Best CO Producers by style

ZWEI is number one FYI. Pretty sure many here will agree.


Love this thread topic though- thanks!

 

Hmm, here are a few of mine. Opinions only, of course.

IPAs (in general):
1. Comrade
2. Cannonball Creek
3. Weldwerks / S26 (Tie)

Helles or Pils:
1. Bierstadt
2. Zwei
3. Dry Dock

English Bitter or ESB
1. Hogshead
2. Bull & Bush
3. Dry Dock

BA Beers (Spirits)
1. Bull & Bush
2. Everyone else

BA Beers (Mixed or Wild Fermentation)
1. Casey
2. Crooked Stave
3. Trinity

"Clean" Belgian Style Beers
1. New Belgium
2. Elevation
3. Wit's End

Bigger Beers
1. Avery
2. Comrade
3. Elevation

Smaller Beers
1. Boulder
2. Hogshead
3. Ska

 

"West Coast" IPA:
1: Comrade
2. S26
3. Cannonball creek/ 4 Noses

"East Coast" IPA:
1. Weldwerks
2. Odd 13
3. 4 Noses

Pale ale:
1. Cannonball Creek
2. 4 Noses
3. Odell

Imperial stout (Including Barrel aged)
1. Weldwerks
2. Oskar Blues
3. Avery

Sours
1. New Belgium
2. Powdered keg
3. Weldwerks

Session IPA
1. Cannonball Creek
2. Oskar Blues
3. 4 Noses

 

Outer Range in Frisco belongs in the top 3 for NEIPA along with Odd 13 and Weldwerks. If you don't know of them, you probably should before they blow up.

 

IPA:

Comrade

Belgian (though, specifically, saison):

Funkwerks

Lager:

Bierstadt

Stout:

Equinox

Session Beer:

TRVE

Amber/Red:

Odell

 

Bierstadt FTW!

 

IMO Zwei has a pilsner that better matches my tastes (South rather than North German) while Bierstadt hell is about as close to Munich as you'll get without hopping on a plane. You aren't going to get a pale lager that is anything less than 5-stars at either so it's just personal preference.
I like Bierstadt's hell most between them, but it's worth noting that Zwei makes like a dozen great beers of all sorts.

 

This thread needs more Cerebral.

 

A few categories of beer styles that CO breweries do well, but haven't been mentioned much yet:

Scotch Ale:
1. Great Divide
2. Odell
3. Oskar Blues

Barleywine:
1. Bull and Bush
2. Great Divide
3. Dry Dock

Oktberfest/Marzen:
1. Prost
2. Dry Dock
3. Grimm Brothers

Dark Lager:
1. Grimm Brothers
2. New Belgium
3. Eddyline

Blonde Ale/Kolsch:
1. New Belgium
2. Steamworks
3. Grimm Brothers

Porter:
1. Odell
2. Left Hand
3. Boulder Beer

Regular Strength Stout:
1. Left Hand
2. Ska
3t. Comrade
3t. Finkel and Garf

Brown Ale:
1. Upslope
2. Telluride
3. Avery

Coffee Beers:
1. Epic
2. Cerebral
3. River North

 

For a Scottish ale, I'm still kinda partial to Bristol Laughing Lab. Don't find/get it as often intro Denver but....

 

The Bull & Bush used to have scottish and scotch (aka. milder and stronger) ales in their regular rotation, but it's been a while.
Those are styles that not a lot of people make anymore. When they do it's usually peaty, which isn't really my jam. The best ones to me are probably 90 Shilling (mild) and Comrade's Man Oarboard (strong). Dry Dock's is another good one.
Laughing Lab used to be so so good, but I had a couple of horrible bottles 2-3 years ago and I've been scared to buy more of it. Old Chub used to be one of my favorite beers in the world, but I don't really like that flavor profile anymore. If Cigar City Big Sound makes it out this way, that will instantly become the best one in the state, IMO.

 

Sounds like I gotta get over there... I haven't had them yet, but will certainly make it a priority next time I'm down in the big city

 

You think so?

 

Their BA stouts are hyped out of this world, but I think they make some of the best NEIPAs in the state.

 

Oktoberfest is a tricky style because there are several valid approaches to it.
There's the typical burnt orange examples most folks think of (Paulaner, Sam Adams, Left Hand, etc.). Yet in spite of what you'd expect, those are actually not super authentic anymore.
The Germans moved on to pale versions before most of us were born. Finding deep amber colored Munich-malt heavy examples in Germany isn't typical. It usually involves a trip to the store and a bottle primarily designed for export to the US.

I've witnessed (and read) lots of cases where people dismiss one or the other when both are kinda sorta legit. Hell, with all of the burnt orange ones being made in the US, we've kinda commandeered the style. I bet ours outsell the German examples by a wide margin.

In CO, we have solid examples of both. For the old school orange ones, Dry Dock, S26, and Comrade knocked it out of the park. Left Hand used to be great, but I think it has gotten too sweet.

Bierstadt, Prost, and Zwei all went with Munich-style examples and knocked 'em out of the park.

The Kaiser...well...it's just a doppelbock