Top 5 Colorado summer beers

A great summer beer must be light. It must be refreshing. It must also be flavorful and interesting. In Colorado, where the winters are long and cold and the summers are sunny and beautiful, craft breweries have the summer beer dialed in. The five beers pictured above and praised below represent the best Colorado summer beers.

All five represent different styles and separate breweries. Three are ales, two are lagers. Two are from Durango; three are from the Front Range. Two are Belgian-inspired, two are German-inspired and one is Mexican-inspired. Two are strictly summer seasonals, while the other three are light beers brewed year-round.

This isn't a definitive ranking. But it gives you an idea of the quality and breadth of summer beers in Colorado.

1. Great Divide Colette
7.3 percent ABV

It was a pleasant surprise when Great Divide Brewing of Denver started bottling a first-rate saison in six-packs. Before Colette, it was impossible to find a saison locally that wasn't sold in expensive bomber bottles.

The price would be irrelevant if the beer weren't great. Fortunately, Colette, a summer seasonal, is among the best saisons anywhere. This tasty Belgian-inspired farmhouse ale took home a silver medal at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival.

Saisons are wonderful, yeasty beers that manage to be light and refreshing and extraordinarily flavorful. Colette is as good as it gets. (Full review here).

2. Ska Mexican Logger
4.2 percent ABV, 18 IBUs

It's difficult to make low-alcohol beers like Ska's Mexican Logger carry much flavor, because alcohol acts as a sort of wave on which flavor can ride.

While Mexican Logger is light in alcohol, this little beer punches far above its weight. The deliciousness that is Ska's Mexican Logger defies explanation. Just drink it. (Full review here).

3. Left Hand Polestar Pilsner
5.5 percent ABV, 33 IBUs

The folks in Longmont got something right when they brewed their Polestar Pilsner. This lager has a perfect amount of hopping that doesn't get in the way of the funky yeast flavors. Delicous. Refreshing. Not to be missed.

4. Steamworks Colorado Kolsch
4.8 percent ABV, 17 IBUs

Not long ago, I found myself sharing an affordable $8 pitcher of Colorado Kolsch at Steamworks' bar in Durango. It was a hot day, and this ale was everything I needed at that moment in time. This kolsch is another beer that manages to be very flavorful while relatively low in alcohol.

It's also one of Steamworks' signature beers, and one of the cooler cans (or bottles) around, featuring the Colorado flag.

5. Avery White Rascal
5.6 percent ABV, 10 IBUs

A fantastic Belgian-style witbier from the consistently excellent Avery brewery in Boulder. These sorts of Belgian-style wheats are tough to pair with food, but they're great on their own and with some foods.

There's a nice hint of citrus along with ample Belgian yeastiness. This Rascal is worth confining in your refrigerator, until you can let it runneth over the top of your glass.

Please feel free to argue in the comments below. I tasted all five of these with my wife and a friend. My wife would have ranked White Rascal and Polestar Pilsner up top. My friend would have ranked the pilsener lower. Others would have included local favorites Durango Wheat and Carver's Raspberry Wheat. What do you think?

Comparing Colorado pilseners

Thanks to W.J. Doyle Wine & Spirits, a new Durango liquor store that lets customers mix six-packs, I recently had the chance to compare two tasty Colorado pilseners side by side.

Pilseners are light lagers, originally from the Czech Republic and later Germany, with substantial hopping and a crisp finish.

The pilseners both come from northern Colorado breweries with good track records of producing high-quality craft beer: Left Hand Brewing Co. of Longmont and Avery Brewing Co. of Boulder.

Left Hand's Polestar Pilsner comes in at 5.5 percent ABV and 33 IBUs, using Magnum, Mt. Hood and Sterling hops along with Weyerman pilsner and pale two-row malt. It's distributed in 12-ounce bottles.

Avery's Joe's Premium American Pilsner is less boozy but more hoppy, at 4.7 percent ABV and 42 IBUs. It's brewed with Magnum and Hersbrucker hops and unspecified two-row malt, and distributed in 12-ounce cans featuring the image of a gangster-looking dude.

Both beers pour a pale yellow with an off-white head. The pilseners taste differently, though. The Left Hand pils is funkier and yeastier, with moderate hopping. The Avery pils is cleaner but much more aggressively hopped.

Both are good beers. I slightly prefer Left Hand's funky complexity to Avery's big hop taste, but to each their own. You can't go wrong with pilsener, a fantastic style for summer.

