New Colorado Breweries

Grape Ales?? Sounds a bit “nichee?” Yes, I know nichee is not a word, but I hope most understand what I am implying.

 

Burns Family Artisianel Ales is open in Wits Ends old location. Pretty tasty beers!

 

It's definitely a niche. It could be the next big thing, though. We have tons of places doing niche beers in CO. Many are doing rather well, too. For what it's worth, people seem to love Casey's grape beers along with Cantillon St. Lam and Vig.
There are a lot of places they can go with it, but only time will tell if people care.

 

So, is this stuff beer with grapes added? Or just straight up grapes? Cuz, like, that would be wine.

 

Liberati also looks to have some amazing food as well

 

Here's some info on it: https://www.liberatidenver.com/blog/a-little-oenobeer-history
Bull & Bush occasionally gets an Italian one in. Grapevine, too. I've enjoyed the 2-3 that I've had, although they're usually kind of expensive as imports.

The fact that their food also seems killer has me excited. It's a hassle for me to get down there, but I plan to visit in the first week.

 

Had some grape beer at Cantillon in May and it was interesting. Definitely seemed like a Concord grape sorta thing- super purple, relatively sweet ... honestly don’t remember what it was called, but it was certainly good (seemed like something others would lose their shit over). My lady loved it..

I can definitely see where some nuance and variety could really produce some great beverages- not really beer to me, but who really cares? Let’s keep pushing boundaries, right?

 

St. Lamvinus I'd assume. At one time I didn't think I liked beers made with grapes (stuff like Midas Touch), but that was the one I did enjoy. It feels like all of the ones I'd consider successful have modeled themselves after that one or their other grape lambic, Vigneronne.

 

I talked with their brewer, some beers are going to undergo malolactic fermentation, like wine.

Other beer wine hybrid beeer, Dogfish Head Noble Rot I've had many years ago and thought that was done well. Also the Comrade and Crooked Stave collaboration, Dialectic Materialism

 

I am not sure, it depends on the beer. Loverbeer is an "Italian grape ale" maker that does a lot with grapes & wine in beer, and they sit on the shelf. They are excellent beers too. Maybe just price point due to being an import?

 

I think it's the price. Those are pretty steep most of the time, although they do pop up on the Grapevine closeouts. The B&B has them on draft pretty often. I'll have to ask how they're selling as they aren't cheap there either.

 

Just a note on "Grape Beers" but to be considered a beer it needs at least 51% of the fermentables to come from grains. And if it's more than 50% from fruit, it's not legal to sell (being neither beer nor wine).

Black Project explored this concept in their Mach Limit beers, which were extremely good this year.

 

Wouldn't that be a cider or perry?

 

Ciders can't contain grains.

 

Ah right. Good point.

 

https://wildblueyonderbrewing.com

Another brewery in castle rock. 105 seems to always be busy, the rest not so much. Castle Rock brewing changed names, hopefully that have better luck. I've heard burly has a nice location, but their beers need tweaking. And that's the lowdown on CR.

 

Couple more write-ups about Liberati. Set to open on Monday.
Liberati Brews Beer-Wine Hybrids That Will Blow Your Mind
Liberati Is Ready to Stun With Italian Restaurant and Brewery

 

I wonder if they can get away with having two taps: beer and juice. Mix at own pleasure. Kidding, of course. Or am I......???

 

Someone posted the Liberati beer menu online (of course I can't find it) and it sounded neat. They have 7-8 beers of varying strengths, styles, and the amount of grape juice added.
From memory, they had a Koelsch with only a little bit of juice (<10%) and a couple stronger beers that had nearly 50%. One even mentioned that it was brewed using the yeast from the skin of the grape.

I'm hoping to visit this weekend if I have time.

 

The juice wouldn't be fermented and would cut down on the ABV of the mixture.