Focus on the Beer Top 10 Beer Spots in Colorado Springs: #2 Phantom Canyon Brewing Co

Here is #4 from the Focus on the Beer list of the top 10 beer spots in the Colorado Springs area. We started at #10 and are working our way down to #1 in the upcoming weeks. The rest of the Top 10 can be found here. Let us know what you think!


#4 Beer Spot of Colorado Springs: Phantom Canyon Brewing Co

Opened in 1993, Phantom Canyon was one of the only craft beer spots downtown for many years. It gained a very good reputation during the 90's and slowly lost that reputation in the mid to late 2000's. Thanks to Alan Stiles, the head brewer for the last two years, Phantom Canyon is step-by-step gaining the reputation it had and continues to improve with each passing month.

The Beer: Phantom has between 8-11 beers on tap. They usually have two beers on cask, the Zebulon's Peated Porter and a rotator beer. You can always expect the usual suspects of Cascade Amber, Hefeweizen, Queen's Blonde Ale, Railyard Ale, and Streamliner IPA, but Alan usually has three to four seasonals and specialty beers on tap or on cask. Alan also enjoys making beer for his Revival Series, a series of historic beers that have disappeared in the brewing industry. Phantom has one bottled beer with very limited availability, the Winston Smith's Barleywine aged in Stranahan's Whiskey barrels, which we reviewed this year and found to be a very tasty beer. The Flanders Red, Methuselah Rookie Card, was released in March and was immediately sold out within an hour.

Colorado Springs Brewery Expansion: Trinity Brewing

If you've followed Trinity Brewing on Facebook the past month or so you've probably noticed that things are a changing a bit over on Garden of the Gards Road. Jason Yester sent us some information about all the new changes and we've gotten pretty excited about what's happening. Not only will Trinity be upping their capacity so that beer doesn't run out, but there are plans for new beers, more beer, and distribution. Let's take a look.

To start things off, Trinity is scaling up from a 4 bbl (barrel) system to a 12 bbl. Normally they could expecct 7-8 kegs of beer per brew and now they can expect closer to 22-24 kegs depending on the beer. This will really open up some possibilities and Jason has already thought through it...

Getting Access to Specialty Crooked Stave Beers

Crooked Stave beers have become highly sought after since their initial releases just months ago. Currently they operate out of the Funkwerks brewery space in Ft. Collins, and Funkwerks has become incredibly popular as well...which means both breweries have been super busy and trying to use the same space. Chad Yakobson, brewer and founder of Crooked Stave is planning to set up their own brewery space in Denver and he's been looking for ways to help fund it. He's come up with what I believe is a pretty good looking plan at a reasonable cost point. For $300 you could become a Cellar Reserve Member and have access to special and exclusive beers from the cellar and other exclusive merchandise. Space will be limited to 400 members due to the small batch nature of these beers, membership opens on Saturday Dec 17th at 10am, so move quickly! Here's information from the Crooked Stave website on what you would receive as a member:

Below are the details for the 2012 Cellar Reserve Membership which will be available through membership.crookedstave.com starting at 10am MST on Saturday, December 17, 2011. We look forward to seeing you at future Cellar Reserve Member events!

Focus on the Beer Top 10 Beer Spots in Colorado Springs: #3 Another Pint

Here is #5 from the Focus on the Beer list of the top 10 beer spots in the Colorado Springs area. We started at #10 and are working our way down to #1 in the upcoming weeks. The rest of the Top 10 can be found here. Let us know what you think!
#5 Beer Spot of Colorado Springs: Another Pint

Tucked away in a northern Colorado Springs residential community across the highway from the Airforce Academy resides Another Pint (formally A Second Cup). Few people who drive by this place know that what lies inside this stripmall corner complex is a beer drinkers paradise of draft and bottled craft beer. Under the new ownership of Tony and Stephanie Hockemeyer, Tony promises to make Another Pint one of the best beer bars in all of Colorado in the years to come.

The Growler Part II: The Present and Future

From kelliedayart.com

This is the 2nd and final part of our series on the growler. Check out Part One on the history of the growler. This article focuses on the views of the growler's role in the modern day beer industry from some of the leading brewers and brewery CEO's including Greg Koch from Stone, Joe Morhfeld from Odell, Garrett Oliver from Brooklyn Brewing, and Matt Thrall from Avery. The article also looks at some of the present and future modifications companies are making to growlers to make sure the beers are fresh to consumers. So sit back, grab a growler, pour a pint, turn up the radio, and enjoy the read!