The Fourth of July tends to be an industrial lager holiday. I'm sure the liquor stores will sell plenty of Coors and Budweiser. But if you want to keep it craft, and you should, pilsener is an excellent option.

Avery Brewing goes canning

Avery Brewing Co. of Boulder is the latest craft brewery to get in on cans.

At 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 2, Avery will release four of its beers in cans: Avery India Pale Ale, White Rascal, Ellie's Brown and Joe's American Pilsner.

Avery has no doubt watched with interest as their Colorado brethren Ska Brewing Co. and Oskar Blues have seen surprisingly strong sales from their own canned craft beers.

I have long been a vocal Avery supporter; I think it's probably one of the best breweries in the country. If the move to cans means wider availability of some of their beers, I'm all for it.

At first, Avery's cans will be distributed only in Colorado.

"We've been fielding a lot of calls lately about our plan for the distribution of cans," Avery spokeswoman C.V. Howe said in a recent newsletter. "To start, all cans will be sold exclusively in the state of Colorado. Only a tiny percentage of our overall production is devoted to cans, so there just isn't much to go around. We hope to amp up production and slowly increase distribution at some point in the future."

With the exception of the pilsner, these beers are already available in bottles in Durango. The IPA is exceptional - one of my favorite beers, period - and those who appreciate Belgian-style witbiers will love White Rascal.

I had a Joe's American Pilsner at Avery earlier this summer, and was much impressed. It's a very clean, flavorful summer beer. (Incidentally, it was also the choice of Avery founder Adam Avery on the day I was there. He rolled up on an expensive-looking road bicycle and ordered a pilsner).

The can craze continues unabated. Some of it is no doubt about sales. Cans are also cheaper to ship. And there are some environmental benefits, as well. (Although can supporters seldom note that bauxite for cans is mined in an environmentally atrocious manner, nor do they volunteer that can linings typically include BPA, a chemical with unknown but possibly pernicious effects).

For the consumer, cans are easier to transport, especially outdoors, and I like that they take up significantly less room in the refrigerator and recycling bin. Perhaps some cost savings are being passed on to consumers, although they are typically priced as high as bottles.

But the bottom line is we all have more choice as craft-beer drinkers. I look forward to welcoming Avery cans, and especially the new pilsner.

Photo courtesy of Avery Brewing.

"Suitcase" beers

The September issue of All About Beer magazine has an interesting feature on "suitcase" beers; i.e., the rare beers you love so much that you'll pack them home with you when returning from travels.

A suitcase beer has to be not only delicious but rare enough that it's not available around your home. The magazine's list of 99 such beers was (not surprisingly) heavy on imperial stouts, IPAs and obscure Belgian beers. It got me thinking about my suitcase beers. Here's my top five, shaped by my narrow travels in the Western U.S.:

1. Terminal Gravity IPA. This IPA is widely distributed and well-loved in its native Oregon, but it does not get enough respect outside the state, unlike California favorites such as Racer 5 IPA and Russian River's Pliney series. Terminal Gravity's offering is redolent with citrus, and extremely tasty. Perhaps the nation's best six-pack IPA.

2. Avery Brewing Co.'s barrel-aged beers. The Boulder brewery has an extensive barrel-aging program, and the best of these are a wonder to behold - not to mention difficult to find outside of the Front Range. If you can get them, Brabant and Depuceleuse deserve your attention (and something like $8 per 12-ounce bottle).

3. Deschutes The Abyss. This legendary imperial stout is the only beer I currently have aging in my fridge. I can't wait to do a vertical tasting. Happily, its 2009 vintage was more widely available than previous versions.

4. Upright Brewing Co.'s seasonal releases. This small Portland brewery is an increasingly poorly kept secret. Brewer/owner Alex Ganum completely eschews English-style brewing: you will not find an IPA, a pale ale or a porter on premises. His basic line of beers (named Four, Five, Six and Seven) could loosely be described as French and Belgian-inspired farmhouse ales, but that falls short of justly describing his innovative use of yeast and local ingredients. I avidly want to try his recent seasonals, including a Gose, an obscure German style brewed with salt; and an oyster stout, brewed with oyster juice and whole oysters in the kettle. Ganum is a brewer who is truly pushing the art of brewing forward.

