Meet the Brewer: Funkwerks

Meet the Brewer: Funkwerks
Fri. April 13th / 7pm
Another Pint / 13860 Gleneagle Dr. Colorado Springs
Pay Per Pint
Facebook Event Page

When we first started the Meet the Brewer series, Funkwerks was not distributed in Colorado Springs and they were on our priority list to get on the Meet the Brewer series. Funkwerks won our hearts at GABF in 2010, and again almost a year and a half ago at Vail Big Beer Fest. At the Saison Festival last year we said their Saison was the best straight saison at the festival, and definitely one of the best we've ever had. As it turns out, within weeks of starting the Meet the Brewer series their beer became available at a few of our shops and a few of our bars so we thought we'd give it some time before we brought down Gordon Schuck, Funkwerks' head brewer. Now that we've been able to spend some time with their beers, familiarizing ourselves a bit with this all-saison brewery, we thought that it's time to invite him to our town. This event will take place the night before the Saison Festival, so if you're not able to attend the Saison Fest, you'll definitely want to come to this. If you are going, this will give you the chance to meet Gordon in advance and to drink a few beers that won't be available at the fest (Belgian Stout, Alchemy, and White). Please join us in welcoming Gordon Schuck on April 13th.

Here is a list and description of beers we will have on hand for this special event:

Elevation will be at the Saison Festival

Elevation Beer Co.

I got word that Elevation Beer Co. will be at the Saison Festival and that this will be the very first time their beers will be available to the public. We interviewed Xandy Bustamante a couple months back to learn more about Elevation and what they're doing out in Poncha Springs. It turns out they're focus is going to be on barrel aged beer of all kinds, here's what they said in the interview:

Our focus will be on seasonal speciality and barrel-aged beers. We will have two year round beers available only on draft in the High Country of CO (Mount Blanca and First Cast IPA) a collection of Brewer's Playground beers (what ever our wild minds come up with) available at our tap room, and then our Black Diamond and Double Black Diamond Series with our Black Diamond focusing on specialty beers (think Double IPA's, Belgians and other fun styles) and our Double Black Diamond which will be all 100% barrel aged.

So, for the Saison Fest we're going to get to taste their first beers - Mount Blanca sounds like a good tasting traditional saison,  as well as their first barrel aged beer, a farmhouse called Signal de Botrange. I don't have the list of all the beers that will be at the festival, but these are going to be high on my priority list. Here are some descriptions:

Congrats Great Storm Brewing

I'm late on this but I lost my camera, and now it's found! Saturday night was the opening for Great Storm Brewing. We arrived to a packed house, there was a line at the bar about 20 deep and there were a few new beers on tap that hadn't been available during the soft opening. Overall, I enjoyed the Nitro Seven Wolves IPA, which was very mango-y, and the roasty Black Bear Zwartbier. A lot of people said they liked the Rum Raisin Stout, but there was too much alcohol heat for me. Another favorite with our facebook readers was the Shine On Belgian Golden Strong Ale, which was aged with oak. Here's a review from our pals at the CS Indy. Most of the beers overall had sweet, fruity esthers that were distracting, something that I think will get worked out in time.

Beer Thoughts: New Belgium Shift

UPDATE - We've changed our thoughts on this beer quite a bit since this review. Check out details here.

Beer Info:
Shift is New Belgium's first 16oz can, a "Pale Lager" that sits at 5% and showcases Nelson Sauvin hop, "which brings forth elements of citrus and soft fruit alongside specialty malts and lager yeast. Easy to drink, crisp and congratulatory, Shift is ready for a responsible session in the backyard and beyond." As you've seen in our recent threads, 5% is not really a session beer, but we will contend that for many, perhaps this is much lighter than the regular beers they drink.

US Craft Beer Growth

This is a nice infographic that explains some of craft beers growth, put out by the Brewer's Association. We have about 40 new breweries to open this year in Colorado, three of which are in Colorado Springs, three (possibly four) breweries in the city are in the middle of expanding, so you know things are happening but sometimes you need something like this to really lay it out for you. Also note this "Craft surpassed 5%volume share for the first time and continues to gain at a point when larger brewer volumes are in decline...

Drink With Us All Weekend!!!

