A pair of popular craft-beer industry movers and shakers will be back in action this month, one in a new location, and at home in her ten-year-old restaurant and beer bar.
Leah Watson, who owns Hops & Pie, with her husband, Drew, will be back behind the bar starting on Tuesday, February 11. A beloved beer aficionado and front-of-the-house magic-maker, Leah suffered a torn ACL that kept her off her feet for a while; she was also on maternity leave with the Watsons' second child. Her return comes just in time for the restaurant's debut of its new morning-time doughnut shop, Berkeley Donuts, which will open in the next few weeks.
Up in Boulder, Katie Nierling has taken over as general manager of the Ska Street Brewstillery, which is set to open sometime in March. Nierling, who is well-known from her days with Parry's Pizza and Ale House at Amato's, will run front-of-the-house operations for the thirty-tap restaurant, brewery and distillery mashup.
Ska Brewing and Peach Street Distillers has also hired Damon Scott, who will run both the brewery and the distillery at Ska's new concept, located in the former Fate Brewing building. A brewer who has worked in both Colorado and Washington, he was also the technical brewing projects manager for the Brewers Association.
Keep reading to see craft-beer events into late February.
Brewability Lab
Today is World Nutella Day (as if you didn't already know), and the Brewability Lab in Englewood is serving up Nutella-rimmed porters and complimentary Nutella cookies.
Thursday, February 6
Finn's Manor toasts its friends at TRVE Brewing and Our Mutual Friend Brewing who collaborated on a beer called Pyre. The 7 percent ABV hazyish IPA was dry-hopped with Citra and Azacca hops. There will also be two other beers from each brewery on tap. Finn's opens at 5 p.m.
Join Cedar Creek Pub in Aurora for its third annual Stout Day, when rare stouts from across the country will be poured. The tap list includes Fremont Brewing B.A. Dark Star; Founders KBS Kentucky Breakfast Stout and CBS Canadian Breakfast Stout; Ursula Brewery 180 Gram Imperial Stout (2018); Ecliptic Brewing Sedna Tiramisu Stout; Hoppin' Frog Brewery Peanut Butter Chocolate Coffee Porter; Boulevard Brewing Whiskey Barrel Stout; Beachwood Brewing Mocha Machine and Tovarish Double Espresso; and Cerebral Nordic Noir Baltic Porter.
Friday, February 7
Strange Craft Beer Company turns ten this year, and to celebrate, the brewery is bringing back many of the crowd favorites from years past. The first is Cherry Bomb Stout. "Originally a mistake after a very long brewing week, Tim decided to tap this happy accident as a one-off. Riots ensued in the taproom when he announced this beer was a one and done, so to placate the angry mob, Tim brewed it again, and again, and again," Strange explains. The 5.5. percent ABV Belgian stout is finished on the same Montmorency tart pie cherries that Strange uses for its Cherry Kriek. The beer hasn't been brewed since 2015.
Burns Family Artisan Ales will release 2088-Hour Jam Stout at 8 p.m. The barrel-aged jam stout (which took 2,088 hours from mash-in to release) is a collaboration with Chuck Jones, the bassist for Dopapod, who has organized several charity concerts and jam sessions, including one last December at Burns. In light of the Australian bushfires, Burns and Jones have decided to donate all proceeds from the sale of this beer to the Australian Red Cross. Music starts at 6 p.m. and continues all evening.
Oasis Brewing taps Chocolate Drop just in time for Valentine's Day next week. The pale ale was made with a 70-percent cacao chocolate and is "perfect for the beer loving chocoholic and sweethearts everywhere," the brewery says. In addition, Oasis will debut the first in a series of monthly rotating art shows called Thirst Fridays.
It's First Friday on Tennyson Street, and that means a new beer at Empourium Brewing. This time it's the Nightman Cometh Schwarzbier, a smooth and roasty dark lager. Little Red's Kitchen will have food.
It's time for Snowed In Cherry at Copper Kettle Brewing, which will tap this annual barrel-aged oatmeal stout when the taproom opens at noon. The beer, made with cherries and chocolate, will also be available in 19.2-ounce cans.
Odyssey Beerwerks taps First Kiss Chocolate Cherry Stout, a 6 percent ABV beer that will also be available in sixteen-ounce four-packs to go.
New Image Brewing has not one, but two big releases at 11 a.m. The first is All Talk, No Game, a hazy IPA collab with Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales. The second is the final iteration in the brewery's series of wood-aged barleywines. This time, the beer was aged with fresh Sugar Maple.
Liquid Mechanics Brewing in Lafayette and Cannonball Creek Brewery in Golden will both tap West Coast Cartel, a collaboration "featuring Simcoe on the hot side and loads of Strata, Citra and Mosaic in the dry hop," the breweries say. In addition to tap, cans will be available at Cannonball at noon (in limited quantities) and at Liquid Mechanics at 1 p.m.
