Colorado is a great place to enjoy a beer! We found this cool image and fact sheet on www.stumbleupon.com. Who knew that Colorado was the top producing beer state? Or that adult Coloradoans consumed 30 gallons of beer per person, per year… Enjoy these interesting facts!
The Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival will be held in downtown Breckenridge, CO. on Saturday April 6th. This beer tasting event will feature over 30 craft brewers, many of them from Colorado! If you’ve never been to Breckenridge, this would be a great time to make your first trip. Breckenridge is an awesome mountain town and a great place to visit. To find out more about visiting Breckenridge, visit the Town of Breckenridge website: http://www.townofbreckenridge.com/.
With 30 craft brewers, and 100 unique brews to sample, the Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival will have craft beers of all kinds. The list of brewers on tap for the show is outstanding, and no doubt you will find one of your favorite Colorado brewers there. Below is a list of all the brewers that will be part of the Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival: * = Colorado Brewers
| AC Golden Brewing Company* | Kona Brewing |
| Alaskan Brewing Company | Left Hand Brewing Company* |
| Avery Brewing Company* | Oskar Blues Brewery* |
| Bonfire Brewing* | Palisade Brewery* |
| Boulder Beer Company* | Prost Brewery* |
| Boulevard Brewing | Pug Ryans Brewery* |
| Breckenridge Brewery* | Samuel Adams |
| Bristol Brewing Company* | San Luis Valley Brewing Company* |
| Copper Kettle Brewing Company* | Sapporo USA |
| Crabtree Brewing Company* | Sierra Nevada |
| Crazy Mountain Brewing Company* | SKA Brewing* |
| Deschutes Brewery | Stone Brewing |
| Echo Brewing* | Trinity Brewing Company* |
| FATE Brewing Company* | Upslope Brewing Company* |
| Goose Island | Widmer Brothers |
| Great Divide Brewing Company* |
The Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival will provide live music from three bands from 12:00-5:00PM. The headliner will be 7Horse, you can find out more about them here: http://www.7horsemusic.com/. There will also be food and retail vendors at the event. The Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival is sponsored by KSMT The Mountain.
To get tickets to the Breckenridge Spring Beer Festival, go to: http://breckenridgebeerfestival.net/april/event-info-2/
As the growth of the craft beer industry continues, many beer drinkers are wondering…what exactly makes a beer a craft beer? A craft beer would be brewed by a craft brewer. According to the Brewers Association, the definition of a craft brewer is:
An American craft brewer is small, independent and traditional. According to the Brewers Association, a craft brewer also meets these 3 criteria:
There are many interesting facts about craft beer and craft brewers. To read more about the industry, and what makes a beer a craft beer, check out the Brewers Association.
Here’s a quick video on what makes a craft brewer:
Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew is a brewery and taproom located in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver. The area around Our Mutual Friend includes a mix of older industrial buildings and newly renovated businesses and residential buildings. The Five Points area has seen a rejuvination over the last few years, and companies like Our Mutual Friend have helped create a neighborhood feel. Our Mutual Friend is a popular gathering place for residents of the 5 points neighborhood, and is also within walking distance from Coors Field and LoDo. We had the opportunity to sit down with Brandon Proff and Bryan Leavelle of Our Mutual Friend. They shared some excellent beers, as well as the story behind the brewery and taproom.
Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew was started by a group of friends that were connected by two things; mutual friends, and a love of beer. To make a long story short, some of the founders of Our Mutual Friend had mutual friends with other founders. In a roundabout way the group got to know each other, and their love of beer turned into a brewery and taproom. The founders of Our Mutual Friend had experience in homebrewing. However, it was not always a goal to start a brewing business. In February 2012, the group of founders wanted to start a business together, but were not quite sure what that business would be. In May 2012, when the building Our Mutual Friend is located in became available for rent, the group decided they would get into the brewery business, and began making plans for the brewery and taproom.
There is some disagreement as to when Our Mutual Friend officially opened, but it was agreed that in December 2012, the brewery was open, and the taproom was selling beer from the tap. Our Mutual Friend started with a small budget. Some of the funds needed to officially open the tap room were generated from first brewing and selling beer -hence the disagreement as to when exactly the company began. The owners of Our Mutual Friend started out with the idea that they simply wanted to provide a great place to get a fresh beer. The taproom does not provide a ton of frills, but it is a great place to have a fresh beer, engage in conversation, or simply listen to good music.
