2/18/2013 Strange Brewing

Is there a better way to celebrate President's Day than by visiting another fine Denver brewery?  How about taking advantage of the day off from work and visiting another Denver Brewery at 3pm instead of 5pm!  2 extra hours of beer sampling!

Unfortunately Prez Day is on a Monday, and many of the nano/micro/tiny breweries in D-Town have limited hours ie are only open 2 days a week.  So our original plan had to be altered to visit a brewery that was, y'know, open.  Fortunately Strange Brewing was not only open on a Monday, but at 3pm to boot!

Strange is kind of tucked back in this industrial area near Mile High.  It's actually a part of town I don't think I've ever driven through; in fact I didn't even know it existed.  Lower Colfax?  Never heard of it.  But thanks to beer I now have.

Strange is apparently in the midst of a lawsuit from a group back east claiming they had rights to the "Strange Brewing" name first - these signs could be an endangered species!

The interior of the sampling room/bar.  Shirey felt like Strange had the most "bar" feel of any of the breweries so far.

Menu.

On to the sampling.  Strange seems to brew a wide variety of beers, although they definitely lean toward the Belgian side of things.

Strange's nifty flight rack had the beer types listed underneath.  Here are the highlights:

Winners

Strange Pale Ale - My favorite of the night.  Good amount of hops, very drinkable

Seasonal Porter - Shirey's favorite.  Said it made him feel funny "down there".

Notables

Cherry Bomb Belgian Stout- This was a pretty drinkable, albeit sweet, beer, but not exactly stout-esque.  Shirey said it tasted like sacramental wine.

Le Bruit du Diable Farmhouse Ale- Roughly translates to "Noise of the Devil" (according to Google).  This was my second favorite beer of the night.  Due to the high alcohol content (at least that's my excuse), I started spouting off to Shirey about the differences between farmhouse ales, saisons and biers du gardes (basically a bunch of B.S. I know nothing about) and was promptly put in my place by the server.  Damn you devil!

Losers

Paint it Black Honey Coffee Stout - Ok, so this one is a weird one.  First off, we both like stouts, Shirey especially.  When we first tried this stout we both gave it a thumbs up - not the best stout in the world but good.  Then, after trying a number of other beers Shirey said "What's that weird taste in the stout...it tastes like...rubbing alcohol?"  And then holy shit, that's all we could taste.  The stout tasted like you were drinking a cup of coffee, sliced your finger while cutting up vegetables for your morning omelette, went to the bathroom to disinfect the cut, and whilst holding the rubbing alcohol in one hand and the coffee in the other said fuck it, lets do this.  Not a good combo.

All in all Strange gets a thumbs up.  Overall their beer menu was pretty kickass, and their location would make for a good pre-game spot before Broncos games.  Or a good spot to get nice and toasty before hitching a ride on a coal train to Kansas City.

2/13/2013 River North Brewery

For the next stop on the brew tour we elected to try River North Brewery. 

 It's creatively located in the River North neighborhood, just down the street from Coors Field.  This brewery specializes in Belgian ales, and American ales with a Belgian twist.  So all things Belgian.  My sister would be proud.  

The tap room.  Small but nice.  It was relatively empty when we got there, but got packed soon after.  Then it was empty by the time we left.  Apparently we drink a lot more than most patrons.

Our first round.  Mr. Shirey had the black IPA, and Mr. Howell had the saison.  Both were great success!  The saison wasn't the best saison we'd ever had, but still good.  

Mr. Shirey enjoying the black IPA.

Mr. Shirey decided one pint was not nearly enough, so he went or the sampler.  Actually, we shared the sampler.  We're grown men dammit, we don't mind sharing glasses!  Here's the basic breakdown:

River North White - This is a Wit beer, which to our limited beer knowledge should make it a light, crisp, easy-drinking beer with hints of spices and maybe some fruit.  In reality this was a light, crisp beer with a funky after-taste that made Mr. Shirey angry.  Mr. Shirey thought the aprés-funk was coriander, Mr. Howell thought it was shattered dreams.

Hello, Darkness - Black IPA.  Good beer.  Tasted good, but nothing too memorable.  Or maybe we were too drunk to remember.

BPR - Belgian Style Red: Winner for best beer of the night.  Smooth and flavorful with no funk.  ++Would drink again.

J. Marie - Saison:  Good saison, but again not the best we've ever had.  Not as spicy and/or fruity as you would normally get with a saison.

Hoppenberg Uncertainty Principle - Belgian Double IPA:  Mr. Howell tends to stay away from the mega hopped beers, but this one was pretty tasty.  Probably tied for second best beer of the night.

Quandary - Quadrupel:  Started out strong, but a little too sweetly-sour by the end of the glass.  Kind of like drinking a glass of slightly tart syrup.

Unified Theory - Oaked Imperial Wit:  More of the funk in this one.  Not sure what's going on with their wit beers, but this one had a funky face-punch finish as well.

Avarice - Imperial Stout:  Good!  Stout!  Dark!  Mr. Shirey really enjoyed this one.

Shirey approved!

1/28/2013 - Hogshead Brewery

Second stop on the Denver Brew Tour - Hogshead Brewery.  

Kind of tucked away in the "Slo-hi" neighborhood on the west side of town in an otherwise pretty residential area.  Specializes in English style cask conditioned ales.  

Smelled like a pool when we walked in.

Their logo is pretty sweet.

Shirey approved!

1/16/2013 Prost Brewing

Once upon a time Mr. Shirey and Mr. Howell realized that there is an abundance of beer, breweries, and beer breweries in Denver.  Seeing as both Mr. Shirey and Mr. Howell enjoyed beer they decided to make it their mission to visit each of the breweries in Denver.  First stop, Prost Brewing!

This is our friend Kelley's Uncle's brewery, and thus made for a logical first stop on the tour.  Unfortunately neither of us thought to document the trip, so we only have generic photos to share.  Boo on us.

First off, the interior of Prost is awesome.  It's basically a big open room with picnic tables; this is a room meant simply for drinking beer.  The picnic tables are a nice touch, as it gives the room a much more communal vibe.  On to the beer!

The beer list at Prost rotates, but generally consists of the Marzen, Dunkel, Weisbeer and Pills.  They generally have a rotating beer, which during our stop was the Altbier.  Again, because we were lame and didn't make it a point to document any of our trip we don't have any specific beer reviews per sé, but all the beers were fantastic.  The Altbier was probably the most challenging of their lineup - sweet and a little hoppy, a lot going on.  Good but not exactly a session beer.  But the clear favorite was the Dunkel; that was a beer we could drink mug after mug.  

The downside of Prost, like most new breweries, is that they don't serve food in house.  They do, however, serve pretzels, have delivery service from nearby restaurants, and usually have a food truck parked out front.  That, along with the cool vibe inside, the location and, most of all the beer, make for a pretty friggin awesome start to our tour.