Hi everyone, I recently moved from Michigan to Colorado (both lucky states to live in beer wise). I'm getting a feel for the area, but I don't have a full grasp on all the important release dates, beers, and events. Could any beer geeks in Colorado or surrounding area help me out on what I should look out for, along with any beers to definitely check out while I'm living here? Thanks for your help. Cheers
Brewtallyinsane.com is a good website. I'd sign up for Avery's newsletter as they do a lot of releases and finally checking the forums on here seems to work quite good. You could also follow a bunch of breweries on FB and Twitter.
Welcome! Drink water, stay hydrated... With that said, there are too many beers/breweries to try to narrow them down on a short list. I suggest to just try anything that looks interesting. Brewetallyinsance is a good place to start. Keep an eye out on the Mountain forum and speak to some beer buyers at stores. Where do you live now?
Denver. I've check out Crooked Stave, Great Divide, Renegade, Bull & Bush, Vines street, Wynkoop, Denver Brewing Company all pretty decent places (ranging from great to ok). I've been mostly buying beer from Little's Wine and Liquor and Colorado Liquor Mart on colorado ave. If your familiar with the area and have additional suggestions let me know!
Odell....start with their standards. Their IPA, Myrcenary, Cutthroat Porter, Red (seasonal), St. Lupulin (seasonal) are all standouts. Grimm Brothers, Backcountry, Funkwerks, Elevation are other names worth checking out.
Comrade Brewing will be opening in 2014 (*elbows dauss*) around that area. Copper Kettle is close to Bull/Bush. Renegade's public house location is next to DU, close to Littles. Hogshead has some great English style beers. Pints Pub has some, too, but they can be super buttery at times. my store is close to CoLiMart and Littles...i'll send you details
If you want to start hitting some smaller places, the two currently knocking me out are TRVE and De Steeg. TRVE is on Broadway not too far from downtown, and De Steeg is in an alley near 44th and Tennyson. Down the street from De Steeg is Hops and Pie, and you will ooh and aah at their tap selection from around the country.
I completely forgot about TRVE when I was thinking of places I have went. The metal vibe at that place was really not like anything I've seen at a brewery before, it was pretty sweet. I have went to hops and pie (off a recommendation by Crooked Stave), they do have an amazing tap selection and holy smokes their bottles! I hope to go back and try their food sometime. I haven't even heard of De Steeg! So I'll have to check that place out, thanks chango.
The only heavy hitters I see missing from this thread so far (that distribute) are Dry Dock and Trinity. Trinity tends to be expensive, but they have a few beers that are outstanding. Dry Dock's special releases and seasonals are some of the best around. I'll echo other suggestions to just visit a ton of breweries. I think everyone has their own personal favorites, and it's not always due to just the beer.
Here's a few to start with, some are brewery only releases, some are shelf beers. These are my highlights of CO beer: Dry Dock's Blighs (Oct/Nov) Avery Uncle Jacobs (varies) Avery Rumpkin (Oct) Avery BA-series releases (varies) Avery Anniversary (May) Avery Samaels (May), Beast (August), Meph (Dec) Great Divide Anniversary (March) Great Divide seasonal Yeti's (every 3 months, Oak Aged Yeti in Oct.) Great Divide barrel-aged series, typically released every 2 years (BA Yeti, BA Hibernation, BA Old Ruffian, varies Feb/Oct) Oskar Blues Ten FIDY (Sept) Odell seasonal bombers (varies, particularly Friek) Upslope Pumpkin (Oct) Crooked Stave sour releases (L'Brett d'Or & Origins) And now that more and more breweries are bottling, I'd check out bottle releases at River North (BA variants), TRVE, Renegade (TIPA), Strange (Barleywine) And for a MUCH MUCH longer list: http://www.fermentedlychallenged.com/p/colorado-beer-releases.html