Are Growlers Evil?

Since the late 1980's, the growler has been an ever increasing popular option for beer-to-go from favorite local breweries. In fact I cannot think of a brewery in Colorado today that doesn't offer a growler fill. And they are popular too (at least in Colorado). Many taprooms have a special area at the bar for growler fills only. Growlers are regular attendees of parties, potlucks, club meetings, camping trips, ski trips, and river trips. I have never seen anyone frown when they heard there was a growler of beer. Usually the person gets a big grin and immediately wants to try "the fresh" version of the beer straight from the brewery. This excitement isn't just coming from the guy who only drinks "The Beast" from a can . These positive feeling towards growlers are coming from craft beer lovers, beer judges, beer servers, beer reps, and brewers that I role with. So when I read the article Why Beer Growlers are Bad for your Brew from the website bon appetit, I was surprised at such a one sided article about something that I had always considered my ally towards enjoying beer. In the article, the writer gives a one sided account of the evils of the growler based on the views of Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery and a well respected beer advocate in the industry. The following are some of the comments in the article:

The Year in Photos (2011)

It's been a great year for beer in Colorado Springs! Amen! Here's a whole bunch of photos that summarize some of the experiences we've had this year. Some images are from the blog, some from our Twitter, some are in town, some are out of state, some we haven't even shown you yet. With the exception of the first image, these are basically in chronological order:

Our sticker found a home. Dec. 2011

Coaltrain's 2011 Sour Beer Tasting

Last night Coaltrain Wine and Spirits held their annual Sour Beer Tasting at The Warehouse. There was a good turnout but the event was not sold out which surprised me given the theme of this dinner. There were three welcome beers which included Rockyard Rockweisser Berlinerweiss, Victory Helios, and Anchorage Whiteout Wit Bier. All three were solid starter beers, light and refreshing. Then the first course appeared of four additional sours paired with a cod dish. The beers included Crooked Stave Pure Guava Petite Sour, Vandberg and Dewulf Lambrucha, Ommegang Aphrodite, HaandBryeriet Haandbakk, and Ichtegem's Grand Cru. The HaandBryeriet Haandbakk really stood out in this flight. It was very acidic and had notes of tart cherries. Yum! This was the first beer in more than one hundred years made in Norway using wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria. The second course came with five more sours paired with a baked ziti pasta dish. The last five sours were definitely the crowd pleasers and included De Ranke Kriek, 2008 Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek, De Oude Cam Oude Lambiek ($37 a bottle!), Timmermans Oude Gueze, and Brewery Stubbe Lambickx. This flight give the palate a challenge in that all were very acidic, flavorful, and had the classic barnyard horse blanket aromas and flavors that sour fans covet. It was hard to pick a winner from this flight, but it sure was fun sampling the rare and renown Cantillon.

Overall, the event was a hit. The credit goes to Austin, the manager and beer buyer, who stores these great beers every year just for this event. The other employees at Coaltrain also did a great job serving the beers and answering any questions. The food pairings could have been better with possibly one more additional course, but that's not the real reason one comes to a sour beer tasting. The beers were fantastic, and it was a rare treat to sample 12 in one sitting. I recommend signing up early next year because I don't think next year will have an open seat!

Also, Coaltrain will soon have a Barrel-Aged beer tasting soon, so stay tuned for that. 
- - -
To stay up to date with Focus on the Beer you can receive email updates and join us on our Facebook page.

Nobody Cares About Your Beer Blog

We were way too busy having fun during our Anniversary Party to take lots of photos and do a real write up. I will say a few things and then I'll show you a couple good photos. If you were there, you know that all the beers were killer, the line up was totally ridiculous, and the place was jam packed to the point of not being able to move. Thank you all so much for coming out and having a good time with us! Really this blog is here to help grow our craft beer scene, and so you are a big part of the reason why we do this. We'll have plenty more events in the future and we hope to out-do that party next year.

