Snackdown 2017 for PDX Beer Week

Once again, Portland Beer Week closed down with the official closing event where Portland Beer Week and Gigantic Brewing present SNACKDOWN!, a food and beer pairing event where 10 of Portland’s best Chefs and 10 Oregon Brewers are paired into 10 Brewer/Chef teams to make their greatest snack and beer pairing. Guests will choose their favorite pairing and the winners will be awarded the SNACKDOWN Belt.
Snackdown 2017 for PDX Beer Week, a food and beer pairing event with a wrestling theme offering 10 Portland chef and 10 Oregon brewers working together Snackdown 2017 for PDX Beer Week, a food and beer pairing event with a wrestling theme offering 10 Portland chef and 10 Oregon brewers working together. Herb of Loyal Legion served as MC and got all the brewer/chef teams to take turns doing a little smack talking throughout the event - possibly while all participants were sporting wrestling themed costumes, most enthusiastically by John Harris of Ecliptic Brewing and Ben Love of Gigantic Brewing shown here

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My Picks for Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016

I’ll be at the festival on Friday [this post and the top picks list updated Friday 9PM after attending], but going in, here are my recommendations for the Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016. If you haven’t heard of the Portland Fruit Beer Festival, it is part of Portland Beer Week (as I wrote about earlier this week) and is taking place this year from Friday June 10 – Sunday 12th at the North Park Blocks (entrance on NW Davis between 8th Avenue and Park Avenue). This is a move from the past at Burnside Brewing’s parking lot to a 40% larger space, plus now there is shade! As before, the Portland Fruit Beer Festival is also all ages, though you have to be of legal age to drink beer or cider.
Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 Poster

    • The hours of the festival are
      • Friday June 10th 11:30 AM – 9 PM
      • Saturday June 11th 11 AM – 9 PM
      • Sunday June 12th 11 AM – 6 PM
    • Cost of the festival are
      • Free admission to non-drinkers.
      • Advanced General Admission $25 for a 12 oz official Portland Fruit Beer Festival cup and 15 drink tickets (those who arrive Friday before 2:30 PM get an additional 3 drink tickets). The cups are plastic glasses.
        Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 plastic cup Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 plastic cup
      • At the Door General Admission $25 for a 12 oz official Portland Fruit Beer Festival cup and 12 drink tickets, but it is cash only at the door
      • The sample pours of the fruit beers and the ciders will be 1-3 tickets for a 4 ounce pour. When I was there on Friday, there were 12 beers that were 1 ticket a pour, and most were 2 tickets with a few smaller kegs being 3 tickets.
      • You can purchase additional drink tickets for $1. Cash only.
      • Once you have your wristband and cup, you do not need to pay to re-enter any of the days – you only need to have bring back the cup and drink tickets to drink.
      • In addition, you can purchase 12 ounces of beer via $3 can of Burnside Couch Lager and $4 cans of  Burnside IPA from Burnside Brewing’s Burnside Can Garden inside Festival. Cash only.

"4 Cider Riot taster at the Portland Fruit Beer Festival

My personal picks for the Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016: note that although some of my samplers are modeled in last year’s festival glass, this year since they are in an outdoor park the 2016 glasses will be plastic similar to the Holiday Ale Fest.

I make my selection based on how appealing the combination of beer and fruit sounds, particularly rewarding uniqueness. When I taste the beer I look for balance but importantly also being able to clearly taste the fruit, and any fruity characteristics that come from hop or yeast doesn’t count it must be the fruit added in the brewing process. So many of the beers in the entire Festival lineup are decent beers I’m sure, but I’m looking for distinguishing fruit as a flavor thread as part of the beer. Here’s my top 10 list of what I look forward to…