A really cool aspect to the brewery at Our Mutual Friend, is that nearly all grains and malts come from within Colorado. Only one malt is not from Colorado – the Munich Malt – and it is only used in about 5% of the beer that is brewed. The goal of Our Mutual Friend is to eventually source all ingredients from Colorado. Bryan Leavelle was proud to mention that he uses Colorado Malting Company as the provider of Our Mutual Friend’s malts and grains. By using Colorado sourced malts and grains, Our Mutual Friend believes they have better flavor in their beers than breweries that use malts and grains that are shipped over long distances, and sit in storage for long periods of time.
Another unique part of the brewing process at Our Mutual Friend is the fact that they prefer to roast their own grain. Many brewers view roasting in-house as an unnecessary step in their brewing process. Bryan Leavelle and Brandon Proff both feel that by roasting in-house they are creating beers with the freshest flavors possible. It was noted how smooth each and every beer we tried was. From the Proletariat to the IPA, all of the beers at Our Mutual Friend had a great finish and without a great deal of bitterness.
Beer List: Our Mutual Friend provides a great lineup of beers, with styles to fit beer drinkers of all kinds. The Brown Ale was our favorite, and has an outstanding flavor with subtle hints of chocolate. The Winter Seasonal ‘Winter Warmer’ (not listed below) was our second favorite. The Winter Warmer has a rich flavor, but is not overly bitter, and has a nice finish.
OMF is planning to hold the Winter Warmer Bomber Party on March 22nd. The Winter Warmer seasonal is being bottled now, and will be available to buy in bombers (22 oz bottles), or growlers. This is a great tasting beer, and the limited quantities of it will sell out quickly. Colorado Craft Brews thoroughly enjoyed this beer, and will undoubtedly head down to OMF for the Winter Warmer Bomber Party. We hope to see you there!
We had a great visit with Bryan and Brandon at OMF. We appreciate them sitting down to tell us more about them, and of course, for sharing their beers. OMF is a great place to hang out and enjoy a good beer made with fresh ingredients, and brewed by guys with a passion for what they do. The atmosphere at OMF is fun and laid-back. With a relatively close proximity to Coors Field there will soon be the buzz of baseball season starting at Our Mutual Friend. On April 5th (Opening Day) OMF will be making available their Spring Seasonal the IPA 2. We recommend heading down to take in the great atmosphere, and of course, a great beer!
Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew
2810 Larimer Street
Denver, CO. 80205
www.omfmb.com
hello@omfmb.com
Arvada Beer Company is located in Arvada, CO. in the historic Olde Town district. The building Arvada Beer is located in was originally built in 1916, and has changed quite a bit over the years. The building was divided into smaller units that originally included a drug store, a car shop and most recently, a printing shop. Arvada Beer decided to move into the building in November 2010, and finally opened up the brewery in October 2011 after a massive renovation that included replacing all electrical and plumbing throughout the building. The owners of Arvada Beer Company are proud of the building, and enjoy taking visitors on tours of the facility.
Arvada Beer Company was started by Cary & Kelly Floyd. The husband and wife brewing duo have a really interesting story that is deeply rooted in a mutual love of homebrewing. Cary started homebrewing in 1988 and learned a great deal through trial and error. In 2002, Cary won his first medal for homebrewing. In 2004 he started dating Kelly (this is where the story gets interesting!). Kelly watched Cary brew one of his favorite recipes, and told him it looked really easy. Cary took that as a challenge, and told Kelly they should both brew the same recipe, and enter their individual beers into a homebrewing contest at the Colorado State Fair. Kelly won the gold medal! Cary won silver…this was when he knew he needed to make Kelly his wife!
With over 400 homebrewing medals (including 50 multi-award winning recipes), Cary and Kelly Floyd have learned a thing or two about experimenting with their recipes. They have created great beers that are always available, but they’re constantly tweaking recipes, or adding flavors for special occasions. Arvada Beer offers their ‘Brewers Limited Release’ on Thursday nights. The limited release is usually a regular beer with an extra flavor, or a twist on the original recipe. A recent beer featured in the ‘Brewers Limited Release’ was the Butter Pecan Gold. This unique beer was made with the Olde Town Brown and butter pecan flavoring from the ice cream shop next door. While Cary Floyd wouldn’t personally drink a full pint of the Butter Pecan Gold, he said the beer was a big hit among bar patrons.
Dennis O’Harrow is the brewer for Arvada Beer Company. He also has a strong brewing background, and brings a great deal of talent to the team. Dennis has won 49 professional brewing medals. His Coffee Porter won a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival, and the World Beer Cup. Dennis previously brewed for CB & Potts before joining Arvada Beer. With a mix of experiences and techniques from years of practicing, the team at Arvada Beer Company brews excellent beers in many different styles. They are not afraid to push the limits, or to try something that sounds completely off the wall. Many breweries stick very close to their recipes, and try not to differ from batch to batch. Arvada Beer on the other hand, is contantly looking for a new way to add a crazy twist to what they do.