Okay, I've only got four photos. Like I said, we were busy partying. But check out Kirk's shirt that night:

Nobody Cares / About Your Beer Blog

Brew Bros. of Pikes Peak: Homebrewer's Gone Wild

Brew Bros, friends, and family gather to help scale up the homebrew at Rockyard.

A couple times a year Jim Stinson and Kjell Wygant at Rockyard Brewing, in Castle Rock, invite a Colorado based homebrew club to enter a competition through Rockyard called Homebrewer's Gone Wild. One beer is chosen, it is then scaled up and brewed on the large commercial system at Rockyard, all the people in the homebrew club get to come and help make the beer, and then the beer is bottled and available for purchase at liquor stores around the state. This is a pretty cool series, as any homebrewer would love to work on a commercial system AND love to see their beer on the shelves.

John Garbett doing a yeast count for the Ringwood Ale yeast.

Rockyard extended the invitation to our local Colorado Springs area homebrew club, the Brew Brother's of Pikes Peak (BBoPP). The challenge was to come up with an original recipe for either an Old Ale or a Scottish Ale. John Garbett, who just resigned as four-year president of the club, won the friendly competition with his Old Ale. I wasn't able to make it to the brew day on Saturday but here's what fellow homebrewer Robert Cloutier reported:

8 Holiday gift ideas for that special beer drinker

It's that time of year again and Christmas is just a mere two weeks away. If you're looking for some gift ideas, we've got a few. Everyone knows someone who loves beer, and whether they are just beer drinkers who enjoy a pint now and then or an expert home brewer, here is a Christmas list that I'm sure they would enjoy.

Brewing starter kit: $60-$220
A great gift for that special someone and a great way to make beer for less money while having fun at the same time.

Available in a wide range of beginning to expert, extract to all-grain, these are sure to please those who are interested in getting to learn the brewing process for themselves. Available locally at Old West Brewing Supply, Winecrafters at Rocky Mountain Brewery, in Monument at High Country Home and Garden, or online from Northern Brewer. We'd also recommend picking up Charlie Papazian's Joy of Homebrewing book to help out the first time homebrewers.

Beer of the Month Club: $23 - $70/month

The gift that keeps on giving, for a year at least. The beer of the month club allows that special someone to try rare beers from all over the world. A variety of different options allow you to choose from U.S. microbrews, international, and rare beers that are very difficult to get.

Focus on the Beer top 10 Beer spots in Colorado Springs: #4 Brewer's Republic

Here is #6 from the Focus on the Beer list of the top 10 beer spots in the Colorado Springs area. We are starting at #10 and working our way down to #1 in the upcoming weeks. The rest of the Top 10 can be found here. Let us know what you think!

#6 Beer Spot of Colorado Springs: Brewer's Republic

In only a little over a year, Brewer's Republic has carved out a great beer drinking niche in downtown Colorado Springs. It's a small quaint bar, similar to a coffee shop, with an impressive assortment of fine ales and lagers on tap.

The Beer: There are 12 rotating taps of only local Colorado beer at all times with some specialty bottles for sale. Because of the small space there is only room for 5 gallon kegs which is in some ways an advantage, the taps are different every time you come in. The owners Jason, Dave, and Brian have made really great connections with the local distributors and have been able to get limited kegs of the rarest and hardest to find beers in Colorado.

Dec. 08th Winter Extreme Beer Tapping At Trinity

If you haven't heard, Trinity is having a pretty exciting Winter Beer tapping on Thursday, Dec. 08. Beers are tapped at noon and are available all night. Sorry for the late notice! But I've got a list of beers you can expect:

Bridgeport Ebenezer

Avery Czar

Anderson Valley W. Solstice

Trinity Chilly Water

Blackfox Diablo

Dogfish Chicory Stout

Lefthand Fade to Black

KBKB Gingerbread Mon

New Belgium Snow Day

Pyramid Snow Cap

Great Divide Hibernation

Boulevard Nutcracker

Ska Busta Nutcracker

Delirium Noel

Sierra Nevada Celebration

Bristol Christmas Ale

There may be a couple others too, but this is the latest information. Looks good!

- - -
To stay up to date with Focus on the Beer you can receive email updates and join us on our Facebook page.