  • The Commons: Butterflies Hovering a Saison with pineapple and kaffir lime leaves 5.9% ABV I’m a fan of The Commons farmhouse style beers. With the pineapple it may sound sweet, but was more lime.
  • Culmination Brewing: Sun Rey, a tea Radler brewed with Jasmine Pearl tea soda, lime and raspberries and kettle soured with lacto for a tart and refreshing summer sipper that offers tartness from the raspberries, citrus from the pineapple and lime, and additional depth of tea flavor. I tasted it at the media preview and wanted more! 4% ABV and 5 IBUs.
    Portland Fruit Beer Festival taste of a fruit beer as I pondered my Recommendations for the Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016
  • Ex Novo Brewing: Cactus Wins the Lottery. Ex Novo felt that cactus deserved its day in the sun – or more honestly, apparently they heard the phrase on some Youtube video and wanted to brew a beer so they could use the meme saying. So this is reverse engineered beer to fit the name of a tart refreshing Berliner Weisse with the fruity punch of prickly pear cactus. They made 30 barrels of this so a few bottles may be found only after the festival at some bottle shops and New Seasons and Whole Foods. ABV 4.2%
    Ex Novo Brewing: Cactus Wins the Lottery. Ex Novo felt that cactus deserved its day in the sun - or more honestly, apparently they heard the phrase on some Youtube video and wanted to brew a beer so they could use the meme saying. So this is reverse engineered beer to fit the name of a tart refreshing Berliner Weisse with the fruity punch of prickly pear cactus.
  • 54-40 Brewing: Cucumber-Honeydew Bright Ale Crafted with nearly 400 lbs of honeydew melon and well over 100 cucumbers! I already love cucumbers as it is as I find them perfectly refreshing, and was really impressed as both the cucumber and honeydew truly comes through on this beer. 5% ABV 12 IBU
  • Fort George: Chasing the Dragon is a light bodied blonde Kettle sour with Dragonfruit, and black currant added post-fermentation. Slight sweetness with a tart finish where you start with a weird fruitness (maybe the dragonfruit) and finish with the black currant flavors. 5.4% ABV
  • Ruse Brewing: Patchwork (Strawberry Basil Tart) pours a pretty pastel pink and this tart ale is kettle soured then conditioned with a touch of basil and a copious amount of local strawberries which really come through in the nose and when you drink it, impressive since strawberry is so much work to get into beer with it’s delicate fruit! 4.8% ABV
  • 10 Barrel Brewing: Plum Spectacular, from Tonya comes a small batch kettle sour made especially for the Portland Fruit Beer Festival. It has a crisp, clean, assertive sourness with plums.  6.4% ABV and 10 IBU
  • 2 Towns Ciderhouse: 2 Thorns is a collaboration cider when 2 Towns Ciderhouse and Portland Thorns FC teamed up to create “Two Thorns”using fresh-pressed Northwest apples, Oregon grown blackberries, raspberries, & rose petals with a special Vinho Verde Portuguese yeast to create a striking floral and berry cider that I found refreshingly tangy. 6.2% ABV
  • Finnriver Farm & Cidery: Black Stave, special edition of Finnriver’s popular flagship Black Currant Cider, farmcrafted with organic Washington Granny Smith and Pink Lady apples, fermented dry, stave aged for depth and then married with an oaked, funky currant ferment for an extra special depth level of flavor. A limited release of the award winning, contemporary dark fruit cider made with wood. 6.5% Abv.
  • Portland Cider Co.: Boysenberry Hop blends Oregon boysenberry with an off-dry cider infused with citrus spice New Zealand hops. This is the first in Portland Cider Co.’s summer hop series limited release ciders and even though it looks very fruit forward like “screw the apples just me boysenberry is the star”, the actual flavors when we tried it were well balanced and not as sweet as it may appear as the hopped cider counter the fruit well.
    Portland Fruit Beer Festival taste of a cider as I pondered Recommendations for the Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016
  • Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider: Spicy Mango Tepache (Pineapple Cider) is not actually a cider using apple at all, but all fermented pineapple, this year returning with a mango twist with the addition of Ghost Peppers and fresh mango juice to definitely make a spicy tepache with a great burn. Traditionally you mix this partially with beer so its’ 2/3 Tepache and 1/3 beer – not sure which would be the perfect beer mixer for this, though several of us at a media tasting also whispered how this would be so perfect at brunch with sparkling wine mixed in. 3.2% ABV

