Favorite Colorado IPAs?

Prospero got most of it, I would just add:

Alpine Dog at Ogden & Colfax

You guys are gonna think I'm crazy on this one, but last year I was at the Colfax Cheba Hut a few times grabbing food and was rather shocked at how good their selection was. 20 taps, all craft, yeah a few "standards" like Dale's and White Rascal but mostly stuff that will appeal to geeks; offerings from small local breweries that don't can or bottle at all, offerings from a few places I've never even heard of, stuff like Barrel-Aged Yeti, etc... I don't know that I'd make it a destination yet, but it's a good option if you're thirsty on that stretch of Colfax, considering Cheeky Monk, Lost Highway and Uptown Bros are all gone now.

 

I got a chance to try a couple new (at least to me) "hazy" IPA's over the weekend.

Rock Cut, up in Estes Park has one called East Portal that I enjoyed. It isn't an "OJ milk" one, but it instead has flavors that lean slightly more traditional, but with some grapefruit rind and melon going on. They also have a red IPA and a normal 'ol simcoe-heavy IPA that I also liked.

The Bull & Bush has on called Old North End that's only mildly hazy, but has big sweet and juicy flavors. It looks more like a chill haze kind of thing rather than something packed with flour, but the flavors are definitely there. It reminds me of Ursula's first go-round of Lazy Brewer. I think they might have bottled this one, but it's definitely on tap right now.

 

FWIW from an East Coast visitor who drank a ton of beer in Denver/Colorado.

I think Cerebral and Odd13 are making the best hoppy beers out of what I tried (but Crooked Stave is RIGHT up there). Really liked the Strange Claw (Citra and Columbus), from Cerebral - the others were very good, not great.

I found Odd13 to have a high ceiling, but the beers seemed pretty inconsistent. The Nooberfan and Superfan were awesome, and I really enjoyed the strawberry rhubarb sour they had on. Nooberfan was my favorite of the day. However, the Zero IBU DIPA seemed off, the Hop Wizard didn't quite seem right, and Noob was fine but had a slight vegetal quality that I wasn't loving.

Crooked Stave had an awesome Oat IPA and a very tasty Guava IPA on tap - the other IPA's were above average but nothing special IMO. The cans of Hop Savant were particularly disappointing.

I also visited Outer Range after spending a day hiking and checking out Lake Dillon. I think they have great potential (and man, what a beautiful spot they have out in Frisco), but I think the NE IPA's still need to be dialed in. Forestry and Rustic Ways were both very good, but did not quite have the juicy pop of the NE IPA's we have the pleasure of getting from several breweries here in VA. I thought these beers were close to being home runs, but fell a TINY bit flat for me. The El Dorado single hop was also good, but not my favorite hop - and I thought both the belgians on draft were fairly forgettable.

I was REALLY impressed with Baere and especially TRVE - just not so much their IPA's. Those bottle conditioned sours from TRVE are great. Tired Hands level saisons IMO. If you see the collab with Cerebral called "Brain Transplant" (DH Sour), do not pass it up!

You guys have a stunningly beautiful state and everyone was very friendly. Cheers guys!

 

Loveland Ale Works Anniversary IIPA was quite tasty. More a traditional west-coast style IPA using some of the newer hop varietals. They said at this time they aren't interested in making a hazy IPA.

 

Fruity Bits lemon meringue crowlers at Whole Foods Boulder...

 

Would be a shame if you missed Comrade, 4 Noses or station 26. Think those are my 3 favorite Colorado breweries for IPAs. Cannonball Creek is right there also

 

Oops sorry for another post Weldwerks somehow slipped my mind they are best of the best imo. For IPAs

Weldwerks
Comrade
4 Noses
Station 26
Cannonball Creek.

That would be my must hits for people visiting Colorado and wanted IPAs

 

Sounds like you got around quite a bit while you were here and glad you had mostly positive experiences at the places you went to. I agree with you on a lot of your points. I'll just pick out a couple to keep the rant to a minimum:

1)Crooked Stave, while obviously known for their sours, have been brewing some very solid tap only IPAs in their taproom for the better part of a year now. I was there when they tapped that Oats IPA and mysef along with the 3 other people I was with were all very impressed by that beer. Probably one of my favorite IPAs that they've brewed that I've been able to try.

2)I have had a few of Outer Ranges IPA offerings on tap around Denver but was finally able to make it to their taproom last weekend on the way back from Casey. I believe they have huge potential but they've got some dialing in to do. Rustic Ways has been my favorite beer I've tried from them and the others such as Forestry, Earth Tones and One More Frontier have fallen a little short. I've heard/read from people on here and elsewhere that the In the Steep cans were tremendous. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any of those cans. Quick tidbit about OR: While at the taproom last weekend my friends and I were able to sit and chat with the taproom manager for a little bit and he informed us that they will be doing monthly canning releases with the next one being August 6th. Didn't Say what it would be though. /end rant

 

Next can release will be Rustic Ways!

 

Well, goddamn! I'll be out of town that wknd. I'll be 0 for 2 on OR can releases.

 

August 5th actually, and it will be Rustic Ways

 

In the Steep cans were tremendous

 

Does anyone know details about the Robot Librarian release this weekend? i.e., will it only be at Odd 13? Or will Cerebral, Fiction, etc have it as well? I lucked into having it on tap last summer, and would love to get my hands on some cans this year...

 

All the details were posted earlier in this thread, but all of the collaborators will have 'some' for purchase at their breweries this weekend.

 

Got it... sorry if I missed it -- I thought I hadn't seen anyone specifically mention cans.

 

Cerebral, Fiction, and Weldwerks will have cans for sale eventually but not this weekend. Cans will only be available at Odd 13 this weekend.

 

Actually....

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1338186526289313

Cerebral will also release it this Saturday

 

@GOciepka correctly quoted my earlier post, but things have changed since then and I haven't posted an update. @Dan_Inreallife scooped me on the idea that the collaborators will be selling cases Saturday, although not completely.

Each of the collaborators is getting 75 cases (@Dan_Inreallife reported 50 because @CerebralBrewing reported that). We originally allocated 50 cases to each collaborator. Just today we ironed out that we will have enough to give each of them 75. We (Odd13) will have about 250 cases.

@CerebralBrewing and @Tarheel4985 (WeldWerks) will be releasing on Saturday 7/15. @FictionBrewing (dammit Ryan, get on here) will be releasing on 7/22. We will also be releasing on 7/15.

We will have Robot-themed guest beers from all 3 collaborating breweries available at our taproom this Saturday 7/15:

• Cerebral - Destruct Mechanism - IPA with Vic's Secret, Idaho 7 and Cashmere - 6.4% ABV (Rare Trait variant)
  
• Fiction - Island of Robots - IPA with Citra and El Dorado - 8% ABV (Island of Conclusions variant)
  
• Weldwerks - Alpha Bots - IPA with Citra, Galaxy, Mosaic and Amarillo - 6% ABV (this is the same grain and hop bill as Robot Librarian but dialed down to lower ABV and with Amarillo swapped for El Dorado and brewed at WeldWerks instead of Odd13)

 

@rscot231 @CerebralBrewing why won't the Librarian be on tap at Cerebral?