Firkin Friday @ Steamworks tomorrow!

Steamworks continues their "First Friday Firkin" tomorrow by tapping a Belgian Framboise style ale at 5pm. I plan on dropping by around 5:30 for a taste and perhaps a pint or two of their other offerings (I think the barleywine may still be available). And if you haven't in a wile, be sure to check out their newly redesigned website!

Below is the official word:

First 2012 Firkin Friday at Steamworks Brewing Co. on Jan. 6

A Belgian Framboise style ale is planned for the January firkin

 

DURANGO, Colo. – The monthly Firkin Fridays continues at Steamworks Brewing Co. on Friday, Jan. 6, 2012, as the Steam Team introduces a Belgian Framboise style ale. The firkin will be tapped at 3 p.m.

“A traditional Framboise or Frambozenbier is a spontaneously fermented raspberry Lambic ale specific to the region near Brussels,” said Ken Martin, Steamworks head brewer. “Our rendition can’t be quite like that because the authentic version involves open air, wild fermentation. The Lambic can trace its roots back more than 400 years. They say to drink a Lambic style beer is to take a trip back through time.”

Instead of brewing a Lambic, Steamworks’ Framboise Firkin will use a rich Belgian style brown ale as the base, re-fermented and naturally carbonated, or conditioned, in  its cask with raspberries. The yeast transforms the sugar into alcohol within the cask, and carbonation results from the trapped carbon dioxide occurring as a byproduct.

“The Belgian Framboise firkin promises to be a balance of rich chocolate and fruit, cut with tartness. Think chocolate raspberry truffles,” explained brewer Spencer Roper. “The beer will have roughly a 7.5 percent ABV, so it should be a nice warm up for these cold winter nights.”

A firkin is an old English unit of volume, typically a wooden cask equal to approximately one-quarter of a regular barrel, or nine gallons. Unlike most draft beers, firkin beer is served at about 55 degrees - cool but not cold, and is unpasteurized, unfiltered. Because it contains no preservatives, a firkin beer is designed to be consumed after tapping.

Steamworks initiated its Firkin Fridays to introduce additional and unusual specialty craft beers to its regular offerings.

The award-winning Steamworks Brewing Co., open 11 a.m. to closing seven days a week, is located at 801 E. Second. Ave., Durango (970.259.9200). For further information, visit www.steamworksbrewing.com.

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Winter beers come in from the cold

The first taste of Spruce Goose Ale is akin to a first taste of a fresh-hop beer. It carries a remarkable flavor, unique among local beers, lent by recently harvested high-altitude spruce tips.

Like fresh hops, the spruce taste is subtle but most present as soon as the beer is available. It recedes, and within a few months Spruce Goose will taste rather muted.

Last weekend, I made it down to Steamworks Brewing Co. for my first pint of this year's Spruce Goose release. It pours a dark amber color with a sizable head of foam. At 8.1 percent ABV, it's on the strong side. Spruce Goose is lightly hopped to 21 IBUs.

I love this beer. The spruce flavor, as I've said, reminds me of raspberries, but that's not quite right. Spruce really has a taste all its own.

Spruce Goose seems to fly under the radar. A good friend of mine who has lived in Durango for 12 years and drinks his fair share of craft beer had never tried it before I brought a bottle over to his house. It's seasonal (November through January), which limits its visibility.

Spruce Goose also costs about $10 a bottle. Some craft beer drinkers will not pay $10 for a beer, even if they wouldn't hesitate to pay that much for wine.

This is one worth trying.

Snow is expected in the mountains tonight, and around town, other winter seasonals are beginning to emerge. Ska's burly Euphoria Pale Ale is their lead winter seasonal. The purple cans ought to fit in your ski jacket, not that I would ever condone sneaking beers on the mountain.

At Carver's, an imperial stout just went on tap, and the brewpub will presumably have its annual barley wine available before long. November is Locals' Appreciation Month at Carver's, and they're having some good deals: pints are $3.75 (if I remember correctly; they may have been $3.50), while growlers are only $6.50.

I got my 64-ounce growler filled with imperial stout. You would have to look long and hard to find a deal better than that.

As always, the Front Range breweries have unleashed a flurry of winter beers. There are too many to mention here, but I was impressed by a Great Divide Hibernation Ale (8.7 percent ABV) I had recently. The old ale has a big, malty body that is nicely offset by fresh hopping.