5. Pelican Brewery's seasonals. This Oregon Coast brewpub has been justly celebrated with multiple GABF medals. It sits on the beach, amid the salty Pacific Ocean air and swarming sea gulls. Seasonals such as the biere de garde Bridal Ale are worth the high price.

Those are my suitcase beers. What are yours?

Newspaper story on "Skavery" ride

The Durango Herald has a short story today on the Ska/Avery/Oskar Blues statewide tour that culminated in the release of Wheelsucker Wheat Ale on Saturday.

The bicycle ride seems like a great way to build camaraderie among craft brewers. The beer ain't bad, either.

I attended the release party Saturday. A band called S.O.B. played ska tunes while the first kegs of Wheelsucker were tapped. The band moved inside as lightning threatened.

Pagosa to tap Wolf Creek Wheat

Pagosa Brewing Co. is tapping its Wolf Creek Wheat on Friday, July 23.

The brewery describes Wolf Creek Wheat, a returning summer seasonal, as a "cloudy, unfiltered American wheat beer."

For an extra 50 cents, Pagosa will let drinkers add peach, orange, pomegranate, ginger, raspberry or apple flavor to the wheat ale.

It'll be a wheaty weekend in Southwest Colorado. Ska and Avery Brewing will be tapping their Wheelsucker Wheat Ale a day later at Ska HQ in Durango.

Last year, Ska had flavors available to turn Wheelsucker Wheat into a Radler, a popular German drink. I suspect that option will be available again Saturday.

Wheelsucker release poster

Skavery Wheelsucker Wheat Ale returns

Ska Brewing Co. and Avery Brewing Co. will release this year's version of Wheelsucker Wheat Ale at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 24, according to Ska's Facebook account.

Wheelsucker Wheat Ale is a superb imperial hefeweizen that won Beer at 6512's Beer of the Year 2009 award.

Wheelsucker is a thick-bodied wheat beer that has a refreshing aftertaste despite its approximately 7 percent ABV heft. I assume it will again be bottled in 22-ounce bombers.

Wheelsucker was brewed last year with 50-50 two-row malt and wheat malt, Hallertau Hersbrucker and Hallertau Mittlefruh hops and yeast from the Hopf Weissbier Brewery in Meisbock, Germany. Sweet and bitter orange peel were added at the end of the boil, lending a distinctive citrus note.

This beer is a crown jewel of Southwest Colorado craft brewing. It's worth seeking out.

Go Denver!

At least once a year, I make my way to Denver and environs to catch a Rockies game and taste some of the area's fantastic beers. Denver has become one of the best beer cities in the nation, with nearby Boulder and Fort Collins contributing some inspired brewing. I drove up there last weekend.

A necessary stop, always, is Avery Brewing in Boulder. They simply make great beer. They also keep an up-to-date tap list online, so you can plan your attack before descending on the brewery, tucked away, with only small signs to guide you, in an office-parky area of Boulder.

My first priority was trying a version of Avery India Pale Ale that had been dry-hopped with Centennials. Avery IPA is pretty much unimprovable. The dry-hopping just gave the IPA a somewhat harder hop kick than is standard. I liked it fine but feel the IPA is perfect in regular form.

Next, I went for a pint of Avery Fifteen. Fifteen is part of a series of annual releases to mark Avery's anniversary. Avery just released Seventeen, so Fifteen is two years old. Time has done the beer well. It was effervescent, reminding me of Champagne. The flavors are fuller, bossier than ever before. The Brettanomyces yeast has had its way.

When I gave my friends a sip, they recoiled a bit. Fifteen is a very different type of beer, and you should know what you're getting into before you try it. I loved it.

Finally, I happened to be there during a release party for Joe's American Pilsner. I have been enjoying pilsners this summer, as the style makes for a refreshing but flavorful summer beer. Joe's is a well-executed version of the style.

Amusingly, while my friends and I were hanging out on Avery's patio, Adam Avery rolled up on a road bike, his Avery cycling gear sweaty from an apparently tough ride. He sat down on the patio and drank a pilsner. Quality control, you see.

(An aside: The Avery guys are big into bicycling and joined Ska Brewing for a cross-state tour last summer to herald the release of Wheelsucker Wheat Ale. It's on again later this summer, Wheelsucker included, as I understand it).

We also stopped at one of several Breckenridge Brewery outlets in Denver. I have in the past been somewhat critical of certain Breck brews, but they continue to put out better and better beers. A draft-only saison called Vesper that was on tap during my visit was as good as any saison I've had.

