of your first duties and based upon your experience in small breweries.
• Community outreach. Participate in area festivals, forums and public relations activities on behalf of the company. The brewer will be part of our customer and consumer facing marketing plan to seed and grow our brands and spread the word about Horse & Dragon Brewing Company beers.

QUALIFICATIONS:
We require an experienced production craft brewer with the following qualifications to lead the brewing operations for the company:

• Passionate about design, production and sale of amazing beers. Awards or other recognition for your beers a plus.
• Minimum 3 years experience working in a brewery, preferably overseeing multiple functions including: brewing functions, packaging, quality control, ingredients ordering/inventory management and planning.
• Ability to work across styles for recipe formulation.
• Demonstrated ability to take on leadership responsibility for overseeing a staff as well as all functions of the production facility.
• Must be a flexible contributor to our small team and willing to work outside of normal business hours when required.
• Minimum bachelor’s degree required. Recognized brewing qualifications, certifications or other education preferred, although experience will substitute for formal degrees or certifications in brewing science.

ABILITIES AND SKILLS:
• Must be able to handle the rigors of working in a production brewery:
--- Able to lift 55 lbs and move 165 lbs occasionally.
--- Able to work on your feet for 8-12 hours per day
--- Able to be flexible to work non-standard work week
• Must have good time management and task scheduling skills
• Must be responsible enough to be self-directed and work effectively on your own

POSTION DETAILS:
• This is a full-time salaried position and the Lead Brewer will be part of the leadership team.
• Compensation will be competitive and match experience and education of applicant.
• Benefits include paid vacation, company healthcare program, 401(k) retirement plan, company sponsored knowledge building and others.
• Incentives – bonus, possible share ownership - available to Lead Brewer for meeting and achieving agreed goals and responsibilities.

Horse and Dragon Brewing Company is an equal opportunity employer and encourages enthusiastic, talented brewers of all stripes to explore and pursue this interesting start-up opportunity in the Napa Valley of Beer: Colorado!

PROCESS:
Interested parties who meet the above qualifications should send resume and any other relevant information to Tim at info@HorseAndDragonBrewing.com. You will be contacted within 7 days of receiving your information.

Great Divide Colette Farmhouse Ale review

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:32:00 +0000

Great Divide has been slowly changing its line-up of year round beers over the last few year and one particular beer gathered a lot of attention early on when awards time came around. Great Divide Colette Farmhouse Ale came on-board a few years ago and quickly won a couple silver and bronze medals in 2010 and 2011.

Colette is a Farmhouse Ale, fashioned after the beers that Belgian farm workers used to drink. Great Divide put in 4 different funky Belgian yeasts and came up with a blend of barley, wheat, and rice and lightly bittered this beer. Colette weighs in at 7.3%, so it's no light weight despite the lighter color.

For you calorie counters, Colette has around 219 calories per 12oz bottle. With so many saisons coming into the market these days, how would Great Divide's farmhouse ale hold up to the rest?

Appearance: Great Divide's Colette poured a pale yellow and nearly seemed to glow bright yellow in the light. There was a very small bright white head on this beer, and what head there was disappeared very quickly. The beer appeared with no sediment, yet had a noticeable haze to it. There seemed to be just a bit of a yeast cloud at the bottom of the bottle, but that's common for a beer such as this.

Aroma: Bring on the funk! Colette had a wonderful Belgian yeast aroma that had plenty of sweet tropical fruits, grasses, bread and a hint of bubblegum. While many saisons seem to have very similar yeast aromas, this one has a bit more of the malts and wheat tones come through on the nose.

Taste: The first few sips reminded me of a tart wheat brew. There was a slight sweet fruit and honey component mixed in with a bitterness and light malty taste. There was the funk from the yeast, but it wasn't overly done. The beer drank easy and left a dry finish at the end. I could pick up a sense of banana later on in the session. There was certainly a lot of flavor happening inside this beer. One that I had no problem enjoying.

Overall: As far as saisons go, this one fit the model very well. There was a lot of funky good flavor in this saison. It felt refreshing to me and that's what really counts on a warm day. While this had a lot of good going for it, I have had some better saisons. Still, this one is worth looking up if you want to to explore the world of saisons. It's a good one to compare others to, after all, it has won some awards. I would certainly buy this beer again.

Disclosure: I paid full retail price for this beer at my local liquor store as part of a build-your-own six pack.

Related articles:
- Great Divide Heyday Belgian-style White Ale review.
- Twisted Pine La Petite Saison review.
- Funkwerks Tropic King Imperial Saison review.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Colorado Beer News 052113

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:49:00 +0000

Today is National Waitstaff Day. It's a day to honor the waiters and waitresses at our local restaurants and food spots who work primarily for tips. Be sure to tip them fairly according to the quality of their service and not the quality of food they bring you. Here's what's happening around the Colorado beerosphere today Tuesday, May 21st, 2013.

Metro Denver

Black Shirt Brewing Co (Denver) - New Beer Alert! On Wednesday, May 22nd stop in for a taste of their new hoppy Pale Red Rye. It's a new taste for Spring & Summer and it will be tapped at 5pm tomorrow. It's got a good hop bite, tons of citrus and exotic fruits and a mix of barley and rye.

Colorado Plus Brew Pub (Wheat Ridge) - They opened their doors with over 50+ taps on May 13th and now they are brewing their first batch of their own beer today! It's a Belgian Red Ale and this beer will be ready to tap by mid-June. More Colorado Plus beers to follow shortly after that. Stop in for a bite and a big selection of Colorado only beers on tap.

Hops & Pie (Denver) - Here's what's tappening at Hops & Pie today. Now available: Alligator Funk House by Black Bottle Brewery, Decandent IPA by Ska Brewing, Shark Attack by Port Brewing, Sahtea by Dogfish Head Brewing, and on the hand pull - Nibs Chocolate Stout by Dry Dock Brewing. All on tap! It's waiting to be paired with your favorite slice of 'za!

Ghost Plate & Tap (Denver) - Word came down yesterday that Ghost Plate & Tap is closing it's doors for good on Friday, May 24th 2013 at 2pm. This restaurant and tap room was a joint venture between Wynkoop Brewing and Breckenridge Brewery and was located at 800 18th Street in Denver. The business had been open for just about 2 years and was known for its food and craft beer selection. Sorry to hear about this business closure.

Palette of Brews (Evergreen) - A new beer tasting event has been added to Summerfest - A festival of Arts, Crafts, Music and more in Evergreen, Colorado. Palette of Brews is scheduled for July 20th and 21st from 10am to 5pm each day. A tasting session ticket gets you unlimited samples from over 16 Colorado microbreweries. More info at: www.evergreenarts.org/Summerfest. Palette of Brews is a new sponsor on Fermentedly Challenged!

Northern Colorado

Grimm Brothers Brewhouse (Loveland) - Want to see your $4.50 turn into $7.00 of relief for Oklahoma tornado victims? "How does this work?", you ask? Purchase one of the First 100 Pints at the Grimm Brothers taproom today in Loveland at regular prices and $7 is donated directly to the American Red Cross thanks to generous donations from Mueller & Associates, American Eagle Distributing, The Weedin Insurance Agency, Grimm Brothers, Chartered Technology and 2 anonymous donors. After that, and for the rest of the day, $4 for each pint sold will be donated thanks to Mueller & Associates, American Eagle Distributing, Chartered Technology and Grimm Brothers. That’s a lot of Bang for four and a half bucks. You’ll be helping families devastated by the tornado in Oklahoma and you get a beer too.

Verboten Brewing (Loveland) - Did you know that Verboten recently expanded their tap lines to 11? Yup, get ready for even more Verboten beer and also the possibility of them adding a 2nd nitro tap. Also, for those who ride their bike to the brewery - you'll get happy hour prices all night long.

Black Bottle Brewery (Ft. Collins) - This weekend on May 25th Black Bottle Brewery will be tapping their Firefighter Brew they made with local firefighters. This beer will help benefit the Terry Farrel Fun Colorado. They have custom pint glasses, t-shirts and stickers available on that day. The Terry Farrel Fun CO Fire Engine will even be on hand in the parking lot. The tapping event starts at 1pm. This is a kid-friendly event too - they'll let the kids climb aboard the firetruck.

The Mayor of Old Town (Ft. Collins) - Mark your calendars! On Monday, July 15th starting at 2pm - Come celebrate 2 years of business with the Mayor! In this short 2 years, they've tapped over 1000 different beers and served over 500,000 pints of beer! Let's look back and look forward over some really special beers saved for just this event!

Hunters Moon Meadery (Severance) - A portion of the sales at the meadery in May, June & July will be donated to the Red Cross to help the victims of the deadly weather in Oklahoma.

High Hops Brewery (Windsor) - This week's Wednesday Firkin is a Mystery Firkin! Prepare to be surprised when they tap this limited batch at 5pm. Then on Thursday, May 23rd they are releasing Dr. Pat's #6 Release of their Double IPA. This batch is dry hopped with Cascade hops. You can pair that with some food from Chaulkboard Gourmet Express and stay for Open Mic Night from 5:30pm - 7:30pm. All talent welcome to sign up. More live music later this week - Friday it's "Handpicked" playing from 6-8pm. And on Saturday, it's Kurt Humann from 5-7pm. High Hops is open at noon each day of the week.

Crabtree Brewing (Greeley) - It's $3 pint day all day today at the brewery taproom. Just another reason to visit Crabtree on Tuesdays!

Pateros Creek Brewing (Ft. Collins) - Bring in any Pateros Creek growler today and get any Legend beer filled for just $7. It's a weekly Tuesday deal. Get your growler today!

Loveland Aleworks (Loveland) - Memorial Day weekend at the brewery has a few items for you. On Saturday night May 25th at 7:30pm stop in for a folkin' good time with live music from The Stubby Shillelaghs at 7:30pm. On Sunday, May 26th, there will be a brewery potluck at 1:00pm. Brats and hot dogs will be provided. Bring a dish to share. A $50 giftcard will be awarded to the most patriotic side dish. Then on Memorial Day, get an excellent seat to watch the Memorial Day Parade and enjoy a Beermosa! Located at 118 W. 4th Street in Loveland, CO.

Southern Front Range

Phantom Canyon Brewing (Colorado Springs) - The new addition to the brewery is nearly complete! Soon you'll be able to have a beer on their new rooftop patio while below, new space for brewing beer will be in use. Come check out the progress. An announcement of the new addition completion will be coming soon.

Pikes Peak Brewing (Monument) - A new look is coming to Pikes Peak Brewing. They'll be tapping a whole new image starting on June 11th. They will have the initial release of their new Penrose Private Reserve rare beer series and also the premier of the Pikes Peak region's only canned beer! Stay tuned for more details on this as it unfolds.

Mountains and West

Steamworks Brewing (Durango) - Have you ever wanted to skip and go naked? Well you can, sort of, with Steamworks' upcoming monthly Friday Firkin. On Friday, June 7th at 3pm they'll be tapping their own "Skip and Go Naked" firkin. It's made with a base of their Colorado Kölsch with lemon juice and zest and some peach syrup. Your glass will also be garnished with a lemon slice. This beer will be served at firkin temperature of 55 degrees F. This beer is bound to disappear quickly so plan to be there at 3pm to get yourself a pint.

Backcountry Brewery (Frisco) - There will be a brewery open house event on Saturday, May 25th from 1pm to 5pm. There will be Happy Hour drink prices all during this time, brewery tours and even a special beer tapping! You'll even get a free bottle of beer after your tour. There will also be gift certificates, shirts and other fun stuff to win that day. Head up to the mountains and try some Backcountry brew!
_____________________________________________________________________

Catch up on Colorado Beer News from earlier this week:
Monday

View Colorado Brewery Maps
[ Boulder-Longmont Map ] [ Denver Area Map ] [ Northern Colorado Map ]
[ Southeast Colorado Map ] [ Northwest Brewery Map ] [ Southwest Colorado Map ]

CO Beer Dinners - Expand your palate! How about a beer dinner or pairing event? Lots of events are taking reservations now. Check out the Colorado Beer Dinner & Pairing Events listing.

Live Music - Beer and music go great together and many Colorado breweries and top watering holes offer live entertainment every day. Check out the Colorado Brewery Music Listings and find out who's playing at your favorite brewery or beer bar. Updated daily.

CO Beer Festivals - Looking for info on upcoming beer festivals or related events in Colorado? Check out the listings on the 2013 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Calendar. Updated daily.

Like us on Facebook - There's even more Colorado beer happenings and discussions on the Fermentedly Challenged Facebook Page. Find recaps, special offers, and tips that you won't find on the blog.

