Where to Find the Strongest Beers Made in Colorado

During a typical night out to a brewery, many drinkers might consider an 8 to 10 percent ABV beer strong. Perhaps a special bottle of even stronger beer will be available to go, one closer to 12 or even 15 percent ABV. But there are offerings beyond this level, made by a select few dedicated producers, for a growing number of passionate drinkers eager to dive into the complexity of such monster beers.

“It’s funny — when we started Big Beers, people didn’t understand or appreciate these types of beers,” says Laura Lodge, founder of the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival, which is currently on hiatus. “And now people fully embrace [them] and have gone the other way.”

Wayne Burns has been brewing professionally for over thirty years. With a résumé ranging from Bell’s Brewery and Kuhnhenn’s Brewing in Michigan to local breweries Jagged Mountain, Vine Street, Holidaily and Wynkoop, Burns has a great deal of experience. Together, he and Laura Worley formed Burns Family Artisan Ales in 2018. Immediately, the high-gravity beers that Burns was known for at many of those prior breweries found its way onto the menu.

Brewing these gargantuan beers takes a lot of finesse and patience. It’s not simply about fermenting a lot of sugars and ending up at a very high level of alcohol. “The alcohol is gentle on the palate,” says Burns.

Worley agrees. “If you push the yeast hard, you’re going to get some hot alcohol. But if you’re tasting and nurturing and working the yeast, whispering at it, then you take it out of fermentation when it’s done,” she explains. “Our objective is to try to get a beer that tastes right rather than strong.”
The brewery doesn’t always start with a base of what would become a 20 percent beer. In fact, it can be difficult for yeast to survive in such a high-sugar environment. Lower-gravity beers that are sporadically fed with more sugars during fermentation is one way to achieve a more elegant 20 percent alcohol beer. Sometimes multiple strains of yeast are needed, as well. “There are plenty of alcohol-tolerant yeasts on the market today,” notes Worley. “It’s more about the brewer knowing how to use the yeast, how to help it continue to ferment.”

The result isn’t always what the brewers had in mind, either. “We’ve had several experiences where we thought a beer [would taste one way] but it didn’t. And it’s perfect; it’s just not what we originally thought it would be,” says Worley.

Burns Family collaborates quite a bit on high-alcohol beers with River North Brewery. In fact, nobody in Colorado currently makes as many beers around the 20 percent ABV level as these two breweries.

River North, like Burns, selects from multiple strains of yeast, including an English strain and a Belgian strain. Patience is key with River North’s process, too. “When it’s done, it’s done,” says Matt Malloy, head brewer of River North. “When I schedule a beer of this caliber into the [production schedule], I don’t put a time limit on that. I let it do its thing. I’ll move other beers around to keep our production going and focus on nurturing the [big beer], keeping the oxygen levels, the pressure and the sugars right.”

River North focuses a lot on the production side of brewing, so the open-endedness of some of these larger beers can wreak havoc on the sales schedule. “I get asked for a release calendar,” says Matt Sauerwein, the brewery's sales director. “But it doesn’t mean it’s going to be right, so then it’s an exercise in futility at that point.” Sauerwein also sees the importance of a beer like this being done right rather than on a set schedule.
Henry Wood, partner and vice president of sales and marketing at Upslope Brewing, agrees. He says that the brewery’s notorious Lee Hill Series releases are planned quarterly, but no more specific than that, to allow a special batch of beer to finish when it’s ready. “[The beers] can release any time in those three months,” notes Wood.

One of Upslope’s most interesting and unique beers happens to be its strongest, as well. 2021’s Grand Reserve, standing at 21 percent ABV, is a beer that took over four years from brew day to release, selling out in just a couple of hours. The beer is made from the original Batch 1000, a real cordial, liqueur-like concoction with ten different types of sugar added during fermentation. Head brewer Alex Meyer took a small portion of Batch 1000 and aged part of it in bourbon barrels and part in brandy barrels to create Grand Reserve. The beer is served in a 750 milliliter bottle, similar to a brandy or whiskey. It's even served still, to mimic the fortified wines that serve as its inspiration.

“I believe in a lot of intentionality when you plan these brews, but you get to a point where you’re tasting a specific barrel and it just tastes awesome and it’s ready,” says Meyer. Although he is an Advanced Cicerone, Meyer places a lot of importance on collaboration when choosing which barrels to blend into the final batches. “I always like to taste [barrels] with other people. You need people that can taste different things and have other opinions. Being in a vacuum is really difficult,” he adds.

With so many beers being brewed and barrels in the warehouse, sometimes Meyer is the only one who knows about projects like Grand Reserve, and that's just fine with Wood. “I love not knowing about these beers; it’s great,” says Wood. “It’s like Christmas when they arrive.”
Burns Family Artisan Ales has its own beer club, appropriately titled The FAMILY Membership. This allows access to some insider-only barrel-aged beers and classics, as well as beers specifically curated to a member's preferences. Members also get a single bottle of the 2023 Solar Eclipse Double Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, which clocks in at a hefty 19.5 percent ABV, and invitations to two FAMILY parties. Be sure to check the Burns website for on-tap and bottle menus as well — both frequently contain some higher ABV treats.

River North Brewery regularly releases special high-alcohol bottles like Double Barrel Last Guardian (21.8 percent), a strong Belgian Abbey-style ale aged in Kentucky bourbon and Colorado single-malt barrels; and Barrel Aged Double Avarice (20.02 percent), an imperial stout aged in Buffalo Trace barrels.

And at 22.04 percent ABV, River North's Anniversary 10 may also be the strongest beer to ever come out of Colorado. The big stout was triple barrel-aged. River North has a beer membership, dubbed Norther Society, with discounts, upgraded pints and six limited-edition single-cask bottles. Also keep an eye on River North's Instagram and Facebook Pages for future big beer releases.

Upslope Brewing has its quarterly Lee Hill Series releases. While these don't always approach the alcohol levels of the other beers mentioned, they are produced with the same care and thoughtfulness. Although you may be out of luck looking for 2021's Grand Reserve, seek out Batch 2000. This beer was released in December 2022 to commemorate the 200th brew at Upslope's Flatiron Park location. The 19 percent ABV beer features Leopold Bros. malt and dark muscovado sugar and was aged for sixteen months in special Three Chamber Rye Whiskey barrels, also from Leopold Bros. Check out Instagram and Facebook to keep up with Upslope's beers.