I always thought the only reason I had to be jealous at all of you South Denver guys was Dry Dock, but I tried the Lone Tree Brewing Pilsner at the Lowry Beer Garden on my first trip last week, and it was so good I had to check out the brewery last weekend. Highlights were the Outta Range Pale Ale and the Acres O Green Irish Red, both of which are flagship beers in bottles. The Pilsner has great balance - less hoppy than Avery's Joe's, less of a bitter edge than Prost's Pils, both of which make me want to drink a ton of the stuff. True to style and fantastic. It's a seasonal, which is a major bummer. I would drink way more of that than I would their Helles, where I prefer a lighter bodied version like Tivoli. Apparently the brewer has some ties to the Brew Hut/Dry Dock, so German stuff is right in the wheelhouse. Outta Range has a brilliant nose of forest that was bright and not dank or too offensive. Like you stepped out of your car into the forest after it rained, and not like you were performing a rub test on pulverized hop bines. There was this great, unusual citrus quality too, like fresh navel orange instead of the typical grapefruit. I suppose it's possible these are just really good quality standard hop varieties, but it seems like there was a good amount of the more modern stuff - Motueka or Citra. It drank a lot like Deschutes Fresh Squeezed. Not your run-of-the-mill Pale. Acres O Green should be on draft at every Irish bar in town. No one is making an Irish Red that's this nicely balanced. A lot of the time, this style can have far too much of that toasty quality from the coloring malts and/or too much perceived sweetness from modified malts that can be distracting and make me want to stop after one, but I've never had one that took me so clearly in the opposite direction. It had the essence of both of those experiences, but it had a nice bitterness and a light enough body to clear everything out and leave me wanting pints of the stuff. A basic beer I was really blown away by. There aren't too many reasons I'd recommend anyone go out of their way to get to Park Meadows, but the next time you find yourself on the obligatory trip to IKEA, first of all, say hello to me because I'll already be there, and second, check out the tap room. It's just on the other side of 470 from the mall. I may be late to the party on Lone Tree, but I never see anyone talking about them and thought I'd recommend people seek them out.
Seeing as I live right down the road, I went and checked out lone tree the other day too. I really enjoyed it and had nothing to complain about at all. I wouldn't call any of their beers spectacular, but all were very good for the style they were meant to represent and you can bet I'll be going back in the future.
Jason was teaching German at some school, but worked at the Brew Hut for many years. In addition, Bill Eye helped with recipe formulation and technical brewing. Lone Tree tested their homebrew batches out on the brewers at Dry Dock to get their feedback and made changes accordingly.
Their helles has been oddly hazy the times I've had it but tastes solid. The pils was great looking and tasting, though. It's more of a south German pils (at least based on my experience), so it isn't as dry as the ones styled from the north...like Bill's. While I honestly don't like alts, theirs was a good one. Agreed 100% on Acres being great. From what I understand, that was just supposed to be a St. Patrick's Day seasonal but people demanded they bring it back and it became their flagship. I tend to like the toasty/malty red beers more than the hoppy ones, so it speaks to me. The only beer I had from them that disappointed me was the weiss. It was a little bland. Considering the issues that some places have upon opening, Lone Tree is a technical marvel by comparison. I have friends that live down there and they're at Lone Tree pretty much all of the time. With all of the places that are hit or miss, we probably should highlight the good ones. While I haven't been all that much, Arvada is another brewery in the same vein. Very solid normal styles and one of the better weissbiers in town.
My parents' gaff is quite close to this brewery, so I often find myself nabbing grumbler fills on the way home from errands. I've been quite underwhelmed by their offerings so far, but I'm glad they finally got beer into bottles. I'm still not sure how they've attracted anyone to their tasting room; the sign is anything but conspicuous. You really have be actively looking for it to even notice there's a brewery there.
+1 I don't think enough breweries are brewing quality stylistic beers. Frankly, I'm tired of things like Tomato Rauch Sticke.
1. I believe I posted a similar rave to joshclauss's and you said the same thing about the haziness. The Helles I had was as bright as bright can be, so I wonder if this was a technical problem they've fixed. And it was so good I think i said something along the lines of, was there a Bill Eye/Dry Dock connection? (somebody pointed out, there is) 2. I didn't drink the weissbier when I went to Arvada Brewing Co but I've gotta say, I must have caught Arvada on a bad week, because I don't see the comparison. I try to never post a negative so I'll just say, w/o further elaboration, Lone Tree is one of the best small brewery/tap rooms I've EVER been in, while Arvada was good.
