New small batch beers at Golden City Brewery

Declaring themselves as the second largest brewery in Golden, Colorado, Golden City Brewery is a nano brewery at best.  We stopped by to take some photos for Larry's android beer app, Colorado Beer Tour, and happened upon some small batch seasonal beers.

Christmas Ale at 7.0% alcohol was a smooth concoction that tasted and looked like a dunkelweisse.  The color was a murky rich dark brown almost a porter in color.  The aroma smelled to my husband as a dunkelweisse but to me it had a malty roasted aroma with a light spice fragrant and taste.  It was very smooth to the palate and a smooth aftertaste.

Wood-fired pumpkin ale at 5.4% alcohol.  A light orange color with a clove or nutmeg spice aroma.  It had a light spiced flavor with a smooth finish.  Woody's Pizza in Golden, baked the pumpkins in a wood fired oven then was added to the mash.

4 taster set at the Fort Collins Brewery

The Fort Collins Brewing Co moved into a brand new facility not too long ago, so it wasn't far from the Odell's, just a few hundred yards.






I had the 4 taster set;

Common Ground-light amber color, heavy coffee flavor, and is 5.3% alcohol. Too much coffee for me.

Barrel-aged Double Chocolate Stout, barreled aged in Stranahan barrels, it had a heavy whiskey aroma and flavor, no hint of the double chocolate to me. It is 8.1% alcohol.
Double Chocolate Stout- nice dark color, strong roasted malt flavor. I didn't taste much chocolate though and it is also 8.1%.
The last taster was the Wheat Wine. Light orange color, rich sweet flavor with none of the traditional wheat flavor but I did like this.  It is 9.3% so easy does it on this beer.

Odell Brewing Co

Yesterday on a road trip to the Fort Collin's many beer venues, we stopped at Odell's. It wasn't too crowded for a Saturday since we were able to get a table for 6. I shared a pilot taster tray with Larry and found that my most favorite Odell beer is their bourbon barreled aged stout the best.

Equinox Borealis Winter Ale

We were on a road trip to Fort Collins with some friends yesterday where we started at Choice City Butcher and Deli for breakfast as mentioned in an earlier blog.  Walked downtown in the chilly afternoon to Equinox Brewing from the Cupboard shop.
Equinox has a very nice taproom and was a welcoming from the cold outside.  I started with a taster of the Borealis Winter Ale, a dark, rich beer with a roasted malt aroma that was slightly sweet, lightly spiced with a slight bitter aftertaste.  The Borealis is around 8% alcohol. It was so yummy that I got a pint later.
Another great beer on tap was the Quasar Grand Cru, an light orange color, heavy hop aroma, slightly sweet and with a bitter aftertaste. The Quasar is around 8.3% alcohol.
Both these beers were a good  beer for warming up from the chill.

Breakfast at Choice City Butcher and Deli, Fort Collins

Had the worst breakfast at Choice City yesterday.  I had a simple bacon and eggs, bacon was cold and under cooked, the eggs were over easy not over medium.  Everyone else in our party had a wonderful breakfast.  The SOS was a hit so was the salmon benedicts.
I didn't have a pint there but my husband, Larry, did.  There was a mystery beer on tap and he loved it.  He thinks the mystery beer was Scaldis Noel, he even got it in a pint instead of the usual 10 ounce pour.  Russ wasn't in yesterday so the waitstaff poured all in pints!  Great for us, sorry Russ.
They had the elusive Pliny, the elder on tap, the black IPA from Odell's and some others that Larry doesn't drink.

Upslope Brewing Co

The other night we stopped at Upslope Brewing in Boulder and had a few tasters.  They have their flagship beers on tap, Pale Ale, IPA, and Brown Ale but they also had a whiskey barrel aged Pale Ale that was fruity with hints of citrus.  They had their dark strong ale on tap and their Craft Lager which was renamed from the Mexican Lager.

The taproom as seen from the eyes of the bartender.
This photo was taken at their 2nd Anniversary Party last November.

Oh and they going to expand into the next unit sometime before the new year.  Their taproom is very small compared to Avery or Left Hand. It will help increase their business with a larger taproom. Kudos go out to the guys at Upslope for this ambitious move.

