2012 in Beer: A Photo recap

Focus on the Beer crew brewing at New Belgium

2012 was an awesome year all around, we will certainly miss it and I'm sure we will look back to it as one of our milestones for Focus on the Beer. For us, we got Beers Made By Walking off the ground, started a number of really fun events and article series, we even got to brew with New Belgium! Our local region saw the entry of Great Storm Brewing, Paradox, and Elevation Beer Co. Many of the breweries around us have expanded or are in the middle of big expansions, Trinity has been gaining loads of popularity for the Brett and Sour beers they make. Nationally we hit the 2,000 mark for breweries in the country and we are well on the way to 3,000 breweries already. Yeah, it was a good year.

We would like to share our photos this year with you. We've got a few photos that you've already seen and we're also adding a few that we haven't published yet, and photos that come from our Twitter and Instagram accounts too. These are our experiences, we hope you'll be a part of more and more of them in 2013. Cheers, and happy holidays!

Monumental New Years Eve with Pikes Peak Brewing

Not sure if you have plans for New Years, but Pikes Peak Brewing is throwing a pretty good looking party. They will have dancing, unlimited hors d'oeuvre, and special beer releases throughout the night. Tickets are $45 and include all the above plus 2 drinks and a champagne toast. Driving sucks on new years, so they also have a special room rate at the neighboring Sundance Mountain Lodge. The specialty beers for the night are:

8:00 - Oaked Elephant / Our IPA aged in whiskey barrels. While there is almost no whiskey taste imparted, the barrel mellows the hop flavor and ads a touch of oak.

9:00 - Gold Rush Du Brett / We took the Gold Rush Belgian Ale and used the wild yeast, Brettanomyces, to dry it out and impart a earthy organic flavor.

10:00 - Oaked AdAmAn / Our famous Holiday ale aged for several weeks in freshly dumped red wine barrels.

11:00 - Wild Horses Porter / A slightly soured version of our Bear Creek Porter. Not quite as sweet with tart notes of raspberries.  This one is delicious and not what you would expect from a beer.

Monumental New Year's Eve / Dec. 31 / 7pm-12:30am / $45
Pikes Peak Brewing / 1756 Lake Woodmoor Dr., Monument

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2012 Best Of Craft Beer in Colorado

It's the middle of the holidays and we've been thinking a lot about all the great beers we've had this year in this beautiful state of Colorado. Thinking back on 2012 there were some great new beers, beer events, and some breweries really shined and made an impression on us. We figured we would give a few shout-outs to some of our favorites. With 160ish breweries in CO, creating these lists is no easy task. We buckled down had a few more beers and compiled lists of some of our favorites and weighed our results together. We know we have left out some fantastic beers and brewers off these lists. You'll see some lists are a top 1-10 or top 1-5, that's because we started out trying to go top 1-5 for all of them, but there is a lot of fermented gold in this state so we just had to lengthen the list. So here you go:

Drink Up, The End is Nigh

Some people prepare for a coming apocalypse by buying guns, building bunkers and stocking up with a five year's worth of food. Some brewers don't prepare so much as celebrate with new beers made specifically for the occasion. I gather that none of those beers hold a candle to the beer that Trinity  and Black Fox decided brew up and use to usher in the new era. Like any real apocalypse-fearing-planner, preparations for this beer started quite a while ago, I believe we first got wind of it before the Saison Festival in April.

Craf Beer: Beer Commercials and Press Releases

Breckenridge Brewery has once again released a series of very funny videos that mock the advertising and gimmicky products of large industrial brewers. My favorite of the new series is the one I've pasted above where you must conceptualize a room full of half-naked women because for some reason the lime flavored beer just isn't doing what we thought it would.

To take a little rabbit trail here:
These videos were released yesterday, just hours after the Brewer's Association released their now infamous press release about "Craft vs. Crafty" beer where they define some lines between what is and what is not a craft brewery. A main argument is that large breweries, non-craft, breweries are trying to enter the craft beer market with faux beer products (such as a lime flavored beer that magically fills the room with half-naked women). The article has received lots and lots of attention from beer writers, the majority of it seems good with people saying they are glad that the BA is defining lines and specifically calling attention to many of the products, like Blue Moon, that are passed off as craft beer but should not be called craft beer. Not all the attention is good though.

One major problem I have with this press release is that breweries like AC Golden, Widmer, and Goose Island are now categorized as non-craft brewers. You can't tell me that. These guys are not making faux beer products. Widmer has recently released a phenomenal series of rotating IPA six packs, they've bottled a Gose beer for crying out loud, Goose Island produces one of the best stouts in the entire country, AC Golden just won medals at the World Beer Cup in the Brett category and a medal at GABF for their Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout. Yes, I understand the way the ownership of those companies works. No, I don't care because these are not faux beers and their advertising is not despicable. As Jeff Alworth aptly concludes that has a consumer, "I reserve the right to make decisions about how I think about beer. I get to call Goose Island and Widmer craft brewers if I wish. I decide whether a company makes good beer, and I get to ignore who the owner is."