Beer List:
We enjoyed tasting Arvada Beer Company’s beers. Our favorite was the Goldline IPA! Anyone that enjoys an IPA should definitely try out this beer. Arvada Beer is planning on canning in the near future, and the IPA will be one of the beers that is canned. Check back to find out when the IPA is available in cans, or you can always pick up a growler at the bar. Arvada Beer Company has a constantly changing beer list so check out their website for the latest: http://www.arvadabeer.com/our-beers/.
The atmosphere at Arvada Beer Company is very laid-back and has a great vibe. Olde Town offers a cool historic feel but with updated modern interiors in the buildings. There is a great neighborhood feel, and in our experience everyone was very friendly. While food is not provided by Arvada Beer, a cool option they have is to order from a number of closeby restaurants. Not only will these restaurants deliver your food, they will bring it right to your table! You can have Italian, Chinese, Indian, or many other options delivered in just a few minutes.
Arvada Beer Company has become an important part of the Arvada area. They participate in many city festivals and activities, and are a main part of many Olde Town gatherings. On March 16th Arvada Beer will be participating in the St. Patrick’s Day Festival. This festival will close off traffic in Olde Town, and will include activities for kids and adults. Arvada Beer will be providing green beer, and their Irish red as well.
Other Activities:
We want to thank Cary Floyd for sitting down with us and sharing both the history and the beers of Arvada Beer Company! We had a great time, and look forward to visiting again. Anyone that wants to try great beer in a great environment, should head over and try out Arvada Beer for themselves. If you’re looking to try something different, and maybe a little outside of the box, look no further. With unique beers, and creative twists on everyday recipes, Arvada Beer Company is doing things most other breweries don’t. We hope you will take a trip to Arvada and see for yourself!
Arvada Beer Company
5600 Olde Wadsworth Blvd.
Arvada, CO 80002
Phone: (303) 467-BEER
E-mail: info@arvadabeer.com
Renegade Brewing Company is located in Denver, CO. near the intersection of Sante Fe Dr. and 9th Ave. The area surrounding Renegade Brewing is an eclectic mix of industrial and residential buildings. Denver’s Art District on Sante Fe is around the corner, and creativity seems to be in the air in and around the brewery.
Renegade Brewing Company was started in 2011 by Brian and Khara O’Connell. Brian was a full-time statistician, and a part-time a homebrewer that loved to make beer. He started learning how to make homebrews after his wife Khara bought him a homebrewing kit. Khara thought Brian’s love of beer would simply be a hobby. She had no idea that after about three years of experimenting and training, Brian would decide to turn his hobby into a business.
Brian’s scientific mind and experience with statistics had an effect on the types of beers he brewed. Brian analyzed the ingredients he used and played with recipes a great deal. He developed brewing strategies from studying, researching, and even interning at another brewery. Once Brian developed his beers in his backyard, he brought his offensively delicious brews, developed in his backyard, to Denverites to encourage social interaction and friendship. Renegade Brewing Company’s slogan is ‘offensively delicious’, as they strive to brew beers that are creative, packed with flavor, and don’t necessarily align with traditional styles or trends.
We had the pleasure of sitting down with Laura Vande Zande, Ambassador of Enjoyment for Renegade Brewing. Laura explained how Renegade has created a neighborhood pub atmosphere that encourages visitors to have genuine conversations. Ultimately, Renegade strives to be a relational brewery – they want to foster a sense of community, and to provide a place for friends to meet, or for strangers to engage in a conversation. The taproom at Renegade Brewing Company does not include a single TV. Instead, you will hear good music playing in the background, and see people sitting together, enjoying conservation.
Many visitors at Renegade Brewing appeared to be stopping in on their way home from work. Most patrons knew their way around the taproom, and were farmiliar with either friends or neighbors that were enjoying beers. The sense of community really stuck out, and the crowd at Renegade was a happy bunch (the beer may have had something to do with that)! The success of Renegade’s ‘relational brewery’ atmosphere is evident as they are planning to open a second location in 4-6 weeks. The new location will be located at University & Evans in Denver.