This weekend is going to be a ton of fun. We organized two back to back events, the Odell Meet the Brewer on Friday, Battle of the Brewers on Saturday and we're also probably heading to the Beer Brunch at Front Range BBQ on Sunday morning. You should definitely come and hang out with us all weekend long! Here are the full details:

FRIDAY, MARCH 30TH

Meet the Brewer: Odell Brewing

Fri. March 30 / 7pm

Another Pint / 13860 Gleneagle Dr. Colorado Springs
Pay per pint
Event page on Facebook

Two Local Places Worth Noting

Last week we went out to a few different restaurants and checked out their beer lists. We wanted to point them out for you. Of course Front Range BBQ is great, we put them on our top 5 beer spots of Colorado Springs, and we do spend some time there. But they had a few great beers on tap, including a Cuvee de Jacobins and a St. Louis Geueze. In the bottle they boast a list of about 40 beers ranging from Jolly Pumpkin, Funkwerks, Crooked Stave, Kissmeyer, Mikkeller, and much more. There's always some good Belgian specialties and sometimes some French Saisons as well. I'm always impressed with their list and their atmosphere.

Bad photo! Taken with iPhone.

Later we headed over to The Blue Star because we heard that on Thursdays you get half off bottles. It's true, I only had to pay $7.50 for a whole bottle of Avery's new Muscat d' Amor. They've got all sorts of beer from The Bruery, Boulevard, Funkwerks, Avery, Ommegang, and also some overseas greats from Brasserie Dupont, d'Achouffe, Timmermans, and Lindemans. About 40 bottled beers altogether. While we were there they tapped Dogfish Head's Noble Rot, so it was fun to try two beers side by side that had heavy doses of grape fermentables. Perhaps some of these are more expensive than you'd want, some have better prices, and the atmosphere is mostly restaurant-style but on half-off Thursdays it's pretty stinking hard to beat.

Just a head's up!

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Beer and Cheese, Yes Please!

Perhaps a longer post on the possibilities of pairing beer and cheese is in order. A year ago I wasn't keen on the idea of beer and food pairings, I just wanted my beer. But Another Pint, Trinity, and now the Melting Pot have been working away at me. I was given a ticket to the recent Oskar Blues and Melting Pot fondue dinner. For that reason I'll keep this brief so it doesn't sound like I'm only advertising to you. I'm not, I was really surprised at how well fondue and beer worked together.

12 Colorado Session Beers (or near-session beers) You Can Find In Stores

Session beers are an often overlooked group of beers in the craft beer community. It seems that often the craft beer drinkers want to push the envelope of their palate by buying complex, overly hopped, and/or high alcohol beer. I have to admit I typically fall into this category, but over the last year I have began to appreciate the small subtler beers in life, the session beer. A session beer does not have an exact definition or style parameter. It does have a few loosely defined characteristics. Some purists think that a session beer should be less than 4%, some think 4.5% is a better cut off number for US drinkers. The Zythofile blog recently published "How Old is the Term 'Session Beer'" and says it's perhaps a bit more subjective..."So – there’s no rule that says session beers HAVE to be 4 per cent or lower, merely personal prejudice/preference, any cut-off level at all over what constitutes/does not constitute a “session beer” is going to be arbitrary, though personally I would suck my teeth and shake my head at anyone who suggested a beer over 4.5 per cent was a “session” brew, and my own view is to regard beers of 3.8 per cent and below as “truly” sessionable." Our own Eric Steen agrees that 4% or less should be the rule.

Nevertheless, the GABF "session beer" category is defined as beers between 4-5.1% and we'll stick to that for the sake of this post. Session beers should be equally balanced with high drinkability. They are meant for the consumer to enjoy multiple beers over a course of a "session" (a few hours perhaps) without becoming intoxicated or full. With the advent of Session Beer Day approaching on April 7th, hopefully this post will be a guide for your beer purchases. Even though the Session Beer Day was intended by its founder to be for beers at 4.5% and less, I thought it would be worthwhile to mention 12 Colorado beers (call them near-session if you will) worth buying that fall into that GABF 4-5.1% definition.

These are beers you can buy in stores. Soon we'll also post a few session beers that will be on tap at your local pub brewery on April 7th.