The seasons, they change

Craft beer, like leaves, changes with the seasons.

A Budweiser is always a Budweiser. There is no such thing as a fresh-hop Budweiser, nor does Anheuser-Busch InBev brew a Budweiser stout.

This is one of the great advantages and distinctions of craft brewing. Most craft breweries offer anywhere from a half-dozen to 20 distinct beers at any given time, and at least one or two will be seasonal creations.

In the earthy world of craft beer, seasons dictate brewing certain beers.

We can celebrate autumn with fresh-hop beers like Ska's Hoperation Ivy or Steamworks' Wet-Hop Brown. Or we can enjoy bottled out-of-state treats, like Deschutes' Hop Trip. Or we can taste other seasonal creations like Durango Brewing's Colorfest or Steamworks' Ale Diablo.

Just as soon as we tire of wheat beers, light lagers and other summer seasonals, the weather turns cold, encouraging us to move on to stouts, porters and dark lagers.

I've done that myself, drinking within the last week a Session Dark Lager from Full Sail Brewing in Oregon, (a near clone of Durango Brewing's Durango Dark Lager); a Black Butte Porter and a Ska Steel Toe Stout.

Steel Toe (5.4 percent ABV, 29 IBUs) has been around for quite some time, but it came to my attention again by winning a bronze medal in the sweet stout category at last month's Great American Beer Festival. It makes a fantastic dessert beer - I can vouch that it pairs wonderfully with Cherry Garcia.

It won't be long before I'll be enjoying a Backside Stout on tap at Purgatory. Summer is gone, and fall is slipping away. The current temperature in Durango is 43 degrees Fahrenheit. Luckily, we have an impressive variety of beers to keep us warm through the cold, bleak winter.

Like the sky, it's time for beer drinkers to go dark.

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.

Oktoberfest wrap-up

A couple of new beers from Carver Brewing Co. and Steamworks Brewing Co. highlighted last weekend's Oktoberfest in Durango.

Held on East Second Avenue, Oktoberfest attracted all four Durango breweries. My favorite beer at the fest was Carver's new Harvest Festbier, a delicious Oktoberfest lager. It's got a lot of big, malty amber flavor. Try it while you can.

Steamworks was pouring its new fresh-hop beer, Wet Hop Brown Ale. Most breweries that are lucky enough to get fresh hops choose to showcase them in pale ales or IPAs. It's highly unusual to brew a fresh-hop brown. In fact, this is the first time I've heard of a fresh-hop brown.

It makes me wonder if Steamworks simply wanted to differentiate its offering from Ska's Hoperation Ivy, a wet-hop IPA. In any case, it made for an aggressively hopped brown ale, which was a bit strange. Browns usually showcase delicious, chocolately malts.

Give Steamworks props for trying something different, but I personally hope they try something else next time.

Steamworks and hangovers

Early this summer, I brought a growler of Steamworks beer to a barbecue at a friend's house. Another guest asked me, "You can drink that stuff?"

It wasn't that Steamworks' beer - in this case, Our Bock - tastes bad. It doesn't. What my acquaintance was concerned about was the widely held perception that Steamworks beer induces particularly awful hangovers.

Whether or not this perception is warranted, it presents a problem for Steamworks, a sizable regional brewery with operations in Durango and Bayfield and distribution deals in several states. Competition is fierce in the craft beer industry, and this sort of thing matters.

Repeatedly, and from different people, I've heard that Steamworks' beers produce hangovers that are especially bad. It's a widespread public perception that bears airing.

I've also heard people complain that Steamworks' beer causes, to put it delicately, digestive issues. As one man wrote on Beer Advocate: "For reasons beyond my beer knowledge, the delicious brews at Steamworks have an interesting tendency to loosen my bowels, and make me quite uncomfortable. I still enjoy visiting Steamworks regularly, however, be warned after your fourth or fifth beer."

What gives? I've heard a few theories, but I'm reluctant to tar Steamworks based on rumor.

Of course, drinking alcohol in excess is a bad thing, and hangovers are God's way of punishing you for it. This is as it should be.

I did contact Steamworks for their response. Steamworks co-founder Brian McEachron said in an e-mail:

"Give me a break. Do you really think we would do something special to our
beer to induce a hangover? Hangovers come from drinking too much.

Beer is made from four main ingredients and all four breweries utilize the
same ingredients and same techniques to create world class beer.

