2023 Guide to Colorado’s Oktoberfest Releases & Celebrations

The 2023 Oktoberfest season is here! Polka season is here! Dirndls and lederhosen season is here! Hopefully, you’ve been working out those arms as stein-holding competition season is here! From this Friday, August 25 to Sunday, October 1, there are a ton of Oktoberfest releases and events. You can find events and beer releases across Colorado and many breweries are offering exciting steins to take home. Festbiers and märzens all around! Prost!

Check out the list below, in chronological order, for all of the 2023 Oktoberfest beer releases and celebrations across Colorado.

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Colorado’s Best Pale Ales Blind Tasting Presented by On Tap Credit Union

Here ye, here ye! Another PorchDrinking Blind Tasting has been conducted! This time 24 of Colorado’s Best Pale Ales were submitted from breweries from all across the state. All beers were non-adjunct and needed to mostly follow the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) guidelines of the Pale Ale style.

For starters, the goal of the Blind Tasting Series is to find the best beer of each style in the Centennial, regardless of the beer’s label, the brewery’s marketing or notoriety.

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Colorado’s Best Light Mexican Lagers Blind Tasting Presented by On Tap Credit Union

Back with the first of four scheduled Blind Tastings for 2023, the starting style on this year’s slate is Light Mexican Lagers. The goal is to find some of the best Light Mexican Lagers around Colorado. For this Blind Tasting, a group of eight judges evaluated 35 Light Mexican Lagers. Beers were submitted from breweries of all different sizes from all across Colorado.

PorchDrinking’s Blind Tasting Series is presented by On Tap Credit Union.

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2023 Brewers Association Industry Award Winners

Yesterday, the Brewers Association announced its Industry Award recipients for 2023. The five recipients are Ret. Representative Peter DeFazio, Ben Edmunds, Jessica and Richard Fierro, and Julie Rhodes. All will be officially honored at a ceremony on May 8, 2023, at the Craft Brewers Conference. Starting in 1987, the Brewers Association presents the Industry Awards to individuals that “inspire, defend, and innovate within the craft brewing industry.”

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Silly Valentine’s Day Cards for Your Craft Beer Fan

Finding the right Valentine’s Day card can be tricky. Wasn’t it easier just to buy a box of the fun cartoon valentine cards that you gave to friends at school? Well, if you’ve got a craft beer fan in your life, perhaps try one of these cheesy, good, terrible and maybe enticing puns for your valentine this year.

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Colorado’s Best Coffee Stout Blind Tasting Presented by On Tap Credit Union

Taking the stage in the latest edition of PorchDrinking’s Blind Tasting series are Coffee Stouts. In this latest tasting, we asked a group of 10 judges to taste 26 Coffee Stouts made by Colorado breweries. By conducting a tasting blindly, we are able to put all sizes of breweries across Colorado on an even playing field that removes all marketing and preconceived notions that the judges may have. In previous installments, the Blind Tasting Series focused on Märzens, Barrel-Aged Stouts, Pilsners, and Fresh Hop Beers.

PorchDrinking’s Blind Tasting Series is presented by On Tap Credit Union. The Coffee Stout tasting is sponsored by Novo Coffee as they proudly served as our hosts.

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Colorado’s Best Fresh Hop Beers Presented by On Tap Credit Union

For the fourth installment of PorchDrinking’s Blind Tasting Series presented by On Tap Credit Union, breweries from around Colorado submitted their fresh hop beers. To start with, the Brewer’s Association defines Fresh Hop beers as, “Ales or lagers are brewed with freshly harvested hops, typically no more than 72 hours prior to being added. Such hops might be undried fresh or frozen cones or ground material, or freshly kilned dried cones or pellets.” For this tasting, we received Fresh Hop beers from 16 different Colorado breweries.

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Westbound & Down Opens Taproom in Denver’s Dairy Block

Idaho Springs brewery, Westbound & Down, is now serving its beer inside the Free Market building in Downtown Denver’s Dairy Block. Patrons will have ten beers available on draft and seven beers available to-go in four-packs.

Excitingly, the opportunity to have an opening in Denver started with an invitation by id est hospitality and BRUTØ. The new taproom exists in the BRUTØ space.

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Great Divide Brewing is Updating Its Look

Denver’s Great Divide Brewing Co. is freshening up its look. The brewery, celebrating its 28th anniversary later this year, is updating all of its cans, boxes and icons. Of course, beer fans will still see its infamous Yeti on its Imperial Stout but will notice a brighter scheme on its packaging as well as Great Divide in a bright red box.