Session Beer Day is April 7th

Yesterday the beer blogosphere blew up with talk about the upcoming Session Beer Day, which was marked for April 7th, the anniversary of the Prohibition repeal. The idea was started just yesterday by Lew Bryson, creator of The Session Project blog, a blog devoted to raising awareness about the joys and benefits of session beers. Session beers, defined by this blog are beers that are 4.5% and below, although others like the DING beer blog and myself would say that to be called a 'session beer' it must actually be 4% or below. Normally I don't get excited about days like "IPA Day" or "Stout Day" because I want to drink what I want to drink. "Session Day" is also kind of weird because I actually wish most days were Session Beer Days, I wish more breweries would spend their effort making beer that you can drink multiple pints of without getting intoxicated. Session Beers are ones that inspire conversation without inebriation and should be a part of our normal vocabulary as beer drinkers. Nonetheless, I like to think that this event will raise some awareness about Session Beers. We'll see. April 7th is fast approaching so I'm not sure how easy it will be for local breweries and bars to do what they need to do.

Oskar Blues Beer Dinner at Melting Pot

I was invited to attend tomorrow's Oskar Blues Beer Dinner at the Melting Pot (Colorado Springs) and it occurred to me that Oskar Blues has been doing an awesome job at getting all sorts of different restaurants to pair food with their beer. I have to admit, I'm a bit pumped to pair beer with fondue, I've never thought to do that as I've always thought of fondue as a wine pairing meal. We'll see how it goes. I just heard about this today so sorry for not showing you sooner, but apparently there are a few tickets left.

Melting Pot/Oskar Blues Dinner
March 20th / 6pm
$45/ +tax and gratuity
Call 719.385.0300 to RSVP

2012 St. Paddy's Day Beer Happenings

I've got a short list of some beery things that are happening for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow in Colorado Springs. I doubt it's a full list, but it's what I could find. Click the link for address info. Also, don't drink and drive! Also, watch out, I found this link searching for "Colorado Springs St. Paddy's Day" and found out that apparently the St. Paddy's Day parade here in town can get violent...

Beer Thoughts: Crabtree Berliner Weisse Ale

Beer info:
I was at Weber Street Liquor and saw some bottles of beer from Crabtree Brewing. It turns out they've got a pretty limited quantity of beer from Crabtree, and they trucked it down from Castle Rock because the brewery isn't distributing in Colorado Springs yet. So, they've got a limited quantity of the Berliner Weisse (GABF gold medal, 2011), Ginger Bee, Oatmeal Stout (GABF silver medal, 2011), and the Serenity Amber. The Berliner Weisse is what we're looking at today. It's historically a low alcohol German style wheat beer that's been soured with a lactobacillus, this one has 60% wheat malt. The style was nearly lost by the 20th century but has made a recent resurgence in US markets.

Beer Drinker of the Week #04

Beer Drinker of the Week is a new segment we're starting here at Focus on the Beer. This will serve as a way to show off all that delicious beer you've been drinking, or just simply show us what beers you enjoy on a normal basis. This series allows you to present your beer in an artistic environment, tell us what you think about the beers you're trying, what beer is in your fridge regularly, or tell a story about how you acquired a hard to find beer. You and your beers are the focus here.

Don't be offended, this picture was a joke. All bottles and cans were recycled
and Eric deeply respects the environment and landscape.

Beer Drinker of the Week #04: Eric Steen

Beers: A handful of Upslope Foreign Style Stouts, Ska Modus Hoperandi, Oskar Blues Deviant Dales, Coors Light, Schlitz, Buddha Nuvo, Phantom Canyon Methuselah Rookie Card, Timmermans Bourgogne des Flanders, Grant's Flanders-inspired homebrew, and Left Hand Smoke Jumper.

On Reviewing Beer That's Meant to Age

Last week we re-reviewed the collaborative Buddha Nuvo beer. As we said, the beer has seen a lot of changes in the last nine months now that it's aged for a while. A lot of the alcohol burn is gone and the subtler flavors are shining through, the creaminess is more apparent, etc. This made me curious about how to properly review beers that are going to be different the next time you open a bottle. Or at least how to talk about them on this blog. I'm not sure I have any real good ideas.

