6/12/2013 TRVE Brewing

TRVE Brewing.  An ode to metal and beer.  Sounds like the perfect spot for a stop on the beer tour!  Shirey and I had originally planned on hitting up Wit's End Brewing, but upon arrival we were met with a closed sign, much like Wally World.  But, not to be daunted we pulled up our trusty beer map and decided to try interestingly named TRVE Brewing.

 

TRVE is just south of downtown in the hip stretch of Broadway.  It's pretty small and nondescript from the outside; we nearly missed it as we drove by.  A small black sign was about all there was to indicate there being an awesome brewery inside.

Once you enter you're faced with a fairly skinny but looong room full of people.  The space is much larger than what you'd expect from the street.  The other thing you notice when you enter is the music - rock and metal.  \m/  As TRVE describes it, "rad place to hang out and drink killer beer".  

The theme of this place is definitely metal: black kegs, morbid paintings on the wall, skulls with candles, and pentagrams galore.  And beer.

The beer menu.  

Shirey was amped to get started on some beer!

Shirey was still so amped he couldn't hold his camera still!

During our tasting we sampled everything TRVE had to offer, and then some.  They, like Renegade and Crooked Stave, pretty much only gave us good beer.  Not a bad one in the bunch.

Winners

Prehistoric Dog - Holy crap a salt beer.  As in, the brewer told us they put in 10lbs of salt into the mixture when they brew the beer.  It sounds like it might be weird, but it was actually pretty effing awsome.  Shirey's favorite.

Tunnel of Trees - An american IPA.  Hoppy, but not insanely so.  And it had hints of, well pine.  Maybe pun intended?  Luke's favorite.

Losers

There were no losers here.

Notables

Nazareth - Double IPA.  Secret flavor: Chicken in a Biscuit!

Wanderlust - The brewers favorite beer.  Belgian Ale that starts out sweet and slightly syrupy, but finishes really well.  Tasty.

Overall

TRVE pretty much nailed it: unique vibe, great beer and awesome location.  We will definitely be back.

5/8/2013 Crooked Stave

For the next stop on the beer tour, Shirey and I decided to try a spot that I've been excited to visit ever since we started - Crooked Stave.

From my limited access to the Denver Beer scene Crooked Stave definitely seemed to be garnering a lot of respect for the brews they're creating.  Started waaay back in 2010, this artisan brewery grew from a master's dissertation about Brettanomyces yeast.  Bretta-waaa?  

Apparently the Brettanomyces yeast (heretofore referred to as Brett) is a strain found on the surfaces to certain types of fruit and has been used for years in wine-making to alter the palette of various wines.  However, Brett isn't often used in beer brewing as many consider it to create "off" flavors.  But, certain types of beer - namely some traditional Belgian ales -  benefit from these flavors. Lambic, gueuze, wild-yeast saison and farmhouse ales all owe their flavor profiles to Brett.

So what does this mean for Shirey and I?  That Crooked Stave is brewing some of my favorite types of beers based around some serious science.  I was uber pumped to finally give this brewery a try.

Crooked Stave is small - located just NW of downtown Denver in a small office park.

That small sign is about all you get to help you find the place.

The inside is pretty small, one of the smallest tap-rooms we've been to.  

There were a few people there to sample Crooked Stave's offerings.

Shirey was excited.

I was just ready for some beer.

The flight!  During our visit they had 5 beers on tap (from left to right):

 Vielle Saison

 Apple Whiskey Vielle Saison

 Surette

St. Bretta

 Hop Savant

Winners

Hop Savant - Shirey's favorite.  It was tart and sweet at the same time, and had a tiny hint of what we finally determined to be pineapple.

St. Bretta - My favorite.  Light and refreshing, a little bit tart.  Also had an earthy smell.

Losers

None!  

Overall

Similarly to DeSteeg, Crooked Stave had a small offering, but what they had was delicious.  Both versions of the Vielle Saison were excellent - especially the regular Vielle.  The apple whiskey version was interesting; a little stronger flavor with some extra flavors - most notably caramel.  Smooth, but not quite as good as the main version.  

Crooked Stave is small but cool spot to go drink some very interesting and less common types of beer.  It's doesn't have the space or the vibe of a Denver Beer Co. or Renegade, but I don't think that's their goal.

All in all we give Crooked Stave an introspective stare into the sky.

3/27/2013 Denver Beer Company

The next stop on our tour took us to the fairly-obviously-but-catchily name Denver Beer Company.

Denver Beer Company was started in 2011 and inhabits one of, in not the, best spots for a brewery - right across the Platte from downtown in the LoHi neighborhood.  It's uber close to downtown, easily accessible by bike, and housed in a former garage making for a huge space for the tasting room.  Plus it's complete with garage doors that open up to a sizable patio, making it an awesome space for some afternoon beers in the summer time.

Shirey was introspective.

Time for some beer.  DBC sports a pretty large menu of brews that rotate on a seasonal basis.  There were 10 on tap during our visit, all of which deserved a taste.

