The fifth annual Collaboration Fest may still be five months away, but that doesn't mean the brewing hasn't already begun. Among several collaborations that took place while out-of-town brewers were in Denver for the Great American Beer Festival two weeks ago was one by representatives of fourteen different state beer guilds.
The crew gathered on October 5 at Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project to fill a 4 Roses Bourbon barrel with a dark sour cherry ale. The beer will only be available at Collaboration Fest, which takes place March 31, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency Denver. The fest is the headline event for Colorado Craft Beer Week, which runs from March 31 to April 7, 2018. Stay tuned, because tickets are scheduled to go on sale next month.
Keep reading below for the best local craft-beer events and tappings through October 28.
Wednesday, October 18
There is still some GABF goodness hanging around Denver, despite the fact that the festival ended more than a week ago. An example: First Draft Taproom & Kitchen will tap a bunch of brews from San Diego's Modern Times at 5 p.m. The beers are Blazing World, Critical Band, Orderville, Spaceship Earth and Transit of Venus.
October is pumpkin firkin month at Copper Kettle Brewing, which means a new pumpkin beer each Wednesday. Today's is a crisp saison flavored with with pumpkin and spices.
Thursday, October 19
Seven breweries will tap their unique herb or spice beers as part of the fourth round of the Makin' Noise: A Pussy Riot Beer project. Founded late last year, the project involves multiple breweries that make similar beers and then raise money for progressive charities by selling pints; $1 from each pint goes to the brewery's charity of choice. Here's the rundown on Makin' Noise V. 4:
- Comrade Brewing, donating to One Colorado, will tap a blonde ale brewed with fresh jalapeños and lime zest at noon.
- Goldspot, giving to Groundwork Denver, taps at 3 p.m.
- Westbound & Down in Idaho Springs, donating to Project Worthmore, opens at 11 a.m.
- Cerberus Brewing in Colorado Springs, also open at 11 a.m., is giving to the Palmer Land Trust.
- 3 Freaks Brewing in Highlands Ranch is donating to Sense of Security; it made a gingerbread cookie kolsch.
- Caution Brewing, open at 3 p.m. in Lakewood, is supporting Energy Outreach Colorado.
- Woods Boss Brewing, donating to the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, taps at 5 p.m. There will be live jazz with a guitar and fiddle, Coastal Summit food truck and the Coalition for the Homeless will be on site.
Denver Beer Co. will head to the foothills to host a paired four-course Beer & Bison dinner at Chief Hosa Lodge in Genesee; the event will benefit the Denver Mountain Parks Foundation, an organization that has been important to DBC co-owner Charlie Berger's family for a long time. Tickets and info are here.
Friday, October 20
Diebolt Brewing has made its "most authentic" Biere de Garde and will tap Provacateur at 2 p.m. "We started with sixteen barrels of all French pilsner wort and boiled it down to ten barrels over 7.5 hours," Diebolt explains. "This extended boil concentrated and caramelized the sugars as well as changing the color from blonde to light orange. Our house French ale yeast complements the smooth bread and honey flavors of the extended boil with soft melon and subtle citrus, while late additions of noble hops contribute a spicy, floral aroma."
Boggy Draw Brewery in Sheridan taps Elkspresso Coffee Stout, a 7 percent dark English coffee stout made with eight pounds of espresso, and ‘Tio Danny’ B.A Coffee Stout, which is Elkspresso Coffee Stout aged for eleven months in a Jack Daniel's whiskey barrel.
Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project
The Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project's 9.3 percent ABV Peach Hickory Wee Heavy was one of the standout beers from the recent Beers Made by Walking Festival. A mashup of the the brewery owners' Indiana roots and Colorado culture, "this beer fuses the caramel and marshmallow notes of roasted hickory bark with the sweet and smoky flavor of roasted, smoked peaches," the brewery says. "Partially caramelized by hot stones, this beer is a fruit tree in liquid form." It will be paired today with pastries and pie.