Beer List:
If you want to find a place that sells Renegade’s beers, check out their beer locator: http://renegadebrewing.com/find-us/. Renedage’s beers are available in 4-packs of pint cans. To read Renegade’s blog about why they use cans, click here: http://renegadebrewing.com/we-can-can/
Awards:
Renegade Brewing Company has created many great tasting beers that are far from typical. Renegade bucked the traditional beer do’s and don’ts in order to brace creativity and to push the envelope of what craft beers can be. We enjoyed all the beers we sampled, but the Silas White Stout, and the Elevation Triple IPA were the favorites. Both will surprise you with their flavor and smooth finish. We encourage you to visit Renegade Brewing Company to try out some really unique beers. Thanks to Laura for a great visit! We enjoyed sampling Renegade’s beers, and finding out more about the company.
To find out more about Renegade Brewing Company, check out their website: http://renegadebrewing.com
Renegade Brewing Company
925 W 9th Ave / Denver, CO
720-401-4089
info@renegadebrewing.com
Beer Geeks is a nationally syndicated television show that will air a 22 episode season, starting in September 2013. The creators of the show partnered with the creators and producers of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and host Michael Ferguson, Director of Brewing Operations for BJ’s restaurants. Beer Geeks will bring viewers inside breweries from all around the country.
There are a handful of Colorado breweries that will be featured on Beer Geeks. The Beer Geek crew is in Colorado profiling craft brewers in Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins for shows that will air this year. They will be profiling Avery Brewing Company, Denver Beer Company, Great Divide Brewing Company, New Belgium Brewing Company and Odell Brewing Company.
“Colorado is one of the nirvana areas for Geek Beerdom,” Ferguson said. “You can’t stumble and not run into a brewery here.”
In each weekly episode host Michael Ferguson, a pioneer and veteran of the craft beer world, (Director of brewing operations and beer training for BJ’s restaurants) will bring viewers along on a voyeuristic, inclusive and immersive road trip into the heart of the craft beer universe. Each episode will feature the inside story of the making some of the world’s most unique, interesting, even outrageous and bizarre brews.
“We’ll see what they’re doing, what ingredients and techniques they’re using, and then we’ll take their brews from tap to table, cooking with beer, and pairing meals with beer. But wait, this series doesn’t live just in the brewery. We’ll find ourselves at hop farms, berry brambles, pumpkin patches, caves, maple syrup sugaring houses, archaeological sites, monasteries and much more – a smorgasbord of locations that all lead back to the craft beers we’re making.” – BeerGeeks.TV
The premise of Beer Geeks sounds like a solid idea and the show should develop a good following among real-life beer geeks. It will be fun for beer enthusiasts around the country to find out about great beers from Colorado. It is a little suprising that only five Colorado breweries will be featured (there are well over 100 in the state). I guess that opens up the door for other great breweries to be featured in later seasons.
Golden City Brewery is located in Golden, CO. next to the Colorado School of Mines campus. We had the pleasure of visiting the brewpub and sitting down with Sales & Marketing Manager, Derek Gilmore, and part owner, Andy Taylor. It was really fun finding out more about Golden City Brewery — “The 2nd Largest Brewery in Golden!” Anyone that is looking for a neighborhood brewpub with a friendly atmosphere and great beer, needs to visit Golden City Brewery.
Golden City Brewery was founded in 1993 by two geologists, Charlie & Janine Sturdavant. They filled the old machine shop behind their historic Golden home with used dairy tanks, and Charlie began brewing German-style ales. The tasting room was originally located in the sunroom of their house, and provided Red Ale and Pale Ale to the local community in 1/2 gallon growlers and kegs. The brewery started out with the help of investments made by many of Charlie & Janine’s friends. Andy Taylor was one of the original investors and thought that he would most likely lose money on the brewery. It took nearly ten years, but the investors started making money on their investment, and to this day there are still 23 part owners. One of the main factors that helped the brewpub take off was the addition of a beer garden. Customers started sitting in the grassy area next to the brewpub… eventually this area became the official beer garden at GCB.
When Golden City Brewery first started out, the craft beer industry was much different than it is now. It was difficult to get started, as demand for craft beers was not like it is today. In 1993, most Americans simply made their choice for beer between one of the two or three major U.S. beer producers. This was referred to as “BMB”, or “Before Microbreweries”, in our talk with Golden City Brewery. Things have really changed for the craft beer industry, especially in the last 10 years.
Over the years, Golden City Brewery has expanded at the same location (still the Sturdavant’s home). The carriage house became the tasting room, and the backyard is now the beer garden. The brewery is still in the machine shop, but a second level was added inside. All of the old equipment has been replaced with real beer fermenters and a slightly used gas-fired kettle. The Golden City Brewery now produces the legendary Red Ale & Pale Ale, in addition to a few other brews, which are listed below. Each beer has it’s own logo, which are very creative and unique to the taste of the beer. Here’s the logo for Clear Creek Pale Ale, which was a very good beer, one of our favorites!