There are many, many more breweries in the area, but that's all I had time for on this trip. I did stop by Falling Rock Taphouse, one of the best beer bars in the country, and conveniently situated only about a block from Coors Field.

Falling Rock pulled me an Houblon Chouffe, some sort of Belgian creation that was delicious. Then a cask pull of Left Hand Sawtooth, a hop-forward red ale from the Longmont company.

Durango certainly carries its own craft-beer cred, but it was cool to try some different things. Keep on brewing, Denver.

Are whole flower hops superior?

Hops have a huge influence on how beers taste, and not just on IPAs. Along with malt, yeast and water, hops are what define beer.

So brewers are understandably very particular about what types of hops they use. Which is why this post on Deschutes Brewery's website caught my eye. It says:

“Deschutes Brewery has used whole leaf hops (and have invested heavily behind them) from day one because we believe they yield a better beer with better flavor. It is interesting to note that, when we believe we can get better flavor we have, and do, use some pellets and even extract. We have actually brewed Mirror Pond with all pellets to see if there is a difference, and there is a clear difference. We continue to experiment with all our ingredients including hops and malt to find that which yields the best flavor. It is certainly more convenient to use pellets, but that’s never been how we roll. We’re big fans of Mother Nature and keeping our brewing ingredients as close as possible as to what she provides.”

Deschutes is not alone in using mostly whole-flower hops. Sierra Nevada in California also does. These are two of the oldest, largest and best-respected craft breweries in the country, so their brewing techniques ought not be easily dismissed.

Most brewers, though, Durango's included, use pellets. They stand by them. I e-mailed several brewers; they cited better storage and keeping qualities with pelletized hops.

"Whole flower hops 'suck-up' a lot more beer than pellets do," said Bill Graham, co-founder of Ska Brewing Co., in response to e-mailed questions. "This is after all a business and efficiencies do matter. Loss = smaller profits."

Graham added: "Most importantly, the quality of whole flower versus pellets in the beer is negligible at best, and has been proven by brewing scientists over the past 75 years. I think that any brewery touting their use of whole versus pellets, is doing a bit of marketing mumbo-jumbo."

Graham and others said pellets are easier to store and keep better than whole hops.

"Whole hops do not keep as well as pellets," Graham said. "Hops are only harvested at one point in any given year. As storage time increases, it’s my feeling that pelletized hops hold up better and degrade less quickly than whole flower."

Furthermore, most brewing systems are designed to use pellets, Graham said.

"We are brewing on systems designed to use pelletized hops, and hence our breweries were designed for pellets as well," he said. "For example, for us at Ska to use whole flower hops in, say, the Modus, that requires over 100 pounds of hops per brew, we would need bails and bails of whole flower hops for the year.

"Pellets can be stored in a small footprint; bails require a huge cold storage facility ... Secondly our brewhouses are designed and engineered for pellets. Typically to use bailed hops, a conveyor rolls the bail down to a chopper and then disburses the hops to your kettle. With pellets, the brewer himself can weigh the hops and introduce them to the kettle without the need for a 'handling system.'"

Steve Breezley, production manager at Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder, made a similar point.

"We do not use whole cone hops for numerous reasons," he said. "The first and foremost is the long-term quality of the hops as they are stored over time. All hops are harvested at the same time, roughly between September and November. Immediately hops will begin to deteriorate with exposure to oxygen and temperature. We feel that pelletized hops are superior to whole cone hops at mitigating this process."

But Erik Maxson, brewmaster at Carver Brewing Co. in Durango, is among those who see value in whole-flower hops.

"So far we've been doing some special pale ales with whole cones," Maxson said. "I'm really enjoying a new approach to using them, and the results I feel are well the worth it."

Maxson added: "There are, in my opinion, without a doubt differences between the two as far as how they present themselves within the beer, but quality differences seem purely subjective to me."

As a small brewpub, Carver's probably has fewer storage headaches than packaging breweries like Ska and Avery. (I also sent e-mails to Steamworks and Durango Brewing. I'll post updates if I receive responses from them).

My take: Sierra Nevada and Deschutes' pale ales do seem to have a brighter quality that is lost in pellet-hopped beers. It is reasonable to assume that whole flower hops retain oils that are lost in the pellet-making process.

