Favorite Colorado Lagers!

Not a "CO Lager," but anyone who likes European lagers should hit up the B&B for some Únětické Pivo 12°. I don't have the slightest idea how to pronounce that, but it's divine. It's fresh, too. Tastes like it was brewed next door. It's a 5/5.

 

Sounds pretty excellent, but Bull & Bush is a bit too far out of my way. Might need to try and find my way down there, somehow. Any idea how long this could stick around? I will certainly call before visiting.

 

It'll probably stay on for a couple weeks, but I dunno if it'll be super fresh that long. They do usually have multiple kegs of nearly everything, though. I hit up the Minister about this one yesterday, so I'll see if they have a stock of any more kegs.

 

Good to hear. Thanks for the information. I’ll try to swing down early next week.

 

Stopped by Bull & Bush after work this evening. I was able to get a sample of Únětické Pivo 12° and I was pretty happy with it overall. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I found it very Czech. And when I say Czech, I would say more broadly Eastern European and unlike any domestically produced Pilsner I’d ever had. I guess I would describe it as, not too hoppy and quite enjoyable (drinkable), with a noticeable Eastern European Lager finish. That was my first visit to Bull & Bush and, similar to the beer, I was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere, the staff, and the Happy Hour offerings. As mentioned before, if it wasn’t so out of my way, I could easily find myself stopping by on a fairly frequent basis. Much appreciate the suggestion.

 

I practically live at the B&B in spite of still being about a 15-minute drive away. The combo of the food and beers is unmatched for my personal tastes. While I know a lot of people only know or care about Royal Oil and Liquid Brain, my favorite beer on the menu is the Tower ESB. There are also a lot of hidden gems on the back of the menu. They nearly always have 5-6 zany beers from Germany, Belgium, and the UK. They also tend to have a Comrade rotator and something hoppy from the Portland area, too.

I went back for some more Pivo 12° on Sunday and it's still holding up. I'd say it's a little down from a week earlier, but nothing drastic. The main thing I noticed is that the trademark Czech diacetyl seemed to be missing on my first go round, while it was present but very very mild a week later. Could be the beer, could be the fact that it's a week old. I dunno. I'd still say it's a 5/5 anyway. That richness and body is something you just don't encounter in the US very much.

Related, the Schlenkerla Kraeusen is due to go on this week. It might already be on depending on whether they were able to free up space for it. Anyone who even kinda sorta likes Rauchbiers should give it a go. That's one of Bamberg's legit hidden gems.

 

In town for OR/SIA and I’m so far down the lager rabbit hole at the moment. Staying at the Source so upon checking in went right to Crooked Stave and of course ordered the Helles and wow was I somewhat confused/excited/blown away at the same time?

Been brewing lagers at home for the last year and a half or so. After going to Bierstadt last year at this time and hearing Bill and Ashleigh be militant about how traditional lager should be made/poured/etc I was pretty much sold on that’s how I need to make lager. I try to employ all the traditional techniques throughout the whole process from water profiles, to decoction, cold fermentation, spunding, krausening, extended lagering, blah blah blah. I think my beers are coming along well but the issue is it’s so hard to find something available commercially that goes through the same process. So many “craft” lagers here are warm fermented turn and burn beers that have no sole or malt complexity. Just dry lifeless bitter beers.

So I’ve been brewing some beers using the more traditional decoction method and some using the more modern step infusion method. Sounds like decoction isn’t really practiced in Germany as much anymore. I know Bierstadt Helles is double decocted and I was pretty pumped after having it last night that some of my better attempts at my double decocted Helles aren’t that far off.

But back to Crooked Stave. Had Vonn a few weeks ago for the first time and was pleasently surprised. It had some depth and complexity and wasn’t just crappy hazy “Keller” that so many breweries are making right now. I know Chad is a very highly trained technical brewer so I’m thinking I’ve got to have the Helles. Wow it couldn’t be any more different than the Bierstadt Helles but to be honest I actually preferred it. It had this incredible honey/hay/grainy malt flavor and aroma, was incredibly soft, and had the long sought after grape like quality that I’ve read about with fresh Helles in Germany but rarely ever experienced before. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t believe Crooked Stave decocts their lagers. I think they’re made in the more modern step infusion method? Anyways I finished it in 4 gulps. Anyone else here had it and dare to compare it to the best fresh options across the pond?

