Beer Calendar: Anniversaries, a New Brewery and Roasty, Toasty Holiday Ales

Oskar Blues makes beer. But the Longmont-based company also runs restaurants, manages a farm, build bicycles, produces root beer, buys and sells property, sponsors auto races — and now, it brews coffee as well. To celebrate its company, Hotbox Roasters (which produces three different roasts from Kenya, Bolivia and Indonesia), Oskar Blues is introducing a national, limited release beer, Hotbox Coffee Porter. The 6.4 percent ABV brew "has a malted base extracted from English and German roasted and caramel malts, and is comprised of flavors like roasted nuts, crème brûlée, cocoa and caramel," the brewery says. "Hotbox Roasters then crashes the party and infuses potent, cold-extracted coffee from Burundian and Ethiopian beans and deals old flavors and aromas of dark plums, chocolate and hints of blueberry." Hotbox Coffee Porter will be sold in twelve-ounce cans from November through January while supplies last.

Wednesday, December 2
Crooked Stave will release Nightmare on Brett Sour Cherry in bottles today at 5 p.m. The beer is "this year's first of a few fruited Dark sours to be released. Aged with over 3,000 pounds of Colorado sour cherries, this batch of Nightmare really strikes a balance of chocolaty roast coffee notes and cherry pie characteristics all wrapped into one giant sip," the brewery says. "We really didn't know what we would get when we aged our biggest sour beer with even more sour cherries, but the result was strikingly complex without too much acidity."

Copper Kettle brings back its Smoked Porter today, but this time the brewery made it an imperial beer with a higher alcohol content. Clocking in at 8.9 ABV, "this beer is a rich and roasted English porter with sweet undertones," the brewery says. Farm to Truck will be there as well.

Thursday, December 3
Dry Dock will release the 2015 version of Bligh's Barleywine today at the Canoe Room at 2 p.m. at the brewery's North Dock location. Taste the beer on tap and purchase bombers at this release event. Big Kiwi Eats food truck will be on hand at 3:30 p.m.

Upslope Brewing in Boulder will host a Wild Christmas Ale + Christmas Ale Release Party today from 5 to 9 p.m. at the brewery's original Lee Hill location. The brewers will toast the sixth edition of their limited-release Lee Hill Series, Wild Christmas Ale. The beer is Upslope's Belgian-style spiced dubbel, Christmas Ale, that has been aged for ten months in Leopold Bros. Maryland-Style Rye Whiskey barrels and a Brettanomyces sour culture. Heirloom will be on hand with food. Upslope will be pouring Christmas Ale and Wild Christmas Ale and selling them both in cans as well (the Wild is $10 for a 19.2-ounce can).

Friday, December 4
Station 26 will begin a weekend-long celebration of its two-year anniversary today by releasing bottles of its Second Birthday Beer (a dopplebock) at 1 p.m. and then following up with live music from honky-tonk band The Heresies, tonight. There will also be a food truck. 

River North Brewery will take over five taps at Lucky Pie Pizza and Taphouse in LoDo today starting at 4 p.m. Reps from River North, which is relocating right now, will be on hand to give out free samples and promotional attire. The five beers are IPA, White, Farmhouse, Big City Quad, and Barrel Aged Avarice Imperial Stout.

Copper Kettle's newest brewer, James, comes from Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware, but he wanted to celebrate the Western United States by brewing a West Coast-style IPA for his first brew. As such, he made Kalirado IPA, which goes on tap today.

Saturday, December 5
Great Divide's Barrel Bar (on Brighton Boulevard) will open early today at 11 a.m. for a special release and event, the Barrel Aged Beer + Spiegelau Glass Release. "This holiday bundle includes a Barrel Aged release, two limited edition Barrel Aged Series Spiegelau glasses and a Great Divide tote bag," the brewery says. "We headed to the depths of the Great Divide cellar and unearthed some vintage beers from 2008, 2009 and 2014 to release alongside the new Spiegelau glasses. These '08, '09 & '14 vintages are *very limited* (only 4 bottles of 2009 BA Yeti!) and only available through this gift set. Get there early before the limited, vintage beer is all gone." The glasses will be available in both the Barrel Bar and Tap Room following the event. For more details and pricing, go to Great Divide's website.

River North Brewery, which lost its taproom in October and is transitioning to a new one, will continue its road show in the meantime, pouring beer at various other locations until it has a taproom again. Today, you can find the brewery's beers at Hops & Pie, which is hosting one of its Littlest Big Beer fests starting at noon. River North beers on tap include Nightmare Fuel, 2015 Barrel Aged Averice, Big City Quad, Corundum and Funk the Man 3.

Zephyr Brewing and the Biju's Little Curry Shop, which are located next to each other in the same building, will celebrate their one-year anniversaries today starting at 3 p.m. Zephyr brewed a special Imperial Brown Anniversary Ale to mark the occasion. There will be live music, tastes of curry and giveaways throughout the day.

Our Mutual Friend will celebrate its third anniversary today at Summit Music Hall, where there will be "a bunch of OMF special releases and tappings by our favorite breweries in town. Food available from the Summit Kitchen and Marquis Pizza. Live music by the Gin Doctors (Denver's best '90s cover band), Dead Palms, and Hotel Bar." Doors open at 6 p.m. Entry is free.

There's a new brewery in the house, this one in the suburb of Brighton. Something Brewery will open its doors today at noon at 117 North Main Street in Brighton. Founded by Brian Castillo, Ohio Allegrezza and Dustin Christopher, the brewery will be serving several beers. There will also be food, games and acoustic band. 

