Beer Run Blog
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The former scribe of the Beer Run column for the Colorado Springs Gazette, the 19-year journalist now writes for the Denver Business Journal, though this blog is personal and done separately from his job. He became interested in microbrews early in life and has spent years reading and writing about them. He also is the host of the upcoming television series "Colorado Brews.
Beer Run Blog
1y ago
Top 10 Colorado Beers of 2021
Maybe it was something that Covid did to the tastebuds, or maybe to the collective thinking of Colorado's brewers. But as the world started to segue back to some sense of normalcy this year, the craft-brewing community provided what seemed a soft landing for the state's beer connoisseurs, offering simple pleasures from well-made pale ales to hazies that concentrated on the hops to the best single-year collection of pilsners in memory.
Oh, for sure, there were bulked-up imperial stouts and the occasional multi-fruit sour that were worthy of adulation. But as 2021 ..read more
Beer Run Blog
1y ago
The Shocking and Fascinating Beers of This Year
Anyone who expected a return to normalcy by Colorado brewers in 2021 should be surprised and, frankly, a little pleased by what this year has produced so far.
From Czech breweries making Baltic porters to lagers that sing more than the style seems it should to an international brewery intentionally making a "bad" beer, there's been a lot to remember. And as we head into the final third of the year, with (maybe) more beer festivals offering a chance for even more exposure to creative offerings, these trends offer hope that this ..read more
Beer Run Blog
1y ago
Beer Festivals Are Back. Here is How One is Pulling That Off.
The Vail Craft Beer Classic is coming back for its second straight year of socially distanced drinking with limited crowds in just two weeks. But the moves it's making to stay safe and relevant this year may impact the way that it and a whole lot of other beer festivals change permanently.
Unless you were one of the 700 people spread across four sessions who attended the event in 2020, you may not realize there was actually one beer festival last summer. Organizers cut capacity crowds by 82%, eliminated lines at booths for the sak ..read more
Beer Run Blog
1y ago
What's Happening? Denver Beer Is Earning Attention
Denver Beer Co. has never been a boring brewery. From its inception, it turned its beers over frequently and came up with new flavors, from its lovingly received Graham Cracker Porter to its divisively delicious William Wallace Scottish Ale. And it won a lot of Great American Beer Festival medals on the way, including a Colorado-high three in 2020.
Still, the brewery never seemed to become a trend-setter — even though it was one of the pioneers of the city's taproom scene when it opened a decade ago — or one of the must-vi ..read more
Beer Run Blog
1y ago
A Georgia Beer Pioneer Comes to Colorado
Living in South Carolina in the late 1990s, SweetWater Brewing was an ideal that you hoped other brewers could achieve. Its 420 Extra Pale Ale was as edgy a taste as you could find in the hops arena, and the rest of its portfolio was a dive into different styles.
I didn't think it would be 20 more years (save for Great American Beer Festival tastings and occasional trips to Atlanta or Savannah) before I could sip SweetWater again in the comfort of my own home. And, like much in the craft-brewing scene, the Atlanta pioneer, which began distribution to ..read more
Beer Run Blog
1y ago
Is This Colorado's Most Improved Brewery?
While the release of any hazy gives you a window into a brewery's quality — Is it really making the hottest craft style well or does it seem like it is making the beer just to try to be in conversation? — that may never have been more true than with Holidaily Brewing's December release of Big Henry Hazy IPA.
Few gluten-free beer makers have tried to make a New England IPA, and some of those that have ended up producing lighter-bodied beers that didn't approximate the appeal of the style. But Holidaily's offering shows not only why it stands out from ..read more
Beer Run Blog
1y ago
10 Best Colorado Beers of 2020
In a year that seemed so dark, maybe, just maybe, it was appropriate that Colorado beer makers stepped up their game particularly in the area of dark ales. To be sure, there was much more that highlighted the year, from barrel-aged barleywines to vibrant hazies to sour experiments that included Japanese citrus-based sauces. But it sure seemed as if the most textured, daring and successful creations of the year that was 2020 were those those turned to the dark side - and made it as enjoyable as possible.
This annual list of Colorado's best beers - at least those ..read more
Beer Run Blog
1y ago
The 12 Beers of Christmas 2020
Lockdown has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to beer exploration. On the down side is the lack of seasonal beer festivals (a.k.a. Denver Beer Festivus) that allowed one to explore many Christmas creations in one fell swoop. On the plus side, however, is the fact that little this year is getting in the way of drinking multiple beers every night in the name of, um, journalism.
So, after a month of diving into as many seasonal offerings as could be scrounged, here is one drinker's guide to 12 Beers of Christmas this year, both from Colorado and from a ..read more
Beer Run Blog
1y ago
5 Colorado Beers and Beer Trends that Have Made Fall Tastier
The time between pumpkin-beer season and Christmas-beer season has been anything but boring in Colorado this year. And while one beer in particular has stood out, there are several brews that are worth discussing while they remain available.
1) Verboten Brewing Not a Speck of Light
Just the second imperial stout offering from one of Loveland's most exciting breweries, this is, quite frankly, one of the best new beers of 2020 so far in Colorado. Aged for more than a year in a combination of whiskey barrels from Peach Street Distille ..read more
Beer Run Blog
1y ago
7 Colorado Pumpkin Beers to Drink in the Seven Days Before Halloween Ends
Pumpkin beers to many have long seemed like the hellish figure in the picture above (the guardian to corn maze at Anderson Farms in Erie) - a horror inflicted on the drinking world by a small number of breweries attempting to please an only slightly larger number of aficionados. But as I, one of those horrible aficionados, discovered when I want in vain to pick up my now-sold-out annual dosage of Southern Tier Pumking on Saturday at my favorite liquor store, they've become so popular ..read more