The Regulations

Let me explain myself. I am what Fox News would call a liberal heathen. But when it comes to business, especially the craft beer business, I am much more laissez faire Libertarian minus the strange 4 letter name. I don’t agree with the over oversight that government (looking at you City of Los Angeles) imposes on breweries. (Within reason of course)

Which is why I have been following House Bill 1217 in Colorado with interest and trying to pinpoint if I think it works. In a nutshell, the bill signed by Wynkoop Brewery past and current governer of the state, John Hickenlooper puts the decision of approving a brewery taproom in the sole hands of state regulators. While still giving local government a voice but not a veto sized one. Gaining neighborhood resident signatures would also be off the to-do list for a brewery.

As long as the regulators are familiar with the world of craft beer, I am down with this. I assume that Colorado has such people in that office. The largest stumbling blocks that I have seen here in SoCal has been the simple lack of beer knowledge that community residents have and that their elected officials have. Finding a council member who “gets it” is rare, though incrementally growing.

The problem, as I see it, is that the rules and regulations expect bad actors. Remember in grade school when the whole class was punished with a rule because of one bad kid? That is what it seems like navigating through the system. I would think it would be easier and more cost efficient to have less paperwork upfront and more supervision during operation. Assume that a brewery will be an asset and then, if it doesn’t live up to it, shut them down until they behave. If that doesn’t work, then we can go back to the way we do it now and if anyone complained, they would complain to the breweries that f…ed it up for the rest of us.

Maybe if the Colorado law works, something to that effect could be put into place in California.

Gunbarrel Brewery # 3 – Vindication Brewing

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The final Gunbarrel stop is at the awesomely named Vindication Brewing Company. With Oskar Blues and Rock Bottom experience in the founders resumes, you can rest assured that they haven’t gone into the brewing game cold.

Here is what I would add to my initial taster tray……

American Bold Ale – “An Intentionally out of style bold ale. Rich in complex notes of layered caramel and balanced with heavy waves of hoppy goodness.”

Winchester Wheat – “Made with Maris Otter malt and wildflower honey from Clark’s Honey Farm in Ft. Lupton.”

Billy Badass Brown IPA – “A hybrid of styles: a heavily hopped IPA with the color of a brown ale with a large amount of Haystack Hops.”

Big Sampson Imperial Rye IPA – “A big, smooth IPA featuring all hop additions from Haystack Hops in Boulder.”

Ginger Ale (Non-Alcoholic) – Refreshing non-alcoholic ginger ale brewed fresh from all natural ingredients.

Gunbarrel Brewery # 2 – Asher Brewing

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Tour stop # 2 brings us to Asher Brewing Company an organic Colorado brewer since February 25th, 2010.

Here are my top three choices for my taster tray. And if I have room after that, I might just try one of their hoppy offerings like Green Bullet Organic IPA or Greenade Organic Double IPA.

Green Lantern Organic Kolsch
Fermented with its own special ale yeast and brewed with a Pilsner malt, our version boasts a uniquely smooth balance with a dry, hoppy finish. The Green Lantern’s simple recipe lets our fine organic ingredients and meticulous brewing techniques shine through.

Tree Hugger Organic Amber
Living up to its roots, this full-bodied American classic boasts the perfect balance of naughty and nice. Crystal and Munich malts bring a caramel sweetness to the brew. Yet just when you think you’ve satisfied your sweet tooth, the organic German hops produce an unmistakeable dry finish. With a toffee aroma and deep amber color.

Green Monstah Organic Strong Ale
The Green Monstah Strong Ale boasts bold caramel malt flavors with a smooth aftertaste attributed to a low mash temperature in the brewing process in which results in the most sugars fermenting out.

Gunbarrel Brewery # 1 – Finkel & Garf

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The name may conjure up the old-timey department store that your grandma bought you sweaters for your birthday but Finkel and Garf is in fact it is our first stop in Colorado and the Gunbarrel district in Boulder.

