Colorado Springs Beer Community Fundraises for Club-Q Shooting Survivors

Last week a shooter opened fire at Club Q, an LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs killing five people. Richard Fierro, an Army combat veteran and co-owner of Atrevida Beer Co., was one of the two men who subdued the shooter, preventing further casualties.

Read More

2022 Colorado Black Friday Craft Beer Releases

The holiday season is officially upon us, and that means the thrill of shopping for others in crowded spaces has begun. Instead of fighting the ravenous hordes at a tortuous big box store, why not enjoy some tasty beer? Black Friday marks a big day in the craft beer community as many breweries release special and limited edition beers, many of them made big and boozy for a warming liquid cold weather blanket. We have rounded up a list of 2022 Colorado Black Friday craft beer releases for your perusal and enjoyment. Convince the family to stop by one of these establishments while you’re out and about fighting off the crowds and that turkey hangover. Beer also makes for a great present for that special friend or family member!

Read More

Wibby Brewing | Double Dunkel

Wibby Brewing is a craft lager brewery located in Longmont, Colorado. Their taproom has an impressive amount of outdoor seating and an overall relaxing and welcoming atmosphere. But most importantly, they have some amazing beers.

Read More

OCC Brewing | Cast Iron Arm Brown Ale

If you haven’t been to Old Colorado City (just west of Colorado Springs) lately then you may not know about the newest brewery in that area. OCC Brewing opened in September 2021 ready to serve the area. Unfortunately, due to some issues with plumbing, they weren’t able to brew on their system for a couple of months. However, they still came out swinging with delicious eats, unique cocktails and even mimosa flights. You can still find all these things, but you will also find 16 taps with a variety of beers. With the owner’s background of working with yeast, the aim of their beers was to focus on classic European style beers and getting the most out of their yeast. This is very different from the typical brewery offering multitudes of trending hoppy brews.

Read More

Events Recap | Brewmaster Dinner Series at The Eddy

Walking into The Eddy, I’m greeted by the wagging tail of the adorable four-month-old Bernese Mountain Dog puppy, Aspen. The Eddy Taproom & Hotel, which opened in Golden, CO in 2021, offers an atmosphere bustling with furry friends, vibrant local beers on tap and great conversation with friends old and new. The Eddy also hosts a variety of unique experiences, from wine tastings to Meat Smoking 101 classes. And for the beer lovers out there, they have recently launched a Brewmaster Dinner Series. This four-course beer dinner and reception is hosted by Eddy Executive Chef Ben Shapiro and partners with a rotating cast of local brewing legends.

Read More

2021 Craft Brewers Conference External Events Guide

The Craft Brewers Conference is back! Returning to Denver, CO this year, CBC will be held from September 9 through September 12 at the Colorado Convention Center. Touted as America’s Largest Craft Brewing Industry Gathering, this event is an annual show that travels to different cities each year. It serves both on-premise breweries and packaging breweries and is a great way to meet other craft beer industry professionals.

Read More

Over Yonder Brewing Co. | D6 IPA

Over Yonder Brewing Co. in Golden, CO recently celebrated their first and second anniversary this year. The brewery had one big, mega-bash to make up for lost time over the lockdown in 2020. As a brewery that feeds off music and crowd energy almost as much as they do creating new beers, it’s been an exciting 2021.

Part of their efforts to welcome back music includes live streaming Phish shows on the big screen with Paige McConnell banging away on the D6 clavinet during some of the slinkier Phish grooves (e.g. Sand, Moma Dance, etc.). This is where Over Yonder came up with the name of their fan (and brewer) favorite beer, D6 IPA.

Read More

Outer Range Brewing Co. | Pop Top NEIPA

Since 2016, Outer Range Brewing has been a consistent and popular spot for thirsty travelers passing through Frisco, Colorado looking for Belgian and IPA options. As an unashamed-to-admit hazy IPA fanboy (yes, we even have groups!), Outer Range was always on my radar when perusing the massive craft beer selections, especially in Denver. While I appreciate a brewery that can knock out a “one-hit wonder” beer, my admiration goes to breweries that make each beer a winner; that is rare, even in the secluded world of hazy IPAs. Outer Range Pop Top is one of those beers, an exemplary tropical hazy IPA with the uniquely engineered Cryo Pop Original Blend, which maximizes hop aromatics.
Read More

Boys Are From Märzen Podcast | Whitney Way City Star Brewing

In Episode 22 of the “Boys Are From Märzen” podcast, Kindsey Bernhard is joined by Whitney Way of City Star Brewing in Berthoud, Colorado.

Whitney Way calls herself the “Jill of All Trades” for City Star Brewing, and that title fits her perfectly. Way is a co-owner with her husband, John. She is also the general manager, the taproom manager, she does the brewery’s accounting and taxes and helps with the brewing.

Read More

Halloween Beer Treat | LUKI Brewery Grammy’s Pumpkin Pie

During a drastic weather change like the ones we experience in Colorado from time to time, it’s easy to go right from crispy summer brews to heavy winter Stouts without the intermediary Oktoberfests and pumpkin beers. But LUKI Brewery in Arvada, Colorado, is giving its fairly new fan base reason to seek out squash and gourd-centric beers this fall: Grammy’s Pumpkin Pie.

Instead of being labeled a “pumpkin Ale” or an Imperial Stout with pumpkin like so many others, Grammy’s Pumpkin Pie is a spiced Brown Ale. LUKI’s current craft lineup contains no sub-5% ABV beers nor any 10%+ ABV booze bombs; the beers are born from owner and brewer Jeff Smith’s love of old-school styles and desire to create well-balanced, accessible (and still entertaining) brews.

