Beverage Manufacturing

A Toast to Beer

Three Colorado winemakers worthy of Drink Local Wine week love

A little more than nine months ago, we ruffled a lot more than a few feathers by voicing our opinion on the local wine industry. Everyone from the Front Range Winery Association to hobbyist vintners juiced over where we got the balls to speak our minds on such an -- unbeknownst to us -- unbelievabl ... More >>

$714 million a year and other fun facts about Colorado's craft beer industry

The Colorado Brewers Guild provided proof today of what most Colorado residents have known for a while: beer is good for us, economically at least. On Tuesday, the Guild, which represents craft breweries in the state legislature, said Colorado's 139 licensed craft breweries pump $714 million a year ... More >>

Left Hand named a top fifty U.S. brewer; Oskar Blues is second in Colorado

Longmont won big today when the Brewers Association, based just down the road in Boulder, released its annual list of the top fifty biggest craft brewers in the United States. Left Hand Brewing, which was founded in Longmont in 1993, cracked the list for the first time, logging in at number 49. The ... More >>

Five soul-warming Colorado wines to savor during the snowstorm

​Like it or not, for years people have habitually lumped wines from Colorado into its own special (read: inferior) category of domestic winemaking. Bottles from other, more mainstream wine-producing regions in the U.S., like California, Oregon, and Washington State, seem to score all the props ... More >>

Is keg wine the next keg beer?

When the Kitchen [Next Door] opened in Boulder earlier this year, it didn't have a single bottle of wine on the beverage list. Instead, the restaurant installed a keg system from which it pours three whites and five reds. Frasca Food & Wine's Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson pursued a s ... More >>

Three reasons why Colorado wines still suck (and three Colorado winemakers who are getting it right)

​Last month we attended the first annual Colorado Winefest - Denver, and for the first time tasted a number of truly delicious, locally produced wines we could recommend to you without pause. So you can certainly understand how we were legitimately fired up about an already scheduled wine-tast ... More >>

Eddyline Brewery in Buena Vista will can Colorado's first craft beer tallboys

You won't need these to open Eddyline tallboys.​The canned craft beer revolution started in Lyons in 2002 with Oskar Blues, and although Colorado is still the leader, we don't yet have metal to match our mountains. That will change in late July or early August when the Eddyline Brewery in Bue ... More >>

Five Colorado wines (finally!) worth drinking by the case

​Have you ever gotten the impression that Colorado wines kinda suck? If you're really, really honest with yourself, you probably answered yes - and you're not the only person who feels that way. A glance at the wine list of many of Denver's top-rated dining destinations routinely reveals fewer ... More >>

Comment of the day: Why did the People's Fair choose Miller?

​While most folks go to festivals like the Capitol Hill People's Fair mostly for the bouncy-castle and the shirtless ambiance, Bree Davies is partial to the finer points of festival vending, like hats for dogs and paintings of sheep in trench-coats; in her recap of the fair yesterday, she brou ... More >>

Four perfect-for-summer Italian wines

​Italian wines can be hard to love. They're unabashedly old world, full of mouthwatering acidity, brazenly tannic, and as terroir-driven as they come. They're also endlessly intriguing. Each of Italy's winemaking regions tells the unique, richly historic tale of its evolution from independent ... More >>

New Belgium, maker of Fat Tire, plans a second brewery on the East Coast

FacebookNew Belgium headquarters in Fort Collins.​Two of the nation's biggest craft brewers, both based in California, have revealed the details of some major expansion plans in the past couple of days, and Colorado's New Belgium Brewing, the country's third largest craft brewer, could be clos ... More >>

A Toast to Women

FacebookNew Belgium headquarters in Fort Collins.​Two of the nation's biggest craft brewers, both based in California, have revealed the details of some major expansion plans in the past couple of days, and Colorado's New Belgium Brewing, the country's third largest craft brewer, could be clos ... More >>

Taste of Vail

FacebookNew Belgium headquarters in Fort Collins.​Two of the nation's biggest craft brewers, both based in California, have revealed the details of some major expansion plans in the past couple of days, and Colorado's New Belgium Brewing, the country's third largest craft brewer, could be clos ... More >>

How liquor stores support Colorado craft breweries

FacebookNew Belgium headquarters in Fort Collins.​Two of the nation's biggest craft brewers, both based in California, have revealed the details of some major expansion plans in the past couple of days, and Colorado's New Belgium Brewing, the country's third largest craft brewer, could be clos ... More >>

