Colorado beer calendar: American Craft Beer Week continues with lots of events

Longmont's Oskar Blues Brewery has signed a letter of intent to open a new restaurant in Boulder's historic train depot, it was reported this week, an interesting decision considering how many other brewpubs and brewery-centric restaurants are open or opening in town. The Boulder Beer Company and Twisted Pine already serve food at their breweries, as do Mountain Sun and Southern Sun, which just announced that it will open a new taphouse. And then there is Avery, which is planning a massive new facility that will include a restaurant, and Upslope Brewing, which would like to open an eatery of some sort. There's also the Walnut Brewery & Restaurant; Shine restaurant, which is launching a brewery; and Centro Latin Kitchen, whose chef just opened his own small brewery, Bru. And did I mention West Flanders Brewing, which hopes to open in the old B.J.'s space later this year? Is there room enough for all of them? Stay tuned.

Wednesday, May 16

River North BreweryQuandary Bottle Release Party: 22-ounce bombers of Quandary, a Belgian-style Quad, will be available in the taproom for the first time ever. Look for them in stores soon after.

Strange Brewing will host its weekly one-barrel Wednesday with a pale ale made from all Colorado ingredients, including Colorado Malting Company malts and hops from Rising Sun Farms in Paonia.

C is for Cookie at the Yak & Yeti, which will tap an Oatmeal Cookie Stout today at 4 p.m. The 7.2 percent ABV beer was made with real vanilla, real cinnamon sticks and copious amounts of oatmeal. Yak & Yeti will also have three different IPAs on tap this week: Himalayan IPA, which won a 2010 GABF gold medal; West-Coast Glutton, a Double Red IPA (10 percent ABV) that was named by the Wynkoop's 2012 Beer Drinker of the Year: and White IPA, a dry-hopped imperial wit bier.

Euclid Hall will be tapping a different beer every day this week at 3 p.m. Today, it will be DFH/Stone/Victory Saison du Buff, followed by Russian River 2010 Supplication tomorrow, Lost Abbey Deliverance on Friday, and Crooked Stave Good Glory, aged in chardonnay barrels, on Saturday.

Will from Cured will be offering various cheeses paired with beers at Upslope Brewing in Boulder today beginning at 5 p.m.

Every Wednesday through May 23, the Rackhouse Pub will tap a beer from Avery Brewing during "Sour Hour," from 4 to 6 p.m. And anyone in attendance can enter to win a pair of tickets to Avery's 2012 Boulder SourFest, which takes place June 2 and is SOLD OUT. (Even better, transportation will be provided from the Rackhouse to the festival and back.) Mephistopheles gets tapped today.

Vine Street Pub and its sister locations in Boulder -- the Mountain Sun and the Southern Sun -- will tap Fruit Cake, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale brewed with dried mission figs and Turkish apricots. The 9.2 percent ABV beer was aged in rum barrels for three months; it will be released at 4:20 p.m., also as part of ACBW.

Thursday, May 17

Strange Brewing taps a firkin of Cherry Saison today; it will also offer its weekly Buck-An-Ounce Steak Night and live music from Fourth Dog Floyd at 6 p.m.

River North will be debut the first beer from its barrel program tonight by tapping a five-gallon keg of Whiskey-Barrel-Aged J. Marie Saison at 3 p.m.

Friday, May 18

Star Bar is throwing a little party tonight featuring all wood- and barrel-aged beers, including Great Divide 18th Anniversary Ale, Great Divide Belgian Yeti aged in Leopold Brothers American Small Batch Whiskey Barrel, Oskar Blues G'Knight, aged in Leopold Brothers New York Apple Whiskey Barrel, New Belgium Tart Lychee, Crooked Stave Petite Sour, Odell Shenanigans, Fort Collins Brewing Oak Aged Maibock and Firestone Walker Parabola, among others.

