Favorite Colorado Lagers!

Beeritos is your best bet, imo. Try to get a fresh six pack.

 

Didn’t find a Vienna Lager on my Denver trip but had an always fantastic Helles at Bierstadt. I am trying Pretzel Assassin by Denver Beer Co. right now and while it’s tasty, it tastes more like an amber ale recipe fermented with Lager yeast. I get a lot of caramel malts but not that toasty Vienna malt profile I’m after. Not bad though.

 

While not a Vienna, the altbier and dunkel from Grimm definitely exhibit a toasty character. Had their alt next to prost brewing's alt and was disappointed with the Carmel malt flavors in the prost version.

 

Tasty rachbier on at Bierstadt right meow. Its definitely smoky and meaty and stuff, but real drinkable.

They also had an eisbock on but I didn't try it.

 

I really need to try the Bierstadt rauchbier. It honestly isn't one of my favorite styles, but the fresh stuff is like 5x better than the typical year-old Schlenkerla bottles most people have tried.
How strong is it? That also seems to play a role. The ones I do really like are typically pretty mild.

 

Both are great. Drank some last night. I think the Rauchbock is 6.5%

 

Somewhat related, it seems those Shlenkerla Hell cans are finally hitting town. Anyone who doesn't normally like rauchbier should give those a shot. It isn't using any smoked malt, but it has a subtle smoke note because it's brewed in the same equipment and using the same yeast.

I'm definitely gonna have to hit Bierstadt soon.

 

Not sure if they're making a similar push elsewhere, but I've been seeing a lot of Seedstock lately. In the heart of Aurora, too. If you've never had their Czech pils, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot. I've been drinking the crap out of it lately.

 

Had a pint of Living the Dream dortmunder last night. What a surprise, a bit of burned cracker and hop spiciness goes a long way these days in my book.

 

The Bierstadt Eisbock is damn tasty. I was surprised to see it clocking in at 12%, didn't taste that strong. Tons of candi sugar and raisin.

I thought I remembered hearing that breweries couldn't make a "real" eisbock in the US, something about the process not being allowed. The bartender told me this beer "was made from the doppelbock," which I thought sounded kind of strange. Anybody know more about the process used to make this beer?

 

Was wondering about that, too. It's technically distillation to make one. At least that's what they said at Prost back in the day. Could be one of those situations where it's a grey area or they appealed or something.

 

Eisbock is created through ice distillation, a process that is a huge pain in the ads. It involves freezing the water in the beer and removing it without removing the good parts. Because a breert can not have a brewing licence and a distillers license at the same time this process is illegal in the US without a little help from some friends.

 

Comrade is tapping the collaboration Euro Trashed Premium Double Pilsner, brewed with with Upslope and Call to Arms tomorrow. However, those with "bravery" will be rewarded. All German pilsner malt, Loral and Saaz hops. Saw 11 weeks of tank time. Cheers

 

Tomorrow Odd13 will be releasing our first canned lager, Superfly. It’s a dry hopped kellerbier that spent six weeks undergoing a pretty traditional lager ferment. The hop profile is also somewhat traditional, with a Saaz base accented by Huell Melon, a newer German variety. It’s unfiltered and slightly hazy. Taproom only - cans are $11/6 pack with 110ish cases available.

 

Was just up in Denver and Baere has a kellerbier going that I really enjoyed

Also, looks like a new year round release coming from Odell, though only available in Colorado.

 

That Odell Lager is only using English hops, so I'm hopeful. There's nothing more disappointing than places making IPL-level hoppy pilsner (or randomly vague "lager") and acting like anyone wants to drink more than one.

 

Wibby cans seem to have finally made it down to my part of the South Metro in the last week or two, and I got singles of just about everything available. Their IPL didn't do much for me, but the Lightshine Helles was very good, and both the Moondoor and Double Dunkel were really excellent in my opinion.

I'm very happy to have these guys available in local stores now. And as a bonus, it seems like we've got good lager stopovers for the drive from Denver to Estes Park now, regardless of whether one goes through Boulder (Post), Longmont (Wibby), or Loveland (Grimm Brothers)!

 

Boulder - Upslope Craft Lager. Hands Down.