Holy crap, it’s been almost three months since we’ve had a serious post. How does that happen? It seems like the last few months of the year are just a crazy time for us. I know that I’m a big part of the problem, given that I’m the designated writer and my work tends to get super crazy-stressful between October and January. Yep, blame it on work, or the holidays, or social obligations or whatever – it’s can sometimes be tough to carve out writing time during the end of the year. But never you fear, because we always seem to carve out time for beer drinking! Here’s a quick recap of some of the adventures we failed to write about during the past few months:
Let’s Catch Up
We Explored New Belgium’s Sour Beers at Stoney’s Brew Crew
November 6th we attended Stoney’s Brew Crew Meetup which once again featured the fine folks at New Belgium Brewing. This time the discussion featured on the amazing sour beers brewed by Brewmaster Peter Bouckaert. This guy knows sour beers. Bouckaert came from Rhodenbach Brewery in Belgium to join the New Belgium team in 1997 and he created arguably their most popular sour, La Folie. During this event, we were able to taste La Folie and another great sour, La Terroir. Best of all, we were able to taste the many stages of La Terroir: we sampled the beer before it was dry hopped, and before it was wood barrel aged. It was really interesting to learn how they take this traditional brew (that tastes a lot like one of our homebrews) and turn it into an outstanding and complex sour. Clearly, these sour beers have been very good to New Belgium’s bottom line, as the demand for their great sour beers just keeps growing. In fact, the New Belgium wood cellar is expanding and will nearly double in size over the next three years. That’s a lot more delicious sour beers, people, and that’s a good thing.
We Had a LOT of Bacon and Beer
November 10th we attended possibly the best festival ever…. the 2013 Denver Bacon and Beer Festival. With bacon and beer, how could it be any less than awesome!? Answer: It can’t… it was awesome. This was the 2nd annual Bacon and Beer Fest but the first for us. It certainly won’t be our last. With around 30 local restaurants serving bacon-inspired dishes and 25+ breweries, it was a blast. Originally we were concerned that the event seemed short — 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm didn’t seem like enough time to take in all there was to offer. Boy were we wrong. After all the deliciously rich dishes and great craft beers, we were done way before last call. Apparently, too much of a good thing can still sneak up on you. Speaking of too much, the only complaint with this festival was that it was crazy crowded. With lines that wrapped around the Exdo Event Center before it started and lines that continued when trying to get some tasty treats inside, it made for a lot of waiting. Still, waiting with beer and with a Bronco game on the big screens made it seem more bearable. Food highlights included Bourbon Bacon Bread Pudding with Cap ‘n’ Crunch from MainLine Ale House, West Coast Oyster with Kombu Cured Bacon and Sirachi aioli from Jax Fish House, and some amazing bacon fondue and pork belly that was so good that it made us forget who served them. Beers were great too, especially the Surette Provision Saison from Crooked Stave, the Belgian White from Funkwerks, and a delicious Pumpkin Oatmeal Stout from Renegade Brewing. It was decadence and over-indulgence at it’s best. We can’t wait to do it all again next year.
We Explored the Craft Beer Scene in Washington
In December we took our show on the road, visiting family in Washington state for the holidays. This gave us opportunity to taste many of the great Pacific Northwest beers we can’t typically purchase in Colorado, helping us discover a few new favorites such as Elysian’s Men’s Room Red and Ninkasi Brewing Company’s Believer. We also visited Bellevue Brewing Company where we sampled, and loved, their entire beer line-up. Their ESB was the hands-down favorite, though literally all of them were easy-drinking, great beers. Next time we travel northwest, we’re going to need to bring a bigger bag so we can bring some of these tasty beers home. We smuggled home just one this time: a bomber of Iron Horse Brewery’s Mocha Death. This is a seasonal variety that starts with Iron Horse Irish Death, an ale that is already dark and sweet, but then they add roasted espresso beans and pure cocoa to come up with Mocha Death. We haven’t had this one yet, but we’re super excited to pop that cap.
We Visited a Few New Breweries
Finally, although it’s been tough to find the time for some brewery visits, we were still able to cross a few Colorado breweries off our to-do list. We visited Epic Brewing’s new location in Denver and were really impressed by their beers. We had already had Epic’s beers, since their original brewery in Utah has been delivering great beers since around 2008. With this new second brewery in Denver, we can finally try these amazing beers right from the source. With a huge variety, it’s impossible to not find something you’ll love on their menu. We both loved the RiNo Pale Ale, and easy drinking but nicely hopped beer named after the RiNo (River North) neighborhood of Denver. Jeff also really enjoyed the Escape to Colorado IPA and Hopulent IPA. Yes, his does have his favorite style, and the IPAs at Epic were, well, epic.
We also made a stop at Denver’s new Jagged Mountain Brewery, which didn’t offer a bunch of choices but the few they had on tap were still really solid, good beers. We both really loved the Redpoint, a Belgo-American Red Rye Double IPA. This beer was crisp and delicious, with a grapefruit aroma and clean bitter flavor that we both loved. The other beers on tap were not quite our style, but we need to get back when they have some of their small-batch brews on tap.
That’s All Folks!
That about sums up our craft beer events through last year. We’ve already enjoyed a few events in 2014 and will be writing about them in the days to come. We look forward to many more hoppy happenings in 2014, starting right now…
Cheers!
P.S. The Sky Hag IPA, below, was not smuggled back from Washington this time, but it was a close second to the Mocha Death. Seriously, how can you resist that lovely face?