Honorable Mention: Sixpoint: Raspy Sauce (Raspberry Berliner-Weisse w/ Raspberry-Jalapeño syrup) made a special variation of the Sixpoint Lil’ Raspy for this year’s Fruit Beer Fest using Sixpoint Raspberry-Jalapeño syrup. I enjoyed this beer. F and I debated whether it should make the cut because he thought it was a cheat to use the syrup. However, berline-weiss beers are served with syrups, so I think it’s ok that it gets it’s extra raspberry  and spicy kick. 4.3% ABV
Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 Sixpoint Raspy Sauce beer, a special variation of the Sixpoint Lil’ Raspy for this year’s Fruit Beer Fest using Sixpoint Raspberry-Jalapeño syrup Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 Sixpoint Raspy Sauce beer, a special variation of the Sixpoint Lil’ Raspy for this year’s Fruit Beer Fest using Sixpoint Raspberry-Jalapeño syrup
On the Rare/Rotating Beers and Ciders list (with small kegs rotating throughout – see the full beer list with the rare beers list here in pdf), I hope I might be lucky enough to be around to taste the Breakside: Bourbon Barrel Aged Sour Rye Beer with Coconut

Food options at the festival will include

  • Hot Lips Pizza will be offering their pizza as well as sodas. Their specialty pizza includes their limited edition PDX Beer Week specials pizza, Beer Bratlips, a pizza with Smoked Carlton Farms bratwurst simmered in Subcontinental IPA with Tillamook extra-sharp cheddar, fresh onions, mozzarella, and a garlic Parmesan base finished with whole grain maple mustard glaze that also has beer in the mustard.
    HOT LIPS Pizza's Beer Bratlips, a pizza with Smoked Carlton Farms bratwurst with Tillamook extra-sharp cheddar, fresh onions, mozzarella, and a garlic parmesan base finished with whole grain maple mustard glaze
  • BUNK Sandwiches bringing their famous Pork Belly Cubano as an option and they usually have a seasonal vegetarian option and a grilled cheese too
    Bunk Sandwiches, Tommy Habetz, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Apple Chutney, Gruyere & Horseradish sandwich
  • Urban German Grill offering bratwurst and pretzels
    North American Organic Brewers Festival, Urban German Grill North American Organic Brewers Festival, Urban German Grill
  • Fifty Licks Ice Cream brings you dessert with ice cream and sorbetsThe best dressed ice cream man I've ever seen... Chad Draizin of Fifty Licks and his ice cream truck

Do you like fruit beers? Do any of the beers I listed intrigue you, and what would be your ideal combo for a fruit beer – what kind of fruit?
4 ounce taster pour at Portland Fruit Beer Festival

Disclosure: I attended a media event to sample some of the Portland Fruit Beer Festival 2016 beers and ciders, but I purchased my own admission/tickets to the festival, and have been attending and highlighting this festival for years! I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.

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Baker’s Dozen Coffee Beers & Doughnuts Next Weekend

I wanted to give you a heads up before the tickets sell out for Brian Yaeger’s Baker’s Dozen Coffee Beers & Doughnuts Festival!  Taking place next week from 10 AM – 3 PM on Saturday March 12, 2016 at Culmination Brewing, this was a fantastic event I attended last year that had me wired for the rest of the day thanks to all the caffeine from the coffee beers and all the sugar from the doughnuts.

Baker's Dozen Coffee Beers & Doughnuts 2016

This year, the festival again takes place at Culmination Brewing, which just recently won Best  New Brewery of the Year at the 2016 Oregon Beer Awards. With 20 some taps, of which 3/4 of them are their own beers which span a wide variety of styles, it’s hard to believe this brewery is less than a year old but already pumping out classics as well as always tweaking and experimenting too.

Culmination Brewing Chalkboard at Culmination Brewing with the Beer List on June 20, 2015 Bar inside of Culmination Brewing Bar inside of Culmination Brewing
These photos are back before they put the chalkboard on the wall atop the tap – I’ve been visiting since they first opened!

Culmination Brewing is family friendly and dog friendly, and has several comfy outdoor seats to enjoy the good weather (as well as easy street parking in a lot or nearby streets in the neighborhood just off out SE Sandy), as well as a dozen seats at the bar and tables inside as well. It is really like a neighborhood brewpub, but with an impressive list of brews.

