'Tis the Saison

Who says that summer brews must be tasted in season? While it is true that darker, heavier elixirs do fit well with the coming of ski season, certain styles of beer exhibit such unique and exotic combinations of flavor components that it is a delight to experience them, regardless the time of year. This is certainly the case with the humble saison, or Belgian/French farmhouse-style ale.

Traditionally brewed in a simple fashion for consumption during the warm summer months, saison is characterized by a fruity, citrusy yeast character, accented by modest hop and alcohol flavors. High attenuation by the yeast, (meaning that the yeast has consumed most of the available sugars in the beer and turned them to carbon dioxide and delicious alcohol), tends to leave a comparatively thin body, high carbonation and tart, dry finish.

Farmhouse ales were traditionally brewed for consumption on warm afternoons while working the land. This was at a time when slaking one's thirst with a funky-flavored, but bacteria-free, fermented beverage was a lot safer than drinking water from the nearby canal or irrigation ditch. 

Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend a local beer tasting hosted by the Mesa Verde Mashers homebrew club in Cortez. One of the members had visited the West Coast, and brought back an ‘A’ list of domestic and imported saison-style beer for our consideration. I had also recently received a bottle of New Belgium Brewing Co.'s latest release in their “Lips of Faith” series, Prickly Passion Saison, which billed itself as a saison-style farmhouse ale brewed with juice from prickly pear and passion fruit. Intrigued, I brought it along to be opened at the event.

The bottle lineup looked like this:

Manzanita Lazy Saison (San Diego)

De GlazenToren (Belgium)
DeDottignies (Belgium)
Fantome (Belgium)
Baudelaire (link to a review by the San Diego Beer Blog)
PrettyThings Baby Tree (USA)
Ovila(Sierra Nevada)
DuPont (Belgium)
De Prouef (Belgium)
OmmegangHennepin (USA)
St.Feuillien (Belgium)
Lost AbbeyBrother Levonian (USA)
New Belgium Prickly Passion Saison (USA)

The review of these could consume pages. Instead of this, I would suggest consuming the imported De Prouef and St. Feuillien. These seemed to best find the elusive balance between sweet, sour, and astringent components of the overall flavor. Many of the domestic products were very good as well, with Lost Abbey and Ommegang being stand outs. If any of the Durango Brewing Co.'s 20th Anniversary Saison bottles survive, they would be worth picking up as well.

And for the Prickly Passion Saison? As with most of New Belgium’s brews, this one is very clean in body and appearance. Many of the earlier bottles that were tasted contained a lot of yeast in suspension, making for a cloudy liquid in the glass. This one was translucent, with a very refined malt body forming a base for the yeast and fruit juices.

Perhaps it was the strong flavors that came before it, but the prickly pear was almost absent, and the passion fruit was very delicate, almost more of an aroma than a flavoring. As a stand-alone drink, I think that the Prickly Pear Saison would be quite enjoyable, and is a fine place to start if exploring the world of saison.

A big THANK YOU to Dion and the Mesa Vera Mashers for hosting this excellent event!

Beer of the Year 2010

The time has come for Beer at 6512's second annual Beer of the Year award. It's the only laurel we award around here, so it's kind of a big deal (ahem).

Durango's four breweries stretched themselves in 2010, brewing Belgian and German styles, fresh takes on long-established styles, beers without any style, beers aged in barrels and other innovations.

Beers eligible for Beer of the Year must have been new or substantially changed beers brewed in Durango for commercial release during 2010.

Old favorites are not eligible - there is no point in debating Pinstripe Red Ale vs. Steam Engine Lager, for example. Nor are beers from outside Durango.

The criteria: taste first and foremost, with uniqueness, complexity, availability, price, packaging and market impact all considered. The usual caveats: This is a subjective decision that you are free to argue with in the comments below. And while I believe I tried every bottled release, a few tap-only beers surely slipped by me.

So without further ado, the winner is:

Beer of the Year 2010
Ska Dementia

Barrel aging beers is a dangerous game, especially in whisky barrels. If the barrel imparts too much whisky flavor, it overwhelms the beer and you're left with a nearly undrinkable pint.

Improving on previous barrel-aging projects, Ska Brewing Co.'s head brewer Thomas Larsen put some Euphoria Pale Ale in bourbon barrels for about five months.

Euphoria, a winter seasonal, is stronger, darker and hoppier than a typical pale ale.

Larsen also dry-hopped his creation with Simcoes, a high alpha acid hop popular for use in IPAs.

Dementia was double-dipped in red and blue wax and sold in 22-ounce bottles. It debuted in August at Ska's 15th anniversary party, where Larsen tapped the ceremonial keg.

At the time, I wrote, "On first taste, you get a deep sense of something old and wonderful, like a musty barn. A suggestion of oak comes across, with perhaps a hint of vanilla. The rough edges in Euphoria have been lovingly sanded off, and Dementia is well-rounded, complex and balanced, with a slightly sweet and vinous aftertaste."

What makes this beer so impressive was the subtle interplay between the Simcoes and whisky taste. The barrel flavors and hops, which could have clashed, worked extremely well. It tasted unlike anything else on the market.

For this impressive variation on an existing beer, Larsen and Ska win Beer at 6512's Beer of the Year award.

