Favorite Colorado IPAs?

1)comrade
2)comrade
3)comrade
In that order. But I'm biased haha. Just joking! It's kinda hard when you say just 3. Drink them all and enjoy.
McGirt
Melvin Brewing

 

Someone might need to get out of Alpine every now and then, wherever the fuck that is.

 

Sure I will try to drink as many as I can while visiting but that's why I asked so I can actually visit some of these places.

 

Comrade, Station 26, Cannonball Creek. Dry Dock, Ursula, and Mountain Sun would be my honorable mentions. I like the hazy stuff, but it doesn't set me off like some folks. Weldwerks makes the best ones in Colorado (IMO of course) if that's your jam.

 

I'd also give 4 Noses an honorable mention as About Damn Time is pretty great too.

 

Outer Range IPAs are starting to hit some locations in Denver. First Draft, Crafty Fox... They may be new, but everything I've had has been so damn tasty. They definitely make my top 5 along with Comrade, Weldwerks, Odd13, and Cannonball Creek. Honorable mention to Powder Keg, I really love Intergalactic. Cerebral and S26 are great too. We're pretty freakin' lucky here

 

My own personal list:
--------
Odd13 (draft and cans!)
Weldwerks (draft and crowlers!)
--------
Station 26 (draft, crowlers, Cans)**

After that, I have a tough time picking a 3rd so I'll throw out some options.

Comrade (draft only), Cerebral, Fiction, Cannonball Creek (these would be top tier, but all are draft only)

Besides those, the following make very good hoppy beers in CO, available in package:

Odell, 4 Noses, Denver Beer Co, Renegade, Great Divide, New Image, Dry Dock, Upslope, heck even New Belgium.

**To me what elevates Station 26 to the top tier is the availability of fresh cans, and the individual can dating they do- easily tied with if not the best in the state. I think they do canning dates and also best by dates?

 

Neither Odd 13 nor Weldwerks are in Denver, just sayin' here people

 

Along with a shit ton of the other breweries people have mentioned. I think we're past that point now.

Had Earth Tones from Outer Range at Crafty Fox on Saturday. Very solid DIPA. Look forward to trying some more of their beers.

 

I mentioned it only because people kept using them for Top 3 in Denver... which they're not.

 

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1380900765301303

@rscot231 so stoked!

 

Glad to hear you guys are liking the Dry Dock IPA.

A few things:
As far as I know, Dry Dock has always had a date code on their cans. I know that has been the case since I got here in June of 2015. There are some numbers on the bottom of the can.The top line reads (Julian Date of Canning)%(Batch Number). The second line is a time stamp of the time it was canned. Julian Dating is fairly common in the brewing industry, but we're currently in the process of switching over to a "Best By" stamp on the bottom of the can. Here is a good Julian Date chart:
https://www.fs.fed.us/fire/partners/fepp/julian-calendar.pdf

Hop Abomination has changed quite a bit over the last year. The best way I can describe it is to say we've modernized it while still trying to keep the soul of the beer intact. It's definitely more "West Coast" than Dry Dock IPA. If you haven't tried it in a while, give it a shot.

Breakwater hasn't been discontinued per se, but it has shifted to more of a seasonal beer. We'll brew it again at South Dock some day, but we do have several hoppy beers right now. I think the tap room managers would strangle me if I put more on tap.

If you have any other questions, let me know. Cheers! - Alan

 

Do NOT go with a "Best By" unless you plan to include the exact timeframe your idea of "best by" actually means. Canning date (month/day/year) allows consumers to make up their mind if it is fresh enough. To me, a "Best By" date doesn't mean shit because that could mean it is two week, two months, or two years old. Honestly I am shocked anyone still uses "Best By" and more so that anyone would actually switch over and start using that method.

 

A mention, Upslope Imperial IPA is pretty nice. Hey, what can I say, that's all we get around here.

Cheers!

 

Completely agree. Just had a Pure Hoppiness that had a best by date a month from now. It was not good... Have no idea when it what brewed. If I would guess, that best by date had a timeframe of six months...

 

@rscot231 so stoked![/QUOTE]
Thanks. We are pumped to try this one too.

 

Hey guys, I just want to share some exciting changes that we (Odd13) are making to all of our hoppy beers. We recently acquired a new piece of equipment called a Rolec DH90 that is going to make our dry hopping more effective. There are videos online of the DH90 on the interwebz if you want to see what it looks like.

The reason I'm posting is to let you that over the next few batches of our core beers, there's likely to be a little bit more variability than normal as we dial this piece of equipment in. You can likely taste the results this week as the bath of n00b canned on 4/8 starts to hit shelves. That batch has some things we like better than previous and some things we will continue to fine tune. Let me know what you think.

 

Comrade, s26, Cannonball Creek

 

It looks like Comrade has an anniversary party when I'm there. Will it get crazy?

 

It'll be full/busy and there will probably be a lot of drunk people, but it seems like a prime time to go. They'll have something like 20 taps including different vintages of their seasonal big stouts.