IP-Alien returns to Odd13 Brewing in Lafayette on draft and in cans to go. The 7 percent ABV beer is brewed with space-themed hops varieties, including Apollo, Comet and Galaxy.
Golden City Brewery will tap a different stout at 11 a.m. each Friday in February for Stout Month. The first is Churro Stout, which will be poured today. That will be followed by Cinnamon Red Hot Stout on February 14; Mythology Rye Barrel-Aged Stout on February 21; and Orange Chocolate Milk Stout on February 28.
Saturday, February 8
"As a kid with a coloring book, if somebody got you that big box of crayons, the world was your oyster," says Cerebral Brewing. "Those 64 colors were basically all the colors... Now, as an adult, you don’t have to be a graphic designer or a painter to know the world has a plethora of pigments to dazzle the eye…but then nanotechnology comes along and even black has its hues…and the darkest of the dark, the all-consuming, the thou-shalt-not-pass, no-holds-barred consumer of 99.965 percent of all visible light: Vantablack." In celebration of this "synthetic obsidian shade," the brewery is hosting Vantabrews, a tapping of a variety of the inkiest beer not just from Cerebral, but from other purveyors including Alvarado Street Brewery, Bottle Logic, Great Notion Brewing, J. Wakefield Brewing, Other Half Brewing Company and Solemn Oath Brewery. No tickets required: first come, first served.
Black Project Wild & Spontaneous Ales celebrates its sixth anniversary with a party starting at 4 p.m. In addition to special hourly beer tappings, there will be limited giveaways and other festivities.
Bruz Off Fax, which is the new taproom from Bruz Beers, hosts a grand-opening party from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at 1495 York Street, just off Colfax Avenue. There will be special beer tappings all day, "local food available, prizes given away, and good people drinking good beer and having a good time," the brewery says.
Denver Beer Co. will host a special release for its Imperial Coffee Graham Cracker Porter at both of its taprooms. "This big and bold version of Graham Cracker Porter is brewed at a higher strength resulting in warming flavors of chocolate, caramel, and toasty sweet graham crackers," the brewery says. "Aging on Coda Coffee Company's Kenya Microlot brings rich coffee flavors with subtle hints of milk chocolate, sweet molasses, and a smooth nuttiness." It will be on draft and in bottles to go. It will also have local distribution.
Falling Rock Tap House gets in on the Kung Fu action by hosting Melvin Brewing for its annual 2x4 Day (which is usually on February 4). Starting at 2:04 p.m., you can drink the Wyoming brewery's award-winning IPA, along with some other Melvin beers and special releases.
River North Brewery brings back Hop-A-Tronic Lupulosinator, its double New England Style IPA, to both of its taprooms. "With two new hop varieties, this is one of our best Hazy IPA releases to date," the brewery says. It will be available on draft and in cans to go at noon.
Cerveceria Colorado is partnering with Denver's Las Conchas Bakery for ¡Cervezas and Conchas!, a pairing of beer and conchas, "which are a traditional Mexican pan dulce (pastry) that take their name from their pretty shell-like appearance," says Ceveceria, which is a branch of Denver Beer Co. The pairings will include: Señor Piña Pineapple Blonde Ale y Pineapple Upside-Down Concha; Seven Bridges Hibiscus Juicy Pale Ale y Strawberry Concha; Rosita Schwarzbier y Cafe Concha with Dulce de Leche Filling; and Churro Stout y Churro Concha with Nutella Filling. Each pairing will include four mini-conchas and four beer tasters. Tickets are $25.
Ursula Brewing will release 180 Gram Barrel Aged Imperial Stout at noon, along with several variants, and pair them all with Girl Scout Cookies. Also, a local troop will be selling cookies from noon to 2 p.m. at the brewery.
Coal Mine Avenue Brewing in Littleton brings back one of its most popular beers, Nutter Butter Stout, at noon in honor of Stout Month. "We add fifty pounds of actual Nutter Butters to the mash and finish with some extra peanut butter flavoring to achieve that perfect balance of dark, smooth and delicious stout and nutter butter cookie flavor," the brewery says. The The Veggie Yeti food truck will be on hand as well.
Sunday, February 9
It's cold, it's in Longmont, and it's late for a Sunday, but this event at Primitive Beer is also very cool. "Hundreds of years ago, there were no cooling systems like the ones we have today to lower the temperature of the wort before starting fermentation," the brewery explains. "The most effective way to carry out this task was to transfer the hot wort to a large, shallow, open container in which it was allowed to cool slowly. This open tank, better known as a Koelschip, served as a method to cool and aerate the wort. This method leaves the beer completely exposed to the air, and consequently, subject to microbial contamination… This is the miracle of natural inoculation and the foundation of spontaneous beer." Primitive will be filling its koelship at around 8 p.m. and you can come watch. "Bundle up, as it is very cold and drafty in the space at this time." Primitive will, of course, be serving beers and will also heat up "a delicious batch of Gluhkriek to warm those cold fingers."