Hops & Pie hosts a Pumpkin Fest starting at noon. Beers on tap include: Epic Brewing Barrel Aged Pumpkin Porter, Avery Dui Cochi and Rumpkin, Station 26 Barrel Aged Scott's Imperial Pumpkin, Shipyard Pumpkinhead, Bull & Bush Ghoul Fuel, Upslope Pumpkin Ale, Copper Kettle Pumpkin Mexican Chocolate, Strange Craft Pumpkin Porter, Cigar City Good Gourd Almighty, The Bruery Midnight Autumn Maple, and Southern Tier Warlock and Pumking.
Celebrate twelve years of Dry Dock Brewing at the Aurora brewery's large North Dock location on Tower Road, with music, food, unlimited pours of more than thirty beers, including rare and specialty brews (available today only) like vintage barrel-aged offerings from Dry Dock's Signature Series and sour program; a three-year vertical tasting of Bligh’s Barleywine; revisited classics such as Whaletail Wit, Cool Lime Lager and Swordfish Extra Pale Ale; and crowd-favorite firkins. Attendees will also have exclusive access to purchase specialty bottles during the brewery's Anniversary Cellar Sale. For tickets and info, go to the brewery's ticket page.
River North Brewery's Nightmare Fuel is back, "just in time to haunt your dreams." Come get spooky starting at noon, when the brewery is hosting a Halloween party in honor of the release of this year's version of Nightmare Fuel imperial coffee stout and Barrel-Aged Nightmare Fuel. "Loaded with more than three pounds per barrel of freshly roasted whole-bean coffee from Logan House Coffee Company," both beers will be available in bottles and on draft. The brewery will also have a costume contest with prizes, and there will be food from RagBag Mobile Bistro.
Living the Dream Brewing in Littleton hosts a celebration of craft beer in the southern suburbs (and a fundraiser for the Denver Dumb Friends League) from 2 to 9 p.m. The South In Your Mouth Jubilee includes Living the Dream, 105 West, Locavore, Lone Tree Brewing, Resolute, Grist, Blue Spruce, and Pikes Peak Brewing. All participating breweries will pour a special beer for the event. There will also be a brewery calendar for sale to help support the Denver Dumb Friends League Buddy Center in Castle Rock.
Death by Coconut is back at Oskar Blues, and the brewery's Tasty Weasel Taproom is toasting the seasonal beer with the "Tasty-est, Chocolatey-est Release Party," starting at noon. There will be live music from the Delta Sonics at 4:30 p.m., beer-infused food from the original Oskar Blues Grill and Brew in Lyons, and some chocolate activities from Cholaca, the company that supplies the brewery with the liquid chocolate that is used in the beer.
Thursday, October 26
Falling Rock Tap House is holding an event at 5:30 p.m. called Kill the Cancer, during which it will tap Heather's Ale, which was brewed by Strange Craft to support the American Cancer Society. Falling Rock will also tap Orange Creamsicle by Barrels & Bottles Brewery to support the National Kidney Foundation, Pink Peppercorn Saison by Chain Reaction Brewing for Wings of Hope, and Petal to the Metal by Black Sky Brewery for Sense of Security, to name a few. The organizations will be on site, and there will be a bonus for the keg that blows first.
Comrade Brewing and Cacao Chemistry host a chocolate-and-beer pairing at 7 p.m. with four four-ounce beers and four chocolates. The pairings are Koffee Kream Extra and milk-chocolate hazelnut; Yellow Fever and Firework milk chocolate with chipotle; Imperial Christman and raspberry dark chocolate; and Barrel Aged Quit Stalin Russian Imperial Stout and whiskey cherry cordial truffles. Tickets are $16 and are available here.