Nevertheless, many brewers make delicious hop-forward beers using pellets. I think the beer I brewed with Ska, Soggy Coaster Imperial Red Ale, had excellent hop character using German tradition, Crystal, Willamette and Cascade hop pellets.

Some 25 years into the craft-brewing revolution, it appears the jury is still out when it comes to whole flower versus pellet hops. I'm curious what all of you brewers and homebrewers think. Please leave a comment below.

Photo: Pellet hops used to brew Soggy Coaster Imperial Red Ale with Ska Brewing. Photo by Jerry McBride.

Thoughts, they spill anew

These things have been sloshing around my brain:

- Ska Brewing Co. releases its Mexican Logger today (Tues., April 6), reports Beer N Bikes.

Mexican Logger is Ska's summer seasonal, a crisp lager that essentially attempts to be a better, more flavorful Corona (and succeeds). It's just the kind of beer for sucking down around the grill.

- Dogfish Head has finally won me over. The Delaware brewery is an object of love for many beer geeks, but I resisted for a long time, turned off by the weirdness of beers like 120 Minute IPA and high prices.

Dogfish Head is the poster child for brewing experimentation. Some of these experiments work, some don't. I've often wondered if DFH is excessively concerned with innovation at the expense of making beers that simply taste good - really, the fundamental condition of successful craft brewing.

I've also regarded the brewery's massive publicity with a pinch of suspicion. DFH founder Sam Calagione was the subject of a lengthy, glowing New Yorker profile in 2008, the kind of publicity a brewer would kill for. Then, as if that wasn't enough, Calagione had a starring role in the documentary Beer Wars.

DFH is a good brewery and by all accounts, Calagione is a skilled brewer and a nice guy. But he isn't doing anything much different from Avery Brewing, The Bruery or Russian River, to name a few. And I don't see Adam Avery's 9,700-word New Yorker profile.

But, the key to justifying the hype is brewing good beer. While I was in Phoenix recently, I picked up a couple of DFH beers I'd never seen before: Chicory Stout and Red and White.

Chicory Stout, as the webernet tells me, is DFH's winter seasonal. It's astonishingly flavorful for a session beer (5.2 percent ABV, 21 IBUs).

Many session stouts lack complexity. Everybody and their dog makes an oatmeal stout, and they're just not that exciting. DFH's Chicory Stout, in contrast, is brewed with roasted chicory, organic Mexican coffee, St. John's Wort and licorice root. It has almost as many flavors going on as The Abyss, and that's saying something. Give it an A.

Red and White is purportedly a Belgian-style wit, but I don't think I've ever seen a wit that benches 10 percent ABV. It's far darker, maltier and heavier than most wits. Robust, in a word, almost like a pinot noir. Give it an A-.

Several Durango liquor stores sell DFH beers, so it would please me greatly to see six-packs of Chicory Stout and bombers of Red and White land here. And until further notice, I'm done talking smack about DFH.

- Speaking of Adam Avery, it isn't quite the New Yorker, but Mr. Avery's hometown paper has a nice profile of the Avery Brewing founder. Check out this quote:

"You have to be super passionate about the beer side. The brewers that fail are the ones who make boring beers and try to appeal to everybody. If you do that, you're not offering people a choice between your beer and bland, mass-produced offerings. You have to stand out and make what YOU think is best."

I like the guy.

Review: Avery The Beast

The Beast is part of the Demons of Ale series from Avery, a Boulder brewery.

It’s styled a Grand Cru Ale, sold in 12-ounce bottles wrapped in red foil for about $8 each.

Avery Brewing Co. is one of my favorite breweries. I particularly like its India Pale Ale, Out of Bounds Stout, White Rascal witbier and Salvation, a Belgian-style golden ale. Much like Dogfish Head, Adam Avery and company brew interesting, innovative beers, put them on the market and hope people buy them.

The Beast is aptly named. It’s a 15 percent alcohol-by-volume bruiser. It pours a deep amber with minimal head and is similar to a barley wine in appearance.

The Beast smacks you over the head with a strong alcohol note and a thick, viscous body. It also carries a noticeable sweetness and warms your throat and chest like a whiskey as it goes down.

This very aggressive animal is brewed with two-row malted barley, honey malt, imported Belgian specialty grains (aromatic, pale wheat, roasted wheat and Special B), a variety of hops (Magnum, Galena, Saaz, Hallertau, Tettnang and Hersbrucker), raisins, dates, alfalfa honey, turbinado, blackstrap molasses, dark Belgian candy sugar, water and a couple of yeast strains, one of Belgian origin.