Colorado Beer News is published daily (Monday through Friday) with craft beer stories as they break from newsletters, emails and social media sites. This news is intended for audiences of legal drinking age (21+). If you'd like to subscribe to this daily by email, sign-up here. Please, always drink responsibly and use a designated driver.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Colorado Beer News 052013

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:59:00 +0000

Today is Weights and Measures Day. It's practically a beer holiday. Without weights and measures we'd have no idea just how many ABV's, IBU's, SRM's or OG/FG are in our favorite beers. So why not make it a craft beer holiday and celebrate with a craft beer that has all the right numbers you're looking for. Here's what's happening around the Colorado beerosphere today Monday, May 20th, 2013.

Memorial Day is coming this weekend! What are you planning to do? Read Fermentedly Challenged each day this week for ideas.

Metro Denver

Arvada Beer Company (Arvada) - For this week, Happy Hour is every day from opening til 2pm and 4pm to 7pm where you'll get $1 off pints and snifters. This Thursday, May 23rd is the Kollaboration Kolsch release. And then on Friday, May 24th is the Arvada Pride Double IPA release. Stop in also on Saturday for the live remote of the Colorado Craft Beer Show from 12pm to 2pm.

Odyssey Beerwerks (Arvada) - Over the weekend, Odyssey Beerwerks held a "soft" opening to work out all the kinks before their official Grand Opening this Saturday, May 25th. Arvada is about to become a much bigger craft beer destination! Look for more info on their opening later in the week. They are located at: 5535 W. 56th Avenue, Suite 107 in Arvada, Colorado. Website - Facebook.

Mountain Toad Brewing (Golden) - There's a second new brewery opening this Saturday, May 25th. Mountain Toad Brewing will also open this weekend with several new beers of their own in Golden, Colorado. They are located at: 900 Washington Avenue. Doors open for the first time at noon and stays open until 10pm.

Lowry Beer Garden (Denver) - This Thursday, May 23rd from 5pm to 10pm, Lowry Beer Garden is celebrating their 1st Anniversary and is throwing a party. This event is also a fundraiser for The Lowry Foundation and will include a silent auction with over 30 great items to bid on. For more info visit their Facebook page.

Lone Tree Brewing (Lone Tree) - If you missed some of their special tappings for American Craft Beer Last Week - don't fret! They still have a chance to try some of those beers. Kollaboration Kolsch, Peach Wheat and Triforce Tripel are still available along with Marienplatz Pilsner and Acres O' Green Irish Red on Nitro. Just because ACBW is over doesn't mean you can continue to enjoy craft beer!

Boulder County

Avery Brewing (Boulder) - Avery will be the official beer sponsor this weekend for the 26th Annual Boulder Creek Festival happening on May 25th through the 27th. he Festival is free to the public and features something for everyone: 9 separate event areas with 500 vendors showcase everything from community arts and crafts to health alternatives and technology while 4 performance stages feature a spectrum of music and dance. The Festival also features carnival rides, food and beverage vendors (including Avery beer), and the signature event: a rubber duck race down the creek!

Northern Colorado

Grimm Brothers Brewhouse (Loveland) - Grimm Brothers has created a new Facebook page called "Fabled Fermentation" that will be devoted to announcements and information about Grimm Brothers activities outside of their home base. They'll be featuring Restaurants, Night Clubs, Liquor Stores and Special Events throughout Colorado. Their regular Facebook page will still track all their important information of what's up at their Loveland operation.

Colorado Brewers' Festival (Ft. Collins) - The festival is about 1 month away and is now in their 24th year. Tickets are now available for the June 22nd and 23rd festival. This year, there will also be a Connoisseur Event with beer and food on Friday night, June 21st from 7pm - 10pm. VIP admission is available for Saturday and Sunday 1 hour earlier and a special VIP Lounge with shade and seating. This is a festival made up of solely Colorado breweries. Tickets are available from Inticketing.com - get them early as the price is higher at the gate!

CooperSmith's Pub & Brewing (Ft. Collins) - There are two new beers being tapped today at CooperSmith's. The first is Motueka Pale Ale. The name Motueka comes from the Maori language, and means weka island, the weka being a small bird of the rail family. Motueka is also the name of a town and river in New Zealand as well as a variety of hop that comes from that region. This pale ale features 100% Motueka hops with their very lively and lifted lemon and lime followed by a background of tropical fruit. 6.4% ABV, 39 IBUs. The second beer is Hopfather - Part Two. “There are many things my father taught me here in this brewery. He taught me: keep your malt close, but your hops closer." This medium bodied American style red ale starts with a light caramel sweetness that quickly gives way to the bold tropical fruit, citrus and resinous hop flavors. The long dry finish allows the biscuity malt flavors to appear amongst the lingering bitterness. 7.1% ABV, 46 IBUs.

Funkwerks (Ft. Collins) - This Thursday, May 23rd, Funkwerks will be releasing their Raspberry Leuven - a Belgian-style Berliner Weisse infused with raspberry puree. It'll be available both in bottle and on draft.

Southern Front Range

Pikes Peak Brewing (Monument) - Today is More Beer Monday! Join in today at 5:30pm when PPBC taps their Beam Engine Bitter - a PROPER pint of British Style Bitter! Also, Dave Futey of the Western Museum of Mining and Industry will be giving a talk on the namesake of the brew: The Cornish Beam Engine. Beer and an education in one sitting.

Red Leg Brewing Company (Colorado Springs) - This upcoming brewery has now received all of their licenses (state, city and federal). They are now quickly preparing to open their doors very, very soon. Stay tuned for word on opening day (targeting around July 1st). Their brewery will be located at 4630 Forge Road in Colorado Springs, CO.

Mountains and West

Festival of the Brewpubs (Arapahoe Basin) - Yes, they are still open for skiing up at Arapahoe Basin for Memorial Weekend and not only that, they are also hosting a beer festival right at the base of the ski hill on Sunday from 12pm to 4pm. It's the 12th Annual Festival of the Brewpubs. All of the Summit County brewpubs will be on hand pouring samples of their beer including: Pug Ryan's, Breckenridge Brewery, Dillon Dam Brewery, and more. Enjoy live music from 1-4pm. More info at their website.

Elevation Beer Company (Poncha Springs) - Have you tried their Spring seasonals yet? In their Double Black Series spring release, False Summit, is a Belgian Quadrupel aged in Breckenridge Distilling Bourbon barrels for six months and adds a bit of oak and vanilla tones to the beer. Also, in their Black Series release is Third Base, a Belgian Tripel made with Belgian Candi Sugar and with notes of Lemon and Orange peel. Both beers are available now at the tasting room, beer bars, and liquor stores across the state of Colorado.

Glenwood Canyon Brewing (Glenwood Springs) - Today the brewery took delivery of new tanks for their brewhouse. Expansion happens! Expect more good beer in the weeks and months to come. They even made a video about it - check it out on their Facebook page.
_____________________________________________________________________

Catch up on Colorado Beer News from last week:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

View Colorado Brewery Maps
[ Boulder-Longmont Map ] [ Denver Area Map ] [ Northern Colorado Map ]
[ Southeast Colorado Map ] [ Northwest Brewery Map ] [ Southwest Colorado Map ]

CO Beer Dinners - Expand your palate! How about a beer dinner or pairing event? Lots of events are taking reservations now. Check out the Colorado Beer Dinner & Pairing Events listing.

Live Music - Beer and music go great together and many Colorado breweries and top watering holes offer live entertainment every day. Check out the Colorado Brewery Music Listings and find out who's playing at your favorite brewery or beer bar. Updated daily.

CO Beer Festivals - Looking for info on upcoming beer festivals or related events in Colorado? Check out the listings on the 2013 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Calendar. Updated daily.

Like us on Facebook - There's even more Colorado beer happenings and discussions on the Fermentedly Challenged Facebook Page. Find recaps, special offers, and tips that you won't find on the blog.

Colorado Beer News is published daily (Monday through Friday) with craft beer stories as they break from newsletters, emails and social media sites. This news is intended for audiences of legal drinking age (21+). If you'd like to subscribe to this daily by email, sign-up here. Please, always drink responsibly and use a designated driver.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Colorado Beer News 051713

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:47:00 +0000

Today is National Bike to Work Day. Leave that car at home, tune up that bicycle and pedal to work today. Everyone is encouraged to share the road and get some exercise and cut back on the use of fossil fuels. Riding a bike can be great fun. Consider biking over to your favorite restaurant, pub or brewery for a pint after work. Although consider having someone pick you and your bike up and take you home if you do. Here's what's happening around the Colorado beerosphere today Friday, May 17th, 2013.

Celebrate American Craft Beer Week - May 13-19 - Final 3 Days!

Metro Denver

Arvada Beer Co (Arvada) - ABC now has a Traditional Bock on tap. This is the beer that they brewed up as part of one of their brew classes. It's a 9% ABV 28 IBU Bock. Due to the limited supply, no growler fills of this beer will be made.

Falling Rock Tap House (Denver) - Sour Heads! Tonight, May 17th at 5:30pm, Falling Rock will be hosting "Night of the Sours". They'll pull out some great sour beers for ACBW including: Russian River Supplication, Russian River Sanctification, Russian River Consecration, Bruery Sour in the Rye, Dry Dock Ambassador, Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza and more. Then on Saturday, May 18th starting at 5:30pm it's "Night of the Barrel"! Barrel aged beers will be the nights focus with tappings like: Bruery White Oak, Deschustes Abyss (2010), Deschutes Black Butte XXIII (2011), Deschutes Stoic (2011), Dogfish Head Palo Santo, Lost Abbey Angel’s Share (2011???), North Coast Old Rasputin XV, Odell Bourbon Barrell Stout (2012), Port Older Viscosity (2011). Hit one or both nights!

Bull & Bush Brewery & Pub (Denver) - It's been 17 years in the making, but Bull & Bush are now in the process of bottling their Man Beer for the first time. They recently installed a new bottling line and are about to put their Colorado Style IPA into bottles with a bright orange label with big black letters. It took several iterations to come up with the right label design. (Picture credit - Carrie Saldo / KUNC)

Great Divide Brewing (Denver) - Today at noon Great Divide will put up a special beer in their tap room. Stop in for a taste of their Peach Grand Cru! And once that limited beer is gone they'll put up another surprise pilot beer, but you'll have to be there to find out what it will be!

Hops & Pie (Denver) - Plan to stop in at Hops & Pie on Friday June 7th for a special Firkin 1st Friday tapping of Stone Brewing Company's Stone Ruination IPA Cask. The cask will be filled with Amarillo & Chinook Hops to boost the IBU rating on this beer to close to a gazillion! It taps at 6pm on June 7th. Don't miss this treat!

Yak & Yeti (Arvada) - Today Yak & Yeti is tapping a Belgian Peach Whiskey Ale. It started out as a Belgian Blonde and was aged for several months in a Leopold Brothers Peach Whiskey barrel. This is one you'll want to try.

Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project (Denver) - Sour fans will want to get to Crooked Stave early for the 12 noon ROY-G-BIV Day celebration. They will debut the new Wild Wild Brett Violet - the last in the "rainbow" color releases in their Wild Wild Brett Series. There will be a limit of 6 375ml bottles per person. Then starting at 1pm they will open up limited pours of each of the other W.W.B. colors - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Indigo. Other brews like St. Bretta and Hop savant will also be on tap that day. Remember, get there early!

Big Choice Brewing (Broomfield) - Come by today as Big Choice will be tapping one keg of their Rail Slide Extra Pale Ale that's double dry-hopped with Amarillo! It's a hop worth seeking out.

Elk Mountain Brewing (Parker) - Today at 4pm Elk Mountain Brewing will tap their Whiskey Barrel Stout. Then on Saturday, 5/18 everyone is invited to join them in the back of the brewery to help brew a firkin that will be tapped on a later date. RSVP on their Facebook event sign up. Then stick around on Saturday for live music with your beer from Warren Floyd starting at 7pm.

Boulder County

Left Hand Brewing (Longmont) - This Saturday, May 18th from 5pm to 10pm is the first of three scheduled Summer Jam Concert Series performances at Left Hand Brewing. This Saturday, there will be 3 bands: Whitewater Ramble, Bonnie & The Clydes & Grant Farm. The concert starts at 5pm and runs til 10pm. Tickets are $15 and are available at Left Hand Brewing - 1265 Boston Avenue in Longmont, CO.

Avery Brewing (Boulder) - The 15th beer in their Barrel-Aged Series has been announced and this one will remind you of a Mounds candy bar. It's called "Momi Hiwa Barrel-Aged Coconut Porter". It's described as: "No. 15 Much like a certain fabled two-piece candy bar of our youth, rich, dark chocolate notes accented with aromatic toasted coconut. What would ad depth and character to this already delicious combo, we wondered? The answer is time (6 months) well spent in the very best rum barrels available." - This barrel-aged coconut porter was bottled on April 20th, 2013 and had only 362 cases produced. This big beer weighs in at an incredible 16.19% ABV. Stay tuned for a release date and availability. Also, at 5pm today Avery will release their Red Table Saison in the taproom.

Kettle & Stone Brewing Co (Boulder) - Boulder's upcoming brewery is getting very close to brewing their first batch of beer. They just took delivery of their first grain shipment. Brew day won't be too long now. Look for a June 2013 opening at 6880 Winchester Circle in Boulder, CO.

