2013 GABF Week- Colorado Beer Tour Part 4, Denver

The last installment of GABF week is at ground zero, Denver.  There are so many places to go for good beer but as I have said before I will give you the short list of the ones that I would visit during GABF week. All these venues are in walking distance to each other so lets go on our last stop on the Colorado Beer Tour.

The father of all what's GABF is the Falling Rock Tap House.  Chris Black part-owner and beer enthusiast works for weeks to set up for GABF week. Since I'm writing late in the week, the Falling Rock schedule starts on Wednesday.

Wed. Oct 9@ 3pm- St. Arnold (Houston) tapping
                   @$pm- Speakeasy (San Francisco) tapping
                   @9pm- Sun King (Indianapolis) tapping
                                Jungle Room- IPA
                                Pappy Van Muckle- Wee Heavy Scotch Ale
                                Stupid Sexy Flanders- Belgian-style Flanders Oud Bruin
                                Cherry Fog- Wee Heavy Scotch Ale aged with cherries
                   @10pm- Cigar City (Tampa) tapping
                                 Jai Alai IPA 4 ways
                   @11pm- Schmaltz (NY) tapping
                                 Death of a Contract Brewer, Black IPA
Thurs. Oct 10@1pm- Rogue(Ashland OR) tapping
                      @2pm- Boulder Beer (Boulder) tapping
                      @3pm- Lagunitas (Petaluma CA)tapping
                      @4pm- Meet and Drink with 4 authors of books about beer
                                   Stephan Beaumont with Tim Webb- The Pocket Beer Guide
                                   Joshua M. Bernstein- The Complete Beer Course
                                   Jay R. Brooks- California Breweries North
                                   John Holl- The American Craft Beer Cookbook
                     @10pm- Oskar Blues (Longmont CO) tapping
                                    One Nut Brown Ale
                                    Double Impact Belgian Strong Ale
                                    A Fresh Hop
                       @10:30pm- Green Flash (San Diego)tapping
                                    In the Parking Lot of Falling Rock
                       @11:00pm- Alaskan Brewing (Juneau AK)tapping
                                    Vertical of Smoked Porter
Fri. Oct 11@12pm- Sierra Nevada (Chico CA) Kill the Keg
                         How fast can they kill the keg of Harvest Ale? Last year, a 15.5 gal keg being poured
                         from 1 tap took 9 minutes with 36 seconds.
                  @1pm- Boulevard (Kansas City MO)tapping
                          Saison Brett
                          Terra Incognita- American wild ale
                          Reboot White IPA
                  @2pm- Anderson Valley(Boonville CA) tapping
                  @3pm- NoLi (Spokan WA) tapping
                  @4pm- Odell (Ft. Collins CO) tapping
                  @9:30pm- Chicago Brewing (Chicago IL) tapping in parking lot
                  @10pm- Stone (Escondido, CA) tapping
                  @10:30pm- Dogfish Head (Milton DE) tapping
                            Soup Kitchen Smokebreak- World Wide Stout poured through a Randall containing
                            local roasted coffee beans & cigar tobacco.
                            61- American IPA
                            Palo Santo Marron- American Brown Ale
                            Samples of beer infused Chowder & Pickles from Dogfish Head
                            Chris Black & the brewery are digging through their cellars for more beer
                  @11pm- Left Hand Brewing (Longmont CO) tapping
                           Fade to Black, 1-4- Foreign Export Stout
Sat. Oct 12@4pm- Avery Brewing (Boulder CO) tapping
                  @9pm- Ommegang (Cooperstown NY) tapping
                         Game of Thrones series- Take the Black Stout
                                                                 Iron Throne Blond Ale
                  @10pm- Firestone Walker (Paso Robles CA) tapping
                         PNC-buckwheat stout aged in tequila barrels
                         Parabola- Russian Imperial Stout
                         Agrestic- Double DBA inoculated with Brettanomyces
                   @11pm- New Belgium (Ft. Collins CO) tapping
                          For the finale of GABF, Chris is breaking out some barrel program beers
                          and raiding his cellar for some vintage treats!