I’ve been in pursuit of the best lagers in the US in the last 6 months. Haven’t had Dovetail or Urban Chestnut but have been to Notch, Suarez, Hill Farmstead, Pfreim, and had fresh Heater Allen, New Glaurus, Waymaker, JA, Vonn Trapp, etc. Mary and Marie from Hill Farmstead have come a long ways since I first had them and are maybe my top tier now. The Notch Czech style stuff is right up there as well. This Helles at Crooked Stave was right in there. Again I’m not as experienced as many out there but I believe what I was drinking wasn’t flawed brewing but actually incredibly well made beer that just tastes different than most versions brewed here or the old oxidized Imports that are often the “examples”.

Sorry for the long post.

 

Chad's venture into clean beer has been awesome. The Baltic porter and IPAs can hang with the best of them.

 

Ratio has a steam beer called Domestica that I really enjoyed. It has that same toasty note that Odell Lager and S26 303 Lager both have. I'd be curious to try those 3 together and see which one is my favorite.

As far as American lagers go, I'd say Bierstadt and Zwei are both putting out quite a few beers that can hang with German examples. I bet a Bavarian would declare them to be "OK" which is surprisingly a compliment. New Glarus, Dovetail, Olde Mecklenburg, and Stoudt's would be in that same conversation. I've heard that Victory's Downingtown pub has a bunch of beers on the level, too. Knowing Scott's dedication to and knowledge of the subject, I have a feeling that Bierkeller Columbia likely is, too. After those I think there is a little bit of a drop off. Plenty of places have a great lager or two, but I don't know if that's really their primary focus.

 

Interesting take on the matter.

I suggest you go to River North and check out their Pilsner as well. Their "mountain haze" is a good IPA without being a turbid candy bomb IPA. I honestly think in CO we have great beers of just about every style, IF you know where to look. A lot of people do the pilsner wrong as you pointed out.

We recently tried the Munich Dunkel lager from Bierstadt, and even though I am not a munich dunkel guy, we had no problems finishing off a crowler. It had gobs of munich malt flavor, soft bitterness, and an easy drinkability. If I had to guess, it's probably at least 50% munich malt, balance 2-row. IIRC they use pretty simple malt bills, but complex mash procedures (step mash, decoction, etc). I wonder if some of the "bad" takes on lager I've had do something wrong with the hops. It's easy to over hop (or over-bitter) a "light" lager which completely dominates the flavor.

Since lagers tend to sell for less money, maybe some brewers view them as "cheap" or inferior styles? IDK. you get places spending months and years perfecting hop usage in NEIPAs, but can't be bothered to try different mash techniques in their lagers (if they even make them).

I guess a good pilsner is a labor of love.

 

Cool I’ll check out River North. Got a bit of a mellow day but no car so I’ve got to Uber everywhere.

I love modern IPAs and brew them constantly. However I loath the term NEIPA. I find most beers outside of the top 4 or 5 breweries making the “style” to be pretty sub par. If you do the research the best breweries aren’t doing many of the things people think are critical for the style. But that’s a whole different thread.

There’s a multitude of things wrong “craft” lager production at a lot of small breweries. Tank space is at a minimum and they often don’t have the money to dedicate to a beer that should take 4 times as long to make as a better selling IPA for instance.

You can make them quickly and with shortcuts (just like every macro brewed beer in the US) but they’re just not the same as one brewed slow and low. Even my local “German” brewery that has a beautiful decoction brewhouse cranks fermentation temps up to 68 half way through fermentation so they can turn the beers in less than a month. This blows off all malt aromatics and basically everything they were trying to create with decoction. The beers might be clean and crisp but they have zero depth or complexity. They’re force carbed too which in my book is the ultimate sin. But again a whole different discussion.

 

Yeah Zwei sounds cool. Can they be found on tap in Denver? Or does it require a trip to the brewery?

 

There was a brief period of time where Zwei beers could be found in the Denver area, but I haven't seen any in several years. They might still be around in a few select places, but I haven't seen any at the usual places (Two Penguins, B&B, Falling Rock, Crafty Fox, Yard House, OB locations, Hops & Pie, etc.) in a hot minute. They aren't a huge operation and they're old friends with Bill Eye, so they might just be sticking to FoCo rather than competing with Bierstadt.

 

Bluegrass in Arvada had Zwei Helles on tap 2 weekends ago, not sure if that is still the case or not. Had one there and then walked up the street to Kline's and had a Bierstadt Helles. Ah, Heaven!!!

 

Good to know they're still around down here.
They might be like Cannonball Creek. I don't know if I've ever seen a tap from them east of I25 but their stuff is common on the western half of town.

 

I recently realized that Seedstock was 3 mins from my work and stopped in yesterday. Like Domingo said, their Pilsner was top-notch and they had a bunch of other lagers on draft that were great as well. Everything I had was pretty tasty. I would definitely recommend.

 

Couple beers from them on tap at Romero's in Lafayette.

 

We should get a beer there soon.