Casey Brewing and Blending

Will do! I found one inaccuracy and meant to mark it down, and then I found another. My eyes were crossing going back and forth between your site and my spreadsheet, so I decided to call it a night. I'll find them and let you know. I know you're missing the August '15 Montmorency FS. That was the blend he distributed around Denver for GABF. I've got a bottle so I can get that date to you also.

 

In the description of the collaborations, can you add the beer description as well? (Cherry Inclusion = Biere de Garde w/ Cherries, Blackberry Honey = East Bank w/ Blackberries, West Slope Connection = AOT aged in Peach Street barrels, etc.?)

 

Hey thanks for the homework...new blackberry fp to add...3/24 tripple crown. A personal tasting note on that list would be awesome beyond Casey's description

 

Has anyone been to the new tours yet? How was the experience compared to the monthly releases?

 

So my experience went like this: Took a day off work, drove up at 8:30, got there right before 11, not bad traffic wise. Tour was ok, basic history of Casey and small tour of the tanks/barrels. A little disappointed Troy wasn't touring with us although Jon (John?) is extremely personable and knowledgeable about the process, great guy.

Beer was great, having just had Biere de Garde and Oak Theory at Sour Fest, the real gem was BB Cut. BB Cut was nicely fruited and very sour. Not much juicy fruit character, the fruit seemed more on the tart end but that could just be more of the sour culture interaction vs. the fruit. Bought a Balaton Cut to share with other guests, color was amazing. Tart cherry, massive sour, flat, not bad, but I imagine with more carbonation it would be phenomenal. Other guests kindly shared bottles as well and had the DHOT Citra & Simcoe which was great and the Chardonnay FS. I was probably one of about 10 people that showed up. Apparently a good amount of people didn't show up or couldn't find it, I dunno. MUCH better than the 200+ people slammed together trying to get a pour at the bar.

All-in-all about the only disappointment was time & cost which far exceeded what I normally would ever consider doing for beer again. $150 for 5 bottles (yikes!) + $20 ticket for 3 pours + entire day for travel. Came home with a BB Cut, DHOT Amarillo and 2x Montmorency CFPs. Pretty happy overall. I think I'll be looking at going on a Saturday again though if possible.

 

What were the pours like? 4 ounces?

Though I don't disagree with you about how silly it is to drive there, pay just to get in and then spend a small fortune, some of us having been done this on several occasions but the drives have been about 7 hours each way and the final tab closer to $400. My penny-pinching grandparents are rolling in their graves as I write this.

 

Also, how long is the tour and how much time does it leave for drinking from the bar? Is there an option to peel off from the tour and get to drinking? Samples are poured while you tour?

Sorry, just curious because I'll be there next weekend.

 

Poured BdG while we waited for people... tour was about 20-30 min. from 11:20-11:50-ish, then poured OT & BB Cut, left about 45 min. for any bottles the people in your group bought to drink on site. I wasn't bashful though and asked for Balaton Cut almost immediately after finishing BB Cut. Pours were approx. 4 oz.

 

I don't really care about the drive so much. Just that I only came home with 4 bottles that weren't 'flagship' beers at an average of $30/bottle and I had 45min. to drink/share Balaton Cut. Although I'm sure they wouldn't care if the 11:00pm tourists stuck around to keep drinking (so I'd aim for the earlier tour if you can), I had to head back at 1pm. It was really nice though to be able to talk to someone 1-to-1 and not have so many people on 90'F+ day with the garage door open. Much more intimate feel to the tasting/tour.

 

I don't like the idea of having to rush through drinking in that little window. That's an unfortunate new development.

 

I'll add though I didn't ask for it up front which you may be able to do right when you get there. I just waited til after the 3 tastings as courtesy.

 

Looking forward to checking the place out, I'll be there at the 2pm session next Friday. Say hi to the Ohio guy!

 

Did you get the feeling that waiting for people is going to be a common occurence? I feel like that's the biggest flaw in this whole thing. I can't imagine how bad it's going to be once the weather gets worse. People are going to be missing their alloted tour left and right.

 

No idea. If I had to venture a wild guess, people's plans changed, couldn't find the place (doubt there were THAT many first timers going week one), or people looked at the bottle to go list week of, and figured they already had the bottles since they were released last month, I don't think any bottles were new?

 

Hoping this gets corrected as I would prefer to have more than 45 minutes to sip on some on premesis bottles.

 

My wife and I vacationed in Boulder and Denver last week and we were also able to experience one of the Casey tours (6/16, 11:00). I personally had a great time. A few thoughts:

- Only one person from our tour of 10ish was a returning customer. My wife and I were about 7 minutes late (Glenwood Hot Springs communication debacle...) and everyone else was already seated and the first bottle was being poured. I'm surprised to hear that they waited for guests on previous tours because that was not our experience.

- The tour itself was interesting, but I really don't consider it part of the admission because $10 for the pours received (At least four ounces of each...I'd estimate more) is very reasonable (relative to the market, not your personal opinion on sour pricing).

- We partnered up with another couple to split three additional bottles (Brett Loves Citra, Amarillo Dry Hopped Oak Theory, and The Cut: Montmorency Cherry) and I didn't feel rushed at all. We talked quite a bit with two other couples and there was no sense that we needed to throw down our pours to stay within our window. Everyone took their time purchasing bottles after we were finished and we still didn't run over. I wasn't watching the clock at all, but we must've started ordering the additional bottles with far more than 45 minutes to spare (I'd estimate an hour and 15 or so).

Personally we had a nice time and I definitely wouldn't have traded it for a ****show release day where we would've been forced to waste our vacation waiting in lines.

 

Name of the pizza place, please. I'm going up next weekend.

 

Anyone know what kind of pizza they served at the F&F event last month? That was the bomb.com

 

Curious as well. I only had a bite or two of my ex's slice because I was still stuffed with a Coloradough breakfast, but it was damn tasty and I would seek it out up there.

 

Not sure if it's the place everyone is looking for but we have gone to Rocky Mountain Pizza the last couple times in town. They have either whole pie or by the slice - both delicious