Just down the street for the Falling Rock is another great tap house that serves upscale tap food also, Freshcraft.  Freshcraft has over 25 taps and serves a full menu of small, medium, and large plates. They are having a GABF week of special tappings.

Wed. Oct 9@7pm- Upslope Brewing (Boulder Co) tapping
                       Special keg of a collaboration between the brewery and Freshcraft,
                       Oatmeal Brown Ale that was aged in Appleton Estate Rum barrels for 6 months
                       then they were split up and half was infused with 3 unique coffee blends form
                       Dragonfly Coffee Co. So all 3 versions plus the original are being tapped.
                       Pumpkin Ale
                       Imperial IPA
                       Craft Lager
Thurs. Oct 10@12pm- New Belgium (Ft Collins CO) tapping
                           Le Terrior- American Wild Ale
                           La Folie- Flanders Oud Bruin, sour
                          Paadebloem- Belgian-style ale with dandelion greens
                       
                      @12pm- Cigar City (Tampa FL) tapping
                           Humidor Series IPA
                           Cafe Americana- Stout
                           Stiftung Berliner Weisse- Wheat Ale
                      @3pm- Boulevard Brewing (Kansas City MO) tapping
                           Coffee Ale
                           Saison Brett
                           Mid Coast IPA
                           Pop Up IPA
                       @10:30- Second annual Ska Brewing (Durango Co) and Peach St. Distillers (Denver)
                            Creating unique beer and barrel-aged cocktails.
                            DeSkave de Fuego- 2013 collaboration extra pale ale infused with tropical fruit
                                                            and habanero then aged in a Peach St. D'Agave gold barrel.
                            Cru D'etat- Belgian-style ale aged in oak folders for nearly 2 years.
                            Hoperation Ivy- Fresh hop IPA
                            Modius Hoperandi- American IPA
                            Don't Call Me White IPA
                           DaSKAve Bam Bam Barrel-aged cocktail
Fri. Oct 11@12pm- Stone Brewing (Escondido CA) tapping
                           Stone Supremely Self-Conscious- American Black Ale
                           Burton Snatch IPA
                           Bourbon barrel-aged Stone Suitable for Cave Aging- American Porter
                           Enjoy By IPA
                 @7pm- Lagunitas Brewing (Petaluma CA) tapping
                           High West Rye Barrel-aged Cappuccino Stout
                           Daytime IPA
                           Firkin of Lucky 13- Red Ale
                  @10pm- Firestone Walker (Paso Robles CA) tapping
                           Firestone Walker/Mikkeller collaboration- Lil Mikkel Farmhouse Saison/wild Ale
                           Helldorado- Blond Barley-wine
                           Parabajava- Parabola Imperial stout infused with California coffee
                  @10pm- Odell Brewing (Ft Collins CO) tapping
                           Udderly Cherry- Barrel-aged Cherry Chocolate Cream Stout
                           Extra Special Red Ale
                           2012 Deconstruction- American style wild Golden Ale
Sat. Oct 12@4pm- Sun King (Indianapolis IN) tapping
                          Pappy Van Muckle- Wee Heavy Scotch Ale
                          Pink Taco- Raspberry sour
                          666: Sympathy for the Devil- American Black Ale
                   @7pm- Elevation Beer Co (Poncha Springs CO) tapping
                          Cabernet Barrel-aged Apis IV Quad- Belgian Dark Strong Ale
                          First Cast IPA
                   @10pm- Avery Brewing (Boulder CO) tapping
                          Robe One Out Party- wear your robe or by an Avery robe(limited availability)
                          Bad Apple- Sour/wild Ale
                          Tweak- Mephistopheles, an American Double/Imperial Stout brewed with coffee
                          4Point2 IPA
                          Double Dry Hopped duganA- American Double/Imperial IPA

WOW! These two tap houses have quite a lineup for GABF week. Let me tell you about some of the local breweries in the neighborhood and further.  Great Divide is a couple of blocks south of the Falling Rock.
Great Divide Brewing Taproom
Thurs. Oct 10- Barrel-aged Grand Cru- Belgian-style Ale
               
 Fri. Oct 11-Barrel-aged Cuvee- An unblended dark Belgian Ale aged in a Syrah barrel.
                 
