Six New Colorado Beers To Try Now That Dry January Is Over

Sure, February is Stout Month – and we’ll have all your Stout Month tapping info in our weekly Beer Calendar – but that doesn’t mean you can’t also enjoy other flavors and styles. In fact, February and March are typically two of the best months for new beers because breweries are beginning to roll out their new offerings, new experiments and long-planned creations after the doldrums of January.

And as if January wasn’t boring enough already, Dry January has made it even more painful – or delightful, depending on how you look at it. I mean, if the month is going to suck anyway, you might as well lean in and give up booze. Maybe you’ll learn something about yourself. I could probably benefit from that, too.

Anyway, a few Colorado breweries – the larger ones, in particular – have introduced new packaged beers in the past few days or weeks as they roll forward into 2022. Here are six to try:

Checkered Future IPA
Ska Brewing
Everyone makes mistakes – and most of us will make more of them. So not only do some of us have checkered pasts, but we have checkered futures, as well. That’s the idea behind the name of Ska Brewing’s newest year-round beer. The beer itself is also interesting, as it uses a brewing technique that has become increasingly popular – biostransformation – which you can read more about here. The result is a beer that has tropical aromas like a hazy IPA, but is clear and has a lingering bitterness that is more reminiscent of a West Coast-style IPA. The beer, in a matte white printed can, should debut mid-February.
Bonus beer: Ska is planning to release a new raspberry blonde later in 2022.

Throwin’ Haze Hazy IPA
Denver Beer Co.
For most of last year, Denver Beer Co. experimented with different iterations of Throwin’ Haze IPA in its taprooms, bringing in multiple hop varieties and working on getting the hazy look just right. Eventually, DBC alighted on a combination of Trident, Cascade and Columbus hops to give the beer citrus and stone fruit flavors, big aromas and low bitterness. The beer is available now at the brewery’s three locations in Denver and Arvada, and will hit liquor-store shelves in early February.

Pickle Me Up
Bootstrap Brewing
Pickle lovers, rejoice. After it had trouble keeping this beer on tap because customers were drinking it too fast, Bootstrap Brewing has canned Pickle Me Up, a beer that’s based on its award-winning Golden Ale and infused with “just the right amount” of pickle juice. How much is the right amount of pickle juice? You’ll have to find out for yourself. Originally brewed for Bootstrap’s ninth anniversary, Pickle Me Up was inspired by the viral TikTok/YouTube videos of people scaring their cats with cucumbers.

Earl Grey Citrus Saison
Crooked Stave
Last summer, Crooked Stave brewed a saison with orange citrus and bergamot tea “as a fun little experiment,” it says. But after seeing how the beer was received by customers, the brewery deemed it to be a success. So this week, Crooked Stave canned its latest batch of the 5 percent ABV beer. You can find it in six-packs at either of the brewery’s taprooms in Denver or Fort Collins, and in stores around the state.

Double Dale’s Imperial IPA
Oskar Blues
Just as Oskar Blues was gearing up to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Dale’s Pale Ale – the first craft beer in a can – with Double Dale’s Imperial IPA, the company was purchased by Coca-Cola-backed Monster Energy. Awkward timing? Some would say yes, while others would say it was the perfect time to marvel at how an underdog brewery with a “bad” idea became one of the biggest success stories in craft beer. No matter how you look at the purchase, however, Oskar Blues beers have always been delicious. Double Dale’s, now available nationwide, “captures some of the citrus and caramel character of Dale’s, while achieving its own unique flavor profile and identity,” the brewery says. It was brewed with El Dorado and Talus hops for a blend of fruity, piney flavors.
Bonus beer: Oskar Blues is also debuting a new IPA series called Western Mutant, featuring a jackalope on the can. The first beer in the series is a 7 percent ABV West Coast-style IPA featuring spicy Akoya, zesty Saphir, citrusy, piney Simcoe and tropical, white-wine-like Nelson Sauvin hops.

Citrus Rescue IPA
New Belgium Brewing
Say what you will about New Belgium’s newish parent company (and we know you will), but the company has always strived to do good deeds locally. Its latest effort, Citrus Rescue IPA, is a partnership with Imperfect Foods that looks to “change the perception around the aesthetics of food and encourage more people to…reduce food waste.” In other words, it promotes, um, blemish-positivity. The beer was brewed with 35,000 “imperfect” – but certainly special in their own way – oranges that may not meet “society’s narrow beauty standards due to little scars and blemishes but are just as adorable, healthy, and delicious,” the brewery says. Citrus Rescue was dry hopped with Citra, Lotus and Mosaic hops to add a “tangy, orange creamsicle-like experience.” The companies also collaborated on digital resources for people who want to “adopt food-rescue practices” at home. Get all the information at newbelgium.com.

And one for March…..

Space Debris IPA
Epic Brewing
“After months of recipe development, experimental test batches, recipe reformulation, and learning new techniques, everyone from the brew team to the taproom is proud to hoist this beer as the newest member of our year-round lineup.” That’s the word from Epic Brewing, which will introduce Space Debris IPA in March. The 6.2 percent ABV West Coast-style beer is hopped with Nugget, Centennial and Amarillo before being dry-hopped with Citra and Amarillo. “Finally, the dank liquid is filtered, leaving it light copper in color with mild pineyness and tropical fruit notes.” It will also be in 12-ounce cans by April.
Bonus beers: Epic has two other new beers available in cans and on draft for February: Yelling at Clouds Cold IPA, brewed with Simcoe, Sabro and Idaho7; and Flower Power Sour, which was aged in an oak foeder with hibiscus and passion fruit purée.