I'll have to stop back in to LT as it has been a few months since I've been in. One of the best tap rooms ever is a pretty bold statement and one I can't ignore considering I work only about 3-4 miles from there. Once I get back from Bavaria I think I'm actually going to hit up all of the German leaning places in town and make some comparison notes. While I'm pretty confident Prost is the standard bearer, some of the others are putting out legit stuff, too.
Ok I was in a good mood after a few beers when I wrote that, and I'm gonna walk it back a little. LT would be one of the best in terms of good-to-great beer, and a variety of styles, throughout the line-up w/ no "mistake" beers; vibe-wise I sort of prefer funkier, grittier, smaller, and less suburban. My local favorites, vibe-wise, would probably be, in some order, Crooked Stave, Black Shirt, River North, Renegade, Strange, and de Steeg...wish Crooked Stave had a few more seats. Oh and I better further qualify--I'm talking nanos here, who obviously can't beat Odell, Avery, or Great Divide, or shoot, I really like Bristol too, for large micros, or New Belgium for gigantic micros. I did say "small brewery/tap rooms". I don't think of Prost as a "small brewery/tap room" given the size of that system and the amount of their output including contract brews. I do look forward to your take, if you get back over there...
One of the things that LT has going for it is that it is kind of a hidden gem. Like Copper Kettle to some degree, people have to go out of their way to get there. I have been there twice and while their beer was quite good, I loved the fact I didn't need to fight through crowds or people to get a good pint. I like to be able to enjoy a casual Tuesday night with a quality pint and friends, not stuck fighting through the masses. I hope they continue to put out good beers, as I will need to swing by again soon.
Is Prost that much better than Grimm Brothers? Haven't tried much from Prost yet but been drinking a ton of Grimms Brothers this summer and liking just about everything I am trying from them. If Prost is better, might have to go out of my way to give them a shot next time I make it down to Denver and have time to hit a taproom up. Well, provided I can pull myself away from TRVE. I still need to try Volume 1.
Hmmmm. Tough call. I'm not sure better is the right term. When I think of Grimm, I think more of German "inspired" beers. Beers that have authentic roots, but are often spins on dead styles or are tweaked slightly to fit what they're shooting for. Every time I've been to Grimm, they've had at least 8 beers if not a dozen or even more. Prost is more about re-creating the German beer experience in such a way that even a native Bavarian would declare "it's ok." Yes, that's a bit of a joke/truth. There are usually only 4-5 taps and if someone is expecting 500 IBU DIPA's and sour beers aged in absinthe barrels I'm not even sure they'd get what Prost was all about. What sets Prost apart is the fact that they're creating 100% authentic German recipes using traditional equipment, even including the 1-of-a-kind-in-the-US process of double decoction mashing. Plus, even the inspirations are somewhat unusual. Bill's dunkel is a Franconian version, which is different then the typical Munich style. His pils is northern inspired, but Franconian accented. His helles (Tivoli) is based on a monastic helles that is obscure even in Munich. I revel in those little details and the fact that Bill and I love the same beers and that culture. I'm not sure if that translates to everyone else.
Thanks for 411....did not know that take on either brewery. Not being familiar with German beers, not sure the Prost approach would have much meaning to me, definitely not like it does for you.
Great review, OP. My favorite beer they make is their Peachtree Pale Ale - a seasonal that they had on tap about two weeks ago. I'm not sure if it's coming back anytime soon, but be sure to grab some if it does. When I think of Lone Tree, I think of the following: 1) Great space and a great (new) patio 2) Very traditional. Go here if you're looking for a solid red or a great Pale Ale. This is not the place to visit if you're looking for a chocolate avocado cranberry stout. All of their brews are good and true-to-style. 3) Friendly and down-to-earth clientele. Some things I wish for.... 1) If I remember correctly, their growler fills are more expensive than other breweries by $1-$2. Not a huge deal, but it adds up. 2) More variety. Their core beers are good - I think there's about 6 of them. Most of the time I've visited, they have one or two seasonals on-tap also. I'd go there more often for growler fills if there was just more on-tap (like Dry Dock). There's only so much Acres I can drink before I want something else. These are minor complaints though. I'm just thankful we have a solid brewery south of 470.
I wish they were open later. Why is a place out here in the burbs open at 11am during the week? If they stayed open til midnight or so it would make it a lot easier for us suburbanites who can't go out drinking until we get our kids in bed. With their current hours I'm still stuck going to Old Chicago to grab a pint at 9pm.