Caution: Brewing owner Danny Wang will open his new taphouse today to complement the brewery he's been running for more than a year. Wang and fiance Betty Fey will also release Hippity Hops Chrysanthemum IPA today, a new beer, and sell individually numbered growlers of all their brews, including Lao Wang Lager. The taproom will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday.

Upslope Brewing in Boulder will release its Belgian Strong Dark Ale, which has been patiently waiting in Cabernet and Zinfandel barrels for four months.

Vine Street, Mountain Sun and Southern Sun will tap the first batch of 2012 Prime Time Pilsner, a pre-Prohibition style pilsner brewed with flaked maize and Hallertau and Saaz hops. This one "is a light to medium bodied lager with with an assertive floral and spicy hop character," the brewery says. It will be tapped at opening.

Hops & Pie will tap a firkin of Firestone Walker Union Jack; it will be flowing all day until it's empty.

Odell takes over the taps at Freshcraft today with fifteen beers, including Myrcenary, St Lupulin, Double Pilsner, Footprint RegionAle and some of their flagships, along with some brews typically reserved only for the Fort Collins taproom, like Mash of the Titans Chocolate Cream Stout, Spruce Tip Stout, Wood Owl Oaked Double Pilsner, Mustache Malt Liquor, and Leopold Fernet Barrel Aged Cutthroat Porter.

Saturday, May 19

Breckenridge Brewing has bottled its second batch of Stranahan's Well Built ESB and will release it for sale today at the brewery at 471Kalamath Street at 11 a.m. The first fifteen people to purchase a bottle will get two commemorative glasses.

Strange Brewing celebrates its official second anniversary with Kegs & Eggs at 9 a.m. Chris will cook breakfast and the taps will be flowing; there will be a live broadcast of the Colorado Craft Beer Show at noon, live music from Acoustic Mining Company at 7 p.m., and food all day.

Hops & Pie will tap something called Poker Ride from Avery Brewing.

Boulder Beer Company will turn over all twelve of its taps to small-batch pilot and barrel-aged brews. A VIP ticket, $10, will get you in the door at 11 a.m. and includes three samples of these Innovation beers. It also gives you guaranteed access to other beers, all of which are limited to around 40 pints each. Highlights include a barrel-aged Apricot Cranberry Mojo IPA and four different pilot versions of a saison recipe. Doors to the public open at noon.

Sunday, May 20

Hops & Pie will host its monthly Littlest Big Beer Fest today, which features Stone Brewing beers. More info TBA.

River North will release an oak-aged, dry-hopped, imperial wit. "We are especially proud of this rare combination of flavors," the brewery says.

-- And read about when and where AC Golden will be releasing two barrel-aged sour beers in bottles on the next page:

After a few extra months of waiting - thanks to a problem with its labels - AC Golden Brewing will finally release two of its three highly-anticipated Hidden Barrel Collection sour beers on May 26 exclusively at Mile High Wine & Spirits in Lakewood.

These are the first bottled beers that AC Golden, founded in 2008, will release in 750 ml bottles; the company, a brand incubator for MillerCoors, is primarily known for making Colorado Native, Herman Joseph's Private Reserve and Winterfest.

The two beers were each made with more than one hundred pounds of fruit, then aged for ten months in oak barrels and fermented with brettanomyces yeast and souring agents. The first, Peche, is made with Colorado-grown peaches, while the second, Apricot, is made with apricots. A third beer, a Kriek made with cherries, is still having label problems and won't be released in the near future.

Mile High will offer some pre-orders when they open at 9 a.m. (they are $21.99 each) and will sell the beer and offer free tastings beginning at 3 p.m.; for more info, call the store. Customers are limited to two bottles of each because of the scarce quantities and high level of demand, the liquor store says.

AC Golden brewer Troy Casey will also be on hand to answer questions and talk beer; read Mile High's Q&A with Casey here, and read our original blog post on these beers to learn about why AC Golden decided to experiment with barrel-aged sours and about how the Hidden Barrel Series got its name.