Black Shirt Brewing's 3rd Anniversary Party

October 10, was the 3rd anniversary party for Black Shirt Brewing and it was jumping. We arrived close to the opening around 2:15 that Saturday and there was a fair amount of people in attendance. Black Shirt Brewing is close to our hearts, we have known the three founders when they were brewing in their basement in Centennial, CO.  Chad and Carissa, and Branden Miller are the heart of this brewery and it has become a local hangout.

Front patio seating with Branden Miller waiting tables.

For this special day, they had some really nice beers on tap. They had a barrel-aged Imperial Red Porter on tap that was 8.14% ABV. It was aged for 10 months in Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels. Another wonderful beer on tap was the whisky barrel-aged coffee quad, a 9.5% beer that was aged 21 months in whisky barrels then blended with Huckleberry Roasters Guatemalan coffee. Both of these beers were excellent!

Barrel-aged Imperial Porter.

Larry holding a whiskey barrel-aged
coffee Quad.

They also had a 3rd Anniversary Sour on tap, it was brewed with Colorado barley, hops, and with their Saison yeast strain. Here's the rest of the story.

3rd Anniversary Sour/

We didn't stay the entire evening so didn't get to hear the band.  They have a really cool stage out back in the patio made with pallets.

Patio photo from Black Shirt Brewing Facebook page.

The Brett Pack Dinner at Avery Brewing, GABF 2015

Brett pack dinner at Avery Brewing was the Wednesday before the GABF 2015. The Brett Pack consist of 5 brewers, Adam Avery, Sam Calagione, Tomme Arthur, Vinnie Cilurzo, and Rob Tod. They all took a trip together to Belgium in 2006 where they learned from the masters at the Belgian breweries and to drink such unique beers. Usually this dinner is at the Kitchen, a restaurant in Boulder but with the opening of the new Avery Brewery facility, I think Adam Avery wanted to showcase his restaurant.  All the Brett Pack was in attendance. Even though this was at the Avery Brewing restaurant and the entrees were really good, this was a dinner where the beer took center stage.

This photo was on the hostess table at
the entrance to the restaurant.

Our table with an complimentary bottle opener.

The start of the dinner pairing was a Welcome beers from each of the breweries.

Allagash          Allagash White, a Belgian-style wit at 5.1%

Avery               Twenty Two, 100% Brettanomyces drie fermented dry-hopped wild ale, at 6.0%

Dogfish Head  Festina Peche, Neo Berliner Weisse brewed with peaches at 4.5%

The Lost Abbey      Hop Concept, hop freshener tropical IPA at 8.5%

Russian River Pliny the Elder, a double IPA with Amarillo, Centennial, CTZ and Simcoe hops at         8.0%

Festina Peche.

Not a bad start to this first major event of GABF.

Amy and Rachael, employees at
Avery Brewing.

The Brett Pack table.

Vinnie Cilurzo and Larry Smith
having a beer conversation.

Rob Tod and Mitch Smith.

Natalie and Vinnie Cilurzo.

Dick Cantwell, Kim Jordan, Adam Avery
and  some Nebraska Brewing staff.

Tomme Arthur, Steve Breezley, Andy Parker,
Rob Christiansen, and Adam Avery.

Ray Decker, Service and Hospitality Director.
He made this evening possible.

The entree pairings were very good but there was too much on the plates to really enjoy each course, by the end I was stuffed. And to be honest the food was a compliment to the beer.

First course was Russian River Temptation and The Lost Abbey Veritas paired with seared scallops, squash and lobster risotto, confit cherry tomatoes, gremolata.  The scallops were perfect and the rest just enhanced it. Both sours went very well with this course. Veritas is a very rare beer, it usually doesn’t make it this far east.

The second course was Allagash Fluxus and Russian River Supplication paired with duck, duck, goose. Duck confit, foie gras torchon, soft boiled duck egg, frisee, and cherry gastrique. Another good pairings, the fruit of the Fluxus and the sour brown ale cut through the richness of this course.

Third course was Avery Brewing Vallum and Dogfish Head 2010 Immort Ale. These beers were paired with a ribeye steak that was coffee rubbed, sunchoke gratin, and maitaki demi. The 11% ABV 2010 Immort Ale added to the richness of the steak while the sour ale, Vallum complimented this course.

The fourth course was with Allagash Farm to Face and Antonius Carmen from Avery Brewing. These beers were paired with a meat and cheese plate of Jasper Hill’s Alpha Tolman, MouCo’s Colorouge, house-made pork rillette, and anaheim date jam. I have to admit that by this course I was stuffed but these sours paired well with the robust cheeses and the rich rillette.

The dessert course was 2008 Fort from Dogfish Head and The Lost Abbey Track 8, they were paired with a raspberry semifreddo, dark chocolate, and toasted coconut. I really can’t remember this course except the semifreddo was good.  I think the beers were excellent, only because I had Fort before and a 2008 could only get better with age, it’s 18.0% ABV. Track 8 is a 13.7% ABV and my husband raves about it.

This is an event that we will probably make a tradition every GABF. It surpassed most of the other events we went to, excluding Sour Sunday which I really enjoyed. Adam Avery and staff at Avery Brewing did a wonderful job setting this event up at their new brewing facility in Gunbarrel, CO.