The simplest plan would be to buy a couple bottles of the same beer, review the beer when it's young and add the stipulation that we believe it should/could sit longer, as we did originally with the Buddha Nuvo. Then when we think it's time, we open up the other one and review that, linking to the old one. Do we talk about what has changed, or do we not mention the differences, just talk about the current profile of the beer without mentioning previous flaws? I don't know. Maybe this isn't that big of a deal, but what if some of the negative things said about a young beer may have hurt that beer's reputation even though now the beer happens to be turning out really nicely. Do we even talk about a beer that's too young? I suppose so if it's released in the market?

Like I said, maybe it doesn't matter that much, but I do want to say that I felt it would have been irresponsible of us to only review the beer when it was young, knowing full well that the beer was meant to change. There are many other beers that we've sampled recently that would be very interesting to check back on in a year's timing, like Crooked Stave's WWBGreen or Odell Footprint. I suppose too we could always update the original review, linking to the most recent review (as we've done here)?

It's a strange situation as a blogger, but one that I feel is important in terms of education and responsibility and will perhaps be a growing concern now that increasing amounts of breweries are bottling beers that are barrel aged or or adding yeasts that will drastically change with age. This post was just a quick rambling, a bit unorganized and not really thought through, but I imagine I'll have more to say in the future. If any of you have additional ideas, let me know what you think.

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Beer Weekend In Review

Last weekend wasn't entirely packed with beery happenings but there were a few goodies that we decided to attend individually and we thought we'd share our time.

Brewer's Republic hosted an event in collaboration with Oskar Blues Brewery and Common Cause Catering on Saturday afternoon. Zach Houlahan, the regional rep for Oskar Blues, was able to bring some rare treats for a special BBQ meal. Zach brought beef fed on spent grains from the Oskar Blues farm. Front Range BBQ then smoked the beef and created brisket and ribs for the event. Common Cause Catering created a wonderful BBQ meal from the beef that included beans, potato salad, and their special BBQ sauce. Zach was also able to get his hands on a rare keg of cedar aged Dales Pale Ale for the event along with kegs of most of their other beers. The cedar aged Dales was fantastic and well worth the visit. My only critique of the event was that there wasn't too many people taking advantage of this unique dinner. More advertising may remedy this next time. We didn't even know about it that far in advance. 

Cedar Aged Dales Pale Ale

Battle of the Brewers: Round One

Battle of the Brewers: Round One
Sat. March 31st / 4pm sharp!
Brewer's Republic / 112 N. Nevada, Colorado Springs
$5 for the full flight
Facebook Event Page

We are proud to introduce the first ever Battle of the Brewers competition in Colorado Springs. We have invited eight local breweries to compete against one another using randomly selected ingredients that we pulled out of a hat! We have used a bracket system so that one brewery is matched up against one other brewery, both producing a beer using the same two ingredients (such as molasses and peaches). The fun part comes when you, our lovely beery readers, will do a blind judging of the beers. March 31st will be Round 1, we will announce the winners of the public vote, announce the date for the next round, and select the random ingredients again right there at the bar for all to see!

So, be sure to be at Brewer's Republic at 4pm on March 31st. For $5 you will get eight beers in sample glasses and you will get a judge. We are limited to only five gallons of each beer, so it will go quickly. Also we are dividing the eight beers into two brackets: Bracket One will be served at 4pm and Bracket Two will be served at 5pm. Here are the brackets, breweries, and random ingredients:

BRACKET ONE / 4pm

Lone Tree vs Rock Bottom (Black Cherry, Clementine)

Rockyard vs Yak and Yeti (Molasses, Peaches)

BRACKET TWO / 5pm

Phantom Canyon vs. KBKB (Black Tea, Strawberry)

Shamrock vs. Pikes Peak (Raspberry, Pumpkin)

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Meet the Brewer: Odell Brewing

Meet the Brewer: Odell Brewing

Fri. March 30 / 7pm

Another Pint / 13860 Gleneagle Dr. Colorado Springs
Pay per pint
Event page on Facebook

Our third installment of Meet the Brewer is going to be killer! This is a series that we organize in partnership with Another Pint. The first two events were very popular with Crooked Stave and Oskar Blues. This time, we're working with Odell Brewing in Fort Collins and we're bringing down co-founder Doug Odell! The event will take place on Friday, March 30th at Another Pint. We'll have a couple classic Odell beers like the IPA, Myrcenary, and their first beer, back in 1989, 90 Shilling. We'll also have Footloose Golden Sour and Shenanigans, a couple beers you perhaps of not had before. You won't want to miss this event! You'll have the opportunity to talk with Doug about what it was like starting a brewery before the recent brewery boom, the current direction of Odell, how some of the recent beers were conceived, and how Odell became an industry leader in terms of quality and innovation.