Sat. Oct 12- American Sour

               
Going North from the Falling Rock is another brewery that celebrated their 1st Anniversary in January of 2013. They are gearing up for GABF week with many of their specialty beers on tap.
River North Taproom
Wed. Oct 9@1pm- Double Barrel Quad- Belgian-style Strong Ale
                               B-Side Quandary- Barrel-aged version of their Belgian Quad
                               Rum Barrel Quandary- Barrel-aged in Jamaican Rum Barrels
Sat. Oct 12@1pm- Empty the Cellar Party
                              Anything barrel-aged or limited will be on tap with these and more!
                              Anniversary Ale #1- American Double/ Imperial Stout
                              Barrel Reserve 2013- Belgian Dark Ale
                              Whiskey-aged Hello- Black IPA in flavor
                              Darkness- Black IPA in flavor
                              Rum Barrel Quandary
                              B-side Quandary
                           
I hope you find this useful and as always drink wisely. Have fun at the GABF!

GABF Week- Colorado Beer Tour, Part 3- Boulder

The GABF week can't be totally celebrated until you visited Boulder, Colorado. There so many tap houses, brewpubs, and breweries that could take you a good week to see them all, so I'm going  to narrow the field for you in this 3 part of the series. Next destination on our Colorado Beer Tour is Boulder.

First stop is Backcountry Pizza and Taphouse. It is just 2 years old but John Fayman, owner and beer enthusiast always has great beer on tap. So head on to Backcountry Pizza and be bedazzled by all those taps of many IPA's, sour ales, some stouts, and there is a full bar if you want something else then beer, only kidding!  The food is great especially the daily specials.

The special tappings are as follows;
Wed. Oct 9 @6pm- Melvin Brewing tap takeover
          Melvin IPA
          2 x 4 Quad Pale Ale
          Asterisk DIPA
          Johnny Ryeale Rye IPA


@8pm- Danny Williams Suitable for Cave Aging tapping Party
          Two versions of Imperial Porter
           Bourbon and wine barrel-aged
Thurs. Oct 10@6pm- Crooked Stave Artisan Brands Night
            Crooked Stave is distributing for these breweries.
            Perennial- St. Louis
            Evil Twin- Portland, OR
            Local Option- Chicago
            Prairie- Krebs, OK
            Stillwater- Maryland

Fri. Oct 11@6pm- Upslope Pint Night
            Free pint glass with purchase
                Pumpkin Dunkelweisse
                Belgian Pale
                Craft Lager
             
Sat. Oct 11@ 6pm- Jester King Brewing, Austin
              Bottles and maybe a few on draft


Backcountry Pizza and Tap House
2319 Arapahoe Ave  Boulder, CO 80302
(303) 449-4285

Backcountry Pizza Taps

Upslope Brewing has two locations Lee Hill and Flatiron Park.  They will be tapping special beers starting Wednesday Oct 9.  Upslope is one of my favorite breweries in Boulder. They're coming up to their 5th Anniversary and have grown up in size plus in brewing.

Lee Hill Brewery and Taproom

Lee Hill Taproom

Wednesday- Flatiron Park- A 15% ABV Upslope Barley
                             - wine aged in whisky barrels for 3.5 year.
                    Lee Hill- "Illegal Peach" session ale,
                                   a collaboration with Illegal Pete's.
                                   It's 5.4% ABV and  
                                   was brewed with 200 LBS
                                   of peaches.

