Sallanches is Where?

It is not often that you see a second location announcement with the location being the French Alps. But that is what Colorado’s Outer Range Brewing is doing…

“Colorado’s Award-winning craft brewery and apres hub, announced Saturday that they are taking their quality craft beer and mountain lifestyle concept to the heart of the French Alps, with a second location in the picturesque, quaint town of Sallanches, France. Set to open in winter 2022, the Sallanches brewery will include a Nashville Hot Chicken restaurant, coffee roaster, a private event space for large parties or weddings, and a climbing wall with floor-to-ceiling views of Mont Blanc.”

Best of Brewery # 2 – Cohesion Brewing Company

To Colorado and Czech beers at third Cohesion Brewing Company.

Let’s have some lagers, shall we?

Cohesion 10º: Světlé Výčepní Pivo (Pale Draft Beer) “Single decocted lager with a light hop flavor and touch of malt sweetness. The most commonly consumed style in the Czech Republic. Honey, refreshing, smooth.”

Cohesion Polotmavý: Ležák 12º (Half Dark Lager) “Our amber lager with a name that translates to “half dark”. Rich notes of caramel malty goodness are balanced by herbal hop flavors, and a touch of bitterness. Malty, nutty, balanced.”

Cohesion 12º: Světlý Ležák (Pale Lager) “Our version of the most famous Czech lager – the original pilsner from Pilsner Urquell falling in this style. A full bodied malty lager with a rounded bitterness. Sweet hay, herbal, pleasant bitterness.”

Cohesion Tmavý: 14º Tmavý Speciální Pivo (Special Dark Beer) “Dark brown with rich malt flavors, this double decocted lager has flavors of toffee and a touch dark chocolate, with a light finish. Rich, toasted malt, full-bodied.”

Hounded for Gin

I received a lovely little classic gin sample from Spirit Hound Distillers in Lyon, Colorado.

Here is my review….

Straight up, this is very bright and clean. I get a touch of spice and later citrus but this is almost smooth, no burn at all and easy to drink without a cocktail. Proper British is the best description.

In G&T form, it doesn’t try to steal the show. Maybe it should just a touch more as the balance is a little tilted towards the quinine. But it does really bring a big orange citrus note forward which I quite enjoy.

The “Hounds” also produce a straight malt whisky, a cask strength malt whisky, a Colorado honey whisky, a rum and two other types of gin.

Irish Goodnight

Avery Brewing is up to a 59th Barrel experiment! That is crazy. And I have a soft spot for the Emerald Isle since my better half has that blood in her veins.

This beer looks very cool. Peat smoke and milk stout could be a really striking flavor profile.

Funk is Werking in SoCal


Funkwerks is venturing to SoCal. Adding distribution to Southern California to it reach with draft and limited six-packs.

Stone Distributing has been tapped to handle the influx of Funkwerks Saison, Tropic King and Raspberry Provincial beers, to name a few from the Fort Collins, Colorado brewery.

Hopefully a solid supply has been stashed for this large market.

Beer Book Review – The Opposite of Woe

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To be upfront, I was 100% more interested in the beer portion of The Opposite of Woe: My Life in Beer and Politics by Governor John Hickenlooper.

By the end though, I found myself much more interested in his childhood and his mother and how that affected his personality and choices throughout his life.

Maybe that was because both the beer and the politics really get short shrifted in this telling. Wynkoop Brewing was one of the pioneers of craft beer in Colorado, and I didn’t really get to read much about it other than an anecdote about cleaning toilets and fundraising through friends and families. There wasn’t mention of his favorite beers or much about the customers and the growing beer scene or even the Great American Beer Festival for that matter.

The tenure as Mayor of Denver got some coverage but his first term as Governor is just blitzed through with just a laundry list of accomplishments and personnel who helped him.

It is probably too early for a thorough accounting of his political career but I would have hoped to learn more about the craft beer part of his life. But maybe that is for another book. There were many hints dropped as to buried stories underneath the polite line of history that just were not picked up.

But the section up until he got to Denver is really interesting stuff from the point of view of how people are affected by those in their lives and how you can keep pushing and learning all through life. Just following his geographic route through life is remarkable.

Overall, this memoir suffers from what many do. The initial pages are full of content but as the pages go by, the coverage gets thinner until the end, whole years are barely even sketched. There is interesting stuff here but not enough for the beer fan.