Northern Colorado

Grimm Brothers Brewhouse (Loveland) - There's a new beer tapping at Grimm Brothers today - "Willow Wren" an Erntebier. It's a low alcohol "harvest" beer weighing in at 3.9% ABV and 36 IBU. It's designed as an anytime table beer. Willow Wren has a distinct roast flavor with hints of chocolate and toffee. Also, Grimm Brothers will be pouring their Maiden's Kiss Maibock at West Flanders Brewing in Boulder tonight starting at 5pm. The first 20 pints get prizes - plus they are giving away a set of tickets to the Front Range Rally beer and food truck festival in Loveland that takes place on May 18th. Back at the Grimm Bros taproom tonight - live music from Christopher "Snowball" Smith starts at 6pm.

City Star Brewing (Berthoud) - The beers keep flowing for American Craft Beer Week. Enjoy a pint while listening to live music from Stave Manshel (veteran of Firefall) starting at 6:30pm.

Front Range Rally (Loveland) - One day left to get tickets for tomorrow's Front Range Rally beer & food truck festival at the Loveland Food Bank - 2600 N. Lincoln in Loveland, CO. 110 beers from 34 breweries, food trucks and 2 live bands from 3pm to 7pm. Visit www.frontrangerally.org for tickets.

KUNC Craft Beer Week Series (Greeley) - KUNC Radio (91.5 FM) closes out their week-long series on American Craft Beer Week today with a segment on the Art of Beer Labels. Check out the article and you can also listen to the recorded report via a link on their page. Interviews with members from Crooked Stave, Bull & Bush Brewery & Pub and CAUTION: Brewing Company were featured.

New Belgium (Ft. Collins) - New Belgium has come up with 4 short TV spots promoting their Fat Tire Amber Ale. You can find all four of them on YouTube. We'll preview one of them below. The others can be found at: 1-here, 2-here, 3-here, and 4-here.

Verboten Brewing (Loveland) - A new tapping for American Craft Beer Week! Stop in today for a taste of "Good Day to You" - a salted Caramel Chocolate Porter. It taps promptly at 3:00pm. This one will only be around for a short while and won't be made that often.

City Star Brewing (Berthoud) - Today between 5pm and 9pm, City Star Brewing will be the featured brewery at The Welsh Rabbit Cheese Shop in Ft. Collins during their Beer and Cheese pairing. City Star owners John and Whitney will be attending too.

Southern Front Range

Rocky Mountain Brewery (Colorado Springs) - According to the Boston Globe, Rocky Mountain Brewery will be one of two breweries that will be creating a special beer in honor of the fallen MIT police officer who died allegedly at the hands of the Boston Marathon bombers. This beer will be called "Collier Stout". The beer will cost $5.50 and $1 from each sale will go towards a memorial fund in memory of Sean Collier. This beer will be made in a limited run, around 2,000 pints.

Trinity Brewing (Colorado Springs) - There will be a Barrel room open house tonight at Trinity starting at 5:00pm. Check out their newly built barrel room and barrel tables. They will supply the hors 'doeuvres and some special tastings directly from the barrels.

Mountains and West

Steamworks Brewing (Durango) - The Original Joint Effort and 18th Annual Faceplant Ale Tapping Party is next Friday May 24th. Things kick off with the now infamous Unofficial bike regalia From Ska Brewing to Steamworks Brewing - meet out at Ska at 5pm or join up with the gang at the Durango Cyclery for an in-town "working stiffs" rally point around 5:30pm. Russell will host a skidding contest and Steamworks will tap the Faceplant Ale when the crew works their way to the brewpub. All those that participate will get a free commemorative glass and a free beer as well as a chance to win a ton of goodies including a chance at a sweet cruiser. Dj Ras Daws and Raplhsta will provide the hot licks.

Ska Brewing (Durango) - Celebrating American Craft Beer Week at Right Coast Pizza in Wheat Ridge, CO with a special beer tapping today at 6:00pm! A cask-conditioned lager- Mexican Logger with Mangos, Lemongrass, Habaneros & El Dorado Hops.
_____________________________________________________________________

Catch up on Colorado Beer News from earlier this week:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

View Colorado Brewery Maps
[ Boulder-Longmont Map ] [ Denver Area Map ] [ Northern Colorado Map ]
[ Southeast Colorado Map ] [ Northwest Brewery Map ] [ Southwest Colorado Map ]

CO Beer Dinners - Expand your palate! How about a beer dinner or pairing event? Lots of events are taking reservations now. Check out the Colorado Beer Dinner & Pairing Events listing.

Live Music - Beer and music go great together and many Colorado breweries and top watering holes offer live entertainment every day. Check out the Colorado Brewery Music Listings and find out who's playing at your favorite brewery or beer bar. Updated daily.

CO Beer Festivals - Looking for info on upcoming beer festivals or related events in Colorado? Check out the listings on the 2013 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Calendar. Updated daily.

Like us on Facebook - There's even more Colorado beer happenings and discussions on the Fermentedly Challenged Facebook Page. Find recaps, special offers, and tips that you won't find on the blog.

Colorado Beer News is published daily (Monday through Friday) with craft beer stories as they break from newsletters, emails and social media sites. This news is intended for audiences of legal drinking age (21+). If you'd like to subscribe to this daily by email, sign-up here. Please, always drink responsibly and use a designated driver.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Goose Island India Pale Ale review

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Fri, 17 May 2013 02:59:00 +0000

Yes, this is actually a beer review of a beer owned by AB InBev, well sorta. Back in 2011, Goose Island Beer Company of Chicago, Illinois had 58% of their company bought out by Anheuser-Busch InBev. Since that time, several Goose Island beers have been brewed at various AB-InBev plants across the USA. Fort Collins Colorado is one of them and also another in Baldwinsville, New York. I spied a single bottle of Goose Island India Pale Ale at my local beer store in Northern Colorado and was surprised to learn that this bottle wasn't brewed in Fort Collins, but actually from New York.

I looked it up, and the Fort Collins AB plant does indeed brew the Goose Island India Pale Ale and so does the Baldwinsville, NY plant. So then why would a New York bottle be located on a store shelf in Colorado? Hmm curious indeed. I noticed that this bottle had a "Bottled On Date" of November 18, 2012 and it says to enjoy within 180 days. This beer is being reviewed on the 178th day of that 180 day freshness period. So naturally, I wanted to see if this beer held its freshness for the last 6 months.

Goose Island India Pale Ale weighs in at 5.9% ABV and 55 IBU. Would a bottle that traveled all the way from New York and sitting in a beer cooler still be good? OK, call me a sucker for IPA's, but I had to find out. I'll solve the New York mystery later. For reporting purposes however, I have to call this a New York beer since it was bottled there. I grew up in Michigan and I've seen Goose Island beer around there for years, but has corporate life changed this beer? Well, one thing about this beer - it won a gold medal at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival in the English Style IPA category, so it must still be doing fairly well.

Appearance: Goose Island India Pale Ale (IPA) poured a medium copper gold color with a near white billowy head. The beer itself was modestly carbonated and poured with near perfect clarity into the glass. No sediment was visible. The foam created a nice white lacing that seemed to stick around well on the glass.

Aroma: Goose Island's IPA still had a some citrus (almost like lemons) and an earth and pine aroma, somewhat grass-like even after nearly 6 full months in the bottle. I've smelled bigger bouquets of hops in IPAs before, so perhaps age had dulled the hop nose a bit. Also in the background I could pick up some bready malts with a hint of sweetness. Had I been blindfolded, I might have had difficulty picking this out as an IPA, but perhaps a regular Pale Ale. Still, it was pleasant enough to warrant wanting to try it.

Taste: This IPA didn't have a sharp bitter beginning, rather a bitter sweet start followed by a slightly bigger bitter ending. This seemed like a chewy, resiny brew, yet I could tell that the hops had diminished in bitterness. It was still a clean tasting beer with no lingering after taste. I could pick up a hint of caramelized malts in this brew as well. The beer was easy enough to drink and I had no problem finishing the entire 12oz bottle in less than 15 minutes.

Overall: It's always a good idea to check for an expiration date or bottled on date when you select a hoppy beer. Hops aren't meant to be cellared very long, if at all. IPA's are best tasted fresh. While I could see some quality in this beer, I think I would have liked it better if it had been just a month or less old. I can't help but wonder why a bottle from New York was shipped all the way out to Colorado when the Bud plant here in Fort Collins makes the very same beer. Hmmm, is a puzzlement. Perhaps the Fort Collins plant is mis-labeling their beer with label stock from New York.

As for recommending this beer, yes, it was still decent, just not as fresh. I'll have to try a fresher bottle next time. I need to speak with my liquor store owner about the source of this beer. No wonder it was in the singles section - the 6 month old 6-pack wasn't selling fast enough apparently. I think in the future, I'll stick to drinking Goose Island's Bourbon County Stouts instead - I absolutely love those.

Disclosure: I paid full retail price for this beer at my local liquor store. I got this beer as a single in a build-your-own 6-pack section.

Related articles:
- Goose Island Christmas Ale 2009 review.
- Goose Island 2008 Bourbon County Stout review. (2009 review)
- Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA review.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Colorado Beer News 051613

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:32:00 +0000

Today is Love a Tree Day. Yes, it's the original tree hugger holiday where people should remember to take care of the trees in their community and protect them. Some go as far as hugging their trees, but we'll leave that decision up to you. Celebrate trees and nature today and take some time today to maintain the trees around your neighborhood. Here's what's happening around the Colorado beerosphere today Thursday, May 16th, 2013.

American Craft Beer Week Continues! #ACBW - May 13-19, 2013
Nationwide toast at 6:00pm Mountain Time - many locations.

Metro Denver

Lone Tree Brewing (Lone Tree) - It's Terrific Thursday! 5776' English IPA is their tap of the day, plus Wingin' It will be there later on. Come down and test your skills with Trivia night. Two rounds, one at 6pm and 7pm , winner of each round will get a growler of their choice! The Josh's will be here to serve you beer and entertainment!

Mountain Toad Brewing (Golden) - It's official! On Saturday May 25th at noon - Mountain Toad Brewing will have their official Grand Opening in Golden, Colorado. The construction is finally done, the permits are all in and it's time to open their doors. The brewery is located at 900 Washington Avenue in Golden (corner of 9th Street and Washington). After the opening, their official business hours will be: 2pm-9pm Tuesday - Thursday, 12pm - 10pm Friday - Saturday, and 12pm - 8pm on Sunday. Beers they have planned are: Apex Amber (6.6% ABV), White Ranch Wit (6.5% ABV), Mt Zion IPA (6.9% ABV 75 IBU), and Ryrish Stout (5.9% ABV). Mountain Toad brews off a 10 BBV brewhouse and a 1 BBL pilot system. Expect up to 8 beers on tap including some rotating seasonal / experimental brews soon. Visit them on the web: mountaintoadbrewing.com.

Strange Brewing Co (Denver) - Tomorrow, May 17th marks the first ever bottle release for Strange Brewing. They've bottled up 1,000 22oz bottles of their Dr. Strangelove barleywine-style ale. This beer won a bronze medal at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival. Stop by the taproom to buy a bottle or two. At 11.5% ABV it should cellar well also. But why wait?

CAUTION: Brewing Company (Denver) - It's their first anniversary of their taproom this Saturday. Stop in starting at 11:00am for a CAUTION 1st Anniversary Party. There will be plenty of great beer, food, events (big wheel races) and even a band. American Craft Beer Radio will be doing a remote from 12pm to 1pm - stop in and say hi to Gary V and his radio gang. The party will run until 8:00pm(ish). "It's gonna be epic".

Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project (Denver) - This Sunday is ROY-G-BIV Day at Crooked Stave. Crooked Stave is hosting a bottle release for their Wild Wild Brett Violet on May 19th. In order to celebrate the completion of their Wild Wild Brett Series and bottle release for Wild Wild Brett Violet, Crooked Stave will be hosting a ROY-G-BIV Day. (aka Rainbow Day) The bottle release of Wild Wild Brett Violet will START at 12:00pm and last until the bottles are sold out. Also, there will be a 6 BOTTLE LIMIT for Wild Wild Brett Violet. Beginning at 1:00pm they will tap limited offerings of ALL the colors of the Wild Wild Brett Series every half hour: Rouge, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue & Indigo. Violet, St. Bretta and Hop Savant will be on tap all day. 21+ only event. Event is rain or shine. More info & tickets on the website.

Boulder County

Left Hand Brewing (Longmont) - It's back! Left Hand Brewing is reviving their old recipe from 4 years ago. St. Vrain Tripel Ale is back for the summer in 22oz bottles and in kegs. It's been since 2009 that they last released this beer. Look for it soon on tap and at your favorite store.