Outside seating at Culmination Brewing Outside seating at Culmination Brewing Outside seating at Culmination Brewing

For $24 a person (purchase your tickets online at Mercury Tickets before they sell out – they are only selling 400 of these 21+ beer tickets), at the Baker’s Dozen Coffee Beers and Doughnuts festival you get access to a thirteen 4-oz samples of baker’s dozen (13) coffee beers as well as samples of all thirteen different doughnuts from thirteen different breweries and local Portland doughnut shops all in one place.

Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing  Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing

And, it can be family fun! They are offering a Doughnut Decoration Station for kids and non-kids. Local roasted normal coffee will be provided too, along with live music. You can purchase additional beverages beyond the 13 coffee beers and/or house-made breakfast sandwiches too.

Here’s more of a glimpse of what this upcoming festival can be like, based on the Baker’s Dozen Coffee & Doughnuts Festival last year.  I collected multiple donuts on my plate so I could try pairing them with the various beers on the checklist you get when you check in in whatever order I want.

Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing Coco Donuts Espresso Donuts were my favorite donuts from the Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing Bakers Dozen Coffee Beer & Doughnuts festival (coffee beer and local donuts from all over PDX) at Culmination Brewing

Here’s a pro tip: when I went, I took ziploc bags with me because even with them cutting up the doughnuts into sample sizes of 1/2 or 1/4 of a doughnut, there was no way I could eat 13 doughnut morsels, so I took some home by putting them in the bag!

For a preview of some of the participating breweries brews and doughnuts check out the Brewpublic Article here on the 2nd Annual Bakers Dozen.

Unfortunately I’ll be out of town for the festival so will miss it, which just means I’ve freed up a ticket for you that you should snap up ASAP. Have you been to Culmination yet? Have you paired coffee beer and doughnuts before? Who is your favorite Portland doughnut provider? Do you spell doughnut or donut?

Culmination Brewing

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Denver Beer Vacation: Celebrate GABF outside of GABF

Even though you may not have tickets to a session of GABF, during GABF week in Denver there is so much going on with special tappings all over town that you can have an amazing time trying new beers from all over the US without even stepping into the convention center. Here’s a look at some of the hubs for outside GABF activities to check out.

You can also consider this a list of places to sample a huge variety of beers from different breweries with their many taps in the downtown Denver area, whether GABF is happening or not. Perhaps you are on a Denver beer vacation and want to only stop at one or a few places where you can get a big buffet of beer options all in one sitting? Then this is your list.
Snifter of Avery beer

Tap Takeovers at World of Beer

World of Beer is a franchise with three locations in Colorado and one in Renton, Washington. Even without the special tap takeover when we visited, World of Beer offers 500+ beers. You read that right, more than 500 beers!
The tap handles during the Avery Tap Takeover at World of Beer, Lodo The tap handles during the Avery Tap Takeover at World of Beer, Lodo

And, they open from lunch until evening, so you don’t have to necessarily wait until after work when most bars open – great if you’re say, on vacation like I was. The beer menu is well organized into styles with helpful descriptions to help you make sense of their selection.
Avery Tap Takeover during GABF at World Beer, Lodo location on 1555 Blake Street Avery Tap Takeover during GABF at World Beer, Lodo location on 1555 Blake Street

The 500 beers includes bottles and drafts, and I focused mostly on the drafts.
Chalkboard menu during the Avery Tap Takeover at World of Beer, Lodo

In particular, during my visit there was an Avery Brewing tap takeover with almost all of its year-round and seasonal beer. I loved the Avery Tectum Et Elix Barrel Aged #26, a funky American Wild with earthy flavors soured with Pediococcus and aged in cabernet barrels for 9 months, and the Avery Uncle Jacob’s Stout, an Imperial Stout at 17.4% but so smooth.
Avery Tectum Et Elix Barrel Aged #26, a funky American Wild with earthy flavors soured with Pediococcus and aged in cabernet barrels for 9 months Avery Uncle Jacob's Stout, an Imperial Stout at 17.4%