I like that Avery takes chances. However, the flipside of that is I sometimes find their beers not to my liking. The Beast is so strong that it blurs the line between beer and spirits. It’s decidedly a sipping beer, and even then, sipping becomes a chore toward the end of the 12-ounce serving. It’s all just a bit much.

I’ve found I don’t like most beers over about 11 percent alcohol. They become drinks to be conquered, rather than beers to be enjoyed.

I did not tame The Beast. The Beast tamed me. C

Review: Steamworks Ale Diablo

A while back, I complained about the relative lack of Colorado-brewed Belgian styles. Ale Diablo is a notable exception to this prevailing condition.

Clearly, Steamworks put a lot of thought, effort and money into this Belgian-style golden ale. The fall seasonal was bottled in 24-ounce wine bottles, topped by a cork and cage. I purchased mine for $9.99 at a local liquor store.

Brewers Ken Martin and Spencer Roper devised a recipe that incorporates juice from Riesling grapes, which create the white wine of the same name.

“Typically, Belgian double blonde ale is the style we brew for the Diablo,” Martin said in an August news release. “But we’ve used juice of Riesling grapes during fermentation, plus a Belgian strong golden yeast strain for the first time this year. The aroma of the beer is more spicy and peppery with hints of clove and fruit. On the palate the beer will have a light, soft malt character with slight green apple tartness and a hint of citrus.”

Ale Diablo (8.5 percent ABV, 33 IBUs) pours very pale, even compared to most golden ales. Some fizzy, white carbonation lingers.

The taste is largely to style: a bit sweet, a bit funky, a bit delicious. The Riesling grapes do lend a fruity taste reminiscent of white wine. Ale Diablo is very dry.

It is a strong beer, and the alcohol provides a pleasant warming sensation throughout. It might not be a bad idea to share your bottle with another, as I did.

Ale Diablo compares well with other Belgian goldens available in Colorado, including Ska's True Blonde Dubbel and Avery's Salvation. They're all very good, and I'd love to see which would come out ahead in a blind tasting.

Belgian goldens seem celebratory, like something one could drink at a wedding. They also go damn well with all kinds of food. Ale Diablo is an angelic Belgian beer. A-

Review: Avery duganA IPA

Avery Brewing Co. has a new India Pale Ale on the shelves. Named duganA, this hefty double IPA is meant to give hopheads something between the Boulder brewery's standard IPA (which is exceptional) and its huge Maharaja Imperial IPA.

It reminds me of Porsche, which decided sports car buyers needed something between the Boxster and 911. Thus the Cayman, a bastard child that doesn't even look cool.

But I digress. For the sake of context on Avery's IPA lineup, here are the stats:

Avery IPA: 6.3 percent ABV, 69 IBUs
duganA double IPA: 8.5 percent ABV, 93 IBUs
Maharaja Imperial IPA: 10.2 percent ABV, 102 IBUs

duganA looks and smells like one would expect from a double IPA. It pours a dark, yellow-tinted amber, with a bubbly two-finger white head that recedes quickly, revealing a pronounced hop aroma.

As one would expect from Avery, duganA is well-brewed. The hop bitterness is aggressive but nevertheless drinkable. It's stronger than a standard IPA but more approachable than, say, Steamworks' Conductor Imperial IPA.

duganA is nothing new. It's simply an above-average strong IPA, a style that is becoming achingly familiar. Yet a well-brewed IPA will always find a market. B+

Check out the Boulder Daily Camera's review here.

Fall brings seasonal crop

Just about everybody is brewing up something special for fall. Let's get to it:

Durango Brewing Co. is brewing a batch of a new Helles bock for fall. The German-style lager will be on tap, but not bottled. DBC's Colorfest fall seasonal (6.2 percent ABV, 21 IBUs) is out now.

Steamworks is shooting for an Oct. 16 release for its Ale Diablo. This year's edition uses a Belgian yeast strain and the juice of Riesling grapes. It'll be in 22-ounce bomber bottles, and presumably on tap. Also, Steamworks should have a fresh-hop beer out in a few weeks.

Ska's own wet-hopped beer, Hoperation Ivy, will be released in bombers Sept. 22 as part of Ska's Local Series. (See post below for more info). Merlo Stout is still around.