Vail Big Beer Fest 2012 Promises to be Beautiful

If you have not heard, the Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival is coming up and it is one killer beer festival. Isaac and I attended last year. It is perhaps the most comprehensive, educational, and fun-filled festival I've ever been to. Not only do you get to taste lots of fantastic beer, but industry leaders from around the world give presentations and you can meet them in person. Last year, Isaac was a judge in the homebrew competition, we attended a small presentation where Sam Calagione talked about Dogfish Head, we went to a few different seminars the next day and finished it off with one of the most exciting four hours of beer tasting I've ever done. Here's is our recap from Day 01 and Day 02 last year. As you know, I've been critical of some festivals throughout the year, and have become quite reluctant to attend many, but let me tell you...based on my experience last year I will definitely not miss this one!

Big Beers takes place in Vail, Colorado, so it's a bit of a trek for us Front Rangers. If possible, I would recommend staying out there on Saturday night because you will likely drink too much to drive home in the snow. If you ski, then you can hit up the slopes on Sunday. Otherwise, bring a DD or plan to hang out in Vail for a few hours after the festival is over.

Let me direct your attention to the Big Beers website, but I'll also list all the events and seminars that you can attend with the purchase of a ticket. There are a series of dinners too, but those sold out long ago. For the seminars, I would recommend reserving seats, or showing up nice and early. The $50 ticket gets you a lot at this festival...access to the seminars (but does not guarantee a seat) and guarantees you entry into the commercial tasting of the festival. The commercial tasting is ridiculous, see my recap of Day 02 here. Okay, for $50 here's everything the festival is offering for 2012:

If You Haven't Been to Phantom Canyon Lately...

At the Anniversary Party we had a raffle and a bunch of prizes to give away, including a couple Phantom Canyon Brewing t-shirts. When I announced the next prize was from Phantom Canyon someone in the audience yelled "Phantom Canyon!?" in what seemed a total disbelief that we would include them in the party. I almost yelled at the person (I didn't see who it was luckily). I've heard a lot of Colorado Springs folks say that they don't like Phantom Canyon and that their beer is terrible and then I find out that they haven't been back for a few years. Well, guess what folks...things have changed there...and it's time to go back.

Alan Stiles at Phantom Canyon

I asked Alan Stiles, the now-two-year-brewer at PC, what he thought of that incident (he was there when it happened) and he said it happens all the time. PC had a bad reputation when he started working there, and he has struggled to regain the brewery's credibility even though he really is pumping out some good beers. A while back we did a blind tasting of the 2010 Barleywine and our judges thought it was a phenomenal beer. We also covered PC when Alan made the controversial but ultimately good decision to take the IPA off cask and put it on tap. Now they have a rotating cask and a really tasty West Coast style IPA that has taken off in sales since it's removal from cask. At the Firkin Festival early this year, we gave Phantom the best beer award for the blended King Mixer. Speaking of firkins, I used to say that Alan made the best casks that I've had in the state, but have you had the English IPA cask from PC assistant brewer Mike Dee? He's the new best. Alan also has a series of historical beers that he recreates, beers that have gone out of style and dropped out of the market. I've never had one of those that wasn't good. Occasionally I have a beer that I don't like but in general they've really done a great job. They aren't making insane 15+ percent beers like Avery that are thick and syrupy, they generally seem to be making beers that are sippers, that you drink a few of and that take a subtler approach.

The last thing I wanted to point out was that at the Anniversary Party (which was super fun by the way!) I invited people to try PC's beer, the Methuselah Rookie Card, a Flanders Red that's been aging for 2 years, and it sold out before 9pm because people couldn't get enough of it. With other beers like The Abyss or Firestone Walker's 15th on tap, at near similar prices, you don't sell out of a beer that quickly unless it's good. Now may be a good time visit Phantom too, they should be tapping today or very soon a 9.3% Belgian Dubbel called Sept-Fons with figs, raisins, plums, housemade invert sugar and carmelized honey and blended yeasts from Chimay, Westmalle, and Achouffe...So, if you haven't given Phantom Canyon a shot recently, you should let go of your grudge and try them again.

- - -
To stay up to date with Focus on the Beer you can receive email updates and join us on our Facebook page.