Do you really think that a team of award-winning brewers would allow the brew house
equipment to not be clean or present our beers to our patrons that is not
polished and delicious? I really hope that as a writer and supporter of the
craft beer you are able to see through the little mean myth and that you can
respond with tact and facts."

He noted Steamworks' many awards, like the multiple GABF gold medals for Steam Engine Lager. That's certainly laudable, although it's a separate issue.

To be clear, this post isn't intended to slag Steamworks. I like many of their beers. This is part and parcel of Beer at 6512's mission to start discussions about issues in the craft beer industry.

What do you think? Does Steamworks' beer cause particularly bad hangovers or not?

Hoperation Ivy released today

Ska Brewing Co.'s Hoperation Ivy was scheduled to be released today.

Hoperation Ivy is a fresh-hop IPA, brewed with the bounty of San Juan Hop Farms near Montrose. It is no. 13 in the Durango brewery's Local Series.

It should be in Durango liquor stores in 22-ounce bomber bottles.

I haven't tried it yet, but last year it was a very tasty, aggressively hopped ale. If you haven't tried any fresh-hop beers, you owe it to yourself to drink a bottle. Fresh-hop ales have a more floral and oily quality that less fresh beers just can't duplicate.

Fresh-hop (also called wet-hop) beers are exceedingly popular in regions lucky enough to have hop farms. These beers involve driving to nearby farms, choosing the hops, then driving back and getting the hops into a brew kettle in a hurry.

Deschutes Brewery in Oregon and Sierra Nevada in California brew fresh-hop beers that show up on our local shelves.

Steamworks Brewing, last I heard, was also brewing a fresh-hop beer using San Juan Hop Farms hops. I'll let you know when I have more information on their edition.

You can read more about Ska's hop trip to Montrose below.

Update: It's on the shelves for sure, at least at Ska HQ.

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.”

Sales up at Durango breweries

I wrote a short article for The Durango Herald about rising sales at Ska, Steamworks and Durango breweries.

All three are seeing double-digit increases in sales, even during a slow economy.

Steamworks brews ale with Riesling

Steamworks Brewing is working on its Ale Diablo, a fall seasonal.

Ale Diablo is going to be dramatically different this year, with a new and innovative recipe from brewers Ken Martin and Spencer Roper that incorporates the German white wine Riesling.

“Typically, Belgian double blonde ale is the style we brew for the Diablo,” Martin said in a 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.”

Unfiltered, this fall seasonal brew will have an ABV of roughly 8.6 percent, be pale golden in color and feature a bright white head. Steamworks will bottle it in 750 ml. bottles instead of 22 oz.. bottles, with a cork instead of a cap.

“The Diablo will go great with lighter proteins such as chicken and fish,” Martin said. “Fresh salads with citrus fruit components will be complemented very nicely as well.”

Cans!

Durango's two largest brewers, Ska Brewing Co. and Steamworks Brewing Co., are increasingly embracing cans. People like them, as it turns out. Sales are ballooning.

Ska cans its Modus Hoperandi IPA, True Blonde Ale and ESB. Steamworks cans its Steam Engine Lager and Third Eye Pale Ale, and plans to can its Colorado Kolsch.

Soggy Coaster's alter ego, Chuck Slothower, ink-stained wretch at The Durango Herald, wrote an (ahem) extensive report on this trend for today's paper. Read it online here. Or better yet, buy a paper. Contrary to popular belief, journalism isn't free. It's 50 cents.

Service, please

Soggy Coaster encountered a classic problem during a visit to Steamworks Brewing Co. on Wednesday: He was served the wrong beer.

I ordered a dandelion saison, a recent release from the Durango Bootleggers Society, the consortium of local brewers. It's one of those beers that will be around a short time then disappear, maybe forever. It's light and tasty with just a hint of dandelion. In short, it's a fine spring/summer beer.

My first reaction to the beer I was served was: "Boy, that's a good deal hoppier than I remember." After the second sip, I knew there was no possibility that it was the beer I ordered.

I was annoyed at first, fearing the bartender served me a different beer for whatever reason (a blown keg, perhaps) and hoped I wouldn't notice. So I politely complained to a server. He asked me to pour a little into a clean glass and took a sip. It was the Steam Engine Lager, he said. That's a fine beer, to be sure, but not what I ordered.

To his credit, the server went to the bar and poured me the saision I had ordered. He didn't charge me extra. He explained that the saison tap and the Steam Engine tap are adjacent. I compared the color and the two beers were virtually identical. So I chalked it up to an honest mistake.

