Tag Archives: GABF

Two newcomers to Denver’s bustling beer scene offer unusual brews

Following up on my visit to the Mile High City for GABF

Ratio bar

Ratio’s tasting bar

Spangalang's tasting bar

Spangalang’s tasting bar

By Alan J. Wax

America’s Mile High City is bubbling over in beer.

That’s something a visitor to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver late in September could quickly have discovered. I did.

Some five dozen breweries now produce lagers, ales and stouts within the 155-square-mile confines of Colorado’s capital city, almost half of them opened in the last two years.

During my visit to the GABF, I got to experience some of the city’s bustling beer culture with a visit to two its newest production breweries, Ratio Beerworks and Spangler Brewery, courtesy of the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau, which arranged a bus tour for a group of beer writers and bloggers. The tour, led by Ed Sealover, a reporter with the Denver Business Journal and author of “Mountain Brews,” didn’t’ travel very far from Downtown.

Ratio logoOur first stop was Ratio in what’s known as the River North, or RINO, neighborhood. Here, Jason zumBrunnen, a former brewer at the city’s pioneering Wynkoop brew pub, has partnered with Zach Lowery and Scott Kaplan to open a music-inspired, 5,500 square-foot brewery (with a 20-barrel system) and taproom in a former distillery. Ratio, which produces beer on a 20-barrel system, traces its roots to its owners’ days in the punk rock music scene of the late 90’s. Their idea was to combine the marketing and business sense they acquired in the music business with their knowledge of brewing,

It appears to be working. The taproom was abuzz with visitors during our beer week tour and the beers I sampled were both unusual and quality brews

Though I only had timet to sample three beers, there were no disappointments.

Wicked Grin was a terrific saison made with plums that had an intense tart character and nice black pepper notes. Hold

Steady with Coffee, a deep brown ale, struck me as something akin to the ice coffees one finds in Southeast Asian restaurants, cold and sweet.

The Knew Gose was a delightful summer quencher with great lime notes.

Spangalang logoOur next stop brought us to another close-to-downtown neighborhood that’s undergoing revitalization, Five Points, which in its heyday was a jazz mecca that rivaled Harlem. Here, we found the Spangalang Brewery, which riffs on Welton Street’s jazz roots. Housed in a former motor vehicle office, the tasting room walls are adorned with framed jazz album covers. Former Great Divide brewers Austin Wiley, Darren Boyd and Taylor Rees produce the beers, made in an adjacent space several feet below ground.

Spangalang, which opened in April, is already a winner; Its Table Beer won GABF gold in the category known as Other Belgian-Style Ale

The brewery takes its name from a jazz term that refers to a cymbal pattern.

Here, I sampled a number of sour and Brettanomyces focused beers and one more mainstream brew

Pure Gold, a sour beer made with tart cherry juice and rose water and 100 percent fermented with Brett. Cloudy gold, I found the Brett character muted and only hints of sour cherries.

Mr. Ra’s Interplanetary Influence, homage, I presume, to jazz composer Sun Ra, another Brett brew that is cloudy gold and, again muted Brett character.

Cucumber Gose, a collaboration brew with the Real Dill pickle company, Fresh cucumber juice and coriander are added post fermentation to this slightly sour, salted wheat beer. An interesting concept, but it was a bit like drinking from a pickle barrel.

Bossman Marzen. Tasted at the advice of a colleague, this amber brew game off notes of fruity malt and caramel on both the nose and the palate. Definitively more pleasing that the sours.

Though GABF won’t be around for almost another year, if you find yourself in Denver before then you’ll be quite pleased with these newcomers—as well as the many other beer makers across the Mile High City.

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Beer retailer’s first GABF trip is as much about socializing as it is sampling brews

GABF first-timer David Schultzer schmoozes first, tastes second

The scene at the GABF (photo courtesy American Brewers Association)

The scene at the GABF (photo courtesy American Brewers Association)

GABF_Logo_LRG_V_RGBBy Alan J. Wax

For Dave Schultzer, a New York beer retailer, his first trip to the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver was in a word, “overwhelming.”