Thursday- Flatiron Park- Upslope Oatmeal stout,
                                       this is there GABF Pro-Am Competition brewed with    
                                        homebrewer Derek Ordway.
                 Lee Hill- Upslope Cabernet IPA and Freshcraft collaboration brew, rum barrel-aged
                                Oatmeal Brown Ale.
Friday-     Flatiron Park- nothing new
                 Lee Hill- GABF 2013 tap takeover with this year's GABF entrees.

Saturday- Flatiron Park- Brunch grilled on the BBQ to close out the last day of GABF.
                Lee Hill- All day past Upslope Winners of GABF.

Flatiron Park Brewery and Taproom

Upslope Brewing
1501 Lee Hill Dr
Boulder, CO 80304
(303) 449-2911


Upslope Brewing
1898 S. Flatiron Court
Boulder, CO 80301
(303) 396-1898

Flatiron Park taproom

GABF week wouldn't be complete with stopping at Avery Brewing which is only a few blocks away from the Upslope's Flatiron location.
Avery Brewing is one of the newer older breweries in  Boulder.  They're newer than Boulder beer but older than Upslope, so it's kind of relative to who's compared to who. They are the father of big beers and have
From Wednesday Oct 9 - 12 the Avery Brewing taproom will be serving breakfast with their GABF hours of 9am - 11pm.

Avery Brewery and Taproom

They will be having rare and exclusive beer tappings starting at 10am then every 2 hours until 4pm. Here's some of the beers they're going to be tapping,
Tweak (coffee mephistopheles),
Bad Apple (American wild ale),
Vanilla Out of Mind (vanilla stout),
Dihos Dactylion (American wild ale),
El Padre (Belgian Quad aged in Tequila barrels),
MurveR (Belgian Quad),
vintage Demons, and vintage Eremitas (sour ale).
Check on Facebook and their GABF calendar for the tapping schedule.


Avery Brewing
5763 Arapahoe Ave. Unit E
Boulder, CO 80303
(303) 440-4324

Avery Brewing Taproom on a busy night.

Sour Ale Tap Takeover at Backcountry Pizza and Tap House

There are so many any people that are into sour ale. Today at Backcountry Pizza and Tap House in Boulder there is a sour ale tap takeover with 32 ales from all over the country and from overseas. Crooked Stave baby foeder peaches and New Belgium shadow of a foeder cask with a cheeseburger and fries with just enough grease to cut through the sour stomach. This is the first annual sour ale tap takeover at  Backcountry Pizza.  John Fayman, owner of the tap house is confident that this well be either annual or biannual.  He said that maybe six months from now the next one would be lambics, it's very exciting if John can pull this off. But the sour ale tap takeover will be the Sunday before GABF week and for those of us who can never get tickets for the Avery Sour Ale fest this is great news!


Backcountry Pizza and Tap House
2319 Arapahoe Avenue
Boulder, CO 80302

(303) 449-4285


Sent from my iPhone

We're not sure if the crowd was for the
sour ale tap takeover or the Broncos!

2013 GABF week-Colorado Beer Tour, Part 2 - Longmont/Niwot

Now that the GABFest is here let's take our Colorado Beer Tour to Longmont and Niwot. This is part 2 of the GABF week series. Longmont is the home to two breweries, Oskar Blues and Left Hand. These breweries have given Longmont the name as one of the beer destinations during GABF week.

Oskar Blues Brewing has been in Longmont since 2008 canning over 100,000 barrels of beer. The Tasty Weasel is located in the brewery where fermenters, the canning line is in full view from the taproom. They can beer Monday-Friday so if your curious to see how fast their canning line is, I recommend going then. The weekends are quieter except for the music being pumped into the room via a sound system. All the taproom servers are friendly and knowledgeable about Oskar Blues beer. There are over 10 taps including the hand pull for cask conditioned ale. The bar sets plenty and there is many table plus patio seating.  For GABF, the Tasty Weasel will be having events all week long.  Call the taproom  for more details.