Pinot Posse wines spark Old World vs. New World debate

​Last week's post featuring the wines of the Pinot Posse sparked much debate over the respective merits and flaws of modern, new world-style pinot noir. At one end of the table, we had the new world wine lovers, who revel in bottles bursting with ripe, mouthwateringly juicy fruit, and (though ... More >>

Hickenlooper's Inaugurale will be delivered via horse and carriage

​Not only is the Wynkoop Brewing Company making a special beer to commemorate brewery co-founder John Hickenlooper's gubernatorial inauguration party on Tuesday, it will deliver that beer, Hickelooper's Inaugurale, via horse and carriage. The party, which is being held at the Fillmore auditor ... More >>

Colorado gubernatorial ball will have a beer list that's a mile higher than any other state

​Of all the inaugural balls taking place next month around the country, Colorado's has to have the best beer list. And why not? The new governor, John Hickenlooper, is a brewer and the co-founder of the iconic Wynkoop Brewing Company. In addition to Hickenlooper's InaugurAle -- which is bein ... More >>

If Coors won big at the Great American Beer Festival, who lost out?

​Four of Colorado's biggest and best-known craft brewers, Avery, Breckenridge, Odell and Oskar Blues, were shut out of last month's Great American Beer Festival awards ceremony, while several other major brewers in the state barely made the cut. In fact, of the 41 medals awarded to Colorado b ... More >>

Get ready, Southern California: Great Divide beers are on their way

Great Divide BrewingGreat Divide has added a lot of capacity.​Great Divide Brewing will challenge some of the big boys of bold brewing this week as it takes its Yeti Imperial Stout, Titan IPA, Hercules Double IPA, Smoked Baltic Porter and other beers to Southern California bars and stores for ... More >>

Denver adds nearly 100 craft beer taps over the past six weeks

Euclid Hall​While millions of bleary eyes will gaze longingly at Denver next week when the Great American Beer Festival, Denver Beer Fest and Oktoberfest transform the city into the world's largest beer garden, July and August were also great months for the sudsy stuff -- especially for those ... More >>

Great American Beer Festival brew is ready and waiting to be judged -- in a Bud warehouse

This is what we imagine the warehouse looks like.​A refrigerated Budweiser warehouse isn't normally the kind of thing that would make a hop-headed craft beer geek salivate, but for the next couple of weeks, the facility at 62nd Avenue and Franklin Street in Denver is every beer geeks dream. I ... More >>

ColoradoWino.com gives voice to Colorado's growing wine industry

​Local food has crept onto just about every menu on the Front Range. And if Jacob Harkins has his way, local wine will follow. Last fall, Harkins started an online magazine called ColoradoWino.com that focuses on the Colorado wine industry, aiming to expose consumers and chefs to Colorado win ... More >>

Catch World Cup fever with five winning South African wines

​I've never been a fan of soccer, but seeing everyone get all fired up for the start of the World Cup this past weekend gave me a great excuse to revisit the other cool thing you've probably never realized about South Africa, and that's the fact that some rockin' good juice is produced there. ... More >>

Five Oregon wineries to make you rethink your Napa habit

​For whatever reasons, Napa Valley is still viewed as the Holy Grail of wine destinations for a majority of American wine lovers. Don't get me wrong: I've been to Napa many times and there's no denying that some of the most fantastic juice in the world is produced there. But given the state ... More >>

Strange Brewing tapped its first kegs last night

Tim Meyers poured everything into Strange Brewing.​Strange Brewing Company, Denver's newest craft beer maker, opened for business Wednesday, pouring its Paint It Black Stout and Strange Pale Ale for friends, family and beer lovers who showed up to toast the place. Located in a business park a ... More >>

A Reason for Cheer

Tim Meyers poured everything into Strange Brewing.​Strange Brewing Company, Denver's newest craft beer maker, opened for business Wednesday, pouring its Paint It Black Stout and Strange Pale Ale for friends, family and beer lovers who showed up to toast the place. Located in a business park a ... More >>

Boulder Beer, Colorado's oldest craft brewer, plunges into cans

​Oh the places you CAN go. It's a slogan that will be printed on the side of Boulder Beer's new Hazed & Infused cans and part of the company's new strategy for Colorado. "You can take cans places where you can't take bottles: trails, pools, rivers, climbing," says Boulder Beer marketing dire ... More >>

Craft breweries are on a roll

​With the Great American Beer Festival (September 24-26) and the first ever Denver Beer Fest (September 18-27) both around the corner, the craft beer industry's major trade group has released some mid-year statistics on what's been brewing nationwide. The Brewers Association reports that craf ... More >>

