Beer Me: January 19, 2016 – January 25, 2016
Yeast – possibly the least heralded of the four core beer ingredients and arguably the most important – will get its chance to shine when White Labs opens an outpost in Boulder above Upslope Brewing’s Flatiron Park location on Friday, January 22, 2016.
The San Diego-headquartered White Labs has been involved in craft brewing since the 1980s. In addition to the new Boulder tasting room, they have offices in Davis, California; Chicago; and Copenhagen, Denmark. A $10 million-project is also currently underway in Asheville, North Carolina that will include a tasting room and restaurant.
As reported by Westword, the Boulder tasting room will have eight taps. Six of these taps will initially be dedicated to two beers (an ESB and a Hefeweizen) brewed with different strains of yeast. The other 2 taps will be a White Labs rotating tap and Frankenstout, a beer brewed with no less than 96 yeast strains. Pints will cost $6 and flights will be $5. White Labs will be open 2 to 8pm, only on Fridays to start.
Now, here are your events:
Tuesday, January 19 – January 31, 2016: Northside Porter Month at Ernie’s Bar & Pizza
Stout’s less strong sibling is enjoying a moment in the sun at Ernie’s. Throughout the month of January, the Sunnyside establishment will be dedicating 8 of its 30 taps to Porters, which include Denver Beer Company’s Graham Cracker Porter, Dieboldt’s Postcard Porter, Dry Dock Vanilla Porter, Goldspot’s Gus Robust Porter, Verboten’s Caramel Porter, Wiley Roots’ Chocolate Porter, and Wit’s End Kitchen Sink Porter with Smoked Malts and Rye. Ernie’s is open daily from 11am – midnight.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016 @ 7pm: Brewed Food w/ Chef Jensen Cummings at Former Future Brewing Co.
Certified Cicerone and award-winning chef, Jensen Cummings, will be pairing small plates with liquid offerings from Former Future. The event will feature a “one-of-a-kind fermentation expedition.” Pairings are $8 and come with a raffle ticket for a bottle of Mach Limit: Tempranillo from Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales. No tickets needed; just show up.
Thursday, January 21, 2016 @ noon: Bad Mamma Java Release at High Hops Brewery
Head up to Windsor for this beer-y benefit. Half of all proceeds from Bad Mamma Java will go directly to an employee recently diagnosed with Lymphoma. The 8.5% ABV Vanilla Blonde Milk Stout with heavy body and color has been likened to a vanilla latte. Growler fills are welcome.
Friday, January 22, 2016 @ 4pm: S’mores Stout Release at Grist Brewing Co.
The S’mores Stout concoction is the brainchild of Karl Geib, Grist’s homebrew competition winner. As champion, he was able to brew 10 barrels on their system. True to its namesake, the brew contains 100 pounds of crushed graham cracker, over 100 pounds of marshmallows, and was dry hopped with 50 pounds of cacao nibs. ChurnandBurn will also be onsite serving the grub. Flannel welcome.
Saturday, January 23, 2016 @ noon: One Great City! Release + Small Brown Bike at Ratio Beerworks
Ratio’s 9% ABV Belgian Quad is back. One Great City!, “comes to the party with fruity esters of fig, raisin and prune notes from specialty malts we added to this brew.” To round out the celebration, Small Brown Bike will also be playing some acoustic songs in the taproom in support of their three-day Colorado tour. No cover.
Sunday, January 24, 2016 @ 1:05pm: AFC Championship – Broncos vs. Patriots
We won’t pretend like there’s anything else going on this Sunday that could capture your attention more so than the Broncos game. Several breweries will be showing the game and offering beer + food specials and giveaways. Check out what’s happening at Kokopelli, Goldspot, Denver Beer Co. Canworks, and Ratio #GoBroncos
Still thirsty? Use this handy map of Colorado breweries and other drinking establishments to plan your next adventure. Cheers.
—
Matt Sandy, a self-proclaimed “Beer Gadabout,” has been enjoying beer since he was of legal drinking age. Having been born across the pond where “legal drinking age” is a relative term, let’s just say he washed down a shandy or two while still in short pants. He moved to Denver in 2007 and immediately took up residency at the Great Divide taproom. Since then, he’s enjoyed exploring all of the craft corners of this great town and in this column will highlight weekly beer-related events that you should consider drinking in.