Favorite Colorado Lagers!

Last year guy at the end of the table was talking to us at Spezial. At first I thought he was dodgy, but later my wife said, no the unkempt hair and beard were more Richard Branson, the unpressed shirt was of nice fabric and expensive, his watch was top shelf Swiss. The guy was explaining how the two differed in customers. He said look around, doctors, lawyers, and businessmen with their wives. Across the street is working people, street people, and so on. I got it. Never had problems at Fässal, though.

The Gold Pils is pretty good, it's problem is that Herren Pils is brewed close by.

 

We've got a Helles on called Through Wilderness (which is/was also a collab brew with Kent Falls), and our Vienna, Starless Age, going in the FV this week.

 

Crowler machine back up?

 

Edit: Confirmed, it's good

 

I just moved to Denver a couple of months ago and have been finding myself over the last couple years or so gravitating more and more to lagers after being a hophead for a while. So far I've loved Crooked Stave's Von Pilsner and O'Dell Lager. Seems like lots of people here are fans too. Thanks for starting this thread! There's so much here to try. I'd be curious to hear people's 3 must tries, in terms of what's available right now.

 

In terms of breweries I'd say Bierstadt, Dry Dock, and Grimm Brothers make my favorite lagers you can easily get in Denver. Zwei's probably just as good as Bierstadt's, but they don't really distro much outside of the FoCo area.
Lots of places make good one-off and seasonal lagers, too. Comrade, S26, Hogshead, TRVE, and the CB & Potts locations being prime examples.
Gun to my head, I'd say the best lager in Colorado is Bierstadt helles.

 

Thanks, man! I live practically in Aurora so about an 8-10 min drive to Dry Dock and Comrade. Haven't had any of Dry Dock's lagers yet. I tried Bierstadt's Helles but it was after a long(ish) day of drinking with some out of town friends, so I don't think I gave it a fair shot. How do you think Colorado rates in terms of exceptional lagers being brewed in the U.S.? Seems like it's pretty solid so far.

 

Thanks, Fort Collins is definitely at the top of my list. I'm actually looking for a place to visit for a couple of days when my mom (who loves beer too) comes here in a couple weeks. I know that FC is probably the best place to visit beer-wise around but she wants to see the mountains and do a little hiking--basically, hang out in a really beautiful mountain town. Is Fort Collins good for that too? It seemed like there were some better options in terms of scenery (Colorado Springs, Boulder, Breckenridge) but their beer options aren't as great.

 

Yeah, I lived in Austin for about a decade and there are some good lagers out there. Lots of German heritage and the heat makes pilseners and other lagers super popular. Live Oak, who's mentioned in the article, do a great job and they've been doing it forever, when craft lagers were pretty unpopular. Austin Beerworks does some stellar lagers too. Real Ale does a great pilsner as well. I haven't lived there for a few years and there's like 30 new breweries a week, so I don't have a great idea of what's going on now though.

 

Colorado: A Pilsner Powerhouse?

 

Our lager game is strong among our best breweries. Bierstadt's about as close to legit German as is even possible. Dry Dock has a wall full of medals and a staff that has cared about quality for a long time. Grimm Brothers keeps winning awards for their dunkel and altbier. Zwei's stuff is no worse than those 3 and possibly better depending on what you like.

In terms of other lager-centric regions, I think you'll find most people will point to eastern Pennsylvania, southern Wisconsin, central Texas, and western Oregon as areas that do lagers really well. I don't think we have the same concentration as most of those, but our quality is no worse at the top.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm trying to learn more about lagers, but am still kinda green. Glad to be in the Denver area though. Looks like there's a lot of good suds to be had.

 

Also, not sure how many people here are into meet-ups, but I used to do them fairly frequently with some BA folks back in Austin. That was mostly like people bringing whales and other cool stuff and sharing. Not sure if there are whales in the lager world, but would be interested in doing a lager meet-up in the Denver area if people are interested. Just a thought.

 

I don't think there are (m)any lager whales. Swiss brewed Samichlaus, Kuhnhenn Raspberry Eisbock, and maybe some obscure Framinghammer variants are probably the closest thing.
Anything that isn't bock-strength will turn into mush after 6-8 months and I don't think there is enough awareness about the hidden gems in Germany, Austria, Czech, Slovakia, Poland, etc.
I could be wrong, though. If anyone ever rolled up to a share with a bottle of Keesmann Herren Pils or Mahr's ETA Hoffman, I'd probably faint.

 

Yeah, that's what I figured because of aging. With some advanced notice, I can get access to Texas and New England lagers/beers without much hassle. So if anyone is down for a lager-share whatever you're looking for in those markets could more than likely be available.

 

Colorado has some good lagers, but let's get real, it will never compare with a beer mecca like New Jersey.

 

Pilsner Powerhouse? Sure why not.

• "In addition to Dry Dock, Prost, the Post Brewing Co. and Cannonball Creek, other Colorado breweries that have won medals in the past five years include Rockyard Brewing, which took gold at the World Beer Cup in the German-style Pilsener category this year for its Primadonna Pilsner; Ska Brewing, which took silver in 2015 and bronze in 2016 for its Mexican Logger in the American-Style or International-Style Pilsener category at GABF; Pug Ryan's, which won bronze in 2015 for Peacemaker in the Bohemian-Style Pilsener cateogry; and Lowdown Kitchen + Brewery, which won silver for its Porch Pounding Pilz in 2014 in the Bohemian-Style Pilsener category."

And besides that, River North Pils is fantastic, Bierstadt Slow Pour Pils, and Mama's Yella Pils (version 2) is great as well.

Call it palate fatigue or whatever, but these beers seem to slowly be gaining appeal once again.