Honorable mentions

Many beers could have won this award. The best of the rest, in alphabetical order, are:

Carver's Smoked Baltic Porter. Smoked beers also carry risk. Too much smoke can dominate the taste, as with the much-praised Alaskan Smoked Porter, a beloved beer that reminds me of how a fireplace must taste.

Carver's exercised restraint in using smoked German malt at 15 percent of the grist in this Baltic porter, a style that was new to Durango. This was a deeply satisfying release whose heft (7 percent ABV, 45 IBUs) helped brace us against the cold.

For its restraint, and for bringing the style to Durango and executing it well, Carver's deserves an honorable mention. (Initial review here).

Durango Brewing 20th Anniversary Ale. Coming off consecutive gold-medal wins at the Great American Beer Festival, Durango Brewing decided to brew a Belgian-style ale for their 20th anniversary. It was a great idea to brew a complex Belgian-style ale, but it could have benefited from some hard decisions.

It uses a Belgian souring yeast, but adds wheat malt, coriander and orange peel that obscures the yeast's qualities. It combined the characteristics of a saison, a golden and a wit. As I wrote in my initial review, the ale "seems like a beer trying to do too much, as if given the opportunity to brew a Belgian beer, the brewers couldn’t resist trying to brew three styles in one."

Give DBC some credit for innovation, and having the guts to try these finicky yeasts. It was an interesting experiment that tasted fine, but could have used some restraint.

Ska Brewing Oak-Aged Orange Cream Stout. Long ago, in the depths of January 2010, Ska put out the 14th beer in its Local Series. It was creamy and dark, with more than a suggestion of orange.

A twist on Ska's Steel Toe Milk Stout, this ale was aged for three to four months in oak barrels with sweet orange peel.

The idea came to Larsen after he came down with a head cold and was looking for ice cream. He ended up with one that mixed orange flavor and chocolate chunks.

What resulted from this inspiration was a wonderful dessert beer, an inviting stout with layers of flavor that was fun to drink.

One of the measures of a beer's greatness is how much you miss it when its gone. I miss this one a lot. (Initial review here).


Steamworks Elephant Rider Imperial IPA. It isn't easy to make an imperial IPA of brutish strength (9.5 percent ABV, 123 IBUs!) that goes down easy. But this hop bomb was impressively drinkable.

Using Centennial and Simcoe hops and Cascades for dry hopping, brewer Ken Martin brought a ton of hop flavor while somehow keeping it in balance.

I helped name the beer through a contest on Facebook, but the flavor stands on its own.

In a year when Steamworks began to regain its footing after retrenching from Bayfield, this was an impressive effort that should please the most ardent hop-head. And, I believe, it's still on tap.

Beer of the Year nominations

The advent of December means it's time to start thinking about Beer at 6512's Beer of the Year award, my annual pick for Durango's best new beer.

The winner will be announced in early January. The criteria: New or substantially changed beers brewed in Durango for commercial release (in bottles, cans or on tap) during 2010. This means old favorites are not eligible.

Looking back at my posts this year, the early contenders are Durango Brewing Co.'s 20th Anniversary Ale, and several from Ska Brewing Co.: Clancy's Black Beer, Oak-aged Orange Cream Stout, Saison Du'Rango, Dementia and Sour.

Ska won the 2009 Beer of the Year award for its Wheelsucker Wheat Ale, an excellent imperial hefeweizen brewed in collaboration with Avery Brewing Co.

Ska has a bit of a built-in advantage because they release more new beers than anyone else locally. Durango Brewing only released the one this year that I'm aware of, while good beers can come and go from the taps at Steamworks and Carver's in anonymity.

What's your favorite new Durango beer? What have I missed?

Silly blogger navel-gazing + actual beer news

I try to stay away from tedious discussions of blogging and what it all means. A quick exception today as this guy has started a tempest-in-a-sampler-glass with a broadside on the value of beer blogging (posted to his beer blog, of course).

Yawn. Blog if you enjoy it, quit if you don't. Don't blog and expect to be compensated monetarily. I'm a professional journalist, and I certainly understand and appreciate the concept of being paid for one's work. But that involves writing for a publication conceived, owned and edited by someone else.

For most beer bloggers, their site is a chance to write something that is entirely their own. That has enormous value, even if it doesn't help one's bank account.

Now on to actual beer news:

Steamworks Brewing Co. has released their Spruce Goose Ale, a wonderful beer using spruce tips from forest land north of Durango. It's best when fresh, as the spruce tips give a delicious raspberry-like taste that recedes with time. It's also an expensive beer, especially in bottles, but entirely worth it. Spruce Goose is one of the very best beers brewed in Durango.

Steamworks also reports via Facebook that it is tapping a new beer today. Wanna Git Rye? is a rye pale ale that comes in at 6.5 percent ABV and 40 IBUs.

It sounds promising. To my taste buds, 40 IBUs is about the sweet spot when it comes to hopping pale ales. I'm eager to try this new beer and my old favorite, Spruce Goose.

Steamworks also will have a cherry vanilla stout on cask tonight.