Meet the Brewer: John Schneider of Black Fox

We all love Black Fox Brewing and we just can't get enough of their beer. They are indeed a mysterious brewing operation, every now and again we hear stories of broken bones, crazy collaborations, coffee caramel saisons, malt liquor, surgeries, chocolate pepper saisons, shirts that have been banned in other drinking establishments, skateboarding, punk rock, and beers that disappear much too quickly.

So, Another Pint is doing a good thing by hosting a Black Fox Meet the Brewer night. I'm not totally certain what beers will be on tap. As you may know, Black Fox contract-brews out of Bristol, and the beers don't come out on a regular schedule. Nonetheless, it will be nice to get to hang out with John Schneider and have him talk about his beer. I would also suggest asking him about the photo for this poster: we see him with crutches, a PBR, skateboard, and photos from his reconstructive surgery...

Meet the Brewer: John Schneider of Black Fox
When: Saturday Dec. 10, 7pm
Where: Another Pint / 13860 Gleneagle Drive, Colorado Springs

- - -
To stay up to date with Focus on the Beer you can receive email updates and join us on our Facebook page.

Focus on the Beer Top 10 Beer Spots in Colorado Springs: #5 Front Range BBQ

Here is #3 from the Focus on the Beer list of the top 10 beer spots in the Colorado Springs area. We are starting at #10 and working our way down to #1 in the upcoming weeks. The rest of the Top 10 can be found here. Let us know what you think!
#3 Beer Spot of Colorado Springs: Front Range BBQ
Residing in the heart of Old Colorado City is one of the best BBQ joints in Colorado Springs. Front Range Barbeque was started in 2000 by two brothers from Alabama. Since opening they have won numerous awards for their BBQ, including Best BBQ by the CS Indy every year...but that's not the only reason to stop by. Recently they have dialed their beer selection up a few notches, offering a great tap and bottle list.

Willy Tea playing in the outdoor patio

The Beer: Front Range BBQ has recently expanded their tap list to ten beers with good variety and rotation. The prices are reasonable, ranging from $4-6. You will find great seasonals from local Colorado breweries as well as out of state favorites like Dogfish Head, Boulevard, and The Bruery. The bottle list is what separates this beer spot from all the others in Colorado Springs. They offer around 40 bottles of beer with many of these being Belgian imports. The great thing about this list is that the prices are only a couple dollars more than liquor store prices. Some examples are the rare Avery Rumpkin for $12, St. Bernardus Christmas Ale 750 ml for $8, Great Divide Barrel Aged Yeti for $25, Mikkeller Barrel-Aged Black Hole for $14, and La Chouffe 750ml for $12. These prices are crazy good! The beers on both lists rotate pretty frequently. They also list their tap and bottle list on a downloadable app which is super convenient. They have also started having beer dinners that have been fantastic.

Ten nice taps at the bar

The Food: Award winning BBQ draws most of the customers to this joint. The food here is probably the best of all the top 10 spots we are reviewing. Front Range BBQ uses local and fresh ingredients as well as southern family recipes and cooking styles. They use a dry-rub cooking process with mixtures of real wood to slow smoke the meats. You will find an extensive menu full of starters, salads, sandwiches, burgers, and BBQ plates. You can't go wrong with the pulled pork sandwich or one of their BBQ meat plates.

The Atmosphere: The restaurant has a warm rustic feel like a southern home. Tables are situated within the small, cozy, rooms of the converted house. It can definitely get cramped in a hurry, but they have an outdoor covered patio area that is fun any time of the year. Front Range BBQ does a great job of bringing in live music. The acts range from local talent such as Bluegrass favorite Grass It Up who play most Wednesday nights to National acts. The music styles that frequent Front Range include folk, Americana, blues, rock, and jam bands.

The beautiful bar top at FR BBQ

Overall: Front Range BBQ has already established themselves as a great BBQ restaurant and live music venue in Colorado Springs. What was once previously underlooked as a beer spot is now turning themselves into a contender for one of the best spots for craft beer in the Colorado Springs area. The combination of the outdoor patio venue with live music, great food, and great beer really makes this place a must visit and a deserving spot in our Top 5.

Front Range Barbeque

2330 West Colorado Avenue

Colorado Springs, CO 80904

719.632.2596

- - -
To stay up to date with Focus on the Beer you can receive email updates and join us on our Facebook page.