Schultzer, who for the past 18 years has operated Bellport Cold Beer and Soda, a beer store with more than a thousand different bottles, in Bellport, Long Island, spent more time during his inaugural Sept. 24 visit to America’s biggest beer talking with the brewery people he’s gotten to know over the years than he did tasting beer.

Schultzer was one of some 60,000 people expected  to descend on GABF this year, the largest three-day crowd in the event’s 33-year history. Tickets, released in July, sold out within an hour.

As he made his way into the sprawling exhibition hall of the Colorado Convention Center, Schultzer took note of the space’s enormity— and the plethora of bearded gents in black shirts, the defacto uniform of many craft brewery workers. “I’ve never been in a beer event anywhere near the size and scale of this thing.”

But Schultzer was unperturbed by what might lay ahead. Over the course of nearly five hours during the first of four GABF sessions, Schultzer crisscrossed the convention center’s exposition hall, the size of 10 football fields, dozens of times. “That’s a massive amount of space to cover,” he noted.

Yet, over five hours he sampled only two dozen brews of the 3,500 available while taking14 selfies with brewing industry folks on his iPhone.

Schultzer and Captaiin Lawrence's Scott Vaccarro.

The reason, he explained, was his need to re-connect with brewery owners that he helped in bringing their products t0 Long Island. He also visited with his friends from Long Island breweries. Among those he connected with were Sam Calagione of Dog Fish Head of Milton, Delaware, Scott Vaccarro of Captain Lawrence Brewing, Jeremy Cowan of Schmaltz Brewing, and Eric Wallace of Left Hand Brewing, of Longmont, Colorado. And he made new friends, too, among them Hugh Lewis of (512) Brewing Co. of Austin, Texas.

Left Hand's Eric Wallace and Schultzerx

Left Hand’s Chris Lennert and Schultzer

 

“That’s the fun of the show for me,” he noted, adding, “There’s so much to see and when you know a lot of people, you allot time for seeing them, but you end up with not a lot of time for yourself.”

As for the beers he sampled, he said, “We started off on a high note with a sample of Goose Island Vanilla Rye Bourbon Stout.” But he also enjoyed, he said, Barrel Licked Boot from Fort Collins Brewery, Barrel-Aged Narwhal from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Udder Love from Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, of Long Beach, California, Peanut Butter Milk Stout from Belching Beaver of Vista, California,

Schultzer said his first GABF experience was fun. “Being around like-minded people who are happy to see you is not a bad way to spend a day.”

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GABF Report 1: Long lines form to taste specialities at a few top brewers

Panoramic view of the GABF floor. (Photo courtesy Brewers Association)

Panoramic view of the GABF floor. (Photo courtesy Brewers Association)

More than an hour before the first pour, the thirsty were lined up  almost the full length of the Colorado Convention Center along Stout Street in downtown Denver. A light rain had begun to fall, but it did not seem to dampen any of the enthusiasm if those anxious to get into the sold-out  first session of the Great American Beer Festival on Oct. 10.

gabf13_logo_insideOnce the doors opened at 5 p.m. and after ID and ticket checks, the convention center’s main exhibit hall, a space the size of more than five football fields, was soon flooded with brewers, volunteers, media and thousands of imbibers. The Brewers Association, organizer of the event, expects 50,000 people to attend over four sessions that end Saturday evening.

More than a few attendees dressed for the occasion in kilts and monk’s robes added to the festive tone of America’s premier beer festival, now in its 41st year.

The queue to sample Russian River Brewing at GABF

The queue to sample Russian River Brewing at GABF

Queues quickly formed at a handful of top breweries, Avery, Lost Abbey, Russian River, Odell’s and Crooked Stave, to name a few. By the time the announcement to let the taps flow was made, some of these lines were 30 deep times two. And they would last that way for the entire evening.