Carver's currently has its Monkeywrenched IPA on tap. I tried it yesterday, and it has an incredible, floral nose and a big alcohol bite.

Avery Brewing Co.'s The Kaiser is on the shelves in 22-ounce bomber bottles. The Kaiser (9.3 percent ABV, 24 IBUs) is Avery's imperial Oktoberfest lager. I haven't tried it, but such a big lager should be interesting. For more information, check out Avery's own Facebook page and blog.

Update: New Belgium has released its own fall seasonal, Hoptober Golden Ale. Hoptober (6 percent ABV, 40 IBUs) will be available through November. It was brewed with Centennial, Cascade, Sterling, Willamette and Glacier hops, pale and wheat malt, rye and oats.

“This beer is a Hop Lover’s dream within the Belgian idiom,” said Bryan Simpson, New Belgium spokesman, in a news release. “This beer is hop-forward but very well-balanced with generous mouthfeel.”

Review: Wheelsucker Wheat Ale (Ska/Avery)

It was a good and lucky thing that Ska Brewing Co. joined forces with their brothers to the north at Avery Brewing Co. to brew a collaboration beer.

Some of the best beers in the country have resulted from collaborations - Collaboration Not Litigation (Avery and Russian River Brewing) is a notable Colorado example. And Ska and Avery are both excellent breweries.

The brewers settled on a wheat ale, a good choice for a summer release. Wheat beers easily take flavors, most often orange peel or coriander, but one of the best I've had recently was a prickly pear-flavored hefeweizen from Santa Fe Brewing.

There was never any question that Wheelsucker Wheat Ale would be more than a typical wheat. Avery's involvement ensured that. The brewery's special releases are almost always amped-up, or "imperial," beers containing at least 7 percent alcohol, and sometimes more than twice that.

Adam Avery and his crew came to Durango July 1 to brew Wheelsucker along with Ska head brewer Thomas Larsen. Wheelsucker was released July 24 in 22-oz. bomber bottles. It is also available on tap at Ska and, I hear, Lady Falconburgh's Barley Exchange.

Wheelsucker pours triumphantly, a cascade of bubbles rising to form a substantial creamy white head. It quickly settles down, an indication of the beer's strong alcohol content (around 6.6 percent).

The mouthfeel is very full; it's almost a little bready. It reminds me somewhat of an orange smoothie.

Flavor comes in waves, first a full wheat taste, and then a moderate orange note. It goes down exceptionally easy. This is a beer one could drink in substantial quantity if not for the assertive presence of alcohol.

In short, I loved it. Wheelsucker tastes great and mixes easily with Sprite or syrups to create a Radler, a traditional German drink. It's a refreshing summer ale and a notable accomplishment for two breweries that, despite their excellent lineups, have little experience with German styles.

Soggy Coaster would also like to make note of the price. Wheelsucker is available around Durango for about $4 plus sales tax per 22-oz. bomber bottle. That's cheaper than most of Ska and Avery's own bombers, not to mention expensive out-of-state breweries. It's as good or better than beers more than twice its price. Get it while you can.

Wheelsucker is the best wheat beer I have ever drank. Nevertheless, the style lacks the complexity of say, the best saisons, abbey ales and imperial stouts. Even the best wheat ale cannot measure up to the very best beers in the world. Yet Wheelsucker accomplishes all a wheat ale can be, and Soggy Coaster heartily recommends it. A-

Wheelsucking brewers

Ska Brewing Co. President Dave Thibodeau and Avery Brewing founder Adam Avery share a laugh at the Wheelsucker Wheat Ale release party Friday. I'm amazed they were able to smile much after bicycling 426 miles from Boulder to Durango.

Soggy Coaster will post of a full review of Wheelsucker Wheat in the coming days. Suffice it to say for now, I loved it. It's full-bodied but crisp, with waves of flavor.

I heard some dissension from people who don't like wheat beers, and from others who were taken aback by Wheelsucker's strength. I suppose if you don't like wheat beers, and you don't like strong beers, Wheelsucker probably isn't for you. But I'll be stocking up on the bombers.

Wheelsucker Wheat Ale release

Ska Brewing Co. and Avery Brewing Co. will release Wheelsucker Wheat Ale tonight, the first collaboration beer between the Durango and Boulder breweries.

The release party begins at 5 p.m., Fri., July 24, at Ska HQ in Bodo Industrial Park, 225 Girard St. The Soda Jerks will play, and proceeds will benefit the Safe Roads Coalition of La Plata County.