Oskar Blues Brewery
Tasty Weasel Taproom
1800 Pike Rd  
Longmont, CO 80501
(303) 776-1914













Homemade Liquids and Solids is another Oskar Blues venue with over 40 taps pouring only domestic craft beer and they don't have bottled beer.  Check out there website to see what beers are on tap at the restaurant.  I talked to Lou McKercher, who is the manager there and he was stoked about what was going to be tapped during GABF week. Each day there will be a tap takeover from a brewery.

Oskar Blues
Homemade Liquid and Solids
1555 S. Hover Rd
Longmont, Co
(303) 485-9800







Next brewery for our GABF week tour is Left Hand Brewery which is just 5 or so minutes away from Oskar Blues. Left Hand Brewing is the oldest brewery in Longmont and most of us started our beer education there when the taproom was the size of a closet. They have grown since then with many expansions of their taproom. They will be having rare beer tappings all week long starting Monday Oct. 7.

Monday - Fade to Black Vol. 5, Black Rye Ale
              Ambidextrous Ale Step 5, Sweet Stout style
              Sticke Alt

Tuesday - Fade to Black Vol. 4, Rocky Mountain Black Ale
             Beer Week Sauce,  Coffee Porter

Wednesday - Deep Cover Brown Ale

           Firkin Off - competition between the
           Left Hand production crew with 6 cask condition ale  
           of throwback series for the 20th Anniversary
           of the brewery with Jackman's Pale Ale,
           Deep Cover Brown ale, Motherlode
           Golden Ale, Dunkelweiss, and Munich Dark Lager.

Thursday - Jackman's, Pale Ale
            Motherlode Ale, Golden Ale
            Fade to Black Vol. 2, Smoke Baltic Porter

Friday - Fade to Black Vol. 1, Foreign Export Stout
            Fade to Black Vol. 2, Smoked Baltic Porter
            Sawtooth Nitro, ESB
            Milk Stout Nitro, Sweet stout
            Wake Up Dead Nitro, Russian Imperial Stout
            Munich Black Lager
            Milk stout nitro glass giveaway, buy a pint
            and keep the glass.

Saturday - Dunkelweiss, Dark wheat ale
             Fade to Black Vol. 3, Pepper Port
             Oktoberfest, American Red Ale
             St. Vrain Tripel, Belgian Strong Ale

Left Hand Brewing
1265 Boston Ave
Longmont, Co
(303) 772-9572


There another brewery that is located south of Longmont in the town of Niwot, Bootstrap Brewing. Steve Kaczeus is the owner along with his wife, Leslie and he is also the brewer.  Bootstrap is a friendly place to have a beer. They will be tapping a double dry hopped the Insane Rush IPA with Citra hops and will have a Merlot aged Brown on tap as well. If you find yourself wandering around in Niwot please stop on by for a pint at Bootstrap, the Kaczeus' will welcome you.

Bootstrap Brewing

6778 N. 79th St

Niwot, Co
(303) 652-4186

Wyder's Barrel-aged Pear Cider

Barrel-aging has become such a wonderful process for beers. Many breweries have barrel-aged beers on tap and in bottles. So full circle to ciders, Wyder's barrel-aged pear cider. It's only 4%ABV, but has a crisp aroma and that Chardonnay flavor with the sweetness of a pear cider. It has is more complex to the palate.

Colorado Beer Tour during GABF Week 2013, Part 1- Fort Collins

This is Part 1 in a four- series on GABF week in and around Metro Denver. When I say Great American Beer Fest week, I mean it. Going to the GABF was a great one-time experience for me but with the tickets selling out so fast we needed another strategy.  What we found was that during GABF many of the local breweries, tap houses, and brewpubs well have special tappings all week long.  Let's start with the farthest away from Denver where the event will be taking place, if you have tickets the GABF you'll be there all weekend. I'm going to take you on the Colorado Beer Tour, we'll start in Ft. Collins which our first stop, Choice City Butcher and Deli. 

This butcher/deli shop was voted by Ratebeer.com, the top 10 establishments in the world to drink beer where the top 2 places are in Belgium. Yes, this is the beer geeks mecca in Ft. Collins.  What's so cool about Choice City is that they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner along with over 30 taps of excellent beer. Have a hot sandwich, chips, and a pint of beer.