The new beers:
- Footloose Golden Sour – Barrel aged with Brettanomyces and lactobacillus, this sour brings forth big fruit flavors of pineapple and citrus. Tropical aromas, coupled with a tart finish and slight hints of vanilla from the oak barrel make for a unique and refreshing beer. (8% ABV)

- Shenanigans - This delightful crimson ale is aged in oak with just a touch of Brettanomyces. The subtle Brett tartness balances the rich amber malt with hints of dried fruit and light citrus. Our ode to the happy accident, Shenanigans was just too good not to share. (9.1% ABV)

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Saison Fest 2012 is Coming!

Saison Festival at Trinity Brewing was one of the best festivals of the year in 2011, hands down. It's coming up again on Saturday, April 14th and there's only 100 tickets and I want to make sure you get yours. There's a couple reasons why the festival is so great - First of all saisons are a wonderful style for any time of the year and the style lends itself to experimentation. Second, the brewers all show up and pack themselves into the Trinity Brewing pub space and you get to hang out with them and ask them questions. The breweries are from all over Colorado and a handful from nearby states as well. I'd say at least half the beers are ones you will have never tried before. We've got a video of the festival from last year that you should take a look at, I'm pretty sure it will convince you to go.

Info:
April 14th / 12-4pm
Timing: TBA (probably around 12-5ish)
Trinity Brewing / 1466 Garden of the Gods Rd., Colorado Springs
Tickets: $30/advance or $35/at door. Only 100 tickets available, stop into Trinity or call 719-634-0029 to get yours!

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Great Storm Brewing Grand Opening!

That's right, it's offical! Great Storm Brewing is set to open their doors in the next couple weeks. I've got all the information for you right here, so have a read. I'm copying directly from their press release:

A New Brew on the Block: Neighborhood Microbrewery Opens Its Doors
Great Storm Brewing, a production microbrewery and tasting room, starts serving up pints and pretzels March 24th. With eight beers on tap, ranging from a light, lemony witbier, to a hearty oatmeal-rum-raisin stout, the taproom features ales across the suds spectrum.

Beer Thoughts: Re-Look at Buddha Nuvo

Beer Info:
The Buddha Nuvo was a collaborative beer with about fourteen Colorado breweries. The funds raised from sales go to the Colorado Brewer's Guild. This beer features Buddha's Hand fruit, pumpkin, spelt, oats, peppercorns, ten strains of Brettanomyces and Saison yeast, was aged in French Oak Chardonnay barrels, bottle conditioned with local honey, and it sits at 12% ABV. Here's photos of the making of, the bottling, and our first review of Buddha Nuvo. Now that it's aged for about 9 months, we thought we'd give it another look.

Beer Drinker of the Week #03

Beer Drinker of the Week is a new segment we're starting here at Focus on the Beer. This will serve as a way to show off all that delicious beer you've been drinking, or just simply show us what beers you enjoy on a normal basis. This series allows you to present your beer in an artistic environment, tell us what you think about the beers you're trying, what beer is in your fridge regularly, or tell a story about how you acquired a hard to find beer. You and your beers are the focus here.

Beer Drinker of the week #03: Josh Adamski

Most craft beer fans have a story similar to mine. You know what I’m talking about, that eye opening moment when you tried the first beer that made you realize there was something else available besides that fizzy yellow stuff offered up in mass quantities. Well my journey into the world of craft beer took place sometime in 1997 at a tap bar in Tempe, Arizona called Timberwolves. Back then a friend of mine had been trying to persuade me to try some new beers that were starting to appear in what was quickly becoming a thriving Arizona beer scene. Sitting at the tap bar one night my friend ordered two Arrogant Bastards. At first all I could do was laugh, thinking who in the heck names a beer Arrogant Bastard? At the time I had been an avid drinker of Heineken and Molson, and all I kept thinking was “there is no way I am going to like this.” But after that first sip I knew that my beer drinking days were going to change. I instantly became a huge fan of Stone Brewing, and ultimately a fan of any craft brewery that challenged the possibilities of what beer should and can be.