Free beer still flowing for Coors employees

A Flickr photo.I know you've been worried. Or worried-ish. But rest assured that, unlike their peers up at Molson Coors in Canada, the approximately 2,800 employees at MillerCoors in Golden will continue to get their 864 free beers a year ... for now. Last week, I read that Molson Coors -- the pare ... More >>

A Crush on Cans: Ball Packaging

It's American Craft Beer Week - seven days that even the United States Congress felt should be set aside for drinking micro brews. But Colorado's beer culture is worth a deeper look, since 100 craft breweries operated here in 2008, producing 75,000 barrels of delicious beer. Of particular interest ... More >>

Colorado beer drinkers have a crush on cans

It's American Craft Beer Week - seven days that even the United States Congress felt should be set aside for one purpose and one purpose only: drinking micro brews. (To find out about tappings, food pairings and other events, click here or here.) But Colorado's beer culture is worth a deeper look s ... More >>

An American Revolution

Craft Beer Week celebrates beer independence.

Beer today, gone tomorrow

At 6 p.m. tonight, April 16, "Beer Wars Live," a live simulcast, will present the founders of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, New Century Brewing Company and Stone Brewing Company, as well as Charlie Papazian, the president of the Boulder-based Brewers Association, in a discussion led by Ben Stein; the ... More >>

Beer and Cheer: 2 Below Ale

2 Below New Belgium Brewery Fort Collins Argh, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get into the beers from New Belgium Brewery. Fat Tire, Mothership Wit, 1554, 2 Below Ale: I've tried them -- repeatedly -- in an effort to figure out what I'm missing, and what everyone else is buying. After all, ... More >>

The Gang's All Beer

2 Below New Belgium Brewery Fort Collins Argh, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get into the beers from New Belgium Brewery. Fat Tire, Mothership Wit, 1554, 2 Below Ale: I've tried them -- repeatedly -- in an effort to figure out what I'm missing, and what everyone else is buying. After all, ... More >>

Miller, Coors, Bud are Aleing

2 Below New Belgium Brewery Fort Collins Argh, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get into the beers from New Belgium Brewery. Fat Tire, Mothership Wit, 1554, 2 Below Ale: I've tried them -- repeatedly -- in an effort to figure out what I'm missing, and what everyone else is buying. After all, ... More >>

All-American Budweiser Joins Coors in Europe

2 Below New Belgium Brewery Fort Collins Argh, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get into the beers from New Belgium Brewery. Fat Tire, Mothership Wit, 1554, 2 Below Ale: I've tried them -- repeatedly -- in an effort to figure out what I'm missing, and what everyone else is buying. After all, ... More >>

The Gang's All Beer

2 Below New Belgium Brewery Fort Collins Argh, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get into the beers from New Belgium Brewery. Fat Tire, Mothership Wit, 1554, 2 Below Ale: I've tried them -- repeatedly -- in an effort to figure out what I'm missing, and what everyone else is buying. After all, ... More >>

The Gang's All Beer

2 Below New Belgium Brewery Fort Collins Argh, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get into the beers from New Belgium Brewery. Fat Tire, Mothership Wit, 1554, 2 Below Ale: I've tried them -- repeatedly -- in an effort to figure out what I'm missing, and what everyone else is buying. After all, ... More >>

License to Swill

2 Below New Belgium Brewery Fort Collins Argh, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get into the beers from New Belgium Brewery. Fat Tire, Mothership Wit, 1554, 2 Below Ale: I've tried them -- repeatedly -- in an effort to figure out what I'm missing, and what everyone else is buying. After all, ... More >>

License to Swill

2 Below New Belgium Brewery Fort Collins Argh, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get into the beers from New Belgium Brewery. Fat Tire, Mothership Wit, 1554, 2 Below Ale: I've tried them -- repeatedly -- in an effort to figure out what I'm missing, and what everyone else is buying. After all, ... More >>

Wining and Dining

Boulder's food and wine takes center stage.

Wine & Dine

Boulder's food and wine takes center stage.

False Gold

Boulder's food and wine takes center stage.

Mouthing Off

Boulder's food and wine takes center stage.

COLORADO'S WHINE INDUSTRY

THAT BOUQUET EMANATING FROM DISGRUNTLED LOCAL VINTNERS? SOUR GRAPES.

MOUTHING OFF

THAT BOUQUET EMANATING FROM DISGRUNTLED LOCAL VINTNERS? SOUR GRAPES.

MOUTHING OFF

THAT BOUQUET EMANATING FROM DISGRUNTLED LOCAL VINTNERS? SOUR GRAPES.

MOUTHING OFF

THAT BOUQUET EMANATING FROM DISGRUNTLED LOCAL VINTNERS? SOUR GRAPES.