Avery Brewing (Boulder) - Today at 5:00pm is the official release of Avery Twenty XX India Pale Ale. It's their official 20th anniversary beer. Meet up at 5pm at their tap room for the 20th anniversary celebration. There will be live music playing there as well. This is billed to be one of their hoppiest beers to date! Grats on 20 years Avery! Looking forward to the next 20.

Boulder Beer Co (Boulder) - This Saturday, May 18th is the 2nd annual Innovation Celebration at Boulder Beer Co. It's the cap off of their American Craft Beer Week festivities. They're taking over their own bar and putting up a selection of rare Boulder beers that include some one-of-a-kind small batch brews from their pilot system. Love music on the patio from 5-8pm from Pro-Leisure. VIP admission at 11am ($30) and include breakfast, tasting glass and 16 4oz tasters, otherwise everyone else starts up at 12 noon. Come see what rare selections Boulder Beer has on tap.

J Wells Brewery (Boulder) - It's Thursday and they are open early with lots of beer. Today they've got several beers on tap including: Jamie's Pale, Hop Haze, Jamie's Best (best bitter), J Wells' Chocolate Milk Stout, Gitana Brown Ale, and Lights Out Stout.

Northern Colorado

Equinox Brewing (Ft. Collins) - Do you love Snickerdoodles? Then perhaps you'll be interested in trying a special firkin beer called Snickerdoodle O'rion Irish Red Ale at Equinox Brewing today. They're tapping it at noon just for you.

Black Bottle Brewery (Ft. Collins) - Tonight at 6:00pm, Black Bottle will be hosting a special Collaborative Beer Dinner with 4 other breweries. Enjoy 5 courses and 5 beers. You'll get 1 beer from each of the following breweries: Stone Brewing, Left Hand Brewing, Clown Shoes Brewing, Boulevard Brewing and Black Bottle. The cost is $35 plus tax and tip. Call or stop by the brewery to reserve your seat. View the official event on Facebook for menu and details.

Front Range Rally (Loveland) - 34 confirmed breweries, over 110 beers and lots of food and live music. Loveland is ready to party outside at the Loveland Food Bank on North Lincoln. Get tickets online at www.frontrangerally.org or at the gate. Tickets with or without food are available as well as designated driver tickets. 21+ only event (exception 18+ designated driver and kids under 5 with parent). The fest runs from 3pm to 7pm rain or shine.

Pateros Creek Brewing (Ft. Collins) - Today's Outlaw tap is a unique one - Lazy Lavender Lounger - a porter with lavender and orange. A good one for sipping out on the patio.

Southern Front Range

Phantom Canyon Brewing (Colorado Springs) - New beer alert! Stop in and try their Kakapo - New Zealand Pale Ale. It's a hop-forward pale ale with peppery and light citrus aromatic notes from New Zealand grown Pacific Jade hops. Light malt flavors and substantial bitterness blend with mineral dryness leaving a crisp dry finish. 4.8% ABV. Named after a ground-dwelling parrot that lived on the isolated landmass of New Zealand for thousands of years, the kakapo evolved into one of the world's most remarkable birds.

Mountains and West

Elevation Beer Co (Poncha Springs) - This weekend during May 18th - 19th, Elevation Beer Company is hosting their First Anniversary Party at their taproom. They've put out a big beer list just for the occasion. In the tasting room they'll be pouring: 8 Second Kolsch, First Cast IPA, Little Mo' Nitro Porter, 7437 Double IPA, Quadrupel, Third Base Trippel and False Summit Quadrupel aged in Bourbon Barrels. Plus 2 rotating taps including Brown's Canyon India Brown Ale, and Prostator Smoked Doppelbock. But that's not all, outside on the Draught Truck they'll also pouring Senorita Horchata Imperial Porter, Apis IV Quadrupel, APis IV aged in Cabernet Barrels, and Oil Man Imperial Stout along with some beers from inside. Green & Blue series beers are just $3 and Black and Double Black Diamond series beers are $6. Plus they'll have some limited edition stainless steel pint glasses available for $5. Stop in and join the celebration!

Grand Valley Beer Festival (Grand Junction) - This Saturday in the University Center Ballroom on the Colorado Mesa University campus will be the 3rd Annual Grand Valley Beer Festival. 150 different beers from 31+ breweries all in one place. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Come thirsty! The fest runs from 1pm to 5pm. Live music from Zolopht and the Destroyers. Get tickets at Fisher's Liquor Barn or Kannah Creek Brewing Company. Info: www.grandvalleybeerfestival.com.

Snowmass Mammoth Festival (Snowmass Village) - Remember the Chili Brew Fest? Well this year's it's become something much bigger - the Snowmass Mammoth Festival. Even more breweries and more music and of course lots of Chili! It's happening the weekend of June 7-8, 2013. Tickets and info at: www.snowmassmammothfest.com.
_____________________________________________________________________

Catch up on Colorado Beer News from earlier this week:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday

View Colorado Brewery Maps
[ Boulder-Longmont Map ] [ Denver Area Map ] [ Northern Colorado Map ]
[ Southeast Colorado Map ] [ Northwest Brewery Map ] [ Southwest Colorado Map ]

CO Beer Dinners - Expand your palate! How about a beer dinner or pairing event? Lots of events are taking reservations now. Check out the Colorado Beer Dinner & Pairing Events listing.

Live Music - Beer and music go great together and many Colorado breweries and top watering holes offer live entertainment every day. Check out the Colorado Brewery Music Listings and find out who's playing at your favorite brewery or beer bar. Updated daily.

CO Beer Festivals - Looking for info on upcoming beer festivals or related events in Colorado? Check out the listings on the 2013 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Calendar. Updated daily.

Like us on Facebook - There's even more Colorado beer happenings and discussions on the Fermentedly Challenged Facebook Page. Find recaps, special offers, and tips that you won't find on the blog.

Colorado Beer News is published daily (Monday through Friday) with craft beer stories as they break from newsletters, emails and social media sites. This news is intended for audiences of legal drinking age (21+). If you'd like to subscribe to this daily by email, sign-up here. Please, always drink responsibly and use a designated driver.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Left Hand revives St. Vrain Tripel for summer

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:24:00 +0000

It's like an old friend returning from a very long trip. Left Hand Brewing of Longmont, Colorado announced today that they are bringing back their St. Vrain Tripel after a long hiatus. Read their press release below for all the details of this summertime release.

[PRESS RELEASE] (LONGMONT, CO) – The revival of St. Vrain has come! For the first time in over 4 years, Left Hand’s Belgian Tripel is back for summer 2013! Named for the local river running alongside the brewery, St. Vrain is a true to style Belgian Tripel, light in color with a touch of Celelia hops and malt sweetness. But don’t be fooled… what at first appears benevolent can manifest into a mighty serpent in waiting. Further sips, reveal the warm spiciness and intoxicating nature hidden within. Things are not always what they seem.

The beer pours a brilliant gold with aromas of tropical fruit, spicy pepper, and bubble gum. Bottle conditioned for a truly monastic feel, St. Vrain bubbles effervescently with a fluffy white head. First sips open with light malt and a honey-like sweetness tempered by mint and peppery flavors, transitioning to herbal hoppy notes and a slightly nutty finish redolent of chestnuts. The finish is warming and dry, with a slight lingering bitterness.

Since the beer’s last release in 2009, the 2013 edition of St. Vrain features a label redesign in line with the rest of Left Hand portfolio. Playing off the drinkable yet deceitful high alcohol nature of the Belgian Tripel, the label brings to life the classic theme of good vs. evil. The St. Vrain river alongside the brewery is illustrated, as well as the face of Ceran St. Vrain himself – a regional 17th Century fur trader. Available in of Left Hand’s 27 state distribution, St. Vrain will be packaged in 22 oz bottles and kegs.

###

Related articles:
- Left Hand brewing continues tremendous growth spurt.
- Left Hand Twin Sisters Double IPA review.
- Left Hand Fade to Black Volume 4 review. (2012)

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Telluride Face Down Brown Ale review

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:18:00 +0000

Brown ales are supposed to be non-exciting, at least that's what most people are led to believe. Not so when you consider today's beer review. Telluride Brewing Company recently won multiple awards for one of its beers - Telluride Face Down Brown Ale. This beer took home gold in both the 2012 World Beer Cup and at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival in the American Style Brown Ale category.

What also makes this brown ale special is that it was brewed in a tiny mountain town of Telluride, Colorado and distributed in cans. Just last January (2013), Telluride Brewing struck a distribution deal that now brings Face Down Brown Ale and others of its label to the Front Range area of Colorado. Previously, folks along the Eastern Slope could only get a taste of this beer at beer festivals or in Western Colorado. I was pleased to find a single can of this in a singles section at my local beer store.

Telluride Brewing has only been around for less than two years. They opened in October of 2011. Now they make around 12 different beers, but only a couple of which are now in cans. Face Down Brown is a year round beer that weighs in at 5.7%. it's described as a hybrid of an English and American style Brown that has tones of chocolate, toffee and nut flavors. It's bittered with Magnum, Tettanger CTZ and Cascade hops. For far, it's their only gold medal winning beer and it's won two of them.

Appearance: Face Down Brown came out of the can ready for business. The color reminded me of a cola, brown with mahogany highlights. This beer easily built up a big tall tan head with just a bit of an aggressive pour. The foam stuck well to the sides of the glass - just a wonderful lacing. The beer was nearly dark enough to hide the other side of the glass, but around the bottom and sides of the glass I could almost see through it. It turned out a bit darker than most brown ales.

Aroma: A ha! The aroma, right off the bat, told me why this beer won medals. It's the best brown ale aroma I've known. There was a rich chocolate and toffee aroma here. It certainly lived up to the brewer's description there. This is an aroma I look for in a chocolate stout as well. It's bold, with a sweet roasted malt scent and with a nutty character as well. Most browns I've had are pretty bland in this department, but Telluride spent some extra time with the aroma here. Simply wonderful and inviting. I got a hint of citrus and spice from the hops as well.

Taste: Face Down Brown had a medium body rich with bit of a bite from the bitterness at the end of the sip. This beer had a heavier feel than other brown ales, and that's a good thing. There was plenty of roasted malts here that reminded me of coffee, bitter chocolate and a big malt flavor. The malts were not sweet as the aroma might have indicated, at least not at first. The beer does change a bit as it warms and more of the sweetness came through later on. This was a roasty and bitter brew with lots of flavor. I could almost taste the Cascade hops in the flavor here too. The Cascade hops really come out of hiding after the first several sips and as the beer warmed up a bit.

This beer may well be a Brown ale through and through, but what I found funny was when I exhaled through my nose after a big sip, it reminded me of an IPA. One might even call this a Brown IPA although it falls short of the bitterness and hop nose of an IPA. The malts definitely still shined brightly here, but the hops manage to dig their way to the top on the back side.

Overall: Telluride's Face Down Brown Ale was quite the surprise. The aroma really sold me on this beer and the taste surprised me due to its complexity, bitter taste and quality. If you aren't a big fan of brown ales then you may not have tried the right one. Get this and compare it to other browns you've had and this one will sell you on what a Brown ale should taste like. I would definitely agree with the Gold medals. This beer is one of the better Brown ales.

Disclosure: I paid full retail price for this beer at my local liquor store as part of a build your own six pack deal.

Related articles:
- Telluride Brewing bringing its beers to Denver.
- Telluride Brewing Company opens for business. (Oct. 2011)
- Upslope Brown Ale review.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Colorado Beer News 051513

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:29:00 +0000

Today is National Chocolate Chip Day. Want to spice up your life today? Why not add some chocolate chips to your day! Add some to your favorite dessert, over ice cream or perhaps simply pair some with a pint of rich creamy stout. A bit of chocolate today will help you get over the hump. Here's what's happening around the Colorado beerosphere today Wednesday, May 15th, 2013.

Happy American Craft Beer Week! #ACBW (May 13-19)

Metro Denver

Hops & Pie (Denver) - How do you celebrate American Craft Beer Week today? With $2 Craft Cans tonight from 5pm to close.

Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project (Denver) - Crooked Stave fans in Fort Collins! Go join Kyle at Tap n Handle in FoCo tonight at 6pm for a Crooked Stave mini tap-takeover. He will be pouring St. Bretta - Spring, Vieille Artisanal Saison, and their recently packaged Hop Savant dry hopped with experimental hop 344! The first 6 people to order all three receive a Crooked Stave logo tulip glass! He'll also be giving out stickers, smiles and high fives all night!

Denver Beer Co (Denver) - Don't Forget! Join Denver Beer Company this Friday, May 17th for their Spring Beer Dinner in their Barrel Room. Details and tickets at the taproom!

The Brew on Broadway (Englewood) - Englewood's newest brewery is opening very soon! They plan to start brewing their first batches any day now. They will announce their official opening day at that time. Their beautiful wood floors are just waiting for you!