Finally, Ska Brewing Co. has just put into barrels a new sour beer, according to its Facebook page (I sense a trend). Ska says:

"Our 3rd sour project is underway! 20 degree plato wort fermenting entirely in the barrels, 3 brett strains, 2 ale strains, lacto and pedio. To be blended and hopefully available in 2012 in time to toast the End of Days."

It sounds like an interesting experiment, to say the least. I think the danger in these types of beers lies in trying to do too much. The handiest example is Durango Brewing Co.'s 20th Anniversary Ale, which tried to be a Belgian golden, or a Brettanomyces-soured saison, or something. It ended up being muddled and indistinct.

Ska went the other way with Dementia, simply aging its dark, piney Euphoria, a heavy winter "pale" ale that is not at all pale, in bourbon barrels for a few months. It was then dry-hopped with Simcoes, and voila, out came Dementia. That was it. In my view, it's the best beer Ska has made in at least five years and quite possibly ever.

A final thought: I did not like Ska's first sour beer (cleverly named Ska Sour) because it was hopped to hell and back, and I thought the hops clashed nastily with the souring yeasts. Perhaps that's just one man's opinion, but I hope they dialed the Lupulin back a bit on this one.

Steamworks mounts comeback at GABF

Steamworks Brewing Co. made a strong showing at last weekend's Great American Beer Festival in Denver, taking home three medals, including two golds, to lead Durango's breweries.

Steamworks' Backside Stout won gold in the Oatmeal Stout category (39 entries). What in the Helles? won gold in the Munich-style Helles category (42 entries). And the brewery's Colorado Kolsch, which is now being released in cans, took the silver medal in the German-style Kolsch category (46 entries).

For Steamworks, this represents an impressive comeback after getting skunked at the festival last year. The GABF is widely regarded as the most prestigious beer festival in the U.S., and brewers take a great deal of pride in winning medals in the blind tasting competitions.

For Southwest Colorado's other breweries, Ska Brewing Co. won the bronze medal for its Extra-Special ESB (you may recognize the red can) in the Classic English-style Pale Ale category (29 entries).

In nearby Pagosa Springs, the plucky little Pagosa Brewing Co. won silver in the specialty beer category (23 entries) with its Coconut Porter.

Durango Brewing Co. came home empty, ending its two-year streak of winning gold.

Medals vary a great deal from year to year. One year, a beer won't even place and the next year it will win gold. Still, you can't avoid being impressed by Steamworks' performance. Two golds and a silver is nothing to scoff at.

Colorado Kolsch (4.9 percent ABV, 17 IBUs) is a great summer beer, light but still flavorful. Backside Stout (6.2 percent ABV, 28 IBUs) makes for wonderful quaffing between runs when poured at Dante's or the base lodge at Purgatory.

"This is the first time the Backside Stout has been recognized at the GABF,” said Kris Oyler, Steamworks co-founder, in a news release. “It is one of our original brews, on tap since we opened in 1996. This recognition is long overdue.”

Oyler credited Steamworks brewers Ken Martin and Spencer Roper with the victories.

Congratulations to all the winners. Now start thinking up some recipes for 2011.

Generous bootleggers

A news release from the Durango Bootlegger's Society:

The Bootlegger’s Society, the local consortium of Durango’s four craft brewers, has established the Durango Bootlegger’s Society Fund under the auspices of the Community Foundation of Southwest Colorado.

The affiliation with the Community Foundation will allow the breweries to collectively donate funds to non-profits as well as organize fundraising events and obtain a liquor license (needed for beer-related events) through the Foundation. Independent donations made directly to the Bootlegger’s Fund will also be tax-deductible.

“This is a unique situation that helps to cement our philanthropic footprint in Southwest Colorado,” said Dave Thibodeau, chairman of the Bootlegger’s new fund advisory board and co-founder of Ska Brewing Co. “I feel it can become a model for other small breweries/businesses to emulate in other communities across the country.”

Ska, Steamworks Brewing Co., Carver Brewing Co. and Durango Brewing Co. originally came together as the Bootlegger’s Society with a mission to raise the awareness and understanding of craft beer by rallying around the needs of the community.

“Our first event was the ‘Pint for Pint’ blood drive back in 2003,” said Brian McEachron, co-founder of Steamworks. “Blood was running short and workers were having little success securing donations. It didn’t take long for us to conspire and decide a little friendly competition might help raise awareness. We all asked our patrons to donate a pint blood and, in return, we offered them a pint of beer at their brewery of choice.”

The “Pint for Pint” blood drive has since emerged as a “best practice” and been modeled by blood services organizations throughout the country, according to McEachron.

The Bootlegger’s Society Fund was established with an initial $1,000 generated from the Spring Tonic event held at Carver’s. Upcoming events designed to help increase the fund include Oktoberfest, Ska’s 15th Anniversary Celebration and all four “Evenings on 8th” events held each Wednesday in September, 4-8 p.m. in Downtown Durango.

“Collectively we’ve always had a desire to help out the people of our communities who have always supported us,” said Thibodeau. “Establishing the Bootlegger’s Society Fund will make it that much easier for us to do so.”

For further information regarding the Community Foundation of Southwest Colorado, or to contribute to the Bootlegger’s Society Fund on-line, visit http://www.swcommunityfoundation.org/.

Sour beers attract attention

The New York Times published a fine article Wednesday on the growing trend of brewing sour beers.