Friday, October 27
Wiley Roots Brewing in Greeley, which won a medal at the Great American Beer Festival earlier this month, recently bought a canning line — and has been putting it to work. The brewery will release three different cans over the course of the weekend: Double Dry Hopped 1320, a 6.5 percent ABV New England Style IPA; Cinnamonstah, a 10.2 percent ABV Imperial Stout with cinnamon; and Mail Order Mule, a 4.6 percent ABV American sour ale with key limes and ginger.
Saturday, October 28
Ursula Brewery goes old-school at noon when it brings back bottles of Imperial Crustless, a stronger, more peanut butter and jelly-flavored version of its regular Crustless PB&J Porter — along with with some draft-only variants. The beer "starts with that big raspberry and nutty nose, and the flavor does more of the same but adds that toasty, roasty, bready porter that makes this beer so special to us all," Ursula says. "We came in less sweet [than] last year, but we like the balance it creates between the peanut butter and the raspberry." The 22-ounce bottles are $16 each (with a limit of two per person). As for the variants, there is Peanut Butter and Blackberry Jam Imperial Crustless; Peanut Butter and Orange Marmalade Imperial Crustless; Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam Imperial Crustless; and Almond Butter and Raspberry Jam Imperial Crustless. The brewery will offer the variants as four-ounce flights and ten-ounce draft pours only. There is only one keg of each.
Join Copper Kettle Brewing as it celebrates National Chocolate Day from 3 to 5 p.m. with a four-course beer-and-chocolate pairing and the tapping of Orange Mexican Chocolate Stout, which was made with fresh-squeezed orange juice and zest. Head brewer Phil Natalie will present each beer and walk participants through the flavors and how they were chosen for each chocolate. The chocolates are provided by Cacao Chemistry, and the pairings are: Citrus Paradisi with candied milk-chocolate orange peel; Black Currant Milk Stout with cabernet caramel truffle; Coconut Snowed In with extra-dark bark; and Orange Mexican Chocolate Stout with Firework bark. Tickets, $15, are limited to the first forty and are available at eventgrid.com.
"Plan your Halloween pre-game around the 3rd Annual Tennyson Street Fall Rumpus & Fundraiser," says Call to Arms Brewing, which will host the fiesta from noon to 9 p.m. The family-friendly event includes the Confection Collection doughnut pop-up for kids and adults; Morgan Handmade Rations, showcasing locally made potato chips; J Street Food Truck; Mas Kaos Pizzeria + Taqueria; music from Midnight Shakedown from 4 to 7 p.m.; bags of candy for the little ones; and lots of beer. No tickets are needed. The Rumpus serves as a fundraiser for Drink for Pink, a breast cancer awareness group.
Epic Brewing hosts an Intergalactic Kegger at 8 p.m. "Wear your best black-light attire, because the night is gonna glow and the beer is gonna flow," the brewery says. There will be black lights and glowing decor to set the mood, DJ Digg spinning tracks, and beer on 25 taps plus two special firkins (served in glowing solo cups).
Gravity Brewing in Louisville holds its second annual Tsar Bomba Day, starting at noon, when it will release its
Tsar Bomba Russian Imperial Stout. Limited quantities of Barrel Aged Tsar Bomba will be available as well on draft and in 750-ml bottles. There will be live music at 7 p.m. by The Hunter Hamilton Group and a Halloween Costume Contest with prizes at 8 p.m. Gastronauts at Gravity Brewing will have food.
Odd13 Brewing will release cans of Seventh Son of a Thirteenth Son, which the Lafayette brewery made in collaboration with Seventh Son Brewing out of Columbus, Ohio. This super-hazy New England-style double IPA is hopped with Citra, Mosaic, Denali and Galaxy; cans will only be sold in the taproom. "We are super-excited about this beer, and it's been tasting fantastic out of the fermenter," Odd13 says. It is $12 per four-pack.
Saturday, November 4
Bierstadt Lagerhaus will release its seasonal Dopplebock at 2 p.m. at the Rackhouse Pub. There will be music by the Rhinelanders, Hammerschlagen, classic German grub and Crowlers to go.