Boulder County

Burning Can (Lyons) - This year's Burning Can festival takes place on Saturday, June 1st at Bohn Park in Lyons, CO and featured ONLY canned craft beer. Festival hours are 4-7pm for General admission and 3-7pm for VIP. Tickets are available now at: www.burningcan.com. Burning Can takes place during the Lyons Outdoor Games which run from May 31st through June 2nd. Over 3 dozen canning breweries are expected to participate.

Twisted Pine (Boulder) - Tomorrow, Thursday, May 16th - Twisted Pine will be hosting a Nationwide Toast for American Craft Beer Week at 6pm Mountain time. Join in for a FREE sampler toast.

Upslope Brewing (Boulder) - This Friday evening (May 17th) at 7pm, Upslope will be host to the Boulder Premiere of the documentary film "Crafting A Nation" at their new Flatiron Park location (not the Lee Hill one). This is a follow up film to "Beer Culture" and takes a look at the national craft beer scene. Tickets are available on Eventbrite for this 95 minute film. Tickets are also available in the tap room. Have a brew and watch a great craft beer movie.

FATE Brewing (Boulder) - FATE Brewing Company will release eleven of its twelve collaboration beers on Sunday, May 19th, 2013, just in time to toast American Craft Beer Week. Head brewer, Jeff Griffith, teamed up with many Boulder County breweries to stack hands on a variety of unique recipes. FATE will be offering the following collaboration brews: Echo Brewing Company (Eisbock), Crystal Springs Brewing Company (Wee Heavy Scotch Ale), Asher Brewing Company (100% Organic Cocoa Punk'n Porter), Wild Woods Brewing Company (Eastside Extra Pale Ale), Shine Restaurant and Gathering Place (Let Your Fate Shine Imperial IPA), Boulder Beer (English Brown Mild), Twisted Pine Brewing Company (Twist of FATE Rye Brown Ale), Mountain Sun/Southern Sun Pub & Brewery (Cherry FATE, Chocolate Cherry Foreign Stout), Big Choice Brewing Company (Biere de Garde), Lone Tree Brewing Company (Schwarzbier), Bru Handbuilt Ales and Eats (Trippel), and Twelve Degree Brewing (Hommelbier).

Northern Colorado

Patrick's Irish Pub (Greeley) - Starting tonight you can get some wood fired pizzas from Peach Pit Pizza right outside of Patrick's Irish Pub. Every Wednesday at 5pm the Peace Pit truck will be parked out front with food to pair with the 31+ taps at Patrick's. Plus, tonight is Open Mic night starting at 9:30pm. Come share your talent.

High Hops Brewery (Windsor) - Today's Wednesday (Humpday) Firkin is a Lemon Ginger Honey ale. It's the perfect drink for sitting on the patio and watching the Spring sunset. it taps at 5pm.

Black Bottle Brewery (Ft. Collins) - Just tapped today! Stop in for taste of their Sour Diesel - it's a sour porter that was brewed with Black Berries and aged in Maker's Mark barrels. It's a 6.3% sour wonder just for American Craft Beer Week!

Mayor of Old Town (Ft. Collins) - Join Funkwerks co-founder Brad Lincoln at The Mayor of Old Town tonight (May 15th) from 6pm-9pm for their Keeping it Classy cigar and pipe smoking night featuring our collaboration Belgian-style Dubbel, Son of Nothing! Remember, it's American Craft Beer Week-- so go enjoy some craft beer!

Front Range Rally (Loveland) In 3 days (May 18th 3-7pm) over 32 breweries and nearly 15 food truck will gather outside at the Loveland Food Bank for a festival benefiting Food Bank of Larimer County. Tickets are still available at www.frontrangerally.org. The beer list has been released and there will be some special beers included in the line-up that you won't want to miss. Come hungry as there will be plenty of food available to fill you up. Click the image to get the full beer menu. Also expecting beers from Crabtree, Boulder Beer and Wynkoop to be added soon. Attendees will be given a beer list at the gate.

Loveland Aleworks (Loveland) - What's coming down the pipelines at Loveland Aleworks? Just today they brewed up some Zach's Imperial IPA and are starting on a Black IPA. Look for these batches soon to be on tap!

Grimm Brothers Brewhouse (Loveland) - If today is Wednesday, then it must be Open Mic Night! Bring your talent to the taproom and earn a free pint. The show starts at 6:00pm, but the beers will be flowing all night til close. Also, tonight at the new Alama Drafthouse Cinema in Littleton, join Grimm Brothers for brewers night followed by a Star Trek Double Feature that ends with a showing of the new film "Star Trek Into Darkness". Get there by 5:30pm!

Odell Brewing and New Belgium (Ft. Collins) - This Sunday May 19th, test drive an electric vehicle at New Belgium Brewing with Drive Electric Northern Colorado from 12n-4p and you will receive a free pint of "Plug In Pale Ale" at Odell Brewing Co! Those who test drive will also get a chance to win a New Belgium Cruiser Bike. The 1st 100 test drivers will receive a New Belgium gift card. Test drivers will get to drive from New Belgium over to Odell Brewing. Just be sure not to drink then drive. Test drive first! More info at: driveelectricnoco.org
_____________________________________________________________________

Catch up on Colorado Beer News from earlier this week:
Monday | Tuesday

CO Beer Festivals - Looking for info on upcoming beer festivals or related events in Colorado? Check out the listings on the 2013 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Calendar. Updated daily.

View Colorado Brewery Maps
[ Boulder-Longmont Map ] [ Denver Area Map ] [ Northern Colorado Map ]
[ Southeast Colorado Map ] [ Northwest Brewery Map ] [ Southwest Colorado Map ]

CO Beer Dinners - Expand your palate! How about a beer dinner or pairing event? Lots of events are taking reservations now. Check out the Colorado Beer Dinner & Pairing Events listing.

Live Music - Beer and music go great together and many Colorado breweries and watering holes offer live entertainment every day. Check out the Colorado Brewery Music Listings and find who's playing at your favorite brewery or beer bar. Updated daily.

Like us on Facebook - There's even more Colorado beer happenings and discussions on the Fermentedly Challenged Facebook Page. Find recaps, special offers, and tips that you won't find on the blog. "Like" us and get even more soon after it happens. Thanks for helping us grow to over 1700+ "Likes" in 2013!

Colorado Beer News is published daily (Monday through Friday) with craft beer stories as they break from newsletters, emails and social media sites. Stop back here often for all the latest. This news is intended for audiences of legal drinking age (21+). If you'd like to subscribe to this daily by email, sign-up here. Please, always drink responsibly and use a designated driver.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Crooked Stave L'Brett d'Or 2012 review

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Wed, 15 May 2013 02:27:00 +0000

There's nothing to compare to trying a limited release oak aged sour ale after stashing it away for many months. Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project put out a series of Cellar Reserve Membership beers in 2012. One such beer is their Crooked Stave L'Brett d'Or - a dry hopped surreal golden sour ale aged in oak barrels. The beer saw limited tap time in 2012 and was also put into several hundred 375 green wax topped bottles for the Cellar Reserve membership.

I had jumped on the opportunity to get into the 2012 Cellar Reserve Membership and waited until 2013 to pick up the bulk of my purchase. So here in 2013, this beer has had a chance to age a bit further and was to be a treat for this evening. I haven't previously tried this beer before, but seeing how I am a huge fan of beers made with Brettanomyces I was eager to open this bottle up.

L'Brett d'Or weighs in at a respectable 7.0% ABV. Each year, Crooked Stave plans to release another version of L'Brett d'Or only do something a bit differently with it each year. This brew falls into the Sour Ale / Wild Ale category. I expect to get some funky sourness out of this beer. What I don't know is, how the extra time will affect the overall taste. I expect the dry hopped bitterness to be calmed a bit after an additional 6 months in the bottle. Let's find out.

Appearance: L'Brett d'Or poured a very cloudy medium golden orange color with a modest 1-finger tall foamy white head. While I didn't see any chunky particles in this beer, there was some noticeable murky yeast that came out of the bottle. The head left a slight lacing, but what little there was of it slid off very quickly and did not stick to the glass. The beer opened with a slight hiss and seemed to be slightly carbonated.

Aroma: Brett and oak! Oh my yes! There is an unmistakable aroma of Brettanomyces. That and the tell tale traces of oak barrel in the nose. This funky beer had a slightly sweet scent about it, but I couldn't really pick up much of the dry hops. The months had mellowed the hops and a bit of fruit came out from underneath. The brew had an acidic tinge that I've come to enjoy.

Taste: At last my love I have found you! This beer is on the sweet yet highly tart side. The funk and the oak tones come through along with some sweet fruits. There is an acidic bite on the back end with a hint of vinegar and with a clean, yet tart finish. While there was some bitterness about this beer, the sweet tangy malt taste dominated.

On the sour pucker scale: 1 being tame and 10 being ultimate pucker power - I'd give this beer an 8.5. This is one sour treat that I wish I had a whole keg of. Don't let the cloudiness fool you. This is a clean tasting sour with plenty of taste. The oak barrel gave this beer some earthy character with a hint of herb (probably from the hops).

Overall: For me, this beer is close to perfection for this sour head. It's got all the major sour tartness and a sharp bite on the end. Just right for a special night of bottle sharing. Since there was only a bit over 12oz of this I recommend you savor this one slowly as it will all too quickly want to disappear. If you get a chance to trade for a bottle of this DO IT! Give up one of your good bottles for this beer. It's worth it.

A big thumbs up to Chad Yakobson and his staff for creating one excellent sour. So far, it's one of my all-time favorite sour beers. I'm going to have to re-join the Cellar Membership in 2014 to try to get more of this one. Worth every dollar I spent on this beer.

Disclosure: I got this bottle as part of a paid annual Cellar Reserve Membership package. I paid for the membership myself.

Related articles:
- Crooked Stave to host ROY-G-BIV Day May 19th. (2013)
- Crooked Stave Sentience Wild Quadrupel Cognac Barrel review.
- A visual tour of Crooked Stave Barrel Cellar. (2013)

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Twisted Pine Cultivates Cucumber Cream Ale

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:43:00 +0000

How do you make a truly unique Colorado craft beer? Put a bunch of cucumber in it! Twisted Pine today releases a new Cucumber Cream Ale that's bound to get some interesting looks from fans. This beer comes on the heals of last year's Carrot IPA. There's fresh Colorado ingredients being used here. Check out their press release below for the scoop on this unusual beer release.

Newest installment in Farm to Foam® series released May 14th

[PRESS RELEASE] Boulder, Colorado – May 14th 2013 – Fans of Twisted Pine Brewing Company will soon find a super-refreshing new way to cool off in the early summer sun as the brewery releases their Cucumber Cream Ale, the second offering from its popular Farm to Foam series. The beer, made with over 300 lbs of Colorado cucumbers, will be available May 14th.

Twisted Pine began the Farm to Foam series last year as “a tribute to the sustainable spirit of Colorado.” With that goal in mind, the brewers source all ingredients for each beer in-state. The latest recipe utilizes malted barley and wheat from Colorado Malting Company in Alamosa, Crystal hops from Misty Mountain Hop Farm in Olathe, and English cucumbers (clipped from their vines just a day or two prior to use) from 2 R’s Farm in Platteville.

Lead brewer Henry Jager explains that the decision to use only Colorado-grown ingredients, while restrictive in a sense, opens the door to new avenues of creativity in recipe-writing. “Our options for local grain and hop varieties are certainly limited, but there are so many other plants that grow well here and, if you open your mind a little and are willing to get a little weird, the possibilities for great beers are pretty vast.”

Cucumber Cream Ale sits in the glass a slightly hazed, sunglow yellow topped with a head the color and consistency of freshly whipped cream. The beer breathes out the aroma of garden-fresh cucumbers fringed with subtle esters from the yeast just before the fruit (yes, cucumber is a fruit, Look it up!) pops on the tongue with a soft, cooling effect. Malt and hop flavors are intentionally subdued, making Twisted Pine’s newest Farm to Foam beer the perfect type of light and refreshing beverage to quench one’s thirst after a long day spent in the sun… perhaps gardening.

Cucumber Cream Ale will be available in limited amounts on draft and in wax-dipped 750ml bottles throughout Colorado and a select few other states. More details can be found at twistedpinebrewing.com. And keep an eye out later this summer as Twisted Pine plans to reprise last year’s Roots Revival, the carrot IPA that kicked off the Farm to Foam series.

About Twisted Pine Brewing Company
Based in Boulder, Colorado, Twisted Pine Brewing Company has been hand-crafting quality ales since 1995. In addition to such favorites as Hoppy Boy IPA, Raspberry Wheat Ale and Billy’s Chilies, the brewery has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of style guidelines with such creations as Big Shot Espresso Stout, Northstar Imperial Porter and Ghost Face Killah. Twisted Pine is actively involved with local charitable organizations and is a staunch advocate of sustainable business practices. For more information, visit www.twistedpinebrewing.com.