Of course, sour beers describe several styles that in some cases have been brewed for centuries: lambics, red and brown Flanders-style ales, perhaps saisons.

Still, as the article notes, it's a sign of the maturation of American craft brewing that many brewers are no longer satisfied with producing English-inspired beers like India pale ales.

In fact, some craft brewers completely ignore the usual pale ale-IPA-amber/red ale-brown ale-stout-porter-ESB range of styles.

Upright Brewing in Portland focuses its lineup on Belgian-inspired beers that could loosely be called saisons. In Denver, Del Norte Brewing mainly brews Mexican-style lagers (something our own Ska Brewing has done for years with Mexican Logger, but not to nearly the same extent).

I love sour beers. Deschutes' The Dissident, a Flanders-style sour brown ale, is perhaps my all-time favorite beer. Sour Belgian classics like Rodenbach and Duchesse De Bourgogne (sold at Star Liqours in Durango) are often stunning.

Locally, Durango's brewers have been at work on several Belgian-inspired sours. Ska released Ska Sour in January. I thought the strong hop bitterness interfered with what could have been a good sour Belgian, and gave it a C+. I liked a recently tapped Ska Flanders-style red ale better, but it could have used more aging. The brewery's recent Local Series release, Saison Du'Rango, is a nice grassy, refreshing take on the style. I gave that one an A-.

Durango Brewing Co.'s take on a Belgian-style ale, 20th Anniversary Ale, I thought tried to be too many types of beer at once, and ended up muddling the flavors. I gave that one a B.

Carver Brewing Co. occasionally brews a saison, but it's been too long ago for me to offer a judgment.

All in all, I'm thrilled that brewers in Durango and across America are brewing Belgian-style sours. Some kinks remain to be worked out in some cases. But the future is sour, and that's a wonderful thing.

Cask ale at Durango Brewing

This beer above is a twist on Durango Brewing Co.'s 20th Anniversary Ale. A cask of the Belgian-style ale was loaded with cardamom, a spice in the ginger family.

I found the cardamom really strong at first, but your palate gets used to it. Note the cask carbonation and the proper Honest Pint-ensuring glassware.

Durango Dark wins silver at World Beer Cup

Durango Dark Lager won the silver medal in the American-style dark lager category at the World Beer Cup last weekend in Chicago.

Durango Dark (5.8 percent ABV, 20 IBUs) was the only locally brewed beer to win a medal. The Durango Brewing beer has long been one of my favorite locally brewed session beers.

The World Beer Cup is a highly prestigious competition, probably second only to the Great American Beer Festival, and even that's arguable.

Full Sail Session Black took the gold in Durango Dark's category.

The winner's list shows a few trends. California has really stepped up over the last few years.

I guess it was inevitable that the nation's most populous state would eventually produce as many or more good beers than any other state. And it's worth remembering that the craft brewing revolution started in California with Anchor Brewing and later Sierra Nevada.

Congrats to Durango Brewing on its medal.

Review: Durango Brewing Co. 20th Anniversary Ale

Rarely have I been as conflicted about a beer as I am about Durango Brewing Co.’s 20th Anniversary Ale, recently released to celebrate the brewery’s founding in 1990.

On one hand, it’s a risk-taking beer, and I always cheer experimentation by our local breweries. Durango Brewing has not brewed a Belgian-style ale in recent years, to my knowledge, so this is a bit of a jump.

Belgian-style brewing is rapidly catching on in the American craft brewing scene, and we’ve seen Durango’s breweries put out several Belgian-inspired ales in the last 12 months. It’s a trend I like and hope to see continue.

On the other, DBC’s 20th Anniversary Ale is schizophrenic. Let me explain: It uses a farmhouse yeast that should dry and sour the beer, but it is not a saison. Likewise, it uses wheat malt, coriander, orange peel and honey – ingredients common to Belgian-style wits – but it is not a wit.

DBC’s 20th Anniversary Ale hews to no known style. Instead, it is a kitchen-sink “Belgian-style ale” that combines wit, saison and golden ale characteristics. The result leaves me with questions.

It’s a great idea to brew with funky farmhouse yeasts. I’m not sure if it’s such a great idea to then add honey and wheat, which flattens and obscures the qualities of those yeasts.

What makes saisons and some other Belgian beers like Orval so amazing is the yeast. Farmhouse yeasts can make a beer slightly tart to puckeringly sour, with a dry, crisp finish to boot. They will funk your beer up.

Perhaps they ought to be allowed to do their thing without adjuncts.

DBC’s newest beer is not tart or sour or even dry. It’s a tad sweet, with an aroma of wheat and hay. Czech Saaz hops contribute to the mix, but hops are not the star of this show.

DBC’s 20th Anniversary Ale seems like a beer trying to do too much, as if given the opportunity to brew a Belgian beer, the brewers couldn’t resist trying to brew three styles in one.

A huge caveat: Beers brewed with these types of yeast will change over time. How 20th Anniversary Ale tastes today is not how it will taste in six months. These sorts of yeasts like to assert themselves, and time may result in a dryness and tartness that is not present today.

It’s possible that there’s a great beer in those bottles waiting to get out. I could see the yeast beating the wheat and honey into submission until they are no more than pleasant complexities to a tart ale that’s more similar to a saison.

