A Bit of Britain in Denver, CO

This week we head back West to Denver, Colorado.  This city, located at the base of the Rocky Mountains, has had a long, proud history with fermentation.   Aside from the Coors brewing company, the Great American Beer Festival is held here every year, the American Homebrewers Association hold a national competition in nearby Boulder every year;  Basically I'm saying that there's a bit of history in and around Denver, and much of that history has to do with the brewing and the consumption of beer. 

My travels took me to the southern end of town and the Bull and Bush Brewpub.  The bar was modeled after the Bull and Bush located in England right down to the copper-topped bar.  It has a very authentic feel to it, but apparently it wasn't authentic enough for a British man I happened to meet while I was there.  He looked around and loudly announced that, "it wasn't a proper English pub.  The people here are happy and nobody's been stabbed yet."  He later went to the bathroom and announced when he came back that it wasn't a proper English pub because no one was doing coke in there.  Apparently, based on this information, England is a nation of depressed, violent sociopaths who's only joy in life is doing a bit of blow off the john. 
Although to be fair to the disaffected Brit, he came all the way to Denver to see a friend of his, and his friend took him to a British pub.  It's a bit like offering Gilligan a coconut if he ever got off the damn island. I would be slightly annoyed as well.

I enjoyed the place myself.  The staff was friendly, the food was good, it had a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere and, most importantly, it boasted some fantastic beers.  Keeping with the English theme, the bar specializes in English style ales and lagers.  Out of their core beers, the clear standouts were the ESB and the IPA.  The Tower ESB starts out quite sweet with a lot of caramel and roasted grain flavors and is well balanced with the bitter hops that linger a long time on the palate.  Strangely, their IPA, dubbed Man Beer, was an American-style IPA.  There was lots of citrus hops in the aroma and in the flavor balanced with a decent about of malt sweetness.  There may have been some English influence in this beer however, because it did finish with a lot of bitter floral hops.

The other point of interest about the Bush and Bull, aside from their amusing logo, is the fact that the brewer is obviously a man who, to put it mildly, is not at all afraid to try some weird things.  Among their seasonal offerings during my visit was the Turnip the Beets, a beer brewed with Turnips and Beets, fermented with champagne yeast, fermented in wine barrels and flavored with just a hint of wine.  The result was a cloudy, rose colored beer with a earthy, sour cherry nose.  The flavor had a lot of wine and berry flavors and a hint of something I couldn't identify.  I assumed it was the root vegetables.  I had a pint of it and I am still not sure whether or not I liked it, so I'm going to call it a win for novelty.
Also, among the seasonal offerings was the Captain Midnight.  This one, to me at least, smelled and tasted like black liquorice and band-aid.  Although I feel it's worth a mention because it was very unique and a lot of other people in the bar really liked this one.   One man went into quite a lot of detail about liquorice flavors mixed with peppercorn and other spices.  Me, I'm going to stick with liquorice and band-aid, but that's just me.

Finally, among the many highlights from this particular bar, was their Abt 12 quadruple.  It is not a real Abby-style ale because, as the waitress pointed out, there are no monks in the back working the fermenters, but it is still a fantastic beer.  It had a lot of malt, nut and banana in the aroma and the taste was similar with just an added hint of raisin.  By the end of the day, I think this was my favorite offering.

 That's all for this week.  I'll be staying in Denver for next week and talking about a beer bar in town that is truly worthy of a pilgrimage for all those who enjoy the art of fermentation.  Until then, cheers!