Related articles:
- Twisted Pine La Petite Saison review.
- More articles about Saisons.
- Twisted Pine Raspberry Wheat Ale review.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Colorado Beer News 051413

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:56:00 +0000

Today is Underground America Day. While the vast majority of Americans live above ground, there are a growing number who live below ground. Today is a day to choose to do something underground like: ride a subway, explore a cave, visit some catacombs, explore an underground crypt. Sound creepy? It can be, however it can be a simple as enjoying some time in a basement man-cave. Being underground doesn't have to be dark or uncomfortable experience. Here's what's happening around the Colorado beerosphere today Tuesday, May 14th, 2013.

Celebrate American Craft Beer Week! May 13-19, 2013. #ACBW

Metro Denver

Rock Bottom Brewery (Denver) - On Wednesday, May 15th at 6pm, Rock Bottom will tap "Snake Spit", a Black India Ale and for the 1st 30 minutes, those of legal drinking age can get a free pint of it up until 6:30pm. Then on Thursday, stop in for Beer & Cheese from 6pm to 7:30pm. They're offering up four 6oz beers paired with a variety of cheeses for $10. Then mark your calendars fro Wednesday, May 29th for the tapping of "Fools Gold, Belgian Ale" at 6pm. Again, a free pint offer for the first 30 minutes until 6:30pm.

Copper Kettle Brewing (Denver) - It's Saison Cask Month! This Wednesday's cask is a tangy Mango Saison. They'll be tapping this cask from 3pm to 9pm. Stop in for a taste of this special creation.

Big Choice Brewing (Broomfield) - For ACBW, Big Choice is on the road up in Longmont tonight at the new CHUBurger restaurant at 6:00pm. There they will be helping to tap a big keg of their Hemlock Double IPA. If you buy a 16oz Big Choice beer you'll get a free 16oz Big Choice pint glass to take home with you. Plus this will be a great chance to experience the food at the new CHUBurger as well.

Freshcraft (Denver) - Freshcraft is hosting a week-long celebration of American's definitive craft beer style - the IPA! Well OK, the British invented it first, but America made it better! They're turning over all their taps to dedicate to IPAs from all over the country. There will also be tappings each evening during #ACBW at 7pm of special IPAs too. The list will be awesome.

Boulder County

Twisted Pine Brewing (Boulder) - Today Twisted Pine releases their new Cucumber Cream Ale as part of their Farm to Foam Colorado program. That beer was made using a boatload of cucumbers. Tagging along with this release is an additional release of their Carrot IPA. Both use locally-sourced ingredients. Also, for Wednesday, if you ride your bike to the taproom and show the staff your bike helmet - you'll be given your first pint on them!

FATE Brewing Company (Boulder) - Hey Denver! For the first time tomorrow, Wednesday May 15th, a FATE Brewing Beer will be on tap in Denver. They've brought over a keg of their newly release Cascadian Dark Ale over to Lucky Pie Pizza in Denver and now Denverites can start enjoying FATE brew without the trek to Boulder. Also for #ACBW, World of Beer in Glendale, CO is hosting a Colorado Nano Tap Takeover and FATE's Kolsch Style Ale, IPA and Cascadian Dark Ale will be featured on tap.

Oskar Blues (Longmont) - Stop down to the Tasty Weasel Taproom for Tasty Tuesday today. They are going to tap a Cherry Chub on draft and you'll want to get some. It's that same great Old Chub infused with cherries!

Northern Colorado

Front Range Rally (Loveland) - This Saturday, May 18th from 3pm to 7pm - don't wait in line for tickets to the Front Range Rally beer & food truck festival - purchase your tickets online today. The festival is just 4 days away. There will be over 100 different beers to sample and a variety of great food trucks on hand to satisfy your noms. This festival is located outside at the Loveland Food Bank at 2600 N. Lincoln in Loveland, just off of Hwy 287. Proceeds from this festival go to Food Bank of Larimer County and will help to feed those in need in Northern Colorado.

High Hops Brewery (Windsor) - Just in time for American Craft Beer Week, High Hops is putting out several new beers on tap just for the occasion. On Wednesday, May 15th at 5pm they'll tap a Lemon Ginger Honey Red. On Thursday, May 16th, stop in for a taste of their Chernobley - a cherry edition of their Noble Belgian quad. And then on Saturday, May 18th feel the sweet heat from their Habanero Honey. Three uniquely different brews! Live music on Friday 6pm and Saturday 5pm. Now open at Noon every day of the week! Play Northern Colorado Brewery Bingo and get your card stamped on select beers.

Echo Brewing (Frederick) is a custom sponsor for a community bike ride that will take place in Frederick this summer. The 1st annual Tour de Flight will take place June 22, 2013 in conjunction with Frederick in Flight. The ride will begin at 4:30 p.m. and will end at Crist Park in Downtown Frederick. Everyone can enjoy the evening Frederick in Flight balloon glow festivities after the ride including kids activities, food, a beer garden (with Echo Brewing beer), chainsaw woodcarving contest, live music and hot air balloons lighting the night sky. The route is a ten-mile primarily off-street loop appropriate for most ages and skill levels, that will utilize the existing trail system through several Frederick neighborhoods. Traffic control and route signage will be provided. Join them for a great ride followed by a fun night! Registration is now available at www.regonline.com/tourdeflight. Individuals and groups that register by May 31st will receive an event t-shirt!

The Fort Collins Brewery (Ft. Collins) - The brewery is putting out three new beers on tap in the Tasting Room this week as part of their American Craft Beer Week celebration. Weizenbock, part of the limited release Tap Club series, combines the rich flavors of a dunkelweizen (dark fruit, wheat, banana, clove, and chocolate, to name a few) with the strength and body of a bock. Happy Pils, another member of the Tap Club series, is a continental Pils that is light and slightly sweet on the tongue and finishes with refreshing dryness without being overly bitter. Perfect for the warm days of early summer. And finally is FCB’s contribution to the Collusion Project in which all breweries in the City of Fort Collins took part to celebrate American Craft Beer Week. All breweries started out with same malt bill and collaborated with two other breweries to select the yeast, hops, and additional malts. FCB’s version, created with the help of Black Bottle Brewery and Coopersmith’s, features Apple wood and Cherry wood smoked malts to add just a hint of smoke and was aged on French Oak chips to add a black tea spice flavor.

Pateros Creek Brewing Co (Ft. Collins) - PCBC is teaming up with PreGame CornHole to bring you a summer bags/cornhole league. They'll be running the league and Pateros Creek will be bringing you drink specials. It's every Wednesday from 6-9pm on summer nights. Contact them as soon as possible because registration ends on May 30th.

Grimm Brothers Brewhouse (Loveland) - Today for all you Facebook and Fermentedly Challenged fans. Head to Grimm Brothers and ask for the Hickory Snow Drop Firkin Special. Mention you saw this on Facebook or Fermentedly Challenged and get $1 off this special firkin brew. It's just one of the specials during #ACBW.

City Star Brewing (Berthoud) - Euchre players! Tonight is Euchre Tuesday at City Star. The games start at 6:30pm. Play brewery bingo while you're at it and get your card stamped on select brews. Starting next week, Euchre Tuesdays start at 7:00pm.

Funkwerks (Ft. Collins) - Tonight in Fort Collins at the Tap and Handle, it's Funkwerks night starting at 5pm. There will be plenty of Funkwerks beer on tap plus you'll get a shot at winning free stuff. Come meet some of the Funkwerks staff!

Verboten Brewing (Loveland) - During their off day, Verboten was busy expanding their tap lines. Expect to see up to 11 beers on tap in the days to come at Verboten Brewing. Today they've got "Mantooth" Imperial IPA, "Thinking of Something Orange" Orange Blossom Wheat, and "Midnight Expresso" Espresso Stout on Nitro. All 3 tap at 3pm. Happy hour runs from 3-6pm.
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Catch up on Colorado Beer News from earlier this week:
Monday

View Colorado Brewery Maps
[ Boulder-Longmont Map ] [ Denver Area Map ] [ Northern Colorado Map ]
[ Southeast Colorado Map ] [ Northwest Brewery Map ] [ Southwest Colorado Map ]

CO Beer Dinners - Expand your palate! How about a beer dinner or pairing event? Lots of events are taking reservations now. Check out the Colorado Beer Dinner & Pairing Events listing.

Live Music - Beer and music go great together and many Colorado breweries and watering holes offer live entertainment every day. Check out the Colorado Brewery Music Listings and find who's playing at your favorite brewery or beer bar. Updated daily.

CO Beer Festivals - Looking for info on upcoming beer festivals or related events in Colorado? Check out the listings on the 2013 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Calendar. Updated daily.

Like us on Facebook - There's even more Colorado beer happenings and discussions on the Fermentedly Challenged Facebook Page. Find recaps, special offers, and tips that you won't find on the blog. "Like" us and get even more soon after it happens. Thanks for helping us grow to over 1600+ "Likes" in 2013!

Colorado Beer News is published daily (Monday through Friday) with craft beer stories as they break from newsletters, emails and social media sites. Stop back here often for all the latest. This news is intended for audiences of legal drinking age (21+). If you'd like to subscribe to this daily by email, sign-up here. Please, always drink responsibly and use a designated driver.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Pluots and Paardebloem - New Belgium's newest Lips of Faith beers

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:34:00 +0000

New Belgium is no stranger to experimentation and their Lips of Faith series of beers showcase their creativity in the bottle. This week New Belgium is releasing two beers with odd sounding names, but made with ingredients you may be familiar with. Here is their Press Release dated May 13, 2013 about their two latest creations - Pluot and Paardebloem.

[PRESS RELEASE] Ft. Collins, Colo., May 13, 2013 – New Belgium Brewing, maker of Fat Tire Amber Ale and a wide variety of award-winning beers, has two new quarterly Lips of Faith offerings now available: Paardebloem, which is the newest collaboration with Red Rock Brewing in Salt Lake City, and Pluot.

Paardebloem is the sixth collaboration beer with Red Rock Brewing. The beer brings together a diverse set of ingredients ranging from peach juice to dandelion greens. It blends funky brettanomyces with New Belgium’s house Belgian ale yeast, and includes a touch of wood-aged sour beer and Grains of Paradise. Paardebloem pours a light, hazy gold and is 9 percent ABV.

Pluot is a subtly sweet ale made from pluot juice, which is a hybrid of a plum and an apricot. Pluot is light golden, delivering fruity aromas and distinct esters. It is also created with house Belgian ale yeast and brettanomyces, bringing a hint of spice and a malty backbone. ABV is 10 percent. Both of these Lips of Faith selections will be available through July or until supplies run out.

“All three of these selections are bold statements of Belgian tradition, offering imagination in every pour,” said New Belgium Assistant Brewmaster Grady Hull. “The Lips of Faith series was created for those wanting to push their palate.”

As you begin your annual festival and beer-tasting planning, don’t forget to see if either New Belgium’s Tour de Fat (https://www.facebook.com/TourDeFat/events) or Clips Beer and Film Tour (https://www.facebook.com/ClipsBeerAndFilmTour/events) is coming to your area.

To find New Belgium beers near you, use the New Belgium Libation Location tool: http://www.newbelgium.com/beer.aspx. Pricing varies by location. You can also follow New Belgium on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/newbelgium and Twitter @NewBelgium.

About New Belgium Brewing Company
New Belgium Brewing, makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale and a host of Belgian-inspired beers, is recognized as one of Outside Magazine’s Best Places to Work and one of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Small Businesses. The 100% employee owned brewery is a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Business as designated by the League of American Bicyclists, and one of World Blu’s most democratic U.S. businesses. In addition to Fat Tire, New Belgium brews eight year round beers; Ranger IPA, Rampant Imperial IPA, Shift Pale Lager, Sunshine Wheat, 1554 Black Ale, Blue Paddle Pilsener, Abbey Belgian Ale and Trippel. Learn more at www.newbelgium.com.

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Related articles:
- New Belgium expands their Colorado capacity.
- 2013 New Belgium Tour de Fat schedule revealed.
- New Belgium's Clips Beer and Film Tour Announces 2013 Schedule.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Grimm Brothers Maiden's Kiss Maibock Lager review

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Tue, 14 May 2013 02:26:00 +0000

It's the lusty month of May and with it come the Spring seasonals out in force. Grimm Brothers Brewhouse put out a lusty beer of their own this month - Grimm Brothers Maiden's Kiss - a Maibock lager. The classic "Grimm Brothers" bottle artwork once again adorns the bottles of this release and they've put another sultry fairy tale maiden on the label. I believe this not only attracts attention to this beer, but also manages to sell a lot of t-shirts as well.

Maibocks tend to be a very malty brew with a bit of spicy quality at times. Grimm Brothers released this beer around the 1st of May this year and it's already seems to be a popular beer with the locals. Maiden's Kiss weighs in around 7.3% ABV and has a low IBU rating. This beer is a lager and was brewed at lower temperatures than ales and tends to take a bit longer to ferment than other ales.

