Pizza and Beer, Rocky Mountain High Edition: Denver, CO.

I'm sensing at pattern.

Pizza and beer are, of course, a match made in fat, happy, drunken heaven.  The two words flow together like poetry.  In fact, if I were to yell, "Who wants pizza and beer?" everyone would raise their hands with the possible exception of those who had recently had pizza or those who don't drink. (You're in the wrong bloody blog if you're in the latter category.  Seriously, how did you even get here?)

So it shouldn't be all that surprising that I am running into more and more pizzeria/ microbreweries scattered among the landscape.  For example there is Oggies, a chain I have been seeing with more and more frequency across this great land and I recently ran into Papago brewery in Arizona that doesn't specialize in pizza per se, but they have a certain mad scientist approach to the dish.


Dads and Bros. Breweria is one of those, a pizzeria and brewery shacking up together, splitting the bills and making sweet love.

"It's actually the smallest microbrewery in Colorado," said Paul as he was pouring me my taster's flight.  The first thing I liked about this place was the staff.  The good people slinging beer would stop and talk about their beer and the brewery.  The owner occasionally wandered by to glad-hand patrons, shoot the shit and ask the key question,

"So what do you think of the Basil Watermelon Wheat?"

More on that in a moment.

"It's kind of cool to operate on this scale, you know?  It allows us to kind of experiment."

The second thing I liked about this place is that they are a bit of a wild card when it comes to brewing.  They have some pretty standard brews, as you will see in a moment, but every once in a while, there's something quite a bit different.  A beer that makes you're eyes go wide and forces you to look down into your glass to see what they hell you just drank.  In a good way, mind.

Basil Watermelon Wheat: "Not our most popular beer," Paul said when I ordered a pint.  "People either really like it, like you.  Or people...don't."  In the middle of a hot summer day, I thought this was a nice beer to have.  It has a very, very light fruity aroma.  As far as the flavor goes, the name pretty much says it all.  Watermelon's flavor is so light it's amazing that it comes through at all and it's backed up with a sweet slightly minty herbal flavor.  Watermelon and basil.   I don't see myself filling the fridge with this beer, but for something refreshing and different, I'll give it a swig or two.

Fathom Amber: The aroma on this beer had a very nice sweet toffee, caramel character to it.  Unfortunately, this is one of those where the smelling the beer was better then actually drinking it.   The richness in the aroma was gone and the flavor was very light with herbal, woody flavors mixed in that clashed with the malt.  It wasn't bad, but not my favorite.

Toffee Porter: Mocha coffee aroma.  This is a coffee porter with a sweet chocolate character that makes for a much sweeter beer.  There was no bitterness that I could find, just a lot of creamy coffee mocha flavors.

Citrasmack: Okay now that we've finished with all that malt, it's time to temper that with a dose of hops.  Citrasmack had a nice spicy citrus aroma.  The flavors from the hops were a little strange.  I wouldn't say they clashed, but it was one of those times where couldn't quite decide whether I like the thing or not.  I picked up some pine and citrus throughout with a lemongrass finish.

Liquid Resume: Ah, if only every job application required one of these.  This pale ale was basically a lighter version of the Citrasmack.  I picked up more earthy flavors among the pine and citrus with just a little more spice.  I got most of the qualities from the IPA, but at a volume that was more palatable.

So it's like this.  The past week was spent in kind of a slow stagger down the rocky mountains.  I started in Denver, wandered into Santa Fe, passed out for a moment in Flagstaff and finished in Phoenix.  It all happened in the space of a week, but screw it, I'm reporting it over the course of the next month or so.

It's a lot of territory to cover, so grab a pint or two.
Cheers.

Deciples of Papazian: Denver CO

Well my travels have taken me back to the city at the edge of the Rocky Mountains.  And once again I find myself wandering the streets around the LoDo district of Denver.  Last time I was here, I stopped by the Falling Rocks Tap room for a taste of what they available at the time.  It was tempting to go back, last time I was there around the holidays they had an amazing selection of dark winter beers, I decided it was time to venture onward.  On this day I stopped by Wynkoop brewing company.

I am pretty sure I have spoken before about this city's deep connection with the art of craft brewing.  I think I saw something along the lines of 4 or 5 different breweries in the LoDo district alone, and if you happen to find yourself on the outskirts of town, history has shown that new and creative brew can still be located and enjoyed.  Denver is a beer town, to put it mildly, and from what I heard from the bar staff, this bar is ground zero.  The head brewer, Russell Schehrer, brought the art of craft brewing to Colorado back in 1988.  His ideas and brews were so innovative that after his untimely death in 1996 the American Brewers Association awards those who make great strides in the art of brewing with an award that bears his name. 

Given the history of this bar, I suppose that it is no surprise in retrospect that one of the first things I noticed in the bar was a hand-painted wall decoration honoring the greats in the craft brew revolution and the resulting Great American Beer Festival that contributed to its rise.  It stands as an altar to the legends that revolutionized the art of brewing in America.  From the top and center, Charlie Papazian looks down over the bar reminding us to "Relax and have a home brew."