Thursday, February 13
Ratio Beerworks celebrates its fifth anniversary this weekend with a wide variety of music, beer and beer, but it kicks things off today with the canned release of King of Carrot Flowers, a carrot and elderflower saison that has a big following. Although Ratio doesn't regularly can its beer (yet), it borrowed a canning machine from Codi Manufacturing for this limited run of twelve-ounce six-packs. "First introduced in celebration of EatDenver's 2017 Harvest Week at the GrowHaus, King of Carrot Flowers bursts forth in an illuminate, ripe cantaloupe orange hue, while exhibiting subtle fruit-forward citrus notes and nuances of pear, honey, coriander, and vanilla brought on by the elderflower," the brewery says. Ratio opens at noon, and there are limits on the beer.
Strange Craft gets you in the mood for Valentine's Day a little early with a chocolate and beer pairing with Colorado Cocoa Pod. Come anytime between 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to sample three truffles and four beer tasters for $12. They include Blood Orange Caramel Fig paired with Ugly Sweater, Earl Grey Lavender Delight paired with Fallout Pale Ale, and the Raspberry Rose with our special Belgian Chocolate Raspberry Love Stout.
Friday, February 14
The 2020 vintage of Stolen Kiss from Burns Family Artisan Ales will steal your heart — and your brain, at 14.5 percent ABV. Enjoy this dark rum barrel-aged imperial brown ale on tap and in 750ml bottles.
Strange Craft Beer Company turns ten this year, and to celebrate, it's bringing back many of the crowd favorites from years past. Today's beer is Belgian Chocolate Raspberry Love Stout, a 10.5 percent ABV imperial stout. "Our annual Valentine's Day seasonal was first brewed in 2012 with John and Stacy Turk. Colorado Craft Beer Radio was a huge supporter of Strange in our early days, and it was John's and Gary's tireless work telling the story of craft beer in Colorado that helped many craft beer enthusiasts find Strange...," the brewery says. "The credit for the recipe, though, has to go to Stacy. She created this chocolate lover's dream, finding the right combo of chocolate and raspberries to satisfy any Belgian truffles fan."
Bring that special someone into Dos Luces Brewing for a chocolate and beer pairing with Cultura Craft Chocolate from 5 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $30 per couple online, and the pairing includes four four-ounce pours of chicha or pulque and a chocolate. They include: Muluc Agua Fresca Dura, a light refreshing and sweet beer made from Peruvian purple corn and lime, paired with a single origin dark chocolate bar from Guatemala or Belize; and Don Chicha Cherry Lime Chicha, a Bolivian-style chicha made with malted blue corn, sweet and tart cherries, and lime, paired with a chicha-infused cherry bon bon.
Seedstock Brewing hosts a beer and cheese pairing at 6 p.m. Get four beer tasters, four cheeses, homemade crackers, mustard, pickled veggies and candied walnuts for $20. Advanced ticket purchase highly recommended. Tickets can be purchased in the Seedstock taproom or online at eventbrite.
Westfax Brewing isn't in the mood for love, which is why it's tapping Tears of our Enemies Scotties Ale with chile peppers and Red Velvet Tears of Enemies, which is a version of the brewery's Scottish ale with chocolate and vanilla — and served on nitro. It's also Keep the Glass night.
Saturday, February 15
Ratio Beerworks is celebrating its fifth anniversary all weekend long with a wide variety of music, special concerts and food. And there is also beer. In addition to the canned version of King of Carrot Flowers, which was released on Thursday, the brewery will tap a limited amount of Barrel-Fermented Wild Dear You, a wild barrel-aged version of its flagship Citra Dry-Hopped French Saison.
It’s that time of year again, time for one of the original cult beers, Russian River's Pliny the Younger triple IPA. The beer, which only comes out once a year and only makes it to a few spots around the country, will tap first at Falling Rock Tap House (before being tapped at other spots around town). Doors open at 11 a.m., which is when Falling Rock will start selling tickets; a ticket means a guaranteed pour. The tapping is at 1 p.m. Falling Rock will host three other tappings as well, on February 16, February 22 and February 23.
Factotum Brewhouse is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and since the traditional five-year anniversary gift for marriages is wood, the brewery is partying like lumberjacks and lumberjills. Wear your best plaid or blue oxen suit and join [the brewery], you might just win a prize," Factotum says. There will be new beer releases, food from Cirque Kitchen, live music, contests, games and glassware.
Sunday, February 16
It’s that time of year again, time for one of the original cult beers, Russian River's Pliny the Younger triple IPA. The beer, which only comes out once a year and only makes it to a few spots around the country, will tap at Falling Rock Tap House. Doors open at 11 a.m., which is when Falling Rock will start selling tickets; a ticket means a guaranteed pour. The tapping is at 1 p.m. Falling Rock will host two other tappings as well, on February 22 and February 23.