I was fortunate enough to try this beer initially the day before it was released at the brewery. I liked the sample and was given a full 22oz bottle by the brewery to give it a full review. This beer is available around Northern Colorado and now the Denver and Boulder area thanks to a recent distribution agreement Grimm Brothers made with Tivioli Distributing.

Appearance: Maiden's Kiss poured out a dark golden color. There was a modest sized off-white head that left a clingy lacing along the glass. The head didn't last long. The beer was mostly clear with just the slightest hint of haze. The beer was decently carbonated and opened with a gentle hiss. I could not see any noticeable sediment in the bottle and the beer itself was sediment free in the glass with the first and 2nd pour.

Aroma: This maiden has the aroma of toasted malts with an earthy background. There was a sweet, yet peppery tone to this beer as well. Both the malts and the hops were noticeable in this beer, but the hops were not huge, but rather subtle with a spicy tone. The malts took center stage with each inhale. I couldn't pick up any fruity esters, which is fine in this beer, but there was a slight sweetness detectable overall. Being a lager, I could pick up a slight hint of sulfer, but I really had to let this beer warm up a bit for any of that to start coming out. Luckily, this beer fell short of any "cooked corn" aroma. Later on, I felt I could almost pick up some citrus in the nose as well.

Taste: Maiden's Kiss starts out and finishes with a malty tone. The hops added an earthy sense as well. There was just a hint of tangy-ness in this beer, but it wasn't sour by any means. This beer had a medium to full body feel to it. The malts really dominate in this beer. I found myself having no problem with the 1st half of this bottle. It drinks well on the cool side. Later on, as the beer warmed, the malts begin to really dominate. I could pick up just a hint of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) in this beer, but not much. Lagers tend to pick up a bit of this in some varying levels.

The second half of this bottle, when warmed up, gave a slightly different experience. While still malty while cold or later a bit warmer, this beer became more of a slower sipping beer with the second pouring. I tended to like this beer better when it was cold, fresh out of the fridge.

Overall: Maibocks are either a hit or miss in my book. Grimm Brothers managed to hit this style of beer fairly dead on in my opinion. It's not exactly a beer I'd go for on a hot day, but rather on a cooler Spring day. It was well made, with a very good malt base. It's a style I prefer not to have a lot of, but then again at 7.3% ABV I probably would only want about a glass of this anyway. Grimm Brothers makes some excellent German-style beers and this is one of them. Drink this one cold and you'll definitely enjoy this Springtime beer.

P.S. - Once again, absolutely love the artwork on this label. Grimm Brothers has a great look to their beer brand. I had this beer both on draft and in the bottle. Great both ways, but seems best at the brewery on tap.

Disclosure: This was a complimentary bottle given to me directly by Grimm Brothers Brewhouse. This is not a paid review, but an honest opinion given in return for the free bottle.

Related articles:
- Grimm Brothers The Bleeding Heart Coffee Porter review.
- Grimm Brothers Sooty Brother Grätzer Ale review.
- Grimm Brothers The Farmer's Wild Daughter review. (2013)

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Colorado Beer News 051313

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:20:00 +0000

Today is National Frog Jumping Day. Frog jumping has been a part of American culture since nearly a century ago thanks in part to a short story by Mark Twain - "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". While we don't advocate the scaring of frogs into jumping as far as they can today, rather we ask that if you see see a frog today to leave it be and know that they help eat those nasty mosquitoes that will soon be biting you. Here's what's happening around the Colorado beerosphere today Monday, May 13th, 2013.

Happy American Craft Beer Week! (ACBW) - May 13-19, 2013.

Metro Denver

Colorado Plus Brew Pub (Wheat Ridge) - Today is the Grand Opening of Colorado Plus Brew Pub (or CPlus). They held soft openings during the last weekend and will open officially today at 4:00pm. They will offer up 56 Colorado-only craft beers on tap. Expect their own brewing operations to be in operation later this month and their own beers on tap by June. They also have a kitchen with a full menu of food available to go with all that great Colorado craft beer. For more information, check out the Grand Opening page with photos. Also, those who show up have a chance to win free tickets to the upcoming Knockin' Rocks Brooms & Brewfest coming up in June in Ft. Collins!

Denver Beer Company (Denver) is hosting their Spring Beer Dinner at the brewery this Friday, May 17th at 7pm. Tickets are $50 per person and are available at the brewery. Call 303.433.2739 to reserve your seats. 3 courses and 4 beers will be served.

Lone Tree Brewing (Lone Tree) - Welcome to ACBW! LTBC will be tapping not 1, but 2 beers today for Craft Beer Week. At noon they'll tap ONE KEG of Queen Vidrevitz, a Russian Imperial Sout aged in Downslope Distilling Whiskey barrels. Then at 5pm they will tap a limited release of a special barrel-aged Zombie!

Hops & Pie (Denver) - Here's what's special pouring at Hops & Pie for American Craft Beer Week. On Tuesday, from Stone Brewing - 2012 Double Bastard on dark toasted oak & Stone Double Dry Hopped Ruination. On Wednesday it's $2 Craft Can Night from 5pm to 10pm. On Thursday, try Avery Brewing's Hand of Buddah, Lilikoi & Out of Sight, plus Avery Twenty at 5pm. On Friday, a special tapping of Firestone Walker Reserve on firkin. Then on Saturday, it's their Littlest Big Beer Fest featuring the beers from The Bruery (5 different beers). Something for every craft beer lover this week.

Black Shirt Brewing (Denver) - Here's the itinerary for activities at Black Shirt Brewing this week for ACBW. Today - BSB Now Playing - the 1st in a live music series featuring 2 bands: Sawmill Joe and Cubby. On Wednesday May 15th - Noble Swine Supper Club will be serving food in the tap room from 5-9pm. BSB will release their Coffee Red Porter beer at 7:30pm. On Friday May 17th Brava Pizzeria will be in the taproom from 5-9pm and BSB will be serving up 6 different Red Ales on tap.

Elk Mountain Brewing (Parker) - This Wednesdays firkin will be an 80 Shilling, a Scottish Export 80/-. The beer taps at 4:00pm.

CAUTION: Brewing Co (Denver) - Don't forget this Saturday's 1st Taproom Anniversary party. They'll have the following beers pouring for the occasion: Oatmeal Cinnamon Stout, Citra single hopped Dark Pale Ale, Juniper Berry Double IPA, Gluten free Lemongrass Saison, .5%ABV Red Ale, Mango Blonde, Chocolate Hefeweizen, and a Honey Basil Amber. Plus a few more surprises.

Vine Street Pub & Brewery (Denver) - For ACBW Vine Street is featuring an IPA heavy tap wall all week. You can get some of these IPA's: Illusion Dweller English-Style IPA, FYI American-Style IPA, Resinous Rye IPA, Vagabond American-Style IPA, High Wire American-Style India Black Ale, Hop Vivant American-Style Imperial IPA, Avery's Maharaja Imperial IPA, and Telluride Brewing's Fishwater Imperial IPA. In addition all three pubs will be releasing the Boulde English '840' Malt Liquor. "It's like 420 times 2, brah!"

Boulder County

Crystal Springs Brewing (Boulder) - Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the Crystal Springs Brewing Company. They have plans to open up their own tap room in the near future in Boulder. Currently, they are a production only brewery and sell beer in bottles and cans in local Boulder-area liquor stores and select restaurants. Today, they are bottling Butch Pale Ale in 22oz bombers. Look for it soon on store shelves. Congrats to Crystal Springs for 3 great years!

Twisted Pine Brewing (Boulder) - For craft beer week they are offering $1 off pints of their flagship Hoppy Boy. You can even get a FREE Tall Hoppy (stash) can in the taproom. There will be twisted trivia with prizes on the hour leading up to Geeks Who Drink trivia tonight at 7pm. Also this week, look for the debut of their new Cucumber Cream Ale. It's made with cucumbers growth on their own 2 R's Farm.

Boulder Beer Co (Boulder) - Today at 4:20pm Boulder Beer will be hosting a nationwide Nitro Rolling Simul-Tap of their Nitro Mojo IPA at dozens of bars throughout the USA. This beer is described as "Herbaceous!". It's being served up on Nitro to give the beer that smooth & creamy mouthfeel. Stop in at the taproom to celebrate Nitro Mojo IPA today.

Northern Colorado

Black Bottle Brewery (Ft. Collins) - Tonight at 5pm, BBB will have all 9 Fort Collins collusion variation beers on tap! This will be the only day you can sample all 9 beers in one location. 9 Fort Collins brewers got into teams and came up with unique variations on the same theme.

Front Range Rally (Loveland) - This Saturday, May 18th from 3pm to 7pm outside at the Loveland Food Share in Loveland, CO is the 1st ever Front Range Rally beer & food truck festival. Over 100 unique craft beers from over 32 breweries will be pouring along with tasty delights from a variety of area food truck vendors. Tickets are still available at www.frontrangerally.org and at the gate. Proceeds from this festival will go directly to Food Bank for Larimer County who helps area families in need of food. Live music will also be playing on stage. The festival is located at 2600 N. Lincoln Ave in Loveland, CO. Designated Driver tickets also available (18+). Children under 5 allowed free with parent. Must be 21+ otherwise. Expect mid-70s weather on Saturday!

Brewery Bingo (Northern Colorado breweries) - Starting today, just in time for American Craft Beer Week! Stop in at most any Northern Colorado brewery in Ft. Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Berthoud, and Windsor and ask for a Bingo card. As you drink beer you'll get a stamp on your bingo card. Get a Bingo and you'll be eligible to win a special shirt! More info at: facebook.com/BreweryBingoNorthernColorado. Participating breweries include: New Belgium, Pateros Creek, Fort Collins Brewery, Funkwerks, City Star, Crabtree Brewing, Rock Bottom Centerra, Big Beaver, Grimm Brothers, Odell Brewing, Verboten Brewing, Black Bottle Brewing, CopperSmith's, Loveland Aleworks, CB & Potts and High Hops Brewing.

New Belgium (Ft. Collins) - The next Lips of Faith beer is now available from New Belgium. Pluot is the name of their new ale brewed with Pluot juice. What's a Pluot? It's a hybrid fruit of Plums and Apricots. The resulting beer is semi-sweet, yet soured by brettanomyces and has a bit of spice along with a malty backbone. It's available for a limited time in 22oz bomber bottles through July.

Mountains and West

Kannah Creek Brewing (Grand Junction) - The next all-female brewer collaboration beer Fleurs de Cerisier finally will be tapped today at 3:00pm. Stop in for a pint and see how well 8 female brewers from all over Colorado can create a unique cherry blossom saison. The beer taps at 11:00am at Kannah Creek and will also be on tap at Boulder Beer in Boulder, Oskar Blues Home Made Liquids & Solids in Longmont, and The Vail Ale House in Vail, CO. Proceeds from this beer benefit The Pink Boots Society. Participating female brewers were from Kannah Creek, Odell, Prost, Great Divide, Ska, Revolution, Boulder Beer, Oskar Blues and Wynkoop.

Elevation Beer Company (Poncha Springs) - For American Craft Beer Week, Elevation Beer is going to be the featured brewery at a beer dinner at Lucky Pie in Louisville this Wednesday. Also, they will be participating in a Belgian tap takeover at Right Coast Pizza in Wheat Ridge on Thursday. Plus it's their 1st year anniversary this weekend at the brewery. Stop in at their taproom in Poncha Springs and see all the great beers available.

Ark Valley Libation Society - Members of the new Ark Valley Libation Society (Amica's, Elevation Beer Co, and Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub) recently got together and brewed up a collaboration beer called Brown's Canyon India Style Brown Ale and released it on Friday, May 10th. Proceeds from this 16oz bottled beer will go to benefit Friends of Browns Canyon - a group dedicated to preserve the iconic local whitewater canyon corridor. This beer is available at Amica's, Elevation Beer, and Moonlight Pizza as well as local area liquor stores and restaurants. This is a limited release and is expected to sell out within a month or so.

Tommyknocker Brewery (Idaho Springs) - Tommyknocker has a few specials going this week for ACBW. Get a Tommyknocker Butt Head Bock Brat, fries and a beer for $5.99. Also, get $2 off any growler purchase when you mention craft beer week. You can get free brewery tours this week - call ahead to schedule or ask when you arrive.
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Catch up on Colorado Beer News from last week:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

View Colorado Brewery Maps
[ Boulder-Longmont Map ] [ Denver Area Map ] [ Northern Colorado Map ]
[ Southeast Colorado Map ] [ Northwest Brewery Map ] [ Southwest Colorado Map ]

CO Beer Dinners - Expand your palate! How about a beer dinner or pairing event? Lots of events are taking reservations now. Check out the Colorado Beer Dinner & Pairing Events listing.

Live Music - Beer and music go great together and many Colorado breweries and watering holes offer live entertainment every day. Check out the Colorado Brewery Music Listings and find who's playing at your favorite brewery or beer bar. Updated daily.

CO Beer Festivals - Looking for info on upcoming beer festivals or related events in Colorado? Check out the listings on the 2013 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Calendar. Updated daily.