Ultimately the lines that the BA has drawn mean nothing to me and just because they set them does not mean that I'll stop buying beer from these folks. What is the practical application from this press release? Does the BA want to put Craft Brewer stamps on bottled beer? The same way that products with organic certification receive a logo? Perhaps keeping non-craft-brewers out of the Great American Beer Festival? I'm not entirely sure the point of where they're heading or how this changes anything for the consumer. I much more appreciate the way Breckenridge handles the situation, to point out the real flaws of the larger brewers through satire.

***Update - I'd like to direct your attention to the first comment on this post (so far the only one). Anonymous brings up a good point, that part of the release talks about a "call for transparency in brand ownership and for information to be clearly presented in a way that allows beer drinkers to make an informed choice about who brewed the beer they are drinking." This is a point that I over-looked because of the rest of statement and it is valid. I think it would be good to have parent companies portray their identity on their product. How do you do that in a pub though? But I'd still like to emphasize my overall main point, the stickiness of using 'craft' as a validation for the better of the two. ***

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Full Sail Wreck the Halls brought me home for the holidays

In two entire years, this is the first out-of-state beer that I've talked formally about on the blog, that I've reviewed, if you can call this a review. Lately I've bought a few Full Sail Wreck the Halls and I can't get enough of it. I've been craving hoppy beers this season for some reason and this one has satisfied these urgings. I actually haven't craved hoppy beers since the 2009 Fresh Hop festival in Hood River, OR, which happens to be where Full Sail is located. The festival features a high concentration of fresh hop beers from Oregon and Washington. I was so excited to be there but after a handful of samples I could no longer taste or smell any of the beers that there were there. After an hour I went to Double Mountain Brewing down the street and ordered my favorite beer, the India Red Ale, and I couldn't taste that one either. A bit too much lupulin in one day I suppose. For at least a year I almost never ordered an IPA and I've grown to seriously dislike IPAs and 2IPAs that are so-called balanced out with caramel malts because they can be grossly sweet to me.

Cellarmanship - Interview with New Belgium's Salazar Team

Cellarmanship - Interview with New Belgium's Eric Salazar and Lauren Salazar from Focus on the Beer.

We recently started a series of posts that we call Cellarmanship where we talk about the how-to, the joys, and details of cellaring your beer at home. We've also decided to ask some of the experts in the beer industry about their own home cellars and their opinions on aging bottles. This is the first in the series of interviews and we think you'll really enjoy it. Scott talks with Eric and Lauren Salazar of New Belgium. Eric is the brewer for their wood aged beer program and Lauren is the wood aged program manager and blender and they have a number of really interesting, educational, and surprising things to say on the topic. They talk about corked beers compared to capped beers, the blending of La Folie, and personal thoughts on at-home cellars. Please enjoy the video above and tell us what you think, what's in your cellar, what do you to keep your beers properly stored away, are there any that you're afraid to open, what are some of your worst experiences with cellared beer?

Craft Beer Happenings This Week in Colorado Springs

There's a number of great looking craft beer events happening in our region this week, so hopefully we'll run into each other at the pub! Check out the Christmas party at Great Storm and the list of tap takeover events at Brewer's Republic, very cool looking stuff, and a few other things of note as well. I'll update this list if I find more so check back if you're curious. ***UPDATED***

Another reason why this weekend may be the best beer weekend ever in Colorado Springs...

And we thought our two events were looking awesome...we just talked to Tony over at Another Pint and he's also putting together a fantastic looking beer event to celebrate the 1 Year Anniversary of Another Pint! This event will be on Friday, Dec. 07th and will have some great beers on tap. So thankfully it's a day before our events and we'll be able to hit it up. Should be a ridiculously great beer weekend. Let's take a look:

Another Pint 1 Year Anniversary
Dec 07th / 6pm till Late / 13860 Gleneagle Dr., Colorado Springs

We'll see a good looking tap lineup with special beers from Oskar Blues, New Belgium, and Trinity. Live music from BB3 Trio starting at 6:30. There will be some prizes and crazy beer specials as a thank you to the customers. Come out and help these guys celebrate, it should be a great time! Here's a list of beers:

From Oskar Blues:
Port Barrel Aged G'Knight
Cedar Aged Dales Pale Ale
oSKAr the G'Rauch (Ska Collaboration)
Tanked Economy (White House Porter Recipe)
Whiskey Barrel Aged Old Chub

New Belgium:
La Folie
Lost Abbey/New Belgium Collaboration
Brewery Vivant/New Belgium Collaboration
Peach Porch Lounger
Snow Day

Trinity Brewing:
Secret special beer

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Beer List for our Second Anniversary Party!!!

With just under a week before our Second Anniversary Party I thought we thought we'd release all the info and the beers you'll see at the party (see our original post here). These are all fantastic offerings, we've worked personally with each brewery to provide these special beers and you'll be hard pressed to find them again.

