Twisted Pine Brewery

RhuBarbie, a rhubarb and cherry Blonde Ale, sweet with cherry flavor with a slight bitter aftertaste.

Pizzeria Basta

Salami calazone with Bam Biere from Jolly Pumpkin and Rugbrod from The Bruery. Bam Biere is an oaked aged sour with grapefruit flavor.

Dry Dock Brewing

Eating take-out Chinese and having a blended pint of Nitro Milk Stout w/ Espresso Milk Stout, so good :)

Avery Brewing beer dinner pairing tonight

Still seats available for Sushi Tora in Boulder, beer pairing with Avery Brewing.

Sent from my iPhone

International beer tasting at the Falling Rock

Having a great time at the Falling Rock, thanks to Russ Robinson owner of Choice City Butcher and Deli.

Big Beaver Brewing in Loveland

Big Beaver Brewing opened in Oct of 2010 and seems to have become a local hangout in such a short time.  Potent Peter IPA, 6.8%, nice balanced with bitter hop aftertaste.

Upslope Brewing

Chocolate Eisbock at 12% is wonderful! Brewed in Nov 2010 for a beer dinner with Centro Latin Kitchen.

On tap at Upslope Brewing

Two of the specialty beers on tap were the Randall IPA with simcoe hops and 2nd Anniversary Belgian Dark Ale.  They installed some noise dampeners on the ceiling since the reopening of the taproom, it can get quite noisy with the open metal beams overhead.  We definitely noticed the difference. Still one of my favorite breweries!

Hops & Pie, Denver

Coupler by Wynkoop, Imperial Sweet Stout at 8%. Sweet, a little whiskey flavor, very good for a Wynkoop beer.

Pizzeria Basta dinner beer pairing with The Bruery

Thursday night was the first dinner beer pairing with The Bruery, a brewery from Southern California.  The founder of The Bruery, Patrick Rue with his wife Rachel and 4 month old daughter, Charlotte were at the Pizzeria Basta for the event.  The Pizzeria Basta is small with about 12 tables plus seating at the counter.  Reservations were taken online at their web page or at the pizzeria.  The reservations were staggered with seating's every 15 minutes starting at 5:30 to 8:30 pm.

We arrived for our 6:15 seating and meet up with some friends in and out of the beer industry. Our friend Max was there for an earlier reservation and we saw Jon and Keith from Backcountry Pizza and Tap House along with Ted and Seth from Avery Brewing.  We were seated at a two person table next to Patrick and Rachel Rue's table.  We had a great time talking to them and we were able to recommend some places to go around Boulder for great beer. I asked Patrick what he thought of the pairings for the dinner and he replied that beer was getting the same level of respect as wine which is great for these events. He was quite happy with the dinner. For a brewery that is only 3 years old, having this dinner beer pairing at all is quite an accomplishment.

The whole 6 courses was cooked in the wood fire oven.  It was amazing!

The first course was oysters paired with Orchard White, a wit bier with lavender.  There were two oysters, one was a west coast kumanmoto oyster and a east coast wianno both had lavender and honey breadcrumb. It was delicious especially since I don't usually eat oysters.  To me the oysters had a lemon saltiness to them both went well with the beer.  Orchard White is 5.7% alcohol and would be good paired with seafood in general.

The second course was a farro salad with Humboldt Fog goat cheese, kyoho grapes, and heirloom grape tomatoes paired with Humulus Lager, a Indian Pale lager.   Humulus Lager is 7.4% alcohol but it didn't overwhelm the salad.  The lager goes through a cold fermentation and the hops added a grapefruit flavor to the beer.  I had never had farro before and I must say it complemented the beer.

Third course was Maine Diver scallop on an English pea sauce with Bunashimeji mushrooms and pea shoot salad, paired with Saison de Lente. The creamy pea sauce added contrasting flavor scallop which had a creamy texture that I'm not used to, I tend to like it more well done. 





Fourth course was a whole quail stuffed with prunes, with stinging nettles and hazelnuts topped with quail jus paired with Marron Acidifie, a Flemish brown sour.  You wouldn't think a sour would be paired with any food, the sour ale balanced the richness of the quail. The Marron Acidifie is 8.5% alcohol with a sour front that exploded in the middle with flavor.  I later got another glass of this delicious sour brown ale.

By this time I was getting full but the fifth course was two lamb chops with spring vegetables topped with lamb jus, this was paired with Cuir, an oak aged old ale which was 14.5%.  The beer had a sherry flavor that complimented the lamb to perfection.  The lamb was first cooked in the sous vide, a French method of cooking "under vacuum" food in airtight sealed container under a water bath, then the lamb was finished in the wood fire oven.

Last course you would think, dessert, well you'd be wrong. Thursday night had a French theme to it, I know but it's a pizzeria. Well the owner and chef, Kelly Whitaker is a French culinary trained chef so that night his training shined.  Last course was cheese and french bread paired with Premiere, an oaked aged golden strong ale at 10.4% went well as a dessert beer.  The cheeses were Roquefort, Pont l'eveque, is a farmhouse cheese that was soft, buttery, and Ossau-iraty, is a semi-soft sheep's milk cheese.  The bread was baked in the wood fire oven and was soft, airy in texture with a slight smoke flavor. There was also a kyoho grape compote  that was sweet and delicious especially when combined with the cheeses and bread.  Premiere has never been shipped outside of The Bruery's taproom.  We were definitely privileged to drink the beer.

Tasty Weasel tap room of Oskar Blues brewing

Last of the whiskey barrel aged barleywine, on the planet or at least in Colorado :(

On tap at Upslope Brewing

Great brews on tap at Upslope Brewing :)

Tom Horst of Crystal Springs Brewing

Upslope Brewing Co is open!

Great soft opening today! Barrel aged Imperial Stout on tap with the Quad.

Upslope Brewing open at 4pm