Favorite Colorado Lagers!

Most of my favorites have already been mentioned (Bierstadt, Grimm Brothers, Wibby, Dry Dock, and CS Von Pilsner are all worthy of praise), but I'll also point out that The Post does several excellent lagers that are easily found in liquor stores (Howdy Pils and Top Rope for instance). Ska Brewing hasn't been mentioned yet but makes several solid ones. And Weldwerks is much more known for pastry stouts and hazy pale ales, but has put out some really nice lagers over the years. I still love their Puesta del Sol even though I never see it anymore.

Sandlot Barmen Pils doesn't get talked about much anymore thanks to the big increase in Colorado pilsner over the past couple of years, but I still think it holds up as one of the very best.

Nobody wants to encourage the new guy to play Russian Roulette with Prost?

 

What's up with Prost? They're just real inconsistent? I got a mix 12 when I first got here and didn't think it was terrible but wasn't blown away by anything.

 

Having finally made it to Austin this past year and other than my trip to Jester King, lagers were a point of focus of my drinking. I was pleased with what I tried, enough so that if I were to revisit Austin there are some beers I would seek out to revisit before even trying something new. With that said, I did not find anything on par with Bierstadt down there, personally. And I do believe I caught a few of the big ones for lagers, like Austin Beergarden and Live Oak. So, yeah, definitely Bierstadt as a recommendation.

Zwei in Fort Collins is worth the trek for a good lager. And Grimm Brothers in Loveland is right on the way. And Fort Collins beer scene as a whole is great. Having lived in both Denver and Fort Collins I will say that Fort Collins used to be the best hub for drinking in Colorado but that I think over the past 5-7 years Denver has taken that mantle. Fort Collins is more casual and relaxed, with most places in close proximity to each other. If the goal is mountains, though, I would not bother with Fort Collins, personally. I would do Frisco/Dillon area for the mountains with some beer. I'd also do Boulder (and its foothills) ahead of it, or Colorado Springs. But not sure of any places in those areas whose strengths are lagers.

And since we are talking general lager games....don't sleep on Albuquerque's lager game. Moving down here is what opened my eyes to lagers. We have some great ones, many tend to be one offs but plenty of staples.

 

Prost's story is complicated. Bill and Ashleigh from Bierstadt opened Prost with the help of some investors and other interested parties in 2012 . For roughly a year to a year and a half, they were the ones cranking out the world class German beers. They were brewing warm-fermentation beer and hybrids like weiss, alt, Koelsch, etc. as well. They were draft only, although they sold pre-packaged growlers in some stores, too. Those...well, I don't think those were a good idea and I'll leave it at that.
Anyway, the staff apparently had a big falling out and Bill and Ashleigh left.
Ever since, it feels like Prost has been going through brewers pretty rapidly. Some have been great and were putting out beers that were just as good as the originals. Others have been awful. They started packaging and selling bottles not long after that, too. I've seen those bottles as far away as Illinois. Much like the draft product, reaction to those seems to depend on who is calling the shots. Sometimes they're fantastic, other times they're horrendous. That's pretty much their M.O. now. The beers could be wonderful or awful.

 

You're playing diacetyl roulette every time you get a sixer of Prost. It's been that way for about four years. If you get a good sixer, it's great, but it can also be a dumper.

 

Bro, Kane is terrible. Don't ever seek them out.

 

Thanks for the advice! I ended up booking a place in Dillon, which looked perfect and has more than a few brewery options in the area and we can also check out Breckenridge and Frisco. If anyone has some must-tries around there, let me know!

 

FYI, I know it's not a CO lager but Grapevine has Alesmith Special Pilz for $4.99 a sixer or $16.99 per case. Was just there about an hour ago. If my memory serves me, it's a pretty decent pilsner though more on the hoppy side. It's been a while though. I'm kinda kicking myself that I didn't get a case. That's like $4.25 per sixer!

 

Tried Wibby's Helles for the first time today. Super impressed with this beer. Got it on sale for $7.99 at Wallaby's today. 7/30/18 packaging date. So not the freshest, but not the oldest either. Drinking nice.

 

Not really a Colorado lager, but Finn's Manor has Mahr's Ungespundetes on tap right now. As far as country/rustic lagers go, that's one of the best examples that you can get outside Franconia.

 

Hey, anyone know what happened to New Belgium's Shift? I used to really love that beer in terms of it being a slightly hoppy American lager. At least, it was great in the summertime. Did they stop brewing it? I can't remember having seen it forever.

 

Has Google Not Made it to Texas Yet??
According to that aforementioned Google, Shift Pale Lager has been Retired.
https://www.coloradoan.com/story/li...announces-major-beer-lineup-changes/95102976/

 

Huh. Couldn't find it when I Googled it. Too bad. I dug that beer.

 

No Problem. Glad you have a sense of humor.

 

Not sure if it's still around, but the beer they brewed with Patagonia tasted just like Shift to me. I was never a huge fan of either.

Not a lager, but give Dayblazer a shot. IMO it's a better beer than Shift and the yeast isn't really throwing off much in the way of esters. Locally, Old Aggie is a little like Shift, but it's softer with the hop notes. It's like Shift crossed with Michelob.

 

Common in today's craft beer scene: Investors and brewers disagreeing about product/sales.

 

It’s really a shame. Drove past Prost last evening after hanging out with a few friends @ Recess BG and I didn’t look too hard, but it appeared pretty quiet in there. It’s also a shame, due to that prime location that isn’t being fully realized. I don’t want Prost to dissolve, but maybe yet another change is in order.

 

I was so excited for Shift when it came out. A lager with nelson sauvin hops? Sounded like the perfect beer for me. Unfortunately, I found it to be totally underwhelming. Not going to miss it.

 

I don't want them to dissolve either. I'm not really sure what would be best for them. I don't know if there is room for two German-centric breweries in that area, and I'm not even counting Tivoli. Prost definitely feels far more German than Bierstadt, but their beer loses 99 out of 100 times. With the amount of work that went into Bierstadt, it's not like they're likely to hop back across I25 either. Plus, it feels like they're hitting stride right now. I see Bierstadt taps all over the place and they force places to take care of them.
I suppose in an ideal world I'd like to see a larger regional brewery take over Prost and put that place to consistent good use. They maybe they can sell all of their German decor to Bierstadt and everyone wins