Recap of Coaltrain Barrel Aged Beer Tasting

The other night we attended the Coaltrain Barrel Aged Beer Tasting at The Warehouse. This event was very different than the beer dinners we've had at Trinity and Another Pint as it wasn't a proper beer dinner per say. There were three courses and about fourteen different beers in between all that. These beers have been saved off in the Coaltrain cellar for such an event and then also made available at a discount for those who attend. Overall the beers were really tasty, some I have tried previously but now the beers had some age to them so they were quite different than before. Some of the exceptional beers I'd like to mention were the La Trappe Oak-Aged Isid'or Trappist, HaandBryggeriet Akevitt Porter (Akevitt is a spirit from Norway), Barrel Aged BORIS from Hoppin Frog, Old Rasputin 14th Anniversary Stout, Dry Dock Bligh's Barleywine, Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad, and Odell Friek.

The Barrel Aged Old Rasputin was one of my favorites, I picked up a bottle of this for a special occasion. And I'd really like to try this next to the original stout. This one had some balanced notes of chocolate and bourbon.

Interview on Bad At Sports

Yesterday I was featured on Bad At Sports, an online journal and blog about contemporary art. I was interviewed by Chicago art thinker and writer Bryce Dwyer as part of a series about artists who use beer in their art. The interview is a lengthy and provides a good look into what I do, why I do it, my decisions, and processes. I thought I'd share it all with you, you can read it here.
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Beer Events In Town This Week

A couple fun things going on this week from Rock Bottom, Phantom Canyon, Blue Star, and Bristol. Check it out!

Beer Drinker of the Week #02

Beer Drinker of the Week is a new segment we're starting here at Focus on the Beer. This will serve as a way to show off all that delicious beer you've been drinking, or just simply show us what beers you enjoy on a normal basis. This series allows you to present your beer in an artistic environment, tell us what you think about the beers you're trying, what beer is in your fridge regularly, or tell a story about how you acquired a hard to find beer. You and your beers are the focus here.

Beer Drinker Of The Week #02

Scott Simmons is this week's featured Beer Drinker. He had a birthday party last Friday which I was privileged enough to take part in. Here are the beers that we opened.

What in the World Do We Call These Wild Beers Anyway?

I've been thinking a lot about Wild Beers lately, appreciating them more and more, and also wanting to stay educated about them. I've heard brewers say they don't want people going around calling all wild beers 'sour beers' because, well, they aren't all sour. Take Trinity's TPS Report, Oakshire's Skookumchuck, or any of Crooked Stave's Wild Wild Brett series as an example, many of these could be described as delicate, rosy, lightly citrusy, and some of them have light acidity. These beers are neither Ales nor Lagers in the yeast-sense of those words, here's what Chad Yakobson says, "Brettanomyces is not ale or lager because those designations refer to a species of yeast, when you boil it down, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ale yeast and Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis as lager yeast. Brettanomyces Bruxellensis and other species variants are a different type of yeast thereby not making ale or lager beer." So it's actually a bit strange to call one of these beers a 'Wild Ale' because it is not an ale if it's fermented with Brett...or is it an ale if it's fermented at ale temperatures? It get's confusing eh?

Chad forwarded me an email he recently sent around to some of his colleagues. He goes on,

...But what can we call it? Brettanomyces, that's the yeast.. So how to properly designate what it is like in Belgian Ale...Belgian Brettanomyces? That doesn't fit for me...But what is going to? Maybe nothing because we are so ingrained in ale and lager. Brett isn't even much of a top fermenter...and it is aged for a while (you should or else it keeps eating away in the bottle and the bottles gush unless carefully opened...(All of our beers sadly do this.. I'm working on it..) So my best comparison for Brett is actually to lagers. That is more reasonable. Flavor wise, no.. but it's not about flavor it's about fermentation characteristics and genetics.