Like us on Facebook - There's even more Colorado beer happenings and discussions on the Fermentedly Challenged Facebook Page. Find recaps, special offers, and tips that you won't find on the blog. "Like" us and get even more soon after it happens. Thanks for helping us grow to over 1600+ "Likes" in 2013!

Colorado Beer News is published daily (Monday through Friday) with craft beer stories as they break from newsletters, emails and social media sites. Stop back here often for all the latest. This news is intended for audiences of legal drinking age (21+). If you'd like to subscribe to this daily by email, sign-up here. Please, always drink responsibly and use a designated driver.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Grand Opening: Colorado Plus Brew Pub

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:32:00 +0000

Grand Opening Today!

Colorado Plus Brew Pub
6995 W. 38th Ave.
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
Email: thecoloradoplus@gmail.com
Phone: None listed.
Date Opened: May 13, 2013 4pm
Business Hours: Monday - Sunday 11:00am - 11:00pm
Owners: Eugene Kahng, Jesse Duplessis, Doug Sattem.

Facebook - Website

Grand Opening Beers on Tap:
None of their own beer on opening day, however they will have 56 guest Colorado craft beers on tap opening day. Their own small 1 barrel brewery on location will start brewing beer sometime in June 2013 and will have several of their own beers on tap. They also feature a kitchen with a full pub menu of food. Head brewer Adam Draeger.

Photos

Photos of Colorado Plus Brew Pub from their Facebook Page. Last picture courtesy Albert B Hanner. Click on photos for a larger image.

Map

View Larger Map

Related articles:
- Grand Opening: Upslope Brewing Company - Flatiron Park.
- Grand Opening: BREW Pub & Kitchen - Durango, CO.
- Grand Opening: FATE Brewing Company - Boulder, CO.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

Colorado Beer News 051013

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:52:00 +0000

Today is "Stock up on Craft Beer Day". Since May 10th doesn't have an interesting made up holiday, we may as well make up our own. In honor of the upcoming American Craft Beer Week, go out and stock up on some local craft beer and prepare to celebrate with it during American Craft Beer Week May 13-19, 2013. Pick up an old favorite craft brew or try something new you haven't had before. Here's what's happening around the Colorado beerosphere today Friday, May 10th, 2013.

Homebrewing (US-wide) - This week will go down in history as being the first time that homebrewing beer was legalized in all 50 US states. Just this week, Alabama became the last state to legalize homebrewing, following closely with Mississippi who was the 49th state earlier this year. As of July 1st, every state in the union will allow for the homebrewing of beer. It's taken around 34 years from the time President Jimmy Carter first legalized home brew to be made to the time it was legal in all 50 states. Better late than never.

Metro Denver

Epic Brewing Company (Denver & Utah) - Business plans are moving along at the upcoming Denver location for Epic Brewing Company. Yesterday, they showed off their new location at 3001 Walnut Street in the RiNo district of Denver. If all goes according to plan, their brewing operations installation, aka Phase One, will be completed by sometime in June and they could be selling beers as early as July 2013. The next phase would be to add a tap room and a retail shop by the end of this Summer or early Fall. The Utah-based brewery is expanding and opening up this 2nd brewery in Denver which will initially brew up some Colorado-only beers as part of their "Classic" line of beer. We can expect to see an IPA, a pale ale and a lager. Opening a second location in Denver is allowing them to get around some of Utah's more restrictive liquor laws.

Rackhouse Pub (Denver) - If you're looking for a craft beer event for next week's American Craft Beer Week (#ACBW13) you might want to head over to the Rackhouse Pub. They've put up a list of events including 2 with Avery Brewing, one with Yak & Yeti, and one each with Oskar Blues, New Belgium and Great Divide. Check out their #ACBW13 event page for specific details and dates. If you go, tell them Fermentedly Challenged sent you.

Odyssey Beerwerks (Arvada) - The grand opening date has been set for May 25th for Odyssey Beerwerks. The brewery plans to have 6 beers on tap for opening day including: Brick Lane Bitter, Caber Tosser Scotch Ale, Ghost Rider Pale Ale, Helios Hefeweizen, Nebula Belgian Black Double IPA and Psycho Penguin Vanilla Porter. At some point down the road, Odyssey plans to have as many as 12 of their beers on tap. Find them at 5535 W. 56th Ave Suite 107 in Arvada, CO on May 25th. They'll be room for you and up to 79 other friends in their taproom.

3BAD On The Hill Beer Tasting (Thornton) - Don't forget! Tomorrow night, Saturday May 11th at The Brittany Hill in Thornton is the 3BAD On The Hill Beer Tasting Event. It's runs from 6:30pm to 10:30pm. This event will raise month for the Romito Foundation and Three Brothers Against Duchenne. Tickets are $40 at the door. Eight local breweries and cider companies will be participating. Great food and live music will be on hand. More info at www.romitofoundation.org.

Lowry Beer Garden (Denver) - Tomorrow, May 11th from 11am to 5pm stop in for the American Craft BrewFest at Lowry Beer Garden. Eight different Colorado breweries are participating. Sample some of their rare craft beers. $20 entry gets you a taster mug with unlimited samples. Tickets available at the door. Participating breweries include: Upslope Brewing, Tommyknocker, Fort Collins Brewing, Lone Tree Brewing, Copper Kettle Brewing, Avery Brewing, Great Divide Brewing and CAUTION: Brewing.

Boulder County

Under The Sun Eatery & Taphouse (Boulder) - Does your Mom enjoy a good drink? If so, consider taking your Mom out for a Mother's Day dinner at Under The Sun in Boulder. Buy here a dinner and they'll honor her with a free drink of her choice. She can choose from one of 21 Mountain Sun ales, or 10 guest tap beers, 7 wines on tap or even a margaritas on tap. Mom will also receive a rose along with her dinner as well. Be good to your Mom on Mother's Day this Sunday.

Twisted Pine Brewing (Boulder) - If you thought their Carrot IPA was wild, wait until you try their new Cucumber Cream Ale debuting this Tuesday for American Craft Beer Week. This is a beer that many have been highly anticipating. Stop in next week for a taste and try some of their other beers on tap.

Avery Brewing (Boulder) - Sour fans - get over to Avery tonight at 5pm for a special tapping of their Bad Apple - a sour Belgian pale ale aged in oak barrels with Granny Smith apples. So bad, it's good!

CU Grads (Boulder) - Grats to the class of 2013! Happy Graduation this weekend! Hope you celebrate with a great local craft beer.

Northern Colorado

Pateros Creek Brewing (Ft. Collins) - In honor of the last day of classes at CSU today, any CSU student (of legal drinking age) can come to the brewery today, show your student ID and get $1 off pints all day long! What better way to start your summer! Grats to the Ram grads!

Hops and Shops Shuttle (Ft. Collins) - Once again this year, the Hops & Shops shuttle is running around town. For $5 you can get on/off as often as you wish. The shuttle stops at the following places: Town Pump, Pateros Creek, New Belgium, Odell Brewing, Fort Collins Brewery, Funkwerks, Coopersmith's, Equinox, Black Bottle, CB & Potts, the CSU Transit in front of Lory Student Center, and The Mayor of Old Town. Leave your car behind and let the driver take you to your favorite spots! The shuttle repeats every hour - Fridays 4pm - 10pm and Saturdays 12pm - 10pm.

Echo Brewing (Frederick) - Good news! Echo's Razz Raspberry Wheat is once again back up on tap for your drinking pleasure. Also tonight JAMS PLACE will be on site serving up some soup, sandwiches and cheesecakes from 5pm - 9pm. Start your weekend off at Echo Brewing.

Verboten Brewing (Loveland) - Their new web site is up and running! Check it out at verbotenbrewing.com and click on the Beer tab to see what's on tap today. There are 7 beers currently listed and 5 more listed as coming soon.

Brewery Bingo Northern Colorado (Most NoCo Breweries) - Starting on May 13th and running all through American Craft Beer Week, stop in at most every Northern Colorado brewery in Ft. Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Berthoud and Windsor - ask for a Bingo Card and order a beer on the bingo card and get stamped. If you get a Bingo in stamps then you win! Check out the details on the official Facebook page on how you can get your Bingo card and win free stuff just for visiting breweries and drinking beer! Who said playing Bingo was just for Seniors?

Crabtree Brewing (Greeley) - FRAMBO is a new beer now on tap which is a blend of Belgian Blonde ale with fresh raspberries & brettanomyces, a trappist brown ale, lactobacillus and aged in French oak barrels. It's a beer even tough enough for Rambo - his picture is even on the tap handle! Stop in for a taste of this sour wonder.

KUNC Radio (91.5 FM Greeley) - Next Week is American Craft Beer Week and KUNC public radio in Greeley is celebrating with five days of stories all about the Colorado craft beer community. It all starts Monday at 6:30am and 8:30 am. http://kunc.org/ - Listen in via radio or via the net.

Southern Front Range

Bristol Brewing Company (Colorado Springs) - Hey Denverites! Today from 4pm to 6pm over at Keg Liquors you can visit with brewery rep David for a Bristol Brewing hand sale. If you buy a Bristol 6 pack he'll throw in a free 7th beer for free. Keg Liquors is at 28060 S. Colorado Blvd in Denver.

Trinity Brewing (Colorado Springs) - Tonight marks the release of their Farmhouse Du Tomme at 5pm. It's the 1st commercial Saison that their brewer Tom Brown crafted. It was inspired by wild ingredients found by hiking around in Colorado. It has amaranth grain, mustard seed and lemon grass blended in for a unique taste.

Mountains and West

Revolution Brewing (Paonia) - It's Friday and sunny! Beer on the porch anyone? They'll be opening at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, complete with a beer & brat special. $9 gets you a pint of your pleasure and a locally raised bratwurst from Desert Weyr, LLC on a locally baked wholewheat bun from the Flying Fork Cafe & Bakery. When in Paonia, drink as the locals do.
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Catch up on Colorado Beer News from earlier this week:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

View Colorado Brewery Maps
[ Boulder-Longmont Map ] [ Denver Area Map ] [ Northern Colorado Map ]
[ Southeast Colorado Map ] [ Northwest Brewery Map ] [ Southwest Colorado Map ]

CO Beer Dinners - Expand your palate! How about a beer dinner or pairing event? Lots of events are taking reservations now. Check out the Colorado Beer Dinner & Pairing Events listing.

Live Music - Beer and music go great together and many Colorado breweries and watering holes offer live entertainment every day. Check out the Colorado Brewery Music Listings and find who's playing at your favorite brewery or beer bar. Updated daily.

CO Beer Festivals - Looking for info on upcoming beer festivals or related events in Colorado? Check out the listings on the 2013 Colorado Beer Festivals & Events Calendar. Updated daily.

Like us on Facebook - There's even more Colorado beer happenings and discussions on the Fermentedly Challenged Facebook Page. Find recaps, special offers, and tips that you won't find on the blog. "Like" us and get even more soon after it happens. Thanks for helping us grow to over 1600+ "Likes" in 2013!

Colorado Beer News is published daily (Monday through Friday) with craft beer stories as they break from newsletters, emails and social media sites. Stop back here often for all the latest. This news is intended for audiences of legal drinking age (21+). If you'd like to subscribe to this daily by email, sign-up here. Please, always drink responsibly and use a designated driver.

This article came from FermentedlyChallenged.com - a Colorado beer blog. Don't miss another article. Subscribe to Fermentedly Challenged by RSS today.

FoCo breweries get together for a Collusion of beers

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Butler) — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:36:00 +0000

Local Breweries join forces for American Craft Beer Week®

[PRESS RELEASE] Fort Collins, CO – On May 13th, 2013, American Craft Beer Week, a celebration of the more than 2,400 small and independent American craft brewers, will kick off around the country. The brewers of Fort Collins have once again united for the week-long celebration over a shared passion for craft beer in the spirit of camaraderie.

Undaunted by a challenge, Fort Collins’ craft brewers opted for a unique format for collaborating. The 2013 Collaboration began with the local craft brewers forming nine teams of three and deciding on one recipe containing 90% of same malts for each brew. The remaining 10% malt, hops, yeast and spices were selected by each brewing team. The result is nine very unique beers from one common starting point, much like the brewers that crafted them.

The various versions of this year’s Fort Collins Collusion will be on tap during American Craft Beer Week (May 13-19). Fort Collins beer enthusiasts are encouraged to come out and try the different brews at each brewery throughout the week.

On Monday, May 13th, the brewers will be meeting at Black Bottle Brewing Co. for a group toast. All nine beers will be available side by side for one evening only. Join Fort Collins’ Craft Brewers in celebration with their Collaboration Confabulation!

For more information on American Craft Beer Week, please visit www.craftbeer.com.

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Related articles:
- Black Bottle Brewery opens to a full house. (2012)
- Black Bottle Brewery photo gallery. (2012)
- Sneak peak behind Black Bottle Brewery.

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