Happily, DBC bottled 20th Anniversary Ale in brown glass bottles of 1 pint, 9.4 fluid ounce volume (750 ml), topped by a cork and a silver-colored cage. The packaging should keep the beer unspoiled as it ages.

My recommendation: try it fresh, try it again in three months, then six months, then a year. I plan on drinking it over time to see how it changes.

It may get better as time goes on. But for now this one gets a B.

Mexican Logger flows at Ska

Ska Brewing Co. drew a big crowd Tuesday for the release of its summer seasonal, Mexican Logger.

As you might imagine, this is Ska's attempt at making a Mexican-style lager, using a lager yeast from Mexico City.

Mexican Logger (4.2 percent ABV, 18 IBUs) is crisp and refreshing, but more flavorful than comparable imports.

Corona is the best-selling imported beer in the United States, so it's surprising that more American craft brewers don't brew Mexican-style lagers. Carver Brewing has made one called Cerveza Real.

It also might be the lowest-alcohol beer brewed in Durango. When you want to drink a few beers, especially on a warm afternoon, Mexican Logger is a good pick.

Ska also has a new Local Series beer coming out next week. It's a saison dubbed Saison Du'Rango, as Beer N Bikes previously reported.

Soggy Coaster has a few more details for you: It's brewed using a Belgian and a French farmhouse yeast strain. Yeast is absolutely crucial to the character of saisons, and it's interesting Ska is using two. Some green peppercorns round out the taste.

Ska is brewing it for a saison festival this weekend at Trinity Brewing in Colorado Springs. I wasn't aware there were enough saisons on the market to justify their own festival, but Ska President Dave Thibodeau assured me there are, and I'm happy to hear it. There is no better warm-weather beer style.

I haven't had any Saison Du'Rango yet, but Thibodeau said it's tasting great in the fermenter.

This makes two saisons for Durango in one season, with Durango Brewing Co.'s 20th Anniversary Ale already on the shelves. I'll have a review of that soon.

It's April, and things are getting delicious around here.

Top photo: President Thibodeau enjoys a Mexican Logger at Ska's release party. Bottom photo: Two Mexican Loggers ready for me and mine.

Note: This post has been corrected from an earlier version.

Durango Brewing release at Falc's

Lady Falconburgh's will host a celebration Saturday, March 20, for Durango Brewing Co.'s 20th Anniversary.

The festivities begin at 4:20 p.m. (yeah, I know). A keg of the brewery's new Belgian-style 20th anniversary ale will be tapped, and souvenirs will be given away at the 20th minute of every hour, according to the Durango Telegraph's Top Shelf column.

An assortment of DBC beers will be on tap for $2.

I'm curious to see how the Belgian-style anniversary ale has finished. Should be fun.

Preview: Durango Brewing's 20th-anniversary ale

I stopped by Durango Brewing Co. on Monday to taste the brewery's upcoming 20th anniversary Belgian-style ale. Brewer Damon Scott poured a glass straight out of the fermenting tank for me.

It's still finishing, but the ale is expected to land around 8.2 percent ABV and 27 IBUs. The initial batch is 15 barrels (465 gallons).

It pours a light golden color with a little bit of bubbly white head. In taste, it's closer to a Belgian-style wit than a saison, I'd say. The orange and coriander flavors come out. It's fuller-bodied and not as dry as a classic saison.

Pilsener malt forms the base, with a little wheat and chocolate malt rounding out the profile. It's hopped with Czech saaz hops.

Durango Brewing's release should be out by the end of March. It's shaping up well, and I'm looking forward to trying to final product.

Ska, Durango Brewing, impress at firkin fest

Ska and Durango Brewing representatives traveled to Colorado Springs last weekend to take part in the Firkin Rendezvous festivities held at Bristol Brewing.

Ska Brewing Co. brought its Thrilla in Vanilla, according to the Colorado Springs Independent. The vanilla-flavored ale is simply Ska's Steel Toe Stout that has been hanging out in a firkin with vanilla beans.

It's good. I had a taste at Ska HQ not long ago (right place, right time), and the vanilla fit right in with Steel Toe's flavor profile.

The Independent also reports that Durango Brewing Co. brought Kama-Sumatra, which sounds like Durango Dark Lager with coffee beans. I haven't tried it, but Durango Dark is one of my favorites, so it ought to be good.

It's always fun to see what goodies breweries break out at festivals, and it sounds like Durango's made a good showing in Colorado Springs.

A saison (more or less) for Durango

Unbeknownst to me, while I was pleading not long ago for someone in Durango to brew a saison, Durango Brewing Co. was busy doing just that.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, DBC will release a Belgian-inspired ale with saison characteristics in a few weeks, probably in early March. The brewery is using a Wyeast farmhouse yeast; pilsener, wheat and chocolate malt and Czech saaz hops in the beer.

Managing Brewer Scott Bickert cautioned that the beer (as yet unnamed) is not a classic saison. It shows some saison characteristics, some witbier characteristics and some Belgian golden ale characteristics.

Stylistically, saisons are light in color with strong carbonation, some tartness and funk in the taste and a dry finish.