Read More

Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales | Raven Rock

While styles like lambic and gueuze might conjure images of a farmhouse in the rolling countryside,  some of the best sour and funky beers in America are made by Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales right on South Broadway in Denver, CO. Their collab with Falling Rock Tap House, called Raven Rock, is no exception. While Raven Rock might not technically be a lambic, it’s about as damn close as you can get. 

Read More

WeldWerks Brewing Company | Pilsner UrqWeld

The progression of becoming a true craft beer snob is a subtle one but the path is marked by some key moments. You generally begin dabbling in IPAs, starting with a gateway local pale ale into becoming an expert on all things dank and/or hazy. Then you move onto Stouts—a bigger flavor profile, a bigger ABV and a bigger blow to your wallet. Most craft beer nerds will live in this Stout phase for a long time, perhaps expanding into Barley wines, maybe diverting over to Sours, but generally content to chase the whales and tip the scales between what is beer and what is actually just brownie batter. The mark of a true snob, though, is when you loop back around into the lightest and most overlooked styles that the industry has to offer: Pilsners.

Read More

The Sweet Tastin’ Good Life Is so Easily Found | Over Yonder Brewing Company

Perched above the Denver metro area at the absolute foot of the Rockies, Golden’s Over Yonder Brewing waits with propped-open doors and beers to-go at the ready. Inside, a colorful mural and projector screen (playing a live concert stream) welcome its socially distanced pickup patrons. Upon greeting co-founder and head brewer Jason Bilodeaux, we (OK, I) forget briefly not to shake hands and then we go in for the elbow-five.

Read More

How a Legal Loophole Inspired Two Colorado Brewers to Create a Unique Beer

Good things come to those who wait, right? That’s the case for Colorado beer drinkers, who got a chance recently to buy Where I Live, a mixed culture dark sour beer created in collaboration between two of Colorado’s most esteemed brewers: New Belgium Brewing Co. and TRVE Brewing. Made with 100% Colorado-made malt and lavender, Where I Live is unique both in composition and inspiration. The brewers first discussed making this beer during the 2016 GABF, but it wasn’t possible due to regulations that prohibited brewer-to-brewery tax-free transfers of ‘finished’ beer. As fate would have it, a legal loophole that popped up in passed legislation one year later made the blending collaboration possible and Where I Live became a reality. To learn more about how this beer came to be, we asked Andrew Emerton, New Belgium’s Specialty Brand Manager. 

Read More

Fiction Beer Company | Electrum Bronze

Last year, the Brewers Association introduced Juicy or Hazy Pale Ale category at the 2018 Great American Beer Festival, becoming the first national competition to recognize the category. It was one of the highest entered categories of 2018, with 132 entries from across the United States. Only three breweries won medals, Fiction Beer Company in Denver, Colorado was among the winners, earning a Bronze Medal for Madame Psychosis.

Read More

Fiction Beer Co. | Donut Panic

A “doughnut” or “donut” is a circular type of fried pasty (I grew up eating “donuts,” so for the purpose of this article, I will use this spelling). Donuts seem to have been around since breakfast food was invented, but many cultures include these tasty delicacies into everyday eating. Modern donuts are said to have been brought to America by Dutch settlers when they immigrated to New York in the early 17^th century. Although some people might agree that donut day should be every day, the official National Donut Day takes place on the first Friday of every June. The origin of this day is said to derive from The Salvation Army during WWI in which they served donuts to soldiers. These baked goods were such a hit that the Salvation Army tents were one of the most popular spots during the war.

Over the past several years, donuts have also been a staple across pop culture from Wayne and Garth’s trips to Stan Mikita’s Donut Shop to Ron Swanson’s affection towards mouthwatering breakfast foods. However, nothing in pop culture compares to Homer Simpson’s addiction to donuts. It’s so encompassing that on one of the famous Halloween episodes of “The Simpsons,” Homer sold his soul to the devil for a donut. To Homer’s delight, he was sent to “Donut Hell” while having endless donuts shoved into his mouth. Mmmmm… donuts.

Read More

Novel Strand Brewing | Ye Olde Funk

The best way to lift yourself out of a winter funk is to drink a beer that’s dark and delicious, with a high enough ABV to warm you up. After walking a few blocks in 19-degree weather to Novel Strand–a relatively new brewery located only a few blocks away from my apartment–I needed something full-bodied, boldly flavored and a little weird.

Read More

Maxline Brewing | Rummy in My Tummy & Mean Heat Wheat

If you’re in a part of the country without snow on the ground right now, you might not fully appreciate the solace that lies within winter beers. You may have already read that it’s a primal instinct for humans to party.  But taking it a step further, there’s something much more instinctively satisfying about getting together with your fellow primates; braving the cold and celebrating the very fact that you’ve braved the cold. Being out in a public gathering area during cold weather somehow amplifies the sense of community. Maxline Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado is exactly the kind of place you’d want to go and brave the cold weather.

Read More

Something Brewery | Fruity Sparkles

How many of you grew up eating Fruity Pebbles cereal for breakfast? I know I indulged as a child. When I heard Something Brewery was releasing a cereal-beer crowler pack that included a Fruity Pebbles beer, I knew I had to get my hands on some. I mean, who doesn’t want to enjoy beer for breakfast? 

Read More

A Holiday Brewski at the Zooski | Denver Zoo Lights Tap List

In a city like Denver where the craft beer market is insanely competitive, party planners and marketing teams now build events around a top-notch tap list—it’s no longer an afterthought or bonus. Take Denver Zoo, for example. Not so long ago, patrons would have been stoked to have any kind of beer available as they peered at Pachyderms. But now, during the 28th annual Zoo Lights, the park proudly presents its visitors with a carefully cultivated beer menu, which includes over 20 craft brews.

Read More