Still, it's a fairly basic thing to receive the beer you ordered. If you don't, you shouldn't be shy to bring it up.

I feel like in Durango, service is sometimes pretty terrible. This seems especially true in establishments like Steamworks that are very busy and tend to attract a ton of tourists. Most servers, however, will correct a mistake if you ask. You just have to tell them.

Steamworks boosts wholesale revenue

Steamworks Brewing Co. has hired Mike Simmons to streamline production at the brewery's Bayfield plant.

Since Simmons started Jan. 1, Steamworks has increased revenues on the wholesale side of the operation by nearly 40 percent, and in March the Bayfield brewery reached capacity for the first time since its opening in 2005, according to a news release.

"I just make sure to maximize the information given to me to stay on schedule, meet orders, adhere to budgets and keep profitable margins," Simmons said. "When you walk into the brewery now, you’ll see boards everywhere with schedules and charts of what we’re doing. We’re a little bit more structured now."

Interestingly, Simmons comes from a non-brewing background, having worked previously for corporations such as IGT of Reno, Nev., and J.T. Baker, Inc., a division of Procter & Gamble.

A day in the life

A pitcher of Steamworks Slam Dunkel enjoyed on the patio of the brewery's Durango restaurant Monday.

Dunkelweizens have always struck me with a bit of cognitive dissonance: they look dark, almost as dark as a stout, but they taste like wheats. Perhaps not surprisingly, as dunkelweizen translates literally as "dark wheat."

This particular beer, Slam Dunkel (5.9 percent ABV, 21 IBUs), was delicious. It poured a substantial two-finger head out of the pitcher. A light, crisp and refreshing but hardly simplistic taste followed. I'd give it a solid B.

A visit to Steamworks

Soggy Coaster sat down with Steamworks brewer Patrick Jose a few days ago for an informal chat.

Patrick hails from Texas. He studied geology at Texas Tech before committing to a brewing career. Like many brewers, he started on a small homebrewing kit.

Patrick has been at Steamworks a little more than a year. He is head brewer for the Durango pub. Steamworks also has a head brewer in Bayfield, and a director of brewing operations who oversees them both.

A firkin of dry-hopped Tax Alement, a seasonal ESB, was on tap. The dry-hopped version was far hoppier and more interesting than the standard brew. Soggy Coaster also sampled a personal favorite, the Backside Stout (6 percent ABV, 28 IBUs), only this time on nitro.

Thanks to Patrick for the beers, and Soggy Coaster looks forward to trying more forthcoming brews from the Steam team.

On tap at Steamworks

Steamworks brewer Patrick Jose fills us in about what's on tap:

Irish Red on nitro (Limited quantity remaining)
Backside Stout on nitro
Lizard Head Red
Colorado Kolsch
Steam Engine Lager
Conductor Imperial IPA
Third Eye Pale Ale
Rock Hopped Pale Ale
Habanero Green Chili Pale Ale (Prescribed Burn)
Slam Dunkel (Dunkelweizen)
Pittman’s Premium Ale (Light Ale)
Tax Alement (ESB)

Jose says: "Also, this Friday at 6pm I will be tapping another firkin with a dry-hopped ESB after our free keg drawing. I brewed a Maibock yesterday that will be available in mid-May. On Thursday, I will brew a brown ale that should be out in a few weeks."

Gordon thoughts

Just a quick note on Gordon from Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons, Colorado. Soggy Coaster picked up a four-pack from Star Liquors yesterday for $8.59.

This brings up a few ruminations:

1. Goddamn, beer is getting expensive. Granted, Gordon (8.7 percent ABV, 85 IBUs) is an "extreme" beer, high in alcohol and probably expensive to brew. Still, $8.59 for four 12-ounce cans is quite a bit.

2. Price points. To keep high-quality beers like Gordon price competitive with the average microbrew six-pack, brewers are increasingly packaging their high-end beers in four packs. Dogfish Head also does this quite a bit.

3. Cans. Oskar Blues was the first microbrewery to can beer, starting with its better-known Dale's Pale Ale. Ska decided to can its new Modus Hoperandi IPA and continues to can its ESB. Steamworks cans Third Eye Pale Ale and Steam Engine Lager. This presents the consumer with a choice: cans or bottles?