The Belgian-style ale is still fermenting, but it looks like it will land around 7.5 percent ABV. It was lightly hopped to an IBU rating in the high teens.

Bickert said the brewery intends to brew more than one batch, hopefully keeping the Belgian-style ale available through the rest of 2010.

The price has not been determined, but given that it will be bottled in Champagne bottles, I don't expect it to be cheap.

DBC's upcoming release helps fill a hole in Durango's available beers. Saison is one of the most intriguing styles in today's beer world, but awfully tough to find in these parts. It's great to see a local brewery tackling this type of brewing.

I have high hopes for the taste. If all turns out well, I expect it to be a strong contender for Beer at 6512's Beer of the Year 2010.

American variations on Belgian-style brewing stands as one of the most promising fronts in modern craft brewing. I'm glad DBC has stepped up to the plate.

A wish list for Durango beer

Durango's four breweries make a pretty impressive range of beers. In fact, I'd put their lineups against those in any town of a similar size in the country.

Nevertheless, there are some gaps that you don't find in great beer cities like Portland and San Diego. So I decided to make a wish list of beers I would like to see in Durango.

Of course, I don't have to run a business, deal with ingredient costs or turn a profit. I just drink beer and write about it. So In the spirit of a childhood Christmas list that always goes half-fulfilled, I humbly submit my wish list for Durango's breweries:

1. A year-round saison. The saison, a beer style of Belgian origin light in color with a crisp, dry finish, is among my very favorite types of beer. It's also deplorably hard to find in Durango. Carver Brewing Co. last summer made a saison called Saison de Tour to mark the Tour de France. It tasted fine, but it lacked the carbonation and big, frothy pour found in exemplary saisons like Ommegang Hennepin. (Hennepin and Saison Dupont, by the way, are the only other saisons I've seen in Durango, at Star Liquors. And that's a crapshoot).

I would love to see a local brewery bottle a saison to enjoy at home - ideally in six-packs, which are far cheaper for their size than the 22-ounce bombers that saisons are typically bottled in. But it seems more likely that a Durango brewery would first test the market with a release in bombers.

When I was in Portland around Christmas, I marveled at how many saisons were available. A new brewery called Upright makes an entire line of saisons, each distinctly different than the others. There were also saisons from Boulevard in Kansas City and The Bruery in California. Can't Durango have just one to call its own?

2. A bottled imperial stout. Carver's and Steamworks both made excellent imperial stouts in 2009. How about bottling one so we can enjoy them at home in our own good time? I realize there's always growlers, but growlers have to be drank almost immediately or the beer goes flat, not to mention that drinking an entire growler of imperial stout is a tall order, even with help.

3. Durango Brewing Co. should add a hoppy beer to its year-round lineup. The current DBC lineup offers nothing for hop-heads. It's silly, because the brewery makes the superb, aggressively hopped Durango Pale Ale that it releases in bombers as a spring seasonal. Why not put it in six-packs year-round, keep it on tap and offer customers who like hops a choice?

4. Steamworks produces two excellent, specialized beers in bombers - Ale Diablo and Spruce Goose. But they've both been around for a while. How about something new along the same lines? Maybe that saison ...

5. When I recently talked to Thomas Larsen, head brewer at Ska Brewing Co., I asked him what ideas he has for Local Series #15 (#14 is the tasty Oak-aged Orange Cream Stout currently on shelves). He hadn't thought that far ahead. (Although I bet Clancy Calhoun's homebrew may end up being #15). How about some ideas, readers?

Another interesting tidbit: Larsen and other Ska brewers have brewed a few beers on Ska's 10-gallon pilot system that have yet to see the light of day. One is a Belgian-style take on an IPA, another is a black tripel. The brewery has a ton of taps, but not enough for everything Ska could put on tap. For now, these beers are hanging out in kegs.

These are just a few ideas of beers I'd like to see in Durango. What do you think? What have I overlooked? Please leave a comment.

Beer of the Year 2009

The time has come for the inaugural edition of Beer at 6512's Beer of the Year awards.

Beers eligible for Beer of the Year must have been new or substantially changed beers brewed in Durango for commercial release during 2009. (A hat tip here to the Beervana blog in Portland, whose Satori awards helped inspire this effort).

Old favorites are not eligible - there is no point in debating Pinstripe Red Ale vs. Steam Engine Lager, for example. Nor are beers from outside Durango. I don't get to Silverton or Pagosa Brewing often enough to judge them well, and this is Beer at 6512 - not 7,000 or 9,000 feet.

The criteria: taste first and foremost, with uniqueness, complexity, availability, price, packaging and market impact all considered. One caveat: I didn't get to try or review every beer brewed in Durango in 2009.

Durango's four breweries put out plenty for us to ponder, and I think all four are getting better with each passing year. So without further ado, the winner is:

Beer of the Year 2009
Ska/Avery Wheelsucker Wheat Ale

Ska Brewing Co.'s superb collaboration with Avery Brewing Co. of Boulder was born of a bike ride from Boulder to Durango with stops at numerous breweries along the way.

It resulted in a full-bodied imperial wheat ale (Ska refers to it as a "mountainous hefe") with more than a hint of orange taste and around 6.5-7 percent ABV. It was a heavy, flavorful wheat that could be mixed to concoct a Radler or enjoyed on its own.