Soggy Coaster is looking forward to tasting what Ska and Avery hath wrought. I'll probably write a review sometime within the next week, but if you want to beat me to the punch, post a comment.

For more details about the beer, see two posts down.

Preview: Wheelsucker Wheat Ale (Ska/Avery)

Hefeweizen is one of those beers that makes beer worth drinking. So it's a good thing that Ska and Avery Brewing are set to release Wheelsucker Wheat Ale on Friday.

Wheelsucker is a collaboration beer from Ska in Durango and Avery in Boulder, two of Colorado's best breweries.

Ska tends to keep it simple, brewing classic American-meets-English beers like Modus Hoperandi IPA and Pinstripe Red Ale.

While Avery brews a solid lineup of typical beers - a stout, an IPA, etc., - it is perhaps best known for brewing huge, weird beers. Avery's Brabant barrel-aged ale (8.7 percent ABV, 25 IBUs) and Salvation Belgian-style ale (9 percent ABV, 25 IBUs), exemplify talented, risk-tasking brewing that sometimes pushes the limits of what beer can be. Soggy Coaster visited the Avery brewhouse last month, and seeing 108 wooden barrels aging various beers was a sight to behold.

Avery Brewing founder Adam Avery visited Durango with a small crew July 1 to brew Wheelsucker. He and the Ska boys, led by Head Brewer Thomas Larsen, came up with an imperial hefeweizen (the bottle label calls it a "Mountain Hefe"). It approximates the style of traditional German hefes, but Avery, Larsen and co. pimped it out to about 6.6 percent ABV. (The brewers were aiming for higher, but the yeast crapped out).

By comparison, Widmer Hefeweizen, a phenomenally popular American hefe brewed in Portland, comes in at 4.9 percent ABV.

Hefes pour a cloudy, golden color, and taste light and refreshing. They're often served with an orange slice, but good hefes do fine without fruit adornment.

"When we were discussing a beer style, we wanted something strong, but also refreshing and would mix with lemon-lime soda to make a Radler, a staple of European bike tours for many years," Larsen says in an e-mail to Beer at 6512. "We decided on a hefe partly because Adam (Avery) was always a big fan of Tabernash Weiss, I have always enjoyed Bavarian wheat beers, and what's more refreshing than Hefeweizen, especially if you mix it with Sprite or orange juice?"

This must be one of the first commercial experimental brewing projects for Larsen since he came to Ska from Wynkoop Brewing in Denver. Wynkoop, as one might expect from the German name, brews a bunch of German styles, including a hefeweizen named Wixa Weiss. Larsen is certainly no stranger to hefeweizens.

To wit (pun intended), the brewers used Hallertau Hersbrucker and Mittlefrue hops for Wheelsucker. The yeast is originally from the Hopf Weissbier Brewery in Meisbock, Germany, south of Munich.

Ska and Avery brewed only 25 barrels of Wheelsucker, which comes out to 775 gallons - not a lot. Last time Soggy Coaster talked to President Thibodeau, Wheelsucker was to be bottled in bomber bottles and distributed, at least locally and possibly around Denver.

Sometimes, strong beers ruin the well-balanced character of their more standard cousins. Just as most IPAs, I feel, lack the balance found in many good pale ales, some double reds sacrifice the drinkability found in standard reds. We'll see how Ska and Avery did with Wheelsucker Wheat, but the provenance is promising.

The release party begins at 5 p.m., Fri., July 24, at Ska HQ in Bodo Industrial Park, 225 Girard St. See you there.

Ska, Avery tour Colorado

The fellas from Ska Brewing Co. and Avery Brewing Co. have launched their Tour of Colorado.

On bicycle, the brewers will wind from Boulder to Durango over six days, conquering nine mountain passes in a 426-mile journey.

When they arrive on Friday, July 24, the brewers will release Wheelsucker Wheat Ale, a much-anticipated (by me, anyway) collaboration beer, at Ska HQ in Durango. (Specifics on that later this week).

Dave Thibodeau, co-founder and president of Ska, is blogging the trip over at Wheelsucking Brewers.

Each night of the tour, the bicycling brewers will stop at a brewery to raise money for charity and further the brewing brotherhood.

Soggy Coaster wishes the travelers well, and has high hopes for the beer. Stay tuned for more.