New breweries, anniversary parties and festivals highlight this week's beer calendar
Jonathan Shikes
Jonathan Shikes | June 26, 2013 | 1:15pm
Longmont-based Mobile Canning Systems has helped thirteen small Colorado craft breweries can more than a million beers since the company started up in 2011. In fact, the demand from breweries that want to begin packaging their beers is so great that Mobile Canning took delivery of its second mobile canning line on Wednesday, a four-head automatic filler produced by Boulder's Wild Goose Canning Technologies. The latest brewery to sign on with Mobile Canning is Pikes Peak Brewing in Monument, which is now packaging its Elephant Rock IPA in sixteen-ounce cans.
Turn the page to see all of this week's craft-beer events.
The Kettle & Stone Brewing Company, a new brewery in Boulder's Gunbarrel area, officially opens today at 2 p.m. The brewery will have at least three beers on tap: Opening Day IPA, Freedom Stout and Solstice Wheat. Located at 6880 Winchester Circle in the Gunbarrel Technology Center, the brewery is owned by Eric Huber, a former brewer at Mountain Sun, Sanjiv Patel and Marty Lettow.
Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew will tap is summer seasonal, Larimer St. Lager, at 7 p.m. The California Common is "a light amber, medium bodied, warm fermented lager with a malty character," the brewery says. "Mildly fruity with an assertive hop bitterness."
June is Smoked Cask Month at the Copper Kettle, and the brewery has featured a firkin of a different smoked beer each Wednesday, along with food from the Texorado BBQ food truck. Today's beer is Smoked Juniper Golden Strong.
The Yak & Yeti will bring on Wheat Wednesdays beginning today, tapping a new wheat beer each Wednesday through the summer at 4 p.m. The lineup looks like this: June 26, Strawberry; July 3, Cherry; July 10, Clove; July 17, Blueberry; July 24, Ginger; July 31, Cantaloupe; August 7, Raspberry; August 14, Roasted Peppers.
Star Bar will kick off a summer-long weekly event tonight called Double Feature and a Keg; it will show a fun movie on the back patio at 9 p.m. and pair it with some specialty beers. This week's theme is "Bro Back Mountain," which pairs the movies Point Break and Top Gun with bitter brews from Stone, including Cali Belgique, Ruination, Sublimely Self Righteous and RuinTen. Next Wednesday's theme is "Tribute to 'Merica!," featuring Team America and Red Dawn (the original version) alongside Avery Brewing's Wee Turtles and Lilikoi Kapono.
Judge Whoppner is back in session, "although 'session' is not quite the word we would use to describe a 9.7 percent beer," say Brian O'Connell of Renegade Brewing and Scott Witsoe of Wit's End. The two have teamed up again to brew Judge Whoppner, an imperial brown ale made with malted milk, this time at Wit's End, where the beer will be served at 6 p.m. The two first collaborated in February on the beer at Renegade.
Left Hand Brewing in Longmont will tap Homefront IPA -- which was brewed with orange zest and aged on maple Louisville Slugger bats -- today at 5 p.m. The beer is part of a collaborative effort between nine breweries around the country that each brewed and served the same recipe as a way to raise money and awareness for Operation Homefront, a national non-profit providing emergency assistance to military heroes and families. One of the bats used in the beer will be auctioned off at 7 p.m. Homefront IPA was supposed to have been tapped at Left Hand earlier this month, but the event had to be cancelled because the beer didn't turn out well.
The two-day Epic Beer Festival begins today at the Colorado Convention Center, featuring more than 300 beers from 120 breweries. The private company that puts on the festival also runs Epic events in Dallas and Philadelphia; this is its first year in Denver. Today's session runs from 7 to 10 p.m.; tickets are $40.
Renegade Brewing will celebrate its second anniversary today with an all-day block party out front on West Ninth Avenue between Santa Fe Drive and Kalamath Street. The street will be closed to traffic from noon to 10 p.m. and filled with food trucks, live music and plenty of beer. In fact, Renegade has put together some small-batch brews that were made just for the party and will only be served today. There will be valet bike parking; Renegade encourages guests to use buses, light rail or B-cycle (there's a station out front).
Twelve Degree Brewing, which opened earlier this week in a former temperance hall in downtown Louisville, will hold a grand opening today beginning at 1 p.m. The brewery, owned by Jon Rowland, specializes in Belgian-style beers.