Wheelsucker Wheat Ale was released July 24 in 22-ounce bomber bottles and on tap. Coming in the mid-summer heat, it made for a wonderful seasonal ale.

Wheelsucker was brewed 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, according to Ska Head Brewer Thomas Larsen. He also added sweet and bitter orange peel at the end of the boil.

Ska and Avery brewed only 25 barrels of Wheelsucker. Although it was a collaboration with the accomplished Avery brewers, it was brewed in Durango on Ska's equipment with significant involvement from Larsen, meeting my criteria.

It has been months since I've had a Wheelsucker, and I miss it. At $4 per bottle for such a strong and accomplished beer, it was a steal. I now think I low-balled it in my initial review, awarding an A-. It deserved an A.

Larsen, a veteran of Wynkoop Brewing in Denver, has made something of a specialty of wheat beers. His upcoming Snowdown beer, Hyper Fierce Gnar Gnar Hefe, uses a wheat body. His wheats so far have been thick-bodied and flavorful.

Congratulations to Ska and Avery for their win.

2nd place
Durango Pale Ale

Durango Brewing turned my head with the spring debut of its Pale Ale seasonal. Released in 22-ounce bottles and on tap in March, it simply tasted great. (Initial review here).

Managing Brewer Scott Bickert released a winner of a standard pale.

I've complained before about Durango's relative lack of pale ales. Steamworks brews its Third Eye Pale Ale (7.2 percent ABV, 56 IBUs), Ska has its Euphoria winter seasonal and Carver's makes its Jack Rabbit, but none of these particularly tickle my fancy. All are fine in their own way, but none are brewed quite to style.

Pale ales, despite their relative commonness, are deceptively hard to brew well. Durango Brewing hit the mark with its Pale Ale (6.1 percent ABV, 35 IBUs). Its return will be welcomed.

3rd place
Ska Modus Hoperandi IPA

Ska dropped an atom bomb on the local beer market in February with the release of Modus Hoperandi IPA. It constituted nothing less than a revitalization of Ska, which had offered the same basic lineup for years.

And what did they choose to revitalize their offerings?: an aggressively bitter IPA, something to make the most jaded beer geeks take notice, a slap in the face from Mother Hops. It was a street-cred beer as punk as Ska itself.

Sold in cans, Modus Hoperandi's surging popularity helped Ska push deeper into new markets and probably introduced casual craft-beer drinkers to other canned Ska beers, now including True Blonde Ale.

The name, the packaging, the can all added up to a triumphant roll-out. Ska President Dave Thibodeau, who named and marketed the beer, should be teaching FLC marketing classes on the side.

Beer geeks loved it. One example: Barley Vine, a beer blog out of Houston (an important new market for Ska), pronounced it a "wonderful beer that seems more bitter and more citrusy than its listed IBUs."

Modus Hoperandi comes in at 6.8 percent ABV and 65 IBUs. But as Barley Vine noticed, those numbers do no justice to how aggressive Modus is. It screams hops.

That's why I gave it a respectful but ambivalent B+ in my initial review. It is so bitter that it's hard to drink without food, an opinion I share with Fermentedly Challenged. (My favorite way to drink Modus is with a slice of spicy pizza at Homeslice in Durango).

Remarkably, although the numbers call me a liar, I think Ska's Decadent Imperial IPA (10 percent ABV, 99 IBUs), is actually more drinkable than Modus.

Modus uses a generous amount of two-row malt, a little bit of wheat malt and caramel 120 for some depth in flavor and color, Larsen said via e-mail. Ska adds Cascade, Centennial, and
Columbus hops in copious amounts to the boil, whirlpool and fermenter along with an English dry ale yeast.

On taste alone, one of the honorable mention beers listed below is more deserving of 3rd place. But there's no discounting the excitement than Modus caused, probably more than all other new Durango beers this year combined. She's a mother of an IPA.

Near misses
Two great beers missed out on consideration for Beer of the Year because they were recurring seasonals and not significantly changed enough to qualify. Still, they deserve mention: Steamworks' Spruce Goose Ale 2009 and Ska's Hoperation Ivy.

Steamworks brewer Ken Martin is responsible for Spruce Goose, an ale that coyly revealed flavors from San Juan National Forest spruce tips and a subtle sweetness lent by a "somewhat complex malt bill which is heavy on the crystal malt, munich malt and some dextrin malt for that added residual sweetness," Martin said via e-mail.

This winter seasonal, brewed since 2005, exhibits extraordinary balance and complexity at 7.1 percent ABV.

Steamworks meant, I think, to make a statement with Spruce Goose, packaging it in expensive ($9.99) wine bottles in a bid for consumers' attention. It certainly caught mine (my initial review is here. Spruce Goose was the only local beer to earn an A+ from Beer at 6512 this year).

Spruce Goose constitutes a highlight for Steamworks during a year when the brewery decided to shutter its Bayfield plant and cease distributing outside of Southwest Colorado.

This release reminds us what Steamworks can do, and inspires hope that the brewery will emerge from its recent business-side turbulence better than ever.