Choice City Butcher will have many fantastic beers on tap for GABF week. Here's a little list of what Russ Robinson has in store for us;
Firestone Walker, Pivo Pils, Pilsner
Epic, 2 yr old Brainless on Cherries, Belgian    Strong
Russian River, Pliny the Elder, Dbl IPA
Russian River, Temptation, sour
Avery, Samael, Barley-wine
Shmaltz, Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah, 13th Anniversary Ale
New Belgium, La Folie, sour
New Belgium, La Terrior, sour
Bruery, Bois, Old Ale
Bruery, Autumn Maple Spice
Bruery, Hottenroth, Berliner Weisse
Lost Abbey, Brandy barrel-aged Angel Share, Barley-wine
Odell, 3 yr Bourbon barrel-aged Stout
Odell, 1 yr Deconstruction, Golden Ale
Alesmith, X, Pale Ale

Russ Robinson, owner/beer enthusiats
of Choice City Butcher.

Choice City Butcher
104 W.  Olive St.
Ft. Collins, Co
(970) 490-2489

Right across the street kiddie corner to Choice City Butcher is a tap house, Tap N Handle. Now you may think that it's weird to have both of these beer establishments so close to each other but it's a great concept. You see, both of them compliment each other in the tapping of beer, so you'll find that they try not to overlap. Tap N Handle has over 70 taps and recently bottle beers so you should be able to find something that tickles the palate.  As of this writing Tap N Handle doesn't have a website but here's the telephone number so you can call ahead and check if they have your favorite beer on tap. 

During the GABF week, Tap N Handle will also have representatives from various breweries from around the country and will have there selected beers on taps.
Friday, Oct 4- Oskar Blues @6pm
Saturday, Oct 5- Crooked Stave@4pm
Sunday, Oct 6- High Hops @6pm
                         Goose Island @8pm
Monday, Oct 7-Great Divide, Yeti Sighting     @5pm

Jeff Willis owner of Tap n Handle Tavern

                          Avery Demon series @7pm
Tuesday, Oct 8- Green Flash @5pm
                           Stone @7pm
                           Mission @ 9pm with special    guest Alesmith
Wednesday, Oct 9- Firestone Walker @5pm
                               Big Sky @7pm
                               New Belgium @8pm

Here are some of the beers on tap for GABF week;

Oskar Blues, Grapefruit infused G'Night, Imperial Red Ale

Crooked Stave, Hop Savant, American Pale Ale

High Hop 1 year old aged Noble One,  Belgian Quad

Goose Island, Nightstalker, Imperial Stout

Goose Island, Bourbon County Coffee, Stout

Avery Brewing, Demon Series, Mephistophele's, Samael, The Beast, Meph Addict

Green Flash, Green Bullet, Triple IPA

Mission Brewing, Carrack, Imperial Red Ale

Firestone Walker, Parabola, Russian Imperial Stout

And much more, so call ahead

Tap N Handle
307 S. College Ave
Ft. Collins, CO
 (970) 484-1116

I recommend not going to the 3 major breweries in the area, these are like going to an amusement park with over crowding and lots of noise. I will though tell you that a really cool place to go for a beer is Equinox Brewing.  It's located a little south of the old downtown outdoor mall.  Equinox Brewing has a quaint and cozy taproom with an outside patio area.  They can have any given time 17 beers on tap with a couple of specialty beers and they also have a traditional English-style beer engine of a cask condition ale.

I hope this helps in your search for beer during the hectic GABF week. Next stop on the tour is Longmont and Niwot.

Equinox Brewing
133 Remington Street
Fort Collins, CO
(970) 484-1368

Odd 13 brewery

Stopped at Odd 13 for another beer. It's close to home and has great beer on tap. The beer tenders are so friendly and have a good knowledge of beer. Here's Nicole who we were talking to, what a great t-shirt too!