Beer List:
Golden City Brewery mainly sells beer from the brewpub, and is not sold in many retail locations. This is not due to a lack of demand for the beer, it is because the owners prefer to sell from their pub. You can purchase 22 oz. bottles of all the the beer types, except for the IPA. GCB beers can also be found at My Brother’s Bar in Denver, and Woody’s Pizza in Golden. Liquor stores that carry GCB beers include: Foss Building Wine & Spirits in Golden, Clear Creek Wine & Spirits in Golden, Canyon Point Liquors in Golden, and Union Wine & Spirits in Lakewood.
We really enjoyed our visit to Golden City Brewery. GCB offers a fun environment and great beer! We enjoyed all the beers, but our favorites were the Clear Creek Pale Ale and the Evolution IPA. We highly recommend stopping by this fun brewpub, especially in the spring/summer. The beer garden is located in the back of the brewpub and is a popular place when the weather is nice. We’re looking forward to a return visit when we can sit outside and enjoy a breat beer at GCB.
Golden City Brewery
920 12th Street
Golden, CO. 80401
303-279-8092
http://www.gcbrewery.com/
This weekend we had a chance to head up to Buena Vista, CO. Just 2.5 hours from Denver, Buena Vista is a popular destination for kayakers, hikers, skiers, mountain bikers, and people that simply enjoy visiting some of the smaller towns in Colorado. While in Buena Vista, we met with Brian England, Manager & Owner of Eddyline Restaurant & Brewery. Brian was a great host and filled us in on all the history of Eddyline, as well as the exciting growth that is in store for this proud Colorado brewing company.
Eddyline Brewing started out in Socorro, NM. back in 1999. The company had a different name then (Socorro Springs), but they still had a passion for microbrews. The founders of the company thought that Colorado may be a good place to add a restaurant and microbrewery. Buena Vista, CO. was an easy choice for the ownership group as it provided excellent water, an area where people enjoy a good beer, and a nice town to settle down in. The owners of Eddyline Brewing continue to run Socorro Springs Brewing Company in Socorro, NM. If you visit Socorro Springs Brewering Company, you will be able to find Eddyline Brewing beers as well.
Eddyline Restaurant & Brewery started out as a small restaurant that served its own beer, but did not distribute the beer to stores. While Eddline’s beer started to become popular with the locals, and at events throughout Colorado, the company saw the opportunity to expand. In 2009, Eddyline added a second location in Buena Vista. Now with two locations, Eddyline was poised to begin the process of increasing production, which would allow them to distribute their beer around the state. In 2011, Eddyline officially went from a local restaurant with a brewery, to a brewing company ready to reach beer drinkers throughout Colorado.
In January 2012, Eddyline Brewing began distributing their beers to stores around Colorado. By November 2012, the Denver area began to see Eddyline’s beers in several stores. If you’ve never seen Eddyline’s beers, you will not have a hard time finding them. They have come up with really great marketing and branding campaigns, that make them stand out among other brewers. Eddyline uses 16 oz. cans for their beers, and were the first in Colorado to do so. They are currently the only microbrewery in Colorado that sells their 16 oz. cans in 6 packs. Each type of beer has a unique can design, color scheme, and nickname. Below is an example of one of the new can designs (this one will not be seen in stores until some time in March, 2013). 
Awards and Interesting Facts:
Beer List:
We really enjoyed meeting with Eddyline, finding out about their history, and sampling their great beers! No matter which type of beer you prefer, we’re confident Eddyline has at least one that you will love. There are plenty of different Eddyline beers to try if you can make it up to Buena Vista. If you want to buy Eddyline in the store, you’ll have 4 choices: Pilsner, IPA, Raspberry Wheat or Pale Ale.
Eddyline Restaurant & Brewery
926 South Main Buena Vista, CO. 81211.
(719) 966-6000
For more information, or to visit Eddyline Restaurant & Brewery, visit http://www.eddylinerestaurant.com/.
We put together a list of over 100 Colorado Breweries! Each listing is linked to the brewer’s website, and includes a short bio. This should be a great resource for anyone interested in finding out about world-class craft beers that are made right here in Colorado.
To view the list of Colorado Microbreweries, click here: https://coloradocraftbrews.com/colorado-breweries/
This list will obviously change as new breweries are starting up all the time. If we missed your favorite brewery, let us know! https://coloradocraftbrews.com/contact-3/
Cheers!