Odell Brewing, which just completed a major expansion of its Fort Collins brewery and taproom, has also made a change to one of its seasonal offerings. Odell Red Ale, a hoppy red beer available in the first few months of each year, has become Runoff Red IPA — a switch…
In case there was any doubt about how big the craft-brewing industry has become — or about its impact in Colorado — the industry’s trade group said today that small and independent craft brewers contributed $33.9 billion to the U.S. economy in 2012. Colorado’s craft brewers contributed $1.6 billion to…
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away (Park Hill), there lived two craft-beer lovers who had to travel across town almost any time they wanted to try a new brewery. So the couple, Ryan and Christa Kilpatrick, decided to open their own brewing palace, Fiction Beer Company,…
As Westword’s Ask the Bartender columnist, I’ve talked with many bartenders for Cafe Society’s “Behind the Bar” series, posing numerous questions to Denver’s top bartenders…and often receiving the same answers: “I love chartreuse,” or “I’m really into smoked cocktails/barrel aging/bottled cocktails.” See also: A bartender by any other name…is still…
Hall Brewing, which has been operating out of a production-only barn outside of Parker for the past eleven months, will open a new taproom for the first time today in town. See also: Grist Brewing is the first of many new breweries in the southern suburbs…
“Every brewery gets negative feedback, so I don’t worry about it too much, but I think we drifted off into middle-of-the-road beers,” says Cary Floyd, who opened Arvada Beer Company in October 2011 with his wife, Kelly. “We were tending more toward the masses rather than toward the craft beer…
In a baseball stadium named after a brewery, you can understand why conversations about other beer brands might seem a little, well, out of left field. Coors (and its parent company) is a fiercely competitive conglomerate that has paid millions and millions of dollars since 1995 for the rights to…
Things don’t always go as planned, as would-be restaurant and brewery owners find out on a daily basis in Colorado. Case in point: only five of the breweries listed in our August blog post, “Ten breweries that will open in metro Denver before the Great American Beer Festival,” have actually…
Stephen Gould, proprietor and distiller at Golden Moon Distillery, began producing spirits in 2012 and distributing earlier this year. And while Golden Moon might seem like yet another distillery in an expansive collection of stills that have spawned throughout the state this year, Gould and his team chose the road…
Breckenridge Brewery’s Colorado Craft location in LoDo celebrated the release of The Women of Colorado Craft Breweries pinup calendar with a party on last night, December 9. A handful of the models — employees of some of the state’s most-loved craft breweries — made appearances in full regalia (don’t they…
Boulder Beer Company, which invented Colorado’s craft brewing industry in 1979, is planning to stop bottling Planet Porter, one of its three original beers. While the brewery will make Planet Porter occasionally on its three-barrel pilot system, the decision ends the sale and distribution of what has been the longest…
A recent trip to Puerto Rico, aka America’s funky Latin cousin, inspired me to take a crack at the drinks of the Caribbean. Especially the mojito, the drink of Cuba — aka America’s brother-in-law who never gets invited to the baby showers. At Cuba Cuba Cafe & Bar in the…
Today marks the eightieth anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition — reason to drink! Sadly, the Teller House Bar in Central City — which was open on that great day in 1933 — is not pouring right now, but other longtime watering holes definitely are, just as they were on…
As Colorado’s oldest craft brewery, Boulder Beer Company has had to reinvent itself a few times over the last 34 years, changing its look and its owners, updating its recipes, adding new tanks. Its latest move, however, caused a real stir. Or rather, a Shake. In October, Boulder Beer unveiled…
Cold? Yes, we noticed. But that’s one of the many reasons we have beer. Great Divide has been making one of the best cold-weather beers in Colorado for years, Yeti, and its various cousins. But there are plenty of brand new cold-weather beers out there for you to try as…
As Westword’s Ask the Bartender columnist, I’ve talked with many bartenders for Cafe Society’s “Behind the Bar” series, posing numerous questions to Denver’s top bartenders…and often receiving the same answers: “I love chartreuse,” or “I’m really into smoked cocktails/barrel aging/bottled cocktails.” See also: A bartender by any other name…is still…
Westminster’s fourteen-story city hall building and bell tower was designed in 1988 to resemble London’s famous Big Ben, located in the Palace of Westminster, and the owners of Westminster Brewing, which opened last weekend, liked the tie-in so much that they incorporated the tower into their logo — and specialize…
Copper Kettle Brewing bottled its first beer last June, the GABF-award-winning Mexican Chocolate Stout, but just because it hasn’t released another bottled beer since then doesn’t mean the three-year old brewery has been resting. Rather, Copper Kettle has been aging beers in barrels and plans to release the first two…
Zephyr Brewing isn’t the first would-be brewery in Colorado to try crowdfunding as a way to raise money for equipment, operating capital or aesthetic elements. But it is the first to go with CrowdBrewed, a relatively new crowdfunding site that was created just for the craft brewing industry. Zephyr, owned…
If you like craft beer and you live in Colorado, then Odell Brewing’s many beers have likely left their mark on you. Now you have a chance a leave your mark on Odell, by designing a tap handle for a limited-release beer. But first — some backstory. Odell is the…
When Strange Brewing opened in 2010, one of its first big hits was Cherry Kriek, a Belgian-style wheat beer with gobs of Wisconsin cherries added to it. Named for Denver’s signature waterway, the beer was sweet rather than tart, like other krieks. As the brewery grew, the demand for Cherry…
While whiskey and scotch receive endless applause, tequila gets rediscovered as a connoisseur’s sipper and distilleries race each other to make the most complex and odd gin, vodka is left behind. Sure, it’s still the world’s most popular mixer. Without it, you couldn’t have a true Screwdriver, Cape Cod or…
