Gravity Brewing - Louisville, CO

        Gravity Brewing in Louisville has recently become my new place for beer.  This brewery offers a great atmosphere that cries out relaxation and comfort.  They have one of the longest bars I have seen covering the entirety of one wall.  They also have space for a pool table and my personal favorite a ping pong table.  And the ping pong table is completely free!  Not only can you play for free but there seems to be a small following of others who play there and are always looking for the next challenger.  For the last few months I have been visiting this bar every Friday night and have had the privileged to get to know a few of the owners, and let me tell you they are what makes this bar.  Friendly, easy to talk to, and very beer passionate people. They have around 10 taps that are always rotating with a new beer or two every other week.  If your looking for a new brewery that has a hometown feel this is the brewery for you.  

For more info check out there website.

Oktoberfest Brewing/Pilsner Drinking

       

     It is time if not past time to start brewing those Oktoberfest Ales/Lagers.  If you start a batch now it will finish up just in time to crack one open at the end of September (if you just do an German Ale version).  This year I chose to brew a Imperial Oktoberfest with basic Munich malts and Hallertau hops.  It should clock in around 8.5 percent while still going down nice a smooth.  While I am waiting slightly less than patiently for this beer to finish I have been drinking a whole slew of pilsners.  Last night I had a can to can comparison of the Avery's Joe's Pilsner and Sante Fe's Freestyle Pilsner, and was pleasantly surprised with both.  Saying this next sentence is painful for me... But I think that the Freestyle Pilsner was slightly better. I cant put a finger on why I enjoyed it more, maybe it was because it was a more recent purchase and hadnt been sitting in the back of my fridge for a month or more as Averys was.  But I think that the freestyle should really be given some credit for being a wonderful Pilsner.




      On anther note, I recently had a bottle of the Chatoe Rogue Good Chit Pilsner (also yesterday) and found it pleasantly delicious.  This beer has a very interesting upbringing.  The good people at Rogue who brewed it added there own malted barely to the beer.  Yeah you heard me right they actually malted their own type of barely in order to create a beer that has more character and work behind it than most beers today.  The malting process is the process of taking the barely and germinating it (letting it start to grow) in order for the most possible sugars to be formed within each barely kernel.  The barely is then kilned and dried usually to less than 4% water.  This process can take days to complete and involves either large machines or hard labor (work for your beer!).  This beer is awesome because of the dedication to brewing and inspiration to create something more and more uniquely exciting.

Cheers! 

May the blog posts continue in a more frequent fashion soon!

Total Beverage Beer of the Month (May)

      Today I picked up my Total Beverage Beer of the Month mix six pack, which was free... best gift from my mom ever.  Total Beverage has an awesome program where they select 6 beers that relate to the month and give you tasting notes on each beer.  This month the beers included: Blanche De Bruxelles Wit Beer (Belgium), Karma (Avery), Somersault (New Belgium Brewing), Mexican Logger (Ska Brewing), Saison (Tommy Knocker), and last but not least TBA (Bear Rupublic/Fat Heads/Stone).  I was so excited for this last one that I opened it the second I got home and it was fantastic (check out my review).  I would highly recommend the Beer of the Month program to anyone who is starting to explore more beer but doesn't always know what to pick out in the liquor store.  The beers are picked by what is apparent to be "beer geeks" having something that everyone can appreciate in each six pack.  The awesome beer selection over the past few months makes it clear that they KNOW their beer and want you to know it too.  

Prost!

Bear Republic/ Fat Head's/Stone TBA Collaboration Brew

Background: The TBA Collaboration Ale is and ale created by 3 awesome west coast breweries including probably the most popular Stone Brewing Co.  These breweries have successfully crafted a wonderful brown ale infused with molasses and brown sugar.  This beer clocks in at 7.1% alcohol.



Appearance:  Rich amber/brown color, great head retention and color (light brown)

Aroma:  malty, molasses, slight hops and earthy smells

Taste:  pine, rich brown sugar/molasses flavors are very prominent and mix wonderfully with the pine/earthy notes hidden within the hops and exudes an almost floral after taste.

Mouthfeel:  great head retention provides a wonderful burst of CO2 with every sip, smooth and slightly dry.

Overall:  This is a good solid beer that resonates well on a hot day.  The balance of hops and malt is almost prefect allowing the drinker to enjoy wonderful dark malts/molasses and pine ridden hops.  This beer is prefect for a mellow summer day.  I will most defiantly be buying this beer again!

Ratebeer: 96
Beer Advocate: 85
My Rating: 85

Pond Hopper Collaboration Brew

This beer accents what I believe to be one of the most attractive parts of working in the brewing industry.  Not only is this a collaboration brew between two breweries but the breweries are actually located in two different countries. Thornbridge brewing is located in the UK and Odell brewing is located in good old Colorado.  Pond Hopper, which clocks in around 9%, is double pale ale using ingredients from the UK (malt) and the US (hops) and even some galaxy hops grown in Australia (to honor production manager and head brewer Caolan Vaughan of Thornbridge Brewery).  This beer will be landing in June and is bound to make a respectable splash.

Click Here to listen to Doug Odell and Caolan Vaughan talk about this brew.

Cheers!

Big Choice Brewing

GRAND OPENING MAY 4, 5, and 6

Broomfield brewery opens this weekend!!  For information the many festivties they have in store check out there facebook event at Big Choice Brewing Opening Weekend! I know next to no one reads this blog but I still wanted to give a shout out to Big Choice Brewery.  Good luck on your opening weekend and I will hopefully see you there.  Best of luck!

And many cheers!

Overdue Blog Update!

Recently I have been so busy I have felt like I have had no time at all to post or review any beers!  So here is a quick update:  

A.   I got a free 6 month subscription to Total Beverages "Beer of the Month Club" where every month I get a six pack of beers that represent the season and they even give you tasting notes on the beers. (I still look the beers up on rate beer and beer advocate though... I just cant help it, its habit)  

B. I tasted new beer...                          

Crab Tree Eclipse Black IPA

Ratebeer: 57

Beer Advocate: N/A

My rating: 72

    

Odell Shenanigan's

Ratebeer: 56

Beer Advocate: 86

My rating: 86

Dry Dock Seasonal Tripel

Ratebeer: not listed

Beer Advocate: N/A

My rating: 83

C.  Made a grapefruit pale ale which in the car boy looks remarkably similar to a raw meat.  However, I am confident it will taste great when all is said and done.  I used a recipe from Colin Wescott of Equinox Brewing called Citra Pale Ale and added grapefruit and of course lots of love.  I will let you know how this beer turns out... Now here is a disturbingly wonderful picture.

D.  Last and defiantly not last.  I would like to send a shout out to RedHook who recently lost an employee due to injuries from a exploding keg.  Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences are with you.

Cheers and may we all appreciate the time (and beer) we have, while we still have it.