Also available at World of Lodo on our visit was Utah’s Wasatch Brewing with brewers and swag for their annual Polygamy Party and some beers from Coronado Brewing and Cigar City.
Wasatch Brewery from Utah was also present with swag and brewers to promote their beer Wasatch Brewery from Utah was also present with swag and brewers to promote their beer

World of Beer also offers tavern food, with a dozen some appetizers, flatbreads, salads, burgers and sandwiches. One of the recommended starters is their German Pretzel, they have a cool way of presenting their giant Bavarian pretzel served with housemade mustard and for a little extra, housemade beer cheese sauce. That’s a regular snifter glass for size comparison there in the photo. I didn’t have room for dessert, but was tempted by their beer infused Belgian Waffle S’mores with toasted marshmallow, graham cracker crumbles and Kahlúa fudge sauce.
The impressively sized pretzel with cheese and mustard is served on hanging to better show fof it's size at World of Beer, Lodo

World of Beer offers happy hour as well as “Beerunch” – that’s right, a beer brunch that includes breakfast and unlimited bloody mary, mimosa, and beermosa bottomless booze brunch special (with food item), and a build your own bloody station. On their menu besides beer, they also had some interesting shots: Cinnamon Toast Crunch with Fireball and Rumchata, Irish Breakfast with Jameson, Butterscotch Schnapps and OJ, Baby Guinness with Patron XO and Bailey’s Irish Cream, and Duck Fart with Crown Royal, Bailey’s Irish Cream and Kahlua… and more
Some of the Shots available - Cinnamon Toast Crunch with Fireball and Rumchata, Irish Breakfast with Jameson, Butterscotch Schnapps and OJ, Baby Guinness with Patron XO and Bailey's Irish Cream, and Duck Fart with Crown Royal, Bailey's Irish Cream and Kahlua... and more

So if you are looking for a great variety of craft beer with food, and maybe also a bunch of TVs available to watch a game, World of Beer is a viable option that can satisfy many tastes of beer and food with a big selection.
Various collected tap handles Poetry: Roses are red, Beer is good, Poems are hard BEER
World of Beer Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Tap Takeovers at Freshcraft

Freshcraft, only half a block away in Lodo, offers only 28 taps but the food menu here is more refined, focused specifically on pairing well with beer. Serving lunch and dinner, dishes here sound tasty like a Deviled Pork Belly Wrap with spicy pork belly confit with apples, cabbage, carrots, scallions, jack cheese, and a red wine mustard BBQ sauce; or consider a Cheese Crusted Iowa Style Fried Pork Tenderloin sandwich at lunch. There is even support for a good option for a vegetarian diet, such as their cocoa marinated crimini mushrooms tacos, or quinoa nicoise with Parmesan-crusted quinoa cakes served with fresh greens, cured egg, marinated olives, green beans, tomatoes, and herbed potatoes. (.
Freshcraft, featuring 28 some taps Freshcraft, featuring 28 some taps

When we visited, their tap takeover I specifically came for was Upslope Brewing Company, where I was able to try special tappings of their beers such as

  • Irish Red Ale- GABF Pro-Am competition Entry
  • Imperial Saison with Merlot Grapes, the Upslope 6th Anniversary Ale
  • Yirgacheffe Coffee Dubel, an Upslope and Dragonfly Roasters collaboration
  • Lychee IPA with Azacca Hops, an Upslope and Half Acre Beer Company collaboration

Freshcraft, featuring 28 some taps and tap takeovers each night. On Wednesday September 23 the featured brewery was UpSlope Freshcraft, featuring 28 some taps and tap takeovers each night. On Saturday September 23 the featured brewery was Odell Brewing and Firestone Walker
Freshcraft Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Falling Rock Tap House

The biggest beer party of GABF, besides GABF itself, it always Falling Rock Tap House. With 92 taps & over 300 bottled selections plus an extensive Vintage Beer Cellar, Falling Rock has basically been serving as the UnOfficial Headquarters for GABF and are open the latest (2AM!) of the options I’ve listed here. The taps are about 40% Colorado Beers, but also include a great selection of beers from the rest of the US as well as from the World.
Falling Rock Tap House - additional taps are added outside in their parking lot for special tappings multiple times daily during GABF week Falling Rock Tap House - besides the taps inside, additional taps are added outside in their parking lot for special tappings multiple times daily during GABF week

