Birds and Beer at Barrel and Bottles Brewery in Golden

I bet you weren't expecting beer and birds as a pairing, so to speak but they melded together as a very informative evening. This event was organized by Barley's Angels CO and hosted by Barrel and Bottles Brewery.

Deborah Cameron, founder of Barley's Angels CO
talking about future events. 

Sheridan Samano, a Barley's Angel member is also an avid birder thought this would be an excellent venue to combine her two interests. She coordinated the non-profit group, Hawkquest  to be the key spokesperson at this event. Hawkquest is located in Parker, CO and is one of the largest organization of this type in 5 States.

Kin Quitugua

Kin Quitugua, master falconer and environmental educator founded Hawkquest in 1987.  Mr. Quitugua was on hand with his 2 staff members who handled the birds. He explained about each of the 4 Raptors we were privileged to see up close.





He brought 4 birds of prey; Harris Hawk, they live in colonies and hunt together which is very unusual for hawks and its a matriarchal society. A Grey Horned Owl, it doesn't have horns or what looks like ears, they're just feathers. Their neck has more vertebrae in which it can rotate it's head 270 degrees.  Aplomado Hawk which is an endangered species.  An then last but not least, the Bald Eagle. They're not really bald but the settlers to America back in the day referred to white headed as bald so the name stuck.

Now on to the beer. For this event we were given a free 11 ounce pour of Barrels and Bottles beer and two tasters plus appetizers to munch on.  The Barrels and Bottles tap list is full of wonderful beers and their own beers which there were 5, covers many styles to cover most beer lovers palate. I had the "Go Wit It" Extra Wit, a cloudy Belgian-style ale brewed with spices, citrus and mango juice post-fermentation. It's a very nice session beer at 3.8% ABV.  I also tried the Pixie Stout, French oaked-aged and hopped with Pacific Gem hops.  It's a little bit higher in alcohol than most stouts at 6.3% ABV.  Kim Collins, head brewer at Barrels and Bottles is always trying something new like  M* A*S*H*ed Hot Lips, a sour mash Blonde Ale that is only 3.7% ABV.  Kim likes brewing session beers but brews them with lots of flavor.