West End Tavern in Boulder

My husband, Larry and I went to the West End Tavern for lunch today thinking we would have the Thursday special.  The Thursday special had been catfish sliders, but they changed the menu on us.  So instead he had the clam chowder which was delicious and we shared the french dip sliders.  With our lunch, of course, we had a beer. I had the bourbon barrel aged stout from O'dells and Larry had the state harvest from Sierra Nevada.  It was a very good all around!

Tasters at Oskar Blues

Rt. Velvet Elvis, middle Columbian
Supreme, and Lt. Seeyoulator
DoppelbockAdd caption

Oskar Blues Liquid and Solids has some great beer on tap.  You can get a taster set at the restaurant, I have three, Oskar's Velvet Elvis, Oskar's Columbian Supreme, and Boulevard's Seeyoulator doppelbock.
 Velvet Elvis Stout is 6.9% alcohol has a nice sweet aroma with hints of chocolate.  The taste is strong with coffee, dry stout but not over the top.  A very pleasant stout.
Columbian Supreme at 6% alcohol is just that heavy coffee aroma and coffee taste but I is well balanced.
Seeyoulator doppelbock at 8.5% alcohol, is amber in color, strong liquor taste, wouldn't be able drink a pint of this stuff very strong flavor.

Kellner's Malt Liquor at Oskar Blues Liquid and Solids

I'm at Oskar Blues in Longmont and they tapped their last keg of Kellner's Malt Liquor last night.  It is a tasty malt liquor with is a weird thing to say since I haven't had a malt liquor in a very long time.  It has a nice orange color, nice head, doesn't have a strong aroma, sweet, and alcoholic flavor but not over the top. A great tribute to a wonderful man who's life was cut short.

Dry Dock Brewing Co., Old Bounty spiced ale

Today is Firkin Friday and they have Old Bounty spiced ale and it is special.  I don't drink their old bounty so this Holiday Ale is very Christmasy in taste. Old Bounty spiced ale give Anchor Steams holiday ale a run for it's money.
The aroma is very spicey with cloves and cinnamon, maybe even nutmeg, the taste is more of cloves. Very tasty and in the spirit of the season. HO HO HO!

Avery's Mephistopheles Release Party today

Avery Brewery taproom

Avery Brewing Co., in Boulder, Colorado is having a release party for their stout from the demon series. They will have a three year vertical tasting of the Mephistopheles Friday December 3.  We were lucky to be at the brewery yesterday and got a taster of the Meph.  Strong liqueurish aroma and first taste with a slight chocolate finish, it wasn't something my favorite.  Then Andy Parker, brewer, gave us the taste of the Meph Addict, Mephistopheles with Coffee beans was delicious.  Can't get this at the brewery yet since Andy got the brew from the tank.  It has lots of coffee so the brew had a strong coffee aroma with hint of caramel finish.  Sooo yummy!

Dry Dock Brewing Co., Aurora Colorado

Dry Dock Brewing Co., in Aurora, Colorado

Inside Dry Dock Brewing taproom

Dry Dock Brewing Co., in Aurora Colorado has 5 small batch beers on tap today.  I'm having Walt's (assistant brewer) Frambozen, a brown ale with 130lbs. of raspberries.  It has a slight sour raspberry aroma but it doesn't have that over powering raspberry taste, very subtle.  They also have a Malted Milk Stout which was made with 150lbs of malted milk, is also on tap. It has a vanilla aroma which reminds you of chocolate covered malted "Whoppers", the aroma is familiar but this stout isn't sweet to the palate, finish.

All their flagship beers are all on tap from Breakwater Pale at 5.0% alcohol to their Seven Seas Double IPA at 8.5% alcohol.
Tonight they are having their Firkin Friday with a Holiday Spiced Ale. Firkins are cask ales that refers to the 10.8 gallon keg with isn't carbonated and is served at a warm cellar temperature.

Dry Dock will be bottling in 22oz. the Seven Seas, Hefeweizen, and the vanilla Porter soon, look forward to seeing them in my local liquor store.