During GABF they expand to their parking lot to have beer trailers in order to offer even more beers, and at in the afternoons through late evenings go through 5 or 10 changing of the kegs to feature other breweries on their taps inside or outside. For instance, on the day we visited they had cycled through Oskar Blues beers at 4 PM; Ballast Point at 9 PM; Shelton Brothers-distributed brews at 9:30 PM; the Verboten/Hoppin’ Frog collab beers at 10 PM; Wicked Week, Cascade, Fremont, Two Roads and Crooked Stave at 10:30 PM; and Trinity beers at 11 p.m.

The parking lot during GABF was cash only, but could truly rightfully claim that “Our Trailer Park has better Beer than your Trailer Park! :-)” with options such as Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela, Mikkeller Double Blueberry, Trois Dames Framboos Saison, Lord Hobo Boom Sauce, and more on the first night we visited.
Falling Rock Tap House - additional taps are added outside in their parking lot for special tappings multiple times daily during GABF week Falling Rock Tap House - additional taps are added outside in their parking lot for special tappings multiple times daily during GABF week

The feel of Falling Rock is a bit like a frat house in that you can probably expect lots of guys drinking lots of beer, but without the immaturity. But, yes, it’s dark woods and the floors are a little sticky. There’s food offered though it’s nothing beyond the normal – you are really here for the beer and in many cases to meet all the fellow beer lovers and brewers who all will be hanging here.
Many, many bottles and tap handles displayed along all the walls of Falling Rock Taphouse Many, many bottles and tap handles displayed along all the walls of Falling Rock Taphouse

They do at least clearly label the bathroom to help everyone out.
Signage to assist you in finding the restroom at Falling Rock Taphouse Signage to assist you in finding the restroom at Falling Rock Taphouse
Falling Rock Tap House Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

All three of these locations are very walkable – only all within 1/2 a mile of each other, and within a mile of the Colorado Convention Center where GABF is held. For my thoughts on my GABF 2015 experience, see my previous post here. I also covered enjoying beer within Denver and visiting breweries outside Denver by Longmont and Boulder.

Other ways to keep on top of the many many beer events in Denver is to check out a month or so before GABF the First Drafts beer blog at the Denver Post or calendar/listing at Westword, a Denver event listing publication.

Overall, it was a fun trip to have the biggest beercation ever for GABF week, and supporting and celebrating Craft Beer. Even with all the various stops I had there were always unique new beer flavors to enjoy among so many styles. Of all the places I’ve visited so far, Denver is the closest to Portland in it’s broad and deep beer scene offerings and having destinations within reasonable distances to each other to go on a beer sampling trip, beating Austin in beer quality and San Diego in how easy it is to visit.

I’ll still pick Portland as the winningest beercation city in the US though. 🙂

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Visiting Denver for Beer Vacation / Beercation and GABF in September 2015

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Best Beer Visits Outside Denver

For half a day while on my GABF Beercation (which I recapped my GABF session here, and another day we visited just Denver city brewers here with Beer Tasting in Denver: Great Divide, Crooked Stave, First Draft), we took a beer visits outside Denver excursion. We drove from Denver to the Longmont area to visit two brewery tasting rooms, and then on the way back went to Boulder area for a brewery to have lunch and more beer. Our stops for beer visits outside Denver were

Left Hand Brewing

Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room in Longmont Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room in Longmont celebrated their 20 year anniversary of 1993 to 2013
Left Hand Brewing is best known for their Milk Stout, which is a creamy (especially here from their taps) chocolate coffee beer flavors. They have been around for quite a while – more than 20 years as they started in 1993.
Left Hand Brewing, a delicious glass of their Milk Stout Left Hand Brewing, a delicious glass of their Milk Stout

What I also know them for is I think being one of the most thoughtfully designed beer tasting rooms I’ve ever visited. Their tasting room includes a patio area that faces out into their parking lot near the food trucks (Left Hand does not offer food but the food trucks too) and if you face the right way and it’s clear, a glimpse perhaps of the Rockies.
Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room offers no food, but there are food carts available outside Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room