I found myself queued up at Russian River, anxious for my first sample of the much-hyped Pliny the Elder. With a just a one-ounce pour—the fest’s standard—I was convinced the hype was justified, even though it was not among my preferred style of beers.  A golden-hued double India Pale Ale, its sniffing it was like sticking your nose into a bag of hops. The Intense hop flavor continued on the palate, but melded quite nicely with the malt. It was almost winey and the finish dry. Yes, it is a winner.

Other notable beers of the evening included a dunkel called dark Cloud from Mother Earth Brewery in Kingston, NC; the amazing tart, refreshing lemonade-like Ching Ching American Sour from Bend Brewing in Oregon.

Fal Allen, brewer at Anderson Valley and the author of the book, “Barley Wine” urged me to try his sour Burbon barrel barley wine. Aged for a year in the burbon-soaked out, it was port-wine like and quite nicely done.

Twisted Pine Brewery in Boulder, CO., which I knew for its Ghost Killer chili pepper beer, presented. two unusual brews, a Cucumber Cream ale and its Roots Revival carrot IPA. The cucumber was evident in the light, refreshing hybrid-style beer, but the carrot could not be detected in the IPA.

The were many others, but as some point, weariness prevents me from taking notes. More in future reports.

On a personal note, it was a pleasuring running into Pete Slossberg, founder of Pete’s Wicked Ale, a pioneering craft brewer in the 1990s.  Slossberg sold the brewery and went into the chocolate business.  Now, he’s consulting with Half Moon Bay Brewery near San Francisco and brewers in South America.

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Mark your calendar for the GABF, other beer festivals in NYC, NJ, Long Island

The Great American Beer Festival, the granddaddy of American beer festivals, enters its fourth decade when the doors to Denver’s Colorado Convention Center on Oct. 11.

The three-day event, which this year is expected to draw almost 50,000 attendees, brings together brewers and enthusiasts. Hundreds of brewers will be serving up samples of some 2,400 different beers from across the country. It’s a must visit for any beer enthusiast.

The big show, presented by the Brewers Association, the industry’s trade group, also includes the nation’s top beer competition, where gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded in 84 beer style categories. The awards are among the most coveted in the industry. 

Tickets go on sale for members of the Brewers Association and American Homebrewers Association on July 31, while the general public can obtain tickets beginning Aug. 2. Tickets are available online.

The GABF isn’t the only beer fest on the calendar.  Various festivals are planned in the near future for New York City and Long Island.

Edible Manhattan magazine is sponsoring Good Beer, on July 31, 6-9 pm. at 82 Mercer St., an event space. Pours from 30 breweries and eats from 30 top New York City restaurants will be available. Tickets are $55 for everything.

And on Long Island, the North Fork Craft Beer, BBQ & Wine Festival returns to Martha Clara Vineyards in Riverhead on Aug. 11. The North Fork event, which takes place under a tent close to the vines, showcases the brews of more than 50 craft brewers, wines from Long Island wineries and barbecue and serves as a fundraiser for the Beer For Brains Foundation and the Kent Animal Shelter.

The North Fork fest, produced by Starfish Junction, which also produces a beer expo at the Nassau Coliseum, runs from 2-6 p.m. for the general public. Tickets are $55 plus tax per person in advance ($70 at the gate). VIP tickets, which include an extra hour of sampling, are sold out. Designated driver tickets are available for $15 plus tax.

Also on Long Island, is Beerfields, a beer and music festival on Sept. 8, 2-5 pm., at the Brookhaven Amphitheater in Farmingville. So far, 30 breweries have signed on and another 10 are expected to join in. Tickets, which start at $55, are available through Ticketmaster. For information call (631) 648-2500.

On the other side of the Hudson, Rock Hops, a beer and music festival celebrating grass roots Americana, music and craft beer, takes place Aug. 1 at 1:30 p.m. in  Mercer County Park in West Windsor, N.J. About 30 craft breweries are participating with brews selected by my beer-writing colleague, John Holl, and John Kleinchester, founder of Beertography.com. An all-day pass is $35, but does not include beer, which must be purchased separately. A connoisseur VIP package that includes both beer and music from 3:30-6 p.m. is available for $65. Tickets are available at Ticketfly.

Hope you can make one — or all.

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