Favorite Colorado Lagers!

I really like wibby's Vienna, I wish it was packaged.

I got a 4-pack of cerebral's helles. It's really good, but the pricing is out of whack. I might try the Vienna next, but it has similar pricing, so I don't see any of their beers becoming regulars for me.

 

Not as "proud" as Knotted Root apparently. Man their stuff is pricey.

 

Cocaine is a helluva drug

 

Chaos Creek Lager from the Peak To Peak outpost on Colfax in Downtown A-Town was excellent yesterday, had to have two of them.

 

Bierstadt Lagerhaus has their collaboration with Bagby Beer, Tmavé 13* Czech Dark Lager. Tapped yesterday and it's tasting great

 

It's wonderful. I've never actually been to the Czech republic, but I love what I've managed to get via import. That Tmavé 13 is as good as anything I've had from the native Czech brewers and it's (obviously) fresher.

 

Dry Dock South has a killer Franconian Lager on tap now. There aren't many of them around (anywhere), but if you've ever had Two Women from New Glarus, that's a fair comparison to make.

 

Love me some Two Women. Need to try this, thanks for the heads up Chris!

 

Came here to homer up Cerebal's lager game again. Went this weekend and they were drippin in Crispy Bois. 3-4 canned options to go, including multiple foeder-aged variations, and plenty on tap.

The Vienna was quite lighter than I anticipated, but still good toasted notes and incredibly delicious. Do not sleep on these guy's lager game!

 

Crushing foeder lagers as I type

 

I'm curious. Care to school us in this style? I think I've actually had Two Women before, but I don't exactly recall. From what I can see online, it's like a malty lager? Like a Dunkel or something? I'm also seeing things that indicate it could be a lighter kellerbier too? Idk.

 

Drinking the new Bierstadt Tmavé 13. It has a nice malt sweetness. I think I'd like a little more bitterness, it's a bit sweet for my palate. Reminds me of a chocolate porter but with a slightly watery, clean mouthfeel. Would like drink side by side with Call to Arms Shirtless Putin Catchin Rays, which is a favorite of mine.

 

So it's essentially a light amber lager that's pretty common in northern Bavaria. Color ranges from gold to copper'ish. I'm way oversimplifying, it's almost like a slightly darker helles with nutty overtones. The ones I've had have been bright, but the flavor profile is similar to Kellerbiers. Same region, so they're definitely cousins. A couple are super hoppy (like Greifenklau) but they're kinda the exception. Some beers called "landbier" are basically the same thing. That area has a bunch of sub-styles that aren't mentioned much. Some are distinct, while others are slight variations.

 

Anybody else less than impressed by Weldwerks "Puesta del Sol" so-called Vienna Lager?
I guess the Spanish name should have been a giveaway for me that it was an attempt at some version of Negra Modelo. Total miss for me. I get what they were trying for, but it just landed in between the two targets. *shrug*

 

Nabbed Weltenburger dunkel and Maerzen at Mondo Vino and found both to be very good. The dunkel has quite a unique flavor and at 4.7% is a great session lager. The Maerzen, which I preferred, is really easy drinking - I quaffed three in one session.

 

I'm not into hazy IPA's, but Weldwerks nationwide hype, built on the hazy style, always gets me to try their occasional clean offerings, and I have never been impressed. I recently had their "First Time's a Charm" on the same night I was drinking Tivoli's Bo Girl, and I found the Tivoli to be the significantly superior beer, especially considering it was a full one percent less abv.

The terms "Crispi" and "Crispi Bois" often accompany lagers from breweries that primarily serve hazy IPA's. It's too bad that they are frequently husky, grainy, unclean, or have a harsh hop flavor. Hopefully American craft lagers continue to improve. There are certainly becoming more prevalent.

I am put off by breweries that crank out a hundred "different" beers a year (Wiley Roots or Weldwerks). Although innovation is important to any every industry, so is quality and precision. Not every brewery needs to be Bierstadt and only continuously refine 3-4 recipes, but I am dubious of these highly prolific breweries.

 

Weldwerks made a Mexican lager called Especial that I really liked a lot a few years ago. It reminded me a little of Bohemia, which is essentially a Mexican pils. Puesta and their Hefe have never really done it for me, though. Whatever they're doing with the 500 SKU's is apparently working for them, so I can't really fault them for it. My main gripe is that whenever I find something I like (other than Juicy Bits), I know I may never see it again.

I got a chance to try the Cerebral foeder lagerbier, Character Reference, and I really like it. While the wood character is stronger (and the hops are dialed up), it also has an authenticity that also reminds me of Franconian lager. Kinda like I mentioned earlier, those have a range to them and I don't really think of it as a clearly defined style. I find lots of places that make new school styles falter when it comes to beers like this. Cerebral definitely didn't.

 

just got in there for one of these this afternoon. My progression was a little ass backwards maybe--Helles, Tmave, SPP. Although finishing up with the clean, dry, bitterness of the pils makes sense in retrospect.

What a great way to piss away an hour and a half in the middle of the afternoon.

This brewery isn't a Denver or a Colorado treasure, it's a national treasure.

(I had listened to a podcast with Ashleigh and Bill last night while doing some correspondence and had gone to sleep jonesing for the Helles. Thought about it all day before swinging over there around 2:30. It's nice working for yourself...)

 

I just wish they had their own taproom, re: Bierstadt.