A New Kind of IPA Has Hit the Denver Market

In 2024, Prost Brewing embarked on a complete transformation of its lagers, installing a new, multi-million dollar brewhouse in Northglenn — one of the most advanced in the world — and bringing its beer fully in-house for the first time in years.

“It’s hard not to look at the equipment and think, what if?” says Prost vice president of brewing operations, Chris O’Connor. “What if you were able to do all these things that dramatically changed Prost’s beer in just a year, [but] applied that to modern styles — styles that people just kind of accepted [as they were]?”

With that in mind, O’Connor began working on a fast-growing side project last year and this week, Broken Hops Brewing debuted in distribution. Four-packs of both Hazy and West Coast IPAs are now available across the Denver metro area and on tap at all Prost locations.

But these aren't your typical IPAs. Both the brewing equipment and O'Connor's vision sets them apart. "It's not better or worse, it's just different," says O'Connor.

The West Coast IPA is made with all German ingredients, including Weyermann brand malts. New world German hop varieties Callista, Ariana and Mandarin Bavaria help drive some of the classic pine and citrus that you'll find in a typical West Coast IPA. "The citrus notes are slightly different," says O'Connor. "You get the juice component against the pine and it finishes a bit softer, it rounds out nicely."
The beer is made with a single decoction—a traditional German process that boils part of the mash before adding it back to the main mash. This results in a richer malt flavor that also happens to finish a touch drier, something that can't be replicated with other methods.

The Hazy IPA is actually double decocted. It uses 55 percent malted wheat and 5 percent malted oats. O'Connor mentions that the amount of wheat in this beer is similar to how he designed Prost's Hefeweizen. A big difference between the two beers is that an "unconscionable" amount of hops are added to the Hazy IPA — five pounds per barrel of Crush, Strata and El Dorado, according to O'Connor. "It's fluffy, but still sort of dynamic without being overpowering," he says.

O'Connor likens designing hazy IPAs to a world of contradictions. "It's a weird balance," he says. "Being aggressive and soft at the same time, it's a challenge. That's the fun part," he adds.

Prost Brewing and Broken Hops head of sales Jacob Schneeberger was excited about the idea of IPAs from the start and was able to witness the evolution of Broken Hops firsthand. "Some of the best IPAs in America are made right here in Colorado," says Schneeberger. "How will this elevate the industry? The goal is to [make] a beer that you can have more than one of. When you enjoy a beer, you want more than one of that beer," he says.

The beers are brewed on Prost's new 50-barrel brew system. "I'm not doing it differently for the sake of being different," says O'Connor. "I really think there's a benefit to [traditional German practices]," he says. "I think they can be applied to more than just German beer. IPA as a vehicle for that expression just seemed like a natural thing."
The brewery's water system produces very clean, consistent, nearly neutral water. "You need hard data," says O'Connor, adding that he's a numbers person. You're working with a living organism that doesn't want to do this for you."

O'Connor says that Colorado benefits from very good water, but when you get out of the Denver city area, the water can change pretty fast, not to mention the inconsistencies based on the time of year and water source being used. Some breweries constantly test the water and adjust to reach a certain goal, while other breweries try to control it to a consistent level from the start, every single time. Prost is in the latter camp.

With that clean and consistent baseline, the team can add minerals to mimic any water profile it wants — an important advantage given that Prost has brewed over fifty different beers, including contract brews for non-Prost breweries, on its primary brewing system over the last year.

O'Connor wasn't always confident that the IPAs would find success, and he's still only at the beginning of what he hopes to be a long journey. The core team at Prost was initially a bit hesitant, he says, but they quickly got behind him and even supported him at times when he had his doubts. "Director of biergartens Boyd [Hoback] is on board, so that helps," says O'Connor, adding that it was a big ask.

The beers have come a long way in a short period of time. Earlier iterations were entered into the Great American Beer Festival in the fall. "The West Coast made it pretty far, but the Hazy IPA did not," says O'Connor. He took the feedback from each of the beers — the West Coast being a bit too malty, the Hazy being a bit too clear — and combined it with customer feedback to reach the current releases. "We moved the hops [in the West Coast] where the mid-palate hits a little better, without lingering," he says. "It's more pronounced, then the body falls away faster and it isn't as sweet. We moved it a little more hop-forward while still maintaining a balance."

O'Connor plans for Broken Hops to have four collaborations throughout the year — one for each season, starting with a tropical IPA highlighting New Zealand hops. There will also be a summer hazy. "It'll be pineapple, orange and guava forward," he says. In addition, hopheads can look forward to a double dry hop juicy IPA. The test batch was a collaboration with Seedstock Brewery that is out now. "It's 8.5 percent and tastes like grapefruit juice, with an absurd amount of Nectaron [hops]," says O'Connor.

His focus on collaboration was inspired by Kintsugi, the Japanese art of reforming pottery using gold. "That's what I want to symbolize with collaboration," he says. "How it is prettier than it was before, based on the two things operating together."

O'Connor also wants to redesign Broken Hops's base beers with two collaborating partners to turn them into something that hasn't existed before. "It'll be a beautiful moment," he says. "We'll never do that specific [beer] again."

The team hopes to replicate some of the early success seen with its lagers on this brewing system. Its Leichtbier won gold at the World Beer Cup in 2024, and it was only the second batch made on the brewing system in Northglenn. Broken Hops has some high expectations due to the success of these lagers, but O’Connor is up for the task.

He sets his sights high when it comes to the definition of success. For the West Coast IPA, it's Russian River's famed Blind Pig IPA. "Perfection is something you pursue, but you never get there," he concludes. "The pursuit is what's important, not the end. The separation between great and excellent is in the amount of time that you're willing to spend on chasing that potential. The more time that we're willing to put into making this perfect, even though we know we'll never get there, is what will eventually separate this from anything."

For more information about Broken Hops Brewing, visit brokenhopsbrewingco.com or follow it on Instagram @broken_hops_brewing.