Big Beaver Brewing Co.

I stopped by the new brewery, Big Beaver, in Loveland last week.




Big Beaver Brewery bills itself as a 'Loveland Community Brewery'. Members commit to purchase at least 2 growlers per month ($9/growler or $18/month). Membership has it's privileges ... members may make special requests for beers and they also have access to special releases.

Big Beaver did a soft launch on Oct 8th and signed up 100 members! Currently, their tap room is only open on Fridays 4-8PM and Saturdays 12-8PM.



I ordered the sampler, which included:
Wonder Wiener Wheat - a Bavarian wheat beer
Bust-A-Nut Brown Ale - 'brewed in the northern England tradition with strong malt characters'
Big Beaver Bock - classic Munich Bock (with Saaz hops)
Woodchuck Bock

They were out of their Shave Tail Ale. The Wonder Wiener Wheat was quite tasty while the Big Beaver Bock had an unusual aroma (but tasted okay).




The Brewer, Peter Villeneuve, Ph.D


The tap room was small (6 barstools) but the people were friendly. They even let me bring my dog inside! :)



Stop by the next time you are in Loveland, CO.

Colorado Mtn Brewery Tasting

A friend and I went to the mountains of Colorado to check out a few breweries. We didn't pick the best weather day - it was raining and sleeting a little bit but we had a great time.

First stop was the DAM Brewery in Dillon.



We had samples of:
Extra Pale Ale (brought home a growler of this one)
Sweet George's Brown
McLuhr's Irish Stout




Their logo is so cute - 'Get your own DAM beer' - we had to each buy a t-shirt!



Next stop was Breckenridge Brewery in Breckenridge. This place felt more corporate and the service was crappy. In fact, I didn't even take any photos. We had their Belgium Wit.



As we headed back towards home, we hit up the BackCountry Brewery in Frisco. We sampled their Telemark IPA and Peak One Robust Porter. Both were delicious.

Our final stop was Tommy Knocker's Brewery in Idaho Springs. Here we tasted their Cocoa Porter and their Black Powder Stout.





As we drove down the canyon into Golden, CO, we spotted three young Big Horn Sheep.



It was a great day. I hope to do something like this again soon.

Cheers!

GABF Beer Tasting at The Pumphouse

The Pumphouse in Longmont has been doing these really great beer tastings every month during 2010. I have attended them all except for the Strong Ale one in February (I missed out on getting my ticket in time).

The tasting for October focused on winners from the Great American Beer Festival. The guest speaker was Gary Glass from the Brewers Association. He explained how the judging process works and presented the 14 different winners. He also reviewed the category for each winner. There were 3,594 different beers entered in the GABF from 522 different breweries. These beers were judged by 150 judges. That's a lot of beer!

Our greeting beer was the Pumphouse 4-Alarm Copper Ale. This beer is a German-style Altbier that won a GABF medal in 2004.

The beers we sampled were:

Miller Light - Gold winner in the American-sytle Light Lager (category #29)

Trumer Pils - Gold winner in the German-style Pilsner category (#25)

Del Norte Manana - Gold winner in the American-style Amber lager category (#33)

Pyramid Apricot Ale - Silver winner in the Fruit Beer category (#3)

Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale - Gold in the English-sytle Pale Ale (#43)

Mountain Sun Illusion Dweller Pale Ale - Silver in the English-style IPA (#44)

Firestone Walker Double Barrel Ale - Silver in Double Barrel Ale (#52)

Firestone Walker Pale 31 - Silver in American-sytle Pale Ale (#45)

Bristol Laughing Lab - Bronze in the Scotish-style Ale (#54)

Walnut Brewery Old Elk Brown - Gold in the English-style Brown (#56)

Ommegang 3 Philosophers - Bronze in the Belgium-style Abbey (#67)

Bristol Old #23 Barleywine - Silver in the Barleywine category (#79)

Twisted Pine Big Shot Espresso Stout - Bronze in the Coffee-flavored Beer (#6)

CB and Potts Dark Side Lager - Bronze in the European-style Dunkel category (#32)

My personal favorites were the Firestone Pale 31, Firestone DBA and Twisted Pine Big Shot Espresso Stout. Yum!

Great American Beer Festival - Day One

I attended the Great American Beer Festival (opening day) last night.





I had many good beers. A few of my favorites:
* Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout
* Left Hand Fade to Black
* Rogue Double Chocolate Stout
* Papago Orange Blossom


My drinking companion, Oliver Porter, from Phoenix:



Besides beer, there was Hop Candy, which they said was just hops and chocolate. The dark chocolate was quite delicious.