Soggy Coaster prefers bottles, except for outdoor activities. There seems to be no appreciable difference in taste or quality of canned vs. bottled beer. Rather, Soggy Coaster chooses bottles for environmental reasons. In short, glass bottles are relatively friendly to the environment. Bauxite for aluminum cans has to be mined out of the earth, and mining is about the least environmentally friendly activity on the planet.

4. Big red freshness. Brewers are getting some really interesting flavors out of red ales these days. Oskar Blues describes Gordon as "somewhere between an imperial red and a double IPA." Big red ales can be really, really good. Given the fact that Pinstripe Red Ale, Gordon, Deschutes' Cinder Cone and Stone Levitation can all be considered red ales, there is an astonishing variety of taste there.

5. Gordon is pretty tasty. It's like a super-hoppy red. It's got the resiny feel of an IPA, but without the bitterness.

Steamworks brings home Aussie medals

Steamworks Brewing Co. recently earned five medals at the Australian International Beer Awards.

The Durango brewery’s Colorado Kölsch and Conductor Imperial IPA earned silver, while Steam Engine Lager, Backside Stout and the seasonal Spruce Goose each garnered bronze.

The contest featured 1,140 beers from 39 countries. The results were announced on March 19.

Congratulations to Steamworks.

On tap at Steamworks

On tap now at Steamworks Brewing Co. in Durango:

Lizard Head Red
Colorado Kolsch
Steam Engine Lager
Hefeweizen
Dunkelweizen
Conductor Imperial IPA
Night Train Black Lager
Backside Stout
Rock Hopped APA
Spruce Goose (only a little left)
McDamnit’s Scottish Ale
Vanilla Stout on the Beer Engine

Brewer Patrick Jose says: "Look forward to Irish Red for St. Patty’s and an old friend in the form of Pittman’s Premium Ale. Also, this Friday I will be tapping a Firkin filled with delicious Vanilla Stout." The Firkin will be tapped around 6 p.m. on Friday, March 6. Thanks to Patrick for the information.

Guest review: Katie Mullen's Lager (Steamworks)

Steamworks Brewing has brewed a house beer for Katie Mullen's, a new Irishy pub on Denver's 16th Street Mall. Steamworks may have thought it could escape Soggy Coaster's hawk eye by debuting a Front Range-only beer. No such luck. Soggy Coaster assigned a Denver buddy, Dustin Bradford, to review it for Beer at 6512. We are everywhere. Many thanks to Dustin for the review (and a hat tip to Beer Run Blog for the initial word). Without further ado, Bradford's review:

DENVER - When we walked into the 11,000-plus square foot Irish-themed bar occupying the 16th Street Mall-facing side of a large downtown Denver hotel, we thought we had entered some sort of strange time warp. Over a hundred middle-aged and above folks, all wearing green shirts, hats, and beads appeared to be getting drunk early on Saturday afternoon ... about two weeks before St. Patrick's Day is typically celebrated. One woman who must have been able to see the confusion written across our foreheads came up and explained that the group was responsible for planning Denver's St. Patrick's Day Parade, and was on a one-stop pub crawl, at Katie Mullen's.

We managed to find two empty bar seats next to each other, which was a feat given the size of the crowd. Katie Mullen's apparently has four bars (I saw two but the restaurant is arranged in a large loop). On tap, next to Harp, Smithwick's, and Guinness, was Steamwork's Katie Mullen's Lager.

What came out of the tap was a very clear and even maple-colored pour with little head that quickly disappeared. The first few drinks of the crisp lager seemed pretty complex, with a quickly changing flavors and a dry finish. The carbonation was evident, though pleasing - the keg I drank from was fresh.

I'd estimate the ABV to be substantial, because I found it hard to focus on the intricacies of the taste after the first have of the large glass. The flavor remained pleasant, and for me more enjoyable than the similarly-flavored Killian's Irish Red lager. I took my time with each of my two glasses, and the flavor was enjoyable to the end. I give the beer a solid B, for its crisp drinkability, relative complexity and beautiful color.

It would be hard to stay with Katie Mullen's Irish Lager for more than a couple glasses while perusing a "Guinness Blacklist," which is the bar's menu of variants on Guinness, from the well-known "Black and Tan" to the lesser known "Midnight" (Guinness with a dash of port), or "Snakebite" (Guinness with cider). However, I've got to hand it to Katie Mullen's for even attempting to offer a "house beer." Kudos to the restaurant and to Steamworks for pulling it off. B