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Resolute Brewing Selling Gift Boxes for Arapahoe County Early Childhood Council

Today, Resolute Brewing is wrapping up a month-long fundraiser for the Arapahoe County Early Childhood Council‘s (ACECC) “Parents as Teachers” program by selling specialized gift boxes. Importantly, this program provides resources for parents to help get their kids ready for school as research has shown that greater parent involvement is a critical link in the child’s development.

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Hops & Pie Hosts Drekker Brewing & WeldWerks Takeovers this Weekend

This upcoming weekend, Denver’s own Hops & Pie will host two terrific tap takeovers with Drekker Brewing Company on Friday, April 22, and then WeldWerks Brewing Company on Sunday, April 24. Excitingly, at least 16 different and hard-to-find beers will be available.

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Over 175 Breweries Participating in April 6 Colorado Pint Glass Day

The return of Colorado Pint Day will occur on Wednesday, April 6, 2022. The annual fundraiser takes $1 from each pint glass sold going to the Colorado Brewers Guild. Excitingly, over 175 brewery locations across Colorado will be selling these collectible pint glasses.

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Do-It-4-MDOG Aims Big in 2nd Annual Fundraiser

For the second year in a row, Jack’s Bottle Shop of Rochester, Minnesota is putting together its Do-It-4-MDOG fundraiser. This year the beneficiary is Children’s Minnesota, a place Jack’s Bottle Shop owner Jack Lester is very close to.

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Denver Beer Co. Announces Fourth Brewery & Taproom Location in Lowry

Denver Beer Co. announced today that they are moving forward with a new location in Denver’s Lowry neighborhood with construction beginning next month. The new site is at the Boulevard One development near South Quebec Street and East 1st Avenue and marks the brewery’s fourth location.

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Old Bust Head Brewing’s Sustainability Drive is Inspired by Daughter’s Mission

In Northern Virginia, resides Old Bust Head Brewing a 7,000 barrel producing brewery focused on making good beer and sustainability. Since its conception, owners Ike and Julie Broaddus envisioned their brewery to exemplify sustainability and make a richer community. When the brewery opened in 2014, they had already installed a geothermal system and renovated an old building.

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Highside Brewing | Wall Slammer White Russian Imperial Stout

In the beer calendar, the winter months are a great time to celebrate the chocolatey porters and full-bodied, creamy stouts of the world. If you are heading up for skiing in central Colorado, Highside Brewing in Frisco serves a wonderful White Russian Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels that is great for sipping slowly and warming your body up after an outing in the cold. It is known as Wall Slammer.

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New Belgium Challenges Winter Olympic Sponsors to Put Climate Action Before Ads

As the 2022 Winter Olympics begin this Friday, February 4, New Belgium Brewing is pushing all sponsors of the games to have 2030 Climate Action plans. Furthermore, to generate awareness amongst beer drinkers New Belgium is producing a limited-edition, charity-fundraising Fat Tire Point of Snow Return, a Dark Helles brewed with spruce tips.

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Telluride Blues & Brews Festival Revamps with New Brewers Showcase

The Telluride Blues & Brews Festival is changing its beer programming in a big way for 2022. This year, the festival is holding five different sessions and a more intimate experience with its new Brewers Showcase. Guests can speak with breweries and try a variety of new, classic, and rare craft beers in each different session. In previous years, the Saturday of the festival featured one session known as the Grand Tasting.

As of now, the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival is planned for Friday, September 16 to Sunday, September 18, 2022.

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New Belgium Brewing Interview | Sustainability & Future Goals

Given the continued craziness of COVID-19 and its impacts on the craft beer industry, how are breweries’ sustainability goals progressing? Did breweries have to abandon these goals in 2021 or were they able to meet their objectives? To answer these questions, I recently interviewed two sustainability leaders in the craft brewing industry, Brewery Vivant and New Belgium Brewing.

Below is my interview with Katie Wallace, Director of Social and Environmental Impact at New Belgium Brewing. You can read the interview with Kris Spaulding, Owner and President of Brewery Vivant, here.

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Brewery Vivant Interview | Sustainability and Future Goals

During a year in which COVID-19 continues to affect all aspects of life, how are breweries sustainability goals progressing? To answer this question, I recently interviewed several sustainability leaders in the craft brewing industry. Over the next few weeks, I will share these conversations. My first interview is with Kris Spaulding, Owner and President of Brewery Vivant, which is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Spaulding shared about the brewery’s progress over 2021 and what they hope to accomplish in 2022.

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