I started with Pattys Chile Beer, a light beer brewed with Anaheim peppers.  This is not the first beer that I have had that uses hot peppers and I quite like the spicy aroma that it produces.  The peppers add a good amount of flavor with heat that doesn't linger the way spicy food does.  This beer was all that and more. Along with the strong smells and flavor from the peppers there is a goodly amount of hops at the back that really complement the sweet and spice that first hits the palate.

Next was the St. Charles Extra Special Bitter.
I found that I made the mistake in ordering the gumbo. That isn't to say it wasn't good, it was absolutely delicious.  It was also very spicy; it's the sort of spice that makes me physically sweat when I eat it.  Suffice to say that when it came time to taste this beer, my sinuses were in a state of moderate distress. The brewery notes on the beer says it has, "an elegant hop aroma," and I am inclined to take their word for it.  Flavor wise, it has a wonderful smooth taste. A little on the sweet side with orange spices back with a healthy dose of hops that manages to come through without being overpowering.  The pint came out with a very thick snow-white head that looked as good as it tasted.  Overall I think this was my favorite of the beers that I sampled.

Sadly, my obligations to my employer forced me to cut it short on this night so that I could be in some sort of state to wake up very early the next morning.  I finished Wynkoop's flagship beer, the Railyard Ale.  The first thing that really made me arch my eyebrows in interest is the body of this beer.  It's brewed as a session beer, it has a very light aroma and the flavor has some light roasted malts with just a touch of hops in the back for balance.  The body on this beer is a different matter.  I reminded me of one of those guys on ESPN 5 who are about 4' 5" and can bench press a tractor trailer.   I'm still not sure what I think about this one.  As a session beer, it's really not my ideal, but I got to respect how different it is.  I don't think I would buy a lot to keep at my house, but I would buy a lot to bring to parties and force it upon my friends.

I got one more destination before we bid 2011 goodbye and move on to the bright and shiny new year.  I will be finishing my 2011 tour in Las Vegas, Nevada before heading home. 
Cheers!

Beware, Falling Rocks: Denver, CO

Up until now, this blog has mostly been an excuse for me to bounce around the wineries and breweries I come across.  Now it's going to be an excuse to go to the bar.   


The Falling Rock Tap Room is truly a beer lovers bar.  Their on tap selection is pretty massive (Over 70 if I remember correctly) with a selection of bottled beer to match.   This is one of those places that has beer on tap that you can't get at any other bar in this country.  In addition, they move enough beer though this bar that running into a keg that has been on tap since the last presidential election is extremely unlikely.  The beer menu even comes with a warning that it was accurate at the time of printing and could change at a moment's notice.  If you run into an old beer, it is there on purpose, but I touch on that little nugget later.  Then there is the staff...

While sitting at the bar enjoying one of their fine brews, I noticed a young man and woman approach the bar.  I can't be sure, but from the way they were acting and the way they were talking I think they were on a date; if not their first date, than a pretty early one in the relationship.  As the girl scanned the seemingly endless row of taps, she had a look on her face that suggested that, to put it mildly, she was not prepared to render a decision at this time.  The bartender came by and the man ordered a dark beer of some kind.  Then he turned to the woman who paused for a while and then said, "Do you have anything like bud light?"  Now, like I said before, this is a true beer bar.  It's one of a few places you will see a lot of patrons sniffing their drinks before they start drinking.  So when that poor girl uttered the words, 'Bud Light' you could actually feel the room get a bit colder.  The bartender, however, simply looked behind him for a moment, found the lightest thing they had on tap and poured a small taster glass for her to see if she enjoyed it.  She drank it, decided that it was not at all like Bud Light, but was worth ordering a glass of anyway.  My point is the staff is friendly and approachable, so it's a good place for those new to the craft beer world.

Their offerings include beers from all over the world and often include multiple vintages of beer.  I first found this place about six months ago around Christmas time.  Then they had three years of an Danish Strong Ale called 'Santa's Little Helper."

The beer menu: Changes frequently without warning

I stopped in and had a few random selections:

The Avery White Rascal:
Nice Belgian white ale out of Colorado.  They use that infernal Belgian wheat yeast, but it is really well balanced with bitter hops and citrus overtones.  More beer like this and I will be forced to re-evaluate my stance on this particular strain of yeast.

Sierra Nevada Southern Harvest Fresh IPA ale:
This is like the Sierra Nevada pale ale's big hoppy brother.  Light sweetness off the top that moves quickly into bitter citrus and floral hops that lingers long on the palate.

Finally they had an apricot mead on tap from another local brewery.  Very good, slightly sweet for my tastes, but lots of fruit and a heavy honey nose.

Well that's all for now.  Jones out.

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!