Copper Kettle just released its Snowed In, its bourbon-barrel-aged imperial oatmeal stout. But now the brewery has a second, much more limited version to offer. In collaboration with Gateway Liquor - Green Valley Ranch, Copper Kettle made six cases of Snowed In aged in a George Dickel barrel. Bottles will only be available at the brewery and at Gateway. It will also be served on tap. The Cluck Truck will be on hand today as well.

Grimm Brothers Brewhouse in Loveland will release bottles of the Count, its acclaimed Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, today at noon. Bottles are $20 per person and there is a limit of two per person. Only five cases are available.

Tuesday, December 8
Former Future is hosting its second annual Ugly Sweater and Beer Pairing party today, this time with Christmas-themed doughnuts from Habit. The best (ugliest) sweater wins prizes. Also, Former Future is working with Lutheran Family Services to donate coats all month for resettled refugees. One coat gets you a free pint. Last year, the brewery was able to gather more than 200 coats.

Thursday, December 10
Delaware's Dogfish Head, which has a special in at Avanti Food and Beverage, will join with the PorchDrinking blog today from 5 to 8 p.m. for "a special night of rare and randall'ed" Dogfish Head beers. "If you aren't familiar with the Randalling process, Dogfish Head Founder Sam Calagione built the Randall to infuse additional dry hops to his beers, but the device has since evolved into 'randalling' pretty much anything you want," PorchDrinking says. Some of tonight's creations include: Bitches Brew randalled with ancho chili peppers, cacao nibs, cinnamon sticks, and coffee beans; 60 Minute IPA with whole-leaf citra hops and citrus fruit rinds; and India Brown Ale with toasted coconut and vanilla beans. There will also be several rare or newly-released Dogfish beers on hand, including: Fort, a 17 percent raspberry Belgian strong ale; two bottles of 2008 Fort;  Higher Math, a golden strong ale fermented with sour cherry juice and cocoa nibs that also clocks in at 17 percent ABV; Piercing Pils, brewed with White Pear Tea and Pear juice; 2014 Raison D’Extra; and 2013 American Beauty.

Friday, December 11
Vision Quest Brewery, at 2510 47th Street, will celebrate its grand opening today in Boulder at 4 p.m. Although the brewery officially opened in June, this is the official party, and all twelve taps will be flowing. 

Sunday, December 13
"In the spirit of the holiday season, the Denver Beer Festivus brings beer, a jolly crowd, music, airing of grievances, a shiny Festivus pole together to create one heck of a celebration," says Imbibe Events, which will throw its fourth annual Denver-only Beer Festivus today from 2 to 5:30 p.m. at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum. "Denver is home to more than 60 breweries. In 2013, Imbibe Events hosted the first Denver Beer Festivus with 18 breweries to fill a void in the winter beer festival calendar. This year’s Festivus will have more than 40 participating breweries. In order to participate in Festivus, breweries must have a Denver address." Tickets range from $40 to $65 and you can find them at denverbeerfestivus.com.

As it does every year, Copper Kettle will celebrate the holidays with the 12 Firkins of Christmas, tapping a new one each day, starting today with Mexican Chocolate Stout with vanilla and bourbon. That will be followed by Coffee Oatmeal Porter tomorrow and Chocolate Caramel Stout on Tuesday. After that, it's 12 Hops IPA, Rum Eggnog Stout, Gingerbread Imperial Brown Ale, Mulled Barleywine, IPA with Juniper, Christmas Ale, Chocolate Mint Fudge Stout, Cranberry Rosemary Saison, and finally, on Christmas Eve, Belgian Strong Dark with Cherries.

Saturday, December 19
Fiction Brewing will host its second annual collaboration with Glazed and Confuzed Doughnuts today at noon. The beer this year is called DONUT PANIC and was brewed with Confuzed Samoa donuts and has flavors of coconut, chocolate and caramel. The release party will include a special beer and doughnut pairing. And finally, Fiction will be bottling a limited quantity of the beer for sale at liquor stores.

Thursday, December 31
Renegade lights up the new year again with Depravity, its imperial peanut butter cup stout, which it releases every New Year's Eve. Come to the taproom between 3 and 9 p.m. "to get your hands on a pour of this extremely limited, extremely delicious beer," the brewery says. Or, purchase an early-bird ticket for $32.50, which includes a 64-ounce growler, plus a fill of depravity, and come between noon and 3 p.m. to beat the crowd.

Fiction Beer Company is throwing its second annual New Year’s Eve celebration tonight. It includes will include live music, a special tapping to toast 2016 and their second barrel aged sour beer release. Music starts at 10 p.m. and will continue into the new year. 

2016

Tuesday, January 5
You already know about Stout Month, which takes place in February. Now, Ernie's Bar & Pizza wants to celebrate the stout's cousin, the porter. Tonight, Ernie's will clear eight of its thirty tap lines to feature a variety of local porters, whose "roasty, toasty, caramelly, drinkable goodness" is particularly nice during the cold winter months, the restaurant says. The following beer will kick things off, and they'll be replaced with new ones once they kick, throughout the month of January: Denver Beer Company Graham Cracker Porter, Dieboldt Post Card Classic Porter, Dry Dock Vanilla Porter, Goldspot Gus Robust Porter, Verboten Caramel Porter, Wliey Roots Chocolate Porter, Wit’s End Kitchen Sink Porter with Smoked Malts and Rye.