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

Early August Beer Adventures

I was invited to a tasting event for New Planet Beer on 8/5 in Boulder. New Planet is coming out with a Pale Ale later this month. We were given 4 different recipes to taste and rate.



We tasted #2, #5, #41 and #530. I thought they were all very good but favored #5. #530 was very hoppy (and good) but more of an IPA than a Pale Ale. I found #2 the least interesting but it might be the best for mainstream America.

Next up, I volunteered for the Gnarly Barley Beer Festival in Loveland that was held on Saturday, 8/7. There were 22 breweries attending including Oskar Blues, Left Hand, New Belgium, Grimm Brothers (new brewery in Loveland)and Equinox Brewery (new brewery in Fort Collins).

I spent the morning pouring for Equinox Brewing. I had a great time working with Colin from Equinox and Nancy from House of Neighborly Services (the recipient of some of the proceeds from the event). We were offering Equinox's Sunrise Golden Ale and Orbit ESB. I really enjoyed the Orbit ESB.



Then on Sunday, 8/8, I was invited to a friend's house to try some New Glarus beer. My friends picked up a few beers while they were back in WI about a month ago. My very sweet friends sent me home with a six pack which included a few Road Slush (Stout), a Crack'd Wheat, a Fat Squirrel (brown ale) and a Moon Man (pale ale). I am looking forward to drinking these soon.