I focused mostly on beers that I can't get in Colorado and/or were special release beers. The full list of beers I tasted:
Bell's Wild One
Boulevard Tank T Farmhouse Ale
New Glarus Moon Man
Jolly Pumpkin Biere de Mars
Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout
Russian River Pliny the Elder
Three Floyds Infinitas Attero
Three Floyds Sandpebbles
Short's Anniversary Ale (Blood Orange Wheat Wine)
Short's Key Lime Pie



* Both of the beers from Shorts were quite good and very interesting.

Bricktown Black Gold Raspberry Chocolate Stout
Brugge Pooka Sour Boysenberry
Flying Dog Raging Bitch Belgium Style IPA
Fegley's Kriek Lambic
Left Hand Fade to Black (one of my favorites)- the only Colorado beer I drank at the festival.



Durango Blueberry Wheat (yummy)
Rogue Double Chocolate Stout
Rogue Chatoe OREgasmic
Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
Firestone Walker Pale 31
Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA

* Firestone had these really cool 'bookmarks' that described each beer along with food pairings. Very cool!



Deschutes The Abyss
Deschutes Black Butte XXII Reserve
Allagash Fluxus 2010 (Belgium style Imperial Chocolate Stout)
21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon Wheat
Four Peaks Kilt Lifter (Scottish Ale)
Papago Orange Blossom

It was fun running into Ally from Asher Brewing

The Great COntenders at Wynkoop Brewing

Last night I was at the Great COntenders Beer event at the Wynkoop Brewing Co in Denver.



I helped Stever Turner from Asher Brewing Co. pour beers.



There were about 20 brewers from Colorado and about 300 attendees.



Asher Brewing's Greenade Organic Double IPA was a big hit with the attendees.

Beer Swaps

I met a fellow beer lover online that lives in NC. We decided to swap a few beers. My 12-pack from her arrived yesterday.





I am going to invite a few fellow beer lovers over for a tasting!

Beer Log from Scotland Trip

Jennifer's Beer Log from trip to Scotland (and a couple of days in England/Wales)




Friday, 8/27
Inveralmond Brewery Ossian 4.1% ABV at the Bell Rock Tavern in Tayport
Brewdog 5AM Saint Amber 5.0% ABV at my friend's house in Tayport
Brewdog Trashy Blonde 4.1% ABV



Saturday, 8/28
Deeside Brewery Lulach 4% ABV at the Ship Inn in Stonehaven
Inveralmond Brewery Independence 4% ABV at the Ship Inn in Stonehaven
Inveralmond Brewery Ossian 4.1% ABV at the Bell Rock Tavern in Tayport
Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA 5.3% ABV at my friends house







Sunday, 8/29
St. Andrews Ale at The Russell Hotel in St. Andrews
Brewdog Punk IPA 6.0% ABV at my friend's house in Tayport
Badger Fursty Ferret 4.4% ABV



Monday, 8/30
Cairngorm Trade Winds 4.3% ABV at the Taybank in Dunkeld
Inveralmond Inkie Pinkie 3.7% ABV at the Atholl Arms Hotel in Dunkeld
Boddingtons - didn't care for this one.

Tuesday, 8/31
Kelburn Misty Lord 4% ABV in Dundee (didn't care for this one)



Wednesday, 9/1
Jennings World's Biggest Liar 4.3% ABV at The Criterion in St. Andrews (tasted like Elderflowers, a little sweet but very delicious)
Caledonian Deuchars IPA 4.4% ABV at the Edinburgh Airport
Adnams East Green 4.3% ABV at my friend's house outside of Bristol, England

Thursday, 9/2
Wadworth 6X 4.3% ABV at The Boat Inn in Chepstow, Wales
Cottage Brewery Planet Ale 4.3% ABV at The Boat in Penalt, Wales
Black Sheep Ale
4.4% ABV at my friends house outside of Bristol, England



Friday, 9/3
Marston's Pedigree
4.5% ABV at the Llandoger Trow in Bristol
Orkney Brewery Northern Light 4% ABV at the Bailie in Edinburgh
Houston St. Peter's Well 4.2% ABV at Abbotsford in Edinburgh
Brewdog Alpha Dog at Hector's in Edinburgh

Saturday, 9/4
Edinburgh Gold 4.8% ABV at The Doric in Edinburgh
Belhaven's Best 3.2% ABV at the Hawthorn in Edinburgh