Ska's Hoperation Ivy uses copious quantities of Cascade hops from San Juan Hop Farms near Montrose. It results in one of the best fresh-hop beers I've had, an oily triumph of hop taste. Fresh-hop, or wet-hop, beers simply taste different - better - than other beers, and Hoperation Ivy is an excellent example of what can be done with fresh hops.

Hoperation Ivy was released in September - harvest time - as #13 in the brewery's Local Series. It was last released as #11 last year. Here's hoping they do it again.

Honorable mention
Steamworks Imperial Mole Stout, Carver's Century Hall Tribute and Imperial La Plata Pilsener.

Review: Durango Winter Ale

Durango Brewing Co. reminds me of a baseball team that has some great new players, but also some aging veterans of limited utility. By this I mean that some of DBC's beers are world-class, while others are completely forgettable.

DBC is on the rise. Its consecutive gold medals at the 2008 and 2009 Great American Beer Festival attest to that. The medal-winning Derail Ale and Colorfest fall seasonal are superb. So is the Pale Ale spring seasonal.

Still, some of DBC's beers are utterly mediocre, and I point to the Wheat and Golden. Jeff Alworth once used the term "under-engineered" in referring to New Belgium's beers, and I think the same applies to DBC's basic lineup. The Wheat and Golden seem too thin-bodied, a small step up from Budweiser or MolsonCoors products, almost as if the brewers were afraid to put some hops and malt in the damn brew kettle. (Durango Dark Lager is an exception, a malty black treat. The Amber is decent if unexceptional).

DBC's less interesting beers share one trait: they're all old. DBC was founded in 1990, back when the craft-brewing explosion was still in its infancy. At the time, beer drinkers were happy if the beer was wet. The competition, and beer drinkers' expectations, have increased dramatically.

This is a good thing, and DBC has responded by improving greatly in the last few years. Which brings us to Durango WinterAle, the brewery's cold-weather seasonal.

Winter Ale is on tap at the brewery, 3000 Main Ave., and in 22-ounce bomber bottles for about $4.

Winter Ale pours black with minimal head, showing a ruby tint when suffused with light. Whether on tap or bottled, my reaction to Durango Winter Ale has been the same: It's simply too sweet. Winter Ale has a massive bill of sweet malts that is not balanced out by the insubstantial hops bill.

Most winter warmers carry a fairly strong hop presence. Deschutes Jubelale is 60 IBUs. Full Sail Wassail is 56 IBUs. By contrast, Durango Winter Ale is only 37 IBUs.

This leads to a sweet taste that lacks the sort of complexity present in most winter seasonals. As Winter Ale warms, the sweet malts simply become more assertive. The hops seem to be hibernating.

Winter Ale does not stand well on its own, nor does it pair well with most foods. It does, however, make a heck of a dessert beer. I had a pumpkin pie with Winter Ale, and it made for a wonderful combination.

Still, that's faint praise for a beer that lacks versatility. Winter Ale is not one of Durango Brewing Co.'s better offerings. C

Halfway to Helles

Durango Brewing Co. has a new German-style pale lager on tap.

Halfway to Helles (you just knew there had to be a pun in the name somehow) is a project by Damon Scott, who works under Managing Brewer Scott Bickert.

It comes in at 6.1 percent ABV and 30 IBUs. The lager was brewed with pilsener malt as a base with dark and light Munich malts, bittered with Mt. Hood hops.

I had one last night at the brewery and really enjoyed it. Sometimes it's just nice to have a classic beer brewed to style.

Review: Durango Brewing Ghost Train

Perhaps if Charlie Brown (correction: Linus) ever turns 21, he will just sip a Ghost Train instead of waiting all night for the Great Pumpkin to show up.

A new seasonal release from Durango Brewing Co., Ghost Train was brewed with pumpkin spices. A 22-ounce bomber bottle cost me $3.99 at a local liquor store. It’s also on tap at Durango Brewing.

This is the third year Durango Brewing has made Ghost Train, but the first time the brewery has bottled it.

The label is terrifying. A flaming jack o’ lantern forms the head of a train conductor. It’s like something out of a childhood nightmare.

Ghost Train (5.8 percent ABV, 21 IBUs) pours a fair-sized grayish head with a dark body. The carbonation sticks around for a while.

At first taste, Ghost Train has a strong, slightly sweet malt profile. The pumpkin spice kicks in second. Ghost Train is not a hoppy beer. Malt flavors and spice carry this lager.

Ghost Train is based on Durango Dark Lager – in my opinion, the best of DBC’s longtime lineup and among the best year-round beers brewed in Durango. So it’s no surprise that Ghost Train is tasty.

After fermentation, the lager is spiced. “We’re able to dry-pumpkinize it,” said Managing Brewer Scott Bickert, who had some experience brewing pumpkin-spiced beers at Four Peaks Brewing in Arizona.

“No one else I knew was doing one in town,” Bickert said.

Durango Brewing Co. keeps improving, as consecutive years taking home GABF gold medals attests. The brewery’s still-fairly new tap room has given it a visibility and a culture it previously lacked.

Ghost Train is a fine seasonal release, a taste of pumpkin pie in a bottle. It’s too sweet to drink regularly, but that wasn’t the brewery’s intention. Bickert brewed seven barrels of Ghost Train, and only about two barrels remain. Ghost Train ought to go nicely with Thanksgiving dinner - if you can save some. B