September 29th - October 1st, 2011. Three days, 465 Breweries and over 2,400 beers. This is the Superbowl of Beer Festivals. I cannot remember how long I’ve wanted to go to this Festival. As luck (in the name of Mike Brenner) would have it, 2011 would be my year to attend.
Our first day out was Thursday, having tickets to Friday & Saturday’s events, this gave us the opportunity to investigate some of the bars in Denver. Toni, in her blessed investigative prowess, found a place on the internet called The Falling Rock Tap House. First things first, if you are ever in Denver, The Falling Rock Tap House must be on your list of places to visit. Consisting of two floors, bars and booths on both levels, pool tables, dart boards in the lower level and an large outside patio area prior to the entrance. Talk about sensory overload, with over 75 taps (yeah seven-five) and an impressive selection of bottled beers, this place has to be close to Beer Nirvana. Food was standard bar fare (wings, burgers, fries) but the quality was excellent. I recommend the garlic wings and you must order a basket of their fries, they are truly addicting. A standout for me was the Odell Myrcenary, a Double IPA from Fort Collins, Colorado with a 9.30% abv. Named for Myrcene, which is a component of essential oils in the hop flower, the Myrcenary Double is brewed with a blend of hops containing the highest levels of Myrcene, this double IPA is full bodied, boasting copious tropical fruit-like flavors, a strong floral nose, and a clean finish. We finally succumbed to our long travel day and decided to head back to the hotel knowing we had a full day ahead of us. I found The Falling Rock Tap House a true beer afficiandoes destination spot.
Our second day in Colorado was a pleasant surprise. Tom arranged us access to a chartered bus tour of the Oskar Blues Brewery, lunch at the Oskar Blues Brew Pub, then a tour of the Left Hand Brewery, all hosted by John Boegel, the National Chain Manager for Brooklyn Brewery. Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised as I’m a big fan of the Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pilsner, so I was pretty stoked that I was going tour the Brewery and experience their production process.
It was great to see the canning line in action and hearing the details of their planned extensive expansion, I’m confident that Oskar Blues will effectively enhance their production without compromise to the quality of their product. The tour ended at their on premise pub, The Tasty Weasel Tap Room. Here we tasted the whole line up of Oskar Blues, my fav (of course) is the Mama’s Little Yella Pilsner, 5.3 abv, Mama’s is crafted with 100% pale malt, German specialty malts, and Bavarian hops. She pours golden yellow with a thin white head. Notes of grain and honey on the nose, with refreshing grainy and citrus crispness with a decent amount of toasted malts underneath, overall, crisp, clean, and refreshing.
Before we knew it we were back on the bus for a quick 5 minute to what Rolling Stone called ‘the hottest place to be on a Saturday night in Colorado...” The Oskar Blues Grill and Brew where they had an awesome lunch laid out for us and we were able to sample exclusives like the Cherry Tenfiddy and the Dales Double Pale Ale.
After lunch we were wisked off to tour the Left Hand Brewery. After the tour we stopped off in their on site pub and as luck would have it, we got to sample they’re just released (that day!) “Milk Stout Nitro”. Holy smokes, it’s thick, creamy, and slightly sweet with roasted malts shining through on the back end. I am now a milk stout fan. At this point we were all looking to leave as it was getting late and we still had the bus ride back to the hotel where we met the bus that morning, then a cab ride back to our hotel to freshen up, grab our tickets and hop a cab to the GABF.
We entered the Great American Beer Festival about an hour late, our initial mission, sample as many Breweries that they’re products aren’t available in New Jersey. I fell in love with Alaskan Amber! Alaskan Amber is based on a recipe from a turn-of-the-century brewery in the Juneau area. I can see why it was voted "Best Beer in the Nation" in the 1988 Great American Beer Festival Consumer Poll. Its rich and malty and long on the palate, and dare I say perfectly balanced with a clean, crisp finish. By far the best Amber I’ve ever experienced.
At the Cigar City table, the Oatmeal Raison Cookie was exactly that, like biting into an oatmeal raison cookie!
Our third day, we got into Denver a little early to do some window shopping around the convention center, then hit the Festival when it opened to try other beers that we missed the night before like Dogfish Head, Firestone Walker Collection and a host of others.
That evening we had dinner at Denver’s oldest eating and drinking establishments, The Buckhorn Exchange. Founded in 1893 and has Liquor License Number One in the State of Colorado! A National Historic Landmark and Western Museum, its walls are adorned with a rare 575-piece collection of taxidermy, including deer and moose, giant buffalo, mountain goat and big horn sheep; dozens of indigenous fowl; although I didn’t get to see the famed two-headed calf and a legendary jackalope. Display cases of old weapons, Colts and Winchesters...yeah, I was in heaven.
While waiting for our table, we went upstairs to the bar to where the keen eye of Toni, recognized a rare Colorado born whiskey she was familiar with called Stranahan’s. A round of shots we immediately ordered. The whiskey is made from a unique four-barley fermented wash that consists of carbon filtered Rocky Mountain water and western barley that is grown in the Northern Rockies, each bottle is filled by hand and each label is hand written identifying the distiller, batch number, the youngest barrel in the batch and a unique comment.. did I say it was rare? With a vanilla nose, it boasts sweetish toffee and dried dark fruits, full barely notes surrounded by leather vested apricots, and a hint of slight citrus and vanilla oak notes.
Wow. THANK YOU Toni for that experience! Since I’ve been back I’ve tried... unsuccessfully to find/purchase it online (surprise, surprise).
This began what was an amazing meal, sampling fried alligator tail, elk, buffalo, grilled duck in a zinfandel sauce and yes, even Rocky Mountain Oysters. All were truly amazing and a dinner I will not forget for quite some time.
What is there not to love about Colorado? Denver, one of the cleanest cities I’ve even been to. The friendly people? They’re true love for beer? The clean, crisp, invigorating air? We left Colorado, yet a part of me will always be there.
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