Underrepresented Styles on the Front Range

German lagers, but soon to change with Prost. English ales, but soon to change with Hogshead.

And definitely no California Common / Steam beer or good Gueuze examples.

I can think of at least one really strong beer in every other category though.

 

Gose--I think Golden City is the only one that has brewed it
Rauchbier, although Denver Beer CO has a nice one
Session stuff.

 

Dry Dock SS Minnow, 3.3% session beer, I presume it would be rated 90+ if it were regularly available.

Here's my list, I only got through ales...

I might have missed some, but most of these are examples of beers that are rated ~84+ in their respective categories, some may not be year-round regulars though:

American Ales
--
Odell Red
Great Divide Old Ruffian
Odell Mountain Standard
New Belgium Somersault
Dry Dock Apricot Blonde
Avery Ellie's Brown
Odell Mycenary, Avery Maharaja, Dry Dock DIPA
Avery Uncle Jacob's Stout, Mephistopheles'
Odell IPA, Great Divide Titan
Oskar Blues Dale's Pale, Odell St. Lupulin
Odell Easy Street Wheat
Odell Cutthroat Porter, Ska Ten Pin
Ska Steel Toe Stout, Avery Out of Bounds
New Belgium Le Terroir
New Belgium Cocoa Mole
Avery Rumpkin
Renegade Ryeteous Rye IPA, Mountain Sun Resinous Rye
Fort Collins Wheat Wine

Belgian / French Ales
--
New Belgium 1554
New Belgium Belgo
Funkwerks Aurora
Avery Collaboration Not Litigation Ale
Avery Salvation, Great Divide Hades
Funkwerks Bastille, New Belgium Biere De Mars
New Belgium Abbey
New Belgium La Folie
AC Golden Hidden Barrel Kriek
AC Golden Hidden Barrel Peche
Avery The Reverend, Elevation Apis IV
Dry Dock Saison D' Funk, Funkwerks Tropic King, Saison
New Belgium Trippel
Funkwerks White, Avery White Rascal

English Ales
--
Nefarious Ten Pin Imperial Porter
Crabtree Braggot
Bull & Bush Royal Oil, Dry Dock Bligh's Barleywine
Dillon Dam Sweet George's Brown
Bull & Bush Man Beer, Left Hand 400 Pound Monkey
Odell 5 Barrel Pale, Great Divide Denver Pale Ale
Left Hand Black Jack Porter
Bull & Bush Stonehenge Stout
Dry Dock HMS Victory ESB, Bull & Bush Tower ESB
Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout
Crabtree Oatmeal Stout, Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout
Great Divide Hibernation, Avery Old Jubilation
Oskar Blues Ten Fidy, Great Divide Yeti
Odell Isolation

German Ales
--
Crabtree Berliner Weisse
New Belgium Dunkel Weiss
Golden City Goldener Gose
Steamworks Colorado Kolsch
Dry Dock Hefeweizen

Irish Ales
--
Pearl Street Street Brawler

Scottish Ales
--
Odell 90 Schilling
Dry Dock Wee Heavy

Spiced Beer
--
Dry Dock Vanilla Porter

Weak-styles:
Sahti, Irish Red Ale, Weizenbock, Altbier, Kolsh, Gose, Foreign/Export Stout, English Strong Ale, English Dark Mild Ale, English Bitter, Flander's Red, Cream, American Strong Ale, Gueuze, Oatmeal Stout, Kvass

 

Pateros Creek makes (or made) a nice Dark English Mild at 3.1%
Maybe Prost will have some goodies in the sessions

 

Arvada Beer Company does great sessionable/quaffable stuff.

 

I'd agree with the session beer sentiment. I'd like to see more of those. I've always liked the S.S. Minnow.

 

The Golden City Molly Brown is pretty much a mild. Silverton's "Bear Ass Brown" is a decent mild in spite of their other "meh" beers and goofy artwork. Not to say those are common - but two more to hunt for.

The one I'd love to see would be kellerbier. I don't think anyone (except maybe Bill at Prost) has the setup needed to make a "real" one, but if we're talking missing styles, that's one pretty much missing from the US in general.

 

More Saisons please. That's all I want. Logsdon, hill farmstead, and anchorage are reinventing what that style is and should be and they are spot on. Would be nice to see others follow suite.

 

Since its 90 outside today I'll say Berliner weisse. Crabtree's is excellent but is really the only one around. Was very excited to see festina peche back in town

 

Real Ale/Cask Ale!

Not neccesarily a style but I thought worthy of mention.

Visisted 5 bars in Denver last week and only 2 - Breckenridge Ale House at Amatos and Falling Rock had cask available (3 hand pulls between them). Thinking about bars I regularly frequent in NYC/PHL and far more places have cask with 2 hand pulls being typical and 4 found in some places.

 

Yeah, but not at $11 a 4 pack.

 

Try Pints Pub. 2 beer engines going with standard brews. Their flavors change daily

 

Yup. They can range from great to awful (based upon time), just like the real stuff in the UK. Pint's Pub flies under the radar a little, and you can most certainly encounter some awful stuff there on occasion...but it's a worthwhile place to visit as it honestly is pretty authentic.

 

Cheers!

We loved our time in Denver and will definately return. I was only 3 or so blocks away from here last Sunday when we took a walk up to the Capitol.

I think I saw this bar listed on beerfly, but probably dismissed it as it was called ' a British style pub ' - which normally puts me off when I'm in the US!

Will pop in next time round!

 

I have to represent Colorado Springs here and say that Phantom Canyon always has two beers on cask Zebulon's Peated Porter and a rotating offering and they have always been excellent. The ESB they had a while back was perhaps the best I have ever had.

 

I never made it out of Denver in my 5 days in CO, other than a day trip into the Rockies - all nature and no beer that day ! (tell a lie I had an Estes Park - raspberry wheat beer during our 50 minute break in Estes!)

I'll probably visit Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Boulder next time we head that way so will bear this in mind!

Cheers!