The tasting size was larger than a lot of places, so Shirey and I elected to share one.

Not sure what that face means.  But, the key thing to notice in this picture is that Shirey, in his infinite wisdom, brought a small notebook to write down some beer thoughts.  Some highlights:

Karrir Lime - Bud Light Lime clone.  Tastes like Fruit Loops

Pinapple Pale - Definitely taste the pineapple.  Funky aftertaste.

Dubbel Trubbel - Sweet, hints of Laffy Taffy

With that, lets break down the results.

Winners

Incredible Pedal IPA - Luke's favorite.  Not insanely hoppy, pretty easy drinking.

Graham Cracker Porter - Shirey's favorite.  On the bitter end for a porter.  Definite hints of chocolate and coffee.

Losers

Beer Geeks Sahti V - Our notes described this beer as having "hints of rotten milk".  Not something I'd drink again.

Confluence Pale Ale - Tasted like they used water from the Platte River

Overall

All in all we had some pretty strong mixed feelings about the beer here.  We didn't really love any of the beers - our winners above were really just the least disappointing of the bunch.  Maybe instead of winners we should termed them "least offensive".  Seriously, there were some brews that had some big-time funk going on, and nothing stood out or made us want to come back.

But, the brewery itself is awesome.  Huge space, plenty of seating, great location and an awesome spot for summer time patio drinking.  To wit:

So we're a little torn about DBC.  Mediocre beer, awesome bar.  Fortunately, beer can always be brewed again, so we'll definitely be coming back in the hopes that we just caught DBC in the midst of some bad batches.

3/17/2013 Bull and Bush

Despite the lack of updates, the Brew Tour has shown no signs of slowing down.  St. Patrick's Day 2013 was no exception, so we thought, what better way to celebrate Ireland's biggest holiday than by hitting a British Pub!  Wait...nevermind.

The Bull and Bush!  Denver's oldest sportsbar and one of the oldest brewpubs as well.  It's located is the somewhat odd area of Glendale, surrounded by apartment complexes, Targets and strip-clubs, so Shirey and I felt right at home.

Being that it was St. Patty's day, and it was a Sunday, and blah blah blah we didn't do the best job of documenting this trip.

Shirey contemplating the menu.

Shirey deeply contemplating our flight of beers.

Not sure what I was looking at or who I was talking to.

Shirey getting fancy with depth of field and focus and stuff.

That's pretty much it from a beer standpoint.  Time to talk turkey.

Winners

Man Beer - Luke's favorite.  An IPA, but not bitter or too hoppy.  A tiny bit fruity.

The Tower ESB - Shirey's favorite.  Umm, that's about all I remember (I really need to bring a notebook!)

Losers

No real losers here.  This is a brewery with serious pedigree; they've have years of practice at making their brews and the results show it.  Everything tastes good.

Overall

Bull and Bush is a great brewpub with a serious British vibe.  Great beer and great food.  And, when St. Patrick's day falls on a Sunday, it's also THE place to be for the over 65 crowd.

First was this cute old couple that sat down next to us, decked out in their St. Patty's day finest.  The man was like looking into the future for Shirey.  That IS Shirey in 50 years.

When we arrived the B&B wasn't too crowded, we easily got a table, sat down and got to drinking.  But a few brews in, we noticed that things were picking up and the place was getting crowded.  Then we noticed that we were probably the youngest people in the bar by 50 years.

The camera-phone video just didn't quite capture the pure amount of age in that room.  It was like waking up in a nursing home.  But hey, everyone was having a great time.  And it was St. Patty's day, so time to celebrate with some music.  Only, wait, this is the B&B.  Irish music would be too cliché.

Booyah, nothing says St. Patrick's Day at a British pub like Dixieland Jazz!!

3/8/2013 DeSteeg Brewing

What up party people, time for some more beer tour madness.  After getting shut down last time by their very selective hours of operation, we decided to give DeSteeg another shot.

DeSteeg is the definition of nano-brewery.  First off, their entrance is back in an alley and the only indication that the brewery even exists is a small sign sticking out.

Inside they have a number of taps (8 I think) but due to their limited brewing capacity and growing demand they were only pouring three beers when we visited.

Three beers: Douple IPA, Saison and a Winter Ale.

Shirey was ready for some beer.

All three ready to be tasted.  On to some details!

Winners:

Double IPA, best of the bunch.  Hoppy but not terribly so.

Losers:

No real losers here.  The Winter Ale started out a with hints of the sweet/syrupy flavor we don't really dig, but after a couple of tries it grew on us.  The 9.7% ABV may have had something to do with that.

Notables:

For only having three choices we sure drank of ton of 'em.  Seriously, this was the biggest bar tab we got BY FAR.  So DeSteeg must be doing something right flavor-wise.

They could stand to spruce up the place a bit though...notices and licenses leave a little to be desired.

Here is a picture of a beer.  With my tab ticket.  Just your regular beer and a tab ticket picture.

All in all we had a good time at DeSteeg.  A little sparse compared to other places we've visited, but we're curious to come back and try some different beers once they get them brewed.