Wine drinkers typically skew into two categories: those who love the taste of dirt, and those who are all about big fruit flavors. Put another way, the first group consists of peeps who worship at the altar of everything old world, including wines from across the pond (read: Europe), usually…
Breweries, big and small, have been opening at a dizzying pace over the past year along the Front Range, from Colorado Springs to Windsor and everywhere in between. Denver alone welcomed eight new breweries in the past twelve months, while Boulder County added at least eight, including four within the…
Oskar Blues, which was the first craft brewery in the nation to can its beers, has teamed up with Ska, the second canned craft beer maker, to celebrate ten years of aluminum success with a beer they brewed together in Longmont last week. Although the beers doesn’t have a name…
The presidential election is coming up quickly, and Arvada Beer Company is offering another way to judge one of the candidates: by his homebrew. The brewery, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary by tapping a brand-new beer each day through Saturday, will release White House Honey Ale and White House…
Happy Place: Phat Thai, 2900 East Second Avenue, 303-388-7428. The Hours: Monday through Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. The Deals: $3 draft beers; $5 specialty cocktails and wines by the glass; $1-$5 small plates. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out…
Hidden deep inside the concrete exterior of the massive MillerCoors plant in Golden, in a room that you enter from a stairway landing and through a door that says, “exit,” a group of meticulous brewers for AC Golden Brewing have been experimenting with unusual beers that are going to surprise…
Fall means many things to people: pumpkins, football, piles of leaves. But to nationally-recognized bartender Sean Kenyon, designer of the cocktail menu at Squeaky Bean (which I review this week), it means something else: aromatics. “When I think of fall and winter, I think aromatics right away,” says Kenyon, whose…
Colorado took home 35 medals at the Great American Beer Festival this year, including six that went to Fort Collins brewers, highlighted by Funkwerks, which won two golds and was named Small Brewing Company of the Year. See also: – Meet the winners of Great American Beer Festival 2012 -…
Epic Brewing’s Kevin Crompton surprised a room full of reporters and bloggers during the Great American Beer Festival last week when he announced that his Utah company planned to build a second brewery in Denver during the first part of 2013. He also surprised Epic’s owners, David Cole and Peter…
“I can’t tell you how hard it was to find a new name. Everything I thought of was already taken,” says Craig Rothgery, who plans to open De Steeg Brewing in January in the alleyway across the street from the Oriental Theater, at 4342 North Tennyson Street. But De Steeg…
After reading last week’s column, you may have correctly deduced that we were less than thrilled by a set of half-witted wine branding ideas designed to insult the intelligence of women everywhere. Lest you think we were unduly harsh in our assessment, trust that we understand that it’s gotta be…
Old, new and local — really local. That’s the only way to describe Denver Beer Festivus, a new craft-beer festival set for December 15 that will feature Denver breweries only, something that makes sense now that there are more than twenty of them — eight having opened in the past…
The cows have come home in Fort Collins. In January, Odell Brewing Company will release its newest seasonal, Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout, a beer dedicated to Lugene Sas, a local organic dairy farmer, and to the cows he addresses by name. See also: – Photos: Long lines and cold beer…
Aisle after aisle, table after table, there was one thing about the 2012 Great American Beer Festival that was different from the event in previous years: There were brewery reps, brewers and, in many cases, brewery owners themselves staffing their booths, hanging out and answering questions. It was a refreshing…
Sure, you like beer — but have you ever worn it? Wrapped your entire being in it and then spent three days at a convention devoted to it? That’s what the country’s most dedicated boze enthusiasts (enbooziasts?) did at the Great American Beer Festival, held at the Colorado Convention Center…
Beer lovers aren’t exactly known for their high fashion, but they do know how to stagger in style, and thousands of people showed off just how crazy they could look last week during the three-day Great American Beer Festival. From Viking horns to Waldo costumes, this year’s hops lovers were…
On Sunday, Dry Dock Brewing and Wing Hut made Aurora sweat as the two businesses hosted a wings-eating contest featuring sauces made from the two hottest chiles in the world. Twenty people took part in the first-ever Dante’s Wingferno Challenge, which went down at Dry Dock, and amazingly, all of…
The Great American Beer Festival is full of novelties, and Westword has brought you everything from the Best Beards to the Best Beer Swag to the Best Beer Porn over the past few days. Now we’ll take a look at a few of the sexiest beer names we encountered. See…
This year’s Great American Beer Festival played temporary home to 580 breweries — and with more than 2,700 beers poured, the fest’s professional judge panel had its hands (and mouths) full when making decisions on the winners of all 84 categories. Continue reading for the full list of the weekend’s…
The debate between the beer scenes in Oregon and Colorado has overflowed for years, and word of mouth continues to fall short of an explanation as to which one is the best. That’s because an open-minded alcoholic craves more than just hearsay, which may be why the Great American Beer…
The Great American Beer Festival is a mecca for beer afficianados–but curiously, it seems to be home to something else, as well: The Great American Beard. Continue reading for photos of our favorite chin-growers from the three-day booze-a-palooza. See also: – Great American Beer Festival 2012: The People – Great…
Two new Denver breweries will open this weekend, just in time for the Great American Beer Festival frenzy in town — and you won’t have to go far to visit both, since they’re just ten blocks apart. Black Shirt Brewing in RiNo and Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew in…