It is a father and son brewery that has two goals:
1.“To make outstanding craft beer.“
2.“To facilitate great moments among family and friends.”

They also don’t take themselves too seriously adding toys to their logo instead of the usual beer images or fancy fonts.

Onto what I would drop into my taster tray: (they use the one word method of description)

Cream Ale – Creamy + Malty + Floral
Oatmeal Milk Stout – Roasty + Chocolate + Malty
American Lager – Crisp + Dry + Floral
Pale Ale – Malty + Hoppy + Citrus
Rye Saison – Spicy + Tart + Crisp

Left in LA

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Looks like Los Angeles is on the Left Hand Brewing distribution list. Starting this spring the Craft Beer Guild of Los Angeles will be bringing in beers from the Colorado brewery into SoCal. From San Diego to Santa Barbara.

Whether or not they blitz the area like Bell’s did in February is an open question but it seems the amount of choices for the L.A. beer consumer is growing.

It will be interesting to see if their famed Nitro Milk Stout takes off here.

Denver Brewery # 3 – Our Mutual Friend

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Our final destination in Denver is Our Mutual Friend.  Not a person, no.  But a Malt & Brew in the River North neighborhood.

And where did they get the name? Their website explains that “Part of what we love about beer is its power to bring people together…”

Now on to what I would have in my taster tray:

Novo Coffee Stout – with a rotating coffee bean from Novo Coffee

Pumpkin Ale – with roasted pumpkin, pie spices, brown sugar and vanilla

American Wheat Ale – with two C hops, Centennial and Cascade

Proletariat Session Ale – a 4.5 Cascade hop light offering

No Need to Leave the Airport

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Not that the Colorado craft beer calendar isn’t crowded enough now the Denver International Airport will play host to a temporary beer garden.

“The beer garden will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4 in the center of the Jeppesen Terminal. It’s called “Beer Flights” and is presented by the Colorado Lottery.

Admission is $10 with a valid ID for those 21 or older only. It includes a souvenir glass, a bag of pretzels provided by Southwest Airlines, and access to 10, 2-ounce samples of beer.”

A total of 11 Colorado breweries will be represented.

• Avery Brewing Company
• Breckenridge Brewery
• Bristol Brewing Company
• Dry Dock Brewing Company
• Great Divide Brewing Company
• Left Hand Brewing Company
• New Belgium Brewing Company
• Odell Brewing Company
• Ska Brewing Company
• Pug Ryan’s Brewery Company
• Telluride Brewing Company

How do we get LAX on board with this?

Review – Decadent Imperial IPA from Ska Brewing

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Every once in while in craft beer world, you take a sip of a beer and it is so unexpected that you pause before the next sip.  And that happened with Decadent from Ska Brewing.  It wasn’t due to the creepy Hop Chompin’ skeleton in hipster attire.  Or to the wax around the neck and cap.  This was a grape bomb while still holding on to the taste profile of an Imperial IPA.  There is a lovely viscosity to this beer as well. The website claims citrus notes that I do not get at all but the caramel malt is surely there.  It tastes the full 10% of alcohol and it has the bitter punch to it but there is a serious amount of concord grape sweetness here that really adds an unusual layer to a beer style that can sometimes (let’s face it) get a little boring.

Imperial IPA’s are big but they lack the complexity (usually) of a barley wine and they usually don’t have the pop of a regular IPA.  But Decadent is totally different. With Session IPA’s hogging the spotlight currently, it is nice to have a grown up big IPA that isn’t afraid to showcase a big fruit taste as well.

Video Review – Snapshot Wheat from New Belgium

Since I was bringing Belgian beers “Up from the Cellar” I thought it fitting to do video reviews of two new New Belgium beers in tandem.  Spring Blonde was in the headlights first and now we move on to the beer that got a really big marketing push, Snapshot Wheat.  It does have a cool, retro label….

But what do I think of it?  Watch on to find out….