Wednesday, February 19
Briar Common Brewery + Eatery is one of the lucky few to receive a keg of Russian River Brewing's Pliny the Younger Triple IPA, which it will tap at 6 p.m. Tickets go on sale at 5 p.m. First come, first served.
Thursday, February 20
Join Woods Boss Brewing from 6 to 8 p.m. for a guided tasting through several of the brewery's one-off, rare and unique barrel-aged beers. "Taste samples from wine, rum, tequila, Scotch or whiskey barrels and let your taste buds open up to a world of new flavors," Woods Boss says. "Throughout this experience, head brewer Jordan Fink will provide insight on the process and flavors." Tickets are $75 at Eventbrite and include eight four-ounce pours straight from the barrels, one 500ml bottle of Dreams The Stuff Are Made Of, and paired cheese bites from Goed Zuur chef Anthony Lopiccolo and cheesemonger Rachel.
Friday, February 21
Strange Craft Beer Company turns ten this year, and to celebrate, it's bringing back many of the crowd favorites from years past. Today's is Strangely Epic. "A blend of Epic Brewing’s monster imperial stout Big Bad Baptist and Strange’s tart fruit explosion, Cherry Kriek, the result is a complex journey thru coffee, chocolate, and cherries," Strange says. "Created by Kevin Crompton and Tim Myers for the Inaugural Collaboration Fest back in 2014, this beer has been requested more than any other of Tim's creations in the last 10 years."
Saturday, February 22
Call to Arms Brewing hosts its fifth annual Mardi Gras Rumpus starting at noon and featuring the World's Tiniest Mardi Gras Parade at 4 p.m. There will be special tappings, a crawfish boil at 2 p.m. by Rolling Smoke BBQ, a live brass band, and, of course, the tiny parade, with special-guest tiny floats from Little Machine Beer, Bierstadt Lagerhaus, Under the Sun Eatery and Pizzeria, the Grateful Gnome Sandwich Shoppe & Brewery, Empourium Brewing Company, Valhalla Cakes, FlyteCo Brewing, Avery Brewing Company and more.
It has been eight years since River North Brewery first opened its doors. To mark that milestone, the brewery plans to party at both taprooms. There will be special beer releases, including an eight-hour boil imperial stout. There will also be food at both locations and other fun.
It’s that time of year again, time for one of the original cult beers, Russian River's Pliny the Younger triple IPA. The beer, which only comes out once a year and only makes it to a few spots around the country, taps at Falling Rock Tap House. Doors open at 11 a.m., which is when Falling Rock will start selling tickets; a ticket means a guaranteed pour. The tapping is at 1 p.m. Falling Rock will host one more tapping on Sunday, February 23.
Sunday, February 23
It’s that time of year again, time for one of the original cult beers, Russian River's Pliny the Younger triple IPA. The beer, which only comes out once a year and only makes it to a few spots around the country, will tap at Falling Rock Tap House. Doors open at 11 a.m., which is when Falling Rock will start selling tickets; a ticket means a guaranteed pour. The tapping is at 1 p.m.
Friday, February 28
Strange Craft Beer Company turns ten this year, and to celebrate, the brewery is bringing back many crowd favorites from years past. Tapped the first night Strange opened back in 2010, Paint It Black Honey Coffee Stout was served on nitro until 2013, "when it lost an arm wrestling contest with Cherry Bomb to be the featured stout on the Strange Beer Board," the brewery explains. "The beer starts sweet but immediately goes bone dry with roast, coffee acridity, and big hop bitterness all at the same time. Medium bodied, the honey really dries this one out (it’s so fermentable), but leaves its wildflower honey notes behind."
Saturday, February 29
It's Leap Day! If you're not doing something special on a day that only comes around once every four years, you just aren't paying enough attention to your calendar. Platt Park Brewing paid attention, which is why the brewery is throwing a Leap Day party, complete with the tapping of a new New England-style IPA brewed with tangerine, vanilla and milk sugar. Oh, and for you planners, the brewery is selling limited-edition Leap Year glasses, which you can bring back in four years for a free refill (assuming the planet is still here).
Burns Family Artisan Ales notes today's quirk of the calendar by tapping Thoughts of Winter Imperial White Stout. There will also be live music from Sunrise Drive at 7:30 p.m.
Westbound & Down and Amalgam Brewing are at it again, opening up their barrel-aging facility, the Cultural Center, 6381 Beach Street, Unit A, for a pop-up tapping from noon to 5 p.m. There will be eight beers on tap, along with assorted bottles and cans for sale to go or to drink on site. El Taco Veloz Food Truck will be on hand.
Send beery information to [email protected].