The two-day Epic Beer Festival continues today at the Colorado Convention Center, featuring more than 300 beers from 120 breweries. The private company that puts on the festival also runs Epic events in Dallas and Philadelphia; this is its first year in Denver. There are two sessions today, one from 1 to 4 p.m. and one from 7 to 10 p.m.; tickets for either are $40.
The Lobby will host a Southern Style Seafood Boil today instead of its regular beer dinner, featuring brews from City Star Brewing in Berthoud, the Lobby's June brewery of the month. Tickets are $40 and include crawfish, clams, mussels, shrimp and fixings, plus four nine-ounce City Star beers. The event is capped at 45 people.
Yak & Yeti will host a five-year anniversary party today with a truly massive new beer called Five-Year Anniversary Ale, a Triple IPA at 17 percent ABV and more than 200 calculated IBUs. The Yak will also host a name-the-fermenter challenge on Facebook in the week leading up to the part, as it needs "beery-Nepali-Himalayan play-on-word names." On July 2, the Yak will also have its first-ever beer dinner from 6 to 8:30 p.m.: four courses and four beers for $35, limited to forty people.
Turn the page for more beer events later in the month.
Wednesday, July 3
The Rackhouse Pub has deemed July Sour Month, and will tap numerous sours every day at 5 p.m. from the likes of Avery, Crooked Stave, New Belgium, AC Golden, Elevation and more. Go to their website to see the list.
Friday, July 5
Hops & Pie will have a cask of Green Flash Brewing's West Coast IPA that has been double dry-hopped with Simcoe hops on tap tonight at 6 p.m. for its monthly First Firkin Friday program.
Avery Brewing will release Uncle Jacob's Stout today in bottles at 5 p.m. at the Boulder taproom. The beer, which is aged in bourbon barrels for six months, was ranked first on Westword's list of the ten best Colorado beers of 2012 and is highly sought after. People may begin lining up hours in advance, however, and the line party will officially begin at 11 a.m. when Avery will offer several rare and exclusive beers on tap. Each 12-ounce bottle costs $12, cash only. There is a limit of twelve per person.
Oskar Blues will take over the taps at Parry's Pizzeria & Bar in Highlands Ranch today in a way that is particularly reflective of this boundary-pushing brewery's ethos: by serving a bunch of beers that are typically only available in the Longmont taproom. Confirmed beers include Obliterator, Chaka, Icey Wheat IPA, Maple Flurry, BA G'KNIGHT (G'knight aged in chardonnay barrels) and Vienna Lager, along with some other barrel-aged selections that will be announced later. "The intent is to give the consumer the feeling that they are in the brewery drinking the beers from their own taps," Parry's says of the event. "This type of event is special for those that cannot find the time to get out to the actual brewery, but instead they can stay in their own neighborhood and experience something close to going to the brewery." The tappings start at 11 a.m., and there will be brewery reps on hand to talk to customers; raffles for Oskar Blues and Parry's Pizza memorabilia will be held every hour.
Breckenridge Brewery will throw its 23rd Anniversary Hootenanny with a Kalamath Street block party today from noon to 6 p.m., featuring specialty beers, barbecue and live music from Head for the Hills, Colorado Goat Ropers Guild, Marty Jones & the Great Unknowns and others. This year the party space has been expanded to include the entire block of Kalamath between Fourth and Fifth avenues, allowing for additional attendees and extra room for dancing. Some of the unusual beers include: "one-of-a-kind firkins featuring Oatmeal Stout aged with orange and chocolate and two interpretations of SummerBright, one dry hopped with Sorachi Ace hops and one dry hopped with Nelson Sauvin hops," the brewery says. "Belgian interpretations of Breckenridge mainstays will include Belgian Double IPA, Barrel Aged Belgian Oatmeal Stout and Double Belgian Agave Wheat." There will also be 471 On the Moon, three-quarters 471 IPA and one-quarter Oatmeal Stout, aged in a cabernet barrel. Tickets, $23, are available at BreckBrew.BrownPaperTickets.com, and include four beers, unlimited tasters of rare and unique beers, and food from the Pig Roast. Additional beers are available for $2 each. Kids under twelve are free.
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Jonathan Shikes is a Denver native who writes about business and beer for Westword.
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Twitter: @colobeerman