There is also a small area by that patio showcasing local artwork, a small merchandise store, and then it opens up into a long main bar that proudly displays certificates of various bartenders who have gotten beer cicerone status and has two areas to pull taps, plus that’s where the cask conditioned beers are in the back of the main bar. The TV displays upcoming events, varying from their monthly free yoga session to celebrating/promoting women in beer with Ales 4 FemAles.
Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room Left Hand Brewing Tasting RoomLeft Hand Brewing Tasting Room - al those certificates hanging up there are for certifications of cicerones Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room in Longmont holds events such as yoga the last Sunday of the month Cask Conditioned Taps at Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room Cask Conditioned Taps at Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room

Go past the main bar and find another backroom with more taps and seats by a stage area,
Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room - additional taps in the back Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room

There is a lovely back outdoor patio that also looks out into some cornhole too.
Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room cornhole outside within the hand fence Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room cornhole outside within the hand fence

I love the detail of the “handy” custom fence, as well as the left hand in other design motifs throughout the tasting room. It really says something to me that a brewery puts this much attention to detail to their environment.
Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room cornhole outside within the hand fence Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room cornhole outside within the hand fence Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room in Longmont - hand on the wall Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room in Longmont - hand on the floor Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room in Longmont really celebrates their left hand logo

When you get a flight of beer, they thoughtfully provide laminated cards to help mark which beer is which as well as provide descriptions.
Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room tasting trays comes with small laminated cards to help you track the beers you have selected Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room tasting trays comes with small laminated cards to help you track the beers you have selected

You can order sampler sizes in a flight of 4 or individually.
Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room tasting trays comes with small laminated cards to help you track the beers you have selected Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room tasting trays comes with small laminated cards to help you track the beers you have selected

In the restroom, there is a little handle so you can open the bathroom door with your foot instead of having to use a dirty door handle. I like the way they still celebrate beer even in their bathroom stalls with their stalls showcasing grains.
Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room - restrooms Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room - restrooms

At only a 45 minute drive from Denver, Left Hand is definitely worth a visit, and while you’re out here and making your way back to Denver, there are 2 other stops I recommend…
Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room sampler Left Hand Brewing Tasting Room sampler

Left Hand Brewing Company Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Oskar Blues

At only a 10 minute drive away from Left Hand, it makes sense that if you’re out here, you might as well visit Oskar Blues Brewery. There are two possible places to visit- either their restaurant/foodery locations, which offers beer and food (Home Made Liquids and Solids offers Cajun and Creole food as well as burgers, bbq, and pizzas, while the other Longmont location of CyclHops focuses on a celebration of bicycling as well as tacos and tequila with their beer, and third foodery CHUBurger specializes in burgers and their beer) or you can go to the brewery and canning location and tasting room, the Tasty Weasel.

We went to the Tasty Weasel as we were saving lunch to be at our next stop. All these locations have their attitude of laid back casual.
Oskar Blues Tasting Room the Tasty Weasel Oskar Blues Tasting Room the Tasty Weasel

At the Tasty Weasel, as soon as you walk in to your left you can watch their can production, and some skeeball.
Oskar Blues Tasting Room the Tasty Weasel - a small room on the left gives you a glimpse of the canning production plus skeeball and seating for drinking your beer Oskar Blues Tasting Room the Tasty Weasel - a small room on the left gives you a glimpse of the canning production plus skeeball and seating for drinking your beer

Meanwhile, the main long bar area with lots of tables and huge patio area (you can see a glimpse behind the sampler tray) expresses their attitude of completely laid back, like a mix between industrial hard working brewery and canning facility but the bro-ness fun of a friendly frat house. Notice the tons of stickers in support of their fellow brewery friends, and the creepy mannequin in the window looking into their tanks.
Oskar Blues, The Tasty Weasel Tap Room Oskar Blues, The Tasty Weasel Tap Room A look inside the patio and a sampling tray at Oskar Blues The Tasty Weasel

Make sure you check not just beers listed on the main board, but the smaller Specialty Beers board on the right side.
Oskar Blues, The Tasty Weasel Tap Room

You will also see that they are really proud to totally use cans instead of bottles – even their tap handles proudly showcase this.
Oskar blues tap handle at the Tasty Weasel Tap Room