Focus on the Beer's Second Anniversary Party
Sat. Dec. 08 / 5-11pm / Pay Per Beer
Trinity Brewing / 1466 Garden of the Gods Rd., Colorado Springs
Facebook Event

The Beers
Avery / Lilikoi Kepolo / 5.6%
A wonderfully easy drinking fruit beer with Avery's White Rascal as the base and another five pounds of passion fruit added per five gallons. The beer is incredibly refreshing and has lovely fruit notes. 

Backcountry Brewery / SaiZin / 9.5%
GABF 2011 Silver Medal winning Imperial Saison aged in a Rombauer Zinfandel barrel for 18 months. It does have a touch of lactobacillus in it to lend a subtle tartness. With hints of the original beer (lemon zest, pepper) followed by a generous dose of the zinfandel this one finishes with a touch of oak and tart. Backcountry is a lovely brewery in Frisco, so hit them up when you're in the mountains.

Crooked Stave / L'Brett d'Or / 7%

A surreal Golden Sour Ale aged in oak barrels for 18 months. This is the third beer that Crooked Stave ever brewed, primary fermented with 100% Brett yeast and then picked up the bugs in the barrels for it's sour edge. The beer is named after a 1930's film by Luis Buñuel and Salvardo Dali.

Deschutes / Sage Fight IPA / 7.3%
Originally brewed for Beers Made By Walking in Portland, Oregon. This IPA uses wild sage and wild juniper from the Wychus Canyon Preserve and proceeds of the beer originally were sent to the Deschutes Land Trust. This is the very last keg of the beer and Deschutes made some very special arrangements for us to have it here.

Elevation Beer Co.  / 8 Second Kölsch / 4.5%
Elevation's brewer fell in love with this style after visiting the beer halls of Cologne and brewed the 8 Second Kölsch to be a true representation of this easy drinking, crisp, and flavorful Ale. Originally brewed as a specialty beer for their local county rodeo, it quickly became a local hit and is available in Elevation's taproom.

Funkwerks / Deceit / 9.4%
Sold in 750ml bottles and limited to only 24 bottles. This beer won a gold medal at GABF this year. Inspired by Belgian Tripels and Golden Strong ales, this light-hued beer uses a high percentage of Pilsner malt and a unique Belgian yeast strain to present a sweet lemon character in the aroma.

Great Divide / Oak Aged Yeti 2011 and 2012 / 9.5%
We've got Colorado's famous Yeti, a lovely Russian Imperial Stout. These versions are from two separate years and have been aged with oak to give a rounded character and more vanilla notes. Order both and try them side by side to see how time changes and blends the flavors together in this lovely beer.

Green Flash / Treasure Chest / 7%
Originally brewed for Green Flash's 10th Anniversary, this beer has aromas of honey suckle, chamomile, and fresh bread. The beer is spritzy and floral with hints of honey and a firm, dry herbal hop finish. You won't normally find this one outside of California, so cheers!

New Belgium / Beers Made By Walking Lavender Plum Bock / 6.1%
The Focus on the Beer crew got to actually brew this beer on the 10bbl pilot system at New Belgium. It is part of the Beers Made By Walking Program, made with lavender from the brewery's property and plums added during primary fermentation. Expect a lovely sweet and subtle beer.

Odell / Spent Grain Chocolate Milk Stout / 8.4%
This beer is the final test recipe for a brew that will become a new seasonal 4 pack offering (Lugene). Brewed in honor of the dairy farmer that hauls away our spent grain, the beer is made with milk chocolate and milk sugar. 

Oskar Blues / Chardonnay Barrel Aged Mama's Yella Pils / 5.3%
A wonderfully special beer from Oskar Blues that has been described by some as their best beer ever. The delicate and soft flavors of the original Pilsner allows a nice transition to the Chardonnay. This is an incredibly limited beer so make sure you get some!

Paradox Beer Co / Oaked Cherry Hell for Stout / 9%
Part of the Non Fatal Souls Stout Project from the regions newest brewery, located in Woodland Park. Paradox upped the grain bill a bit on their  American stout, added a Belgian yeast, introduced it to fresh Bordeaux red wine American Oak barrels aged for 4 months, and added cherries.

Strange Brewing / Eldorado Bel-Gin Dark / 7.5%
Originally brewed for the Beers Made By Walking event in Denver. Brewed with Juniper and a little plant called Pineapple Weed. The color of the beer is inspired by the dark walls of Eldorado Creek at the Eldorado Canyon State Park.

Trinity Brewing / Saison du Tomme / 4.2%
Light bodied Saison with rose hips and amaranth from the hike, also added is lemongrass and grains of paradise. This beer is a modified version of a beer that Trinity brewer Tom Brown made for Beers Made By Walking in 2011, and was used for our BMBW event in Denver.

Wynkoop / Barleywine / 12%
Brewed in January and aged in Colorado Whiskey barrels until just a week ago, this Barleywine is one of Wynkoop's special treats. Expect a rich and complex beer with sweet malt notes, notes of dark fruit, vanilla, and toffee, with a very lovely lingering finish.


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