As always, I suggest getting tasters of beer in order to sample the most. You will also notice they have big bins of peanuts for you to enjoy for free as you drink their beer. My favorite here is the Ten Fidy, with second place going to Old Chub.
Oskar Blues Tasting Room the Tasty Weasel Ten Fidy by Oskar Blues Brewery

Tasty Weasel doesn’t serve any food themselves, though they will often have a tent from a food vendor onsite grilling up sausages for instance – if you want food with your Oskar Blues beer visit one of their foodery locations as Tasty Weasel is focused more on being a tasting room.
Tasty Weasel Taproom Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Avery Brewing

With 30 some taps, Avery Brewing has the biggest and nicest facilities of the 3 beer visits outside Denver.
Avery Brewing in Boulder Avery Brewing in Boulder Avery Brewing Avery Brewing Restaurant upstairs

They just opened a new facility earlier this year which now features two giant tasting rooms – one on the first floor outside where you can sit on the grass and patio furniture enjoying the outside. It has lost some of the coziness of the smaller original brewpub all wood location, but greatly expanded the space in the new grander warehouse-like building.
Avery Brewing downstairs bar and patio Avery Brewing downstairs bar and patio Avery Brewing downstairs bar and patio Avery Brewing

Or go upstairs past the merchandise store to where there is a full fledged brewpub restaurant with food created with matching their beers in mind.
Avery Brewing in Boulder Avery Brewing in Boulder Avery Brewing Restaurant upstairs Avery Brewing in BoulderAvery Brewing in Boulder Avery Brewing

Their offerings of beer are a large variety from German style to Belgians to sours and tarts with Brett or aged in barrels that include for instance
Avery Brewing beer and their beer menu Avery Brewing beer and their beer menu

  • Seducer – a sessionalbe apple-beer hybrid
  • Liliko’i Kepolo – a witbier with tropical passionfruit
  • 10lb Strawberry Sour – a Belgian style wit with 10 pounds of fresh strawberries per keg and then soured in neutral oak barrels
  • White Rascal Belgian Style White Ale – unfiltered and spiced with coriander and Curacao orange peel
  • San Juan Sour – Ross and Rachel’s wedding beer inspired after their favorite Efrain’s cocktail the “Pink Cadillac Margarita”
  • Nora – an intensely sour pumpkin ale aged for 9 months in neutral wine barrels
  • III Dolia – a sour blend aged in a combination of Maderia, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carcavelos barrels which are the rarest and most expensive barrels Avery has very filled

Avery Brewing in Boulder Avery Brewing in Boulder

Some of the food we enjoyed for our lunch included

  • Isabelle Farm Tomato Salad with Heirloom and Sungold Tomatoes, Munson Farm Corn, avocado, farm greens, croutons, manchego and shallot vin
  • Smothered Cheese Curds and Potatoes, with cheese curds, spiced fingerlings, and andouille gravy
  • Cheeseburger with ground chuck, smoked gouda, sherry greens, pickles, stout onions, and choice of a side (here you see pork belly green beans
  • Sloppy Seitan with barbecue seitan, pickled vegetables on a sesame bun with a choice of side (here spiced fingerlings)

Avery Brewing menu for September 22-27 Avery Brewing Isabelle Farm Tomato Salad with Heirloom and Sungold Tomatoes, Munson Farm Corn, avocado, farm greens, croutons, manchego and shallot vin Avery Brewing Smothered Cheese Curds and Potatoes, with cheese curds, spiced fingerlings, and andouille gravy Avery Brewing Cheeseburger with ground chuck, smoked gouda, sherry greens, pickles, stout onions, and choice of a side (here you see pork belly green beans Avery Brewing Sloppy Seitan with barbecue seitan, pickled vegetables on a sesame bun with a choice of side (here spiced fingerlings)

Of all the breweries in Denver we visited, this was my favorite. I would call this a must visit every time I’m in the area, even on revisits.

Avery Brewing Company Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Which of these three breweries style of tasting room appeals the most to you and why?

I’ll still pick Portland as the winningest beercation city in the US though. 🙂

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Visiting Denver for Beer Vacation / Beercation and GABF in September 2015

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