Suggestions for Summer Beers?

The taps are drying up quickly and I'm looking for suggestions for my next 3-4 brews. Not looking to make any dark ales...nice, crisp refreshing summer beers would be nice. IPA? IIPA? Belgian Pale Ale? Wheat? Kolsch? Belgian Blond?

What's you favorite style of beer to drink when it is 80 degrees outside or when the sun is setting after a hot day?

Heading Back to the Great American Beer Festival!!!

I had a handful of beers entered into a home brew competition that was held a couple of weeks ago in Fort Collins and I won some medals. I won two gold medals for my Western Slope Peach Saison and Wampum Baltic Porter. I also won two silver medals for Micah's Blonde Ale and Pebonkas Imperial Stout. It was a pretty rewarding experience to hear my name called for all of the beers with my family there with me. Better than the medals was the fact that one of the local breweries chose my beer to brew for the 2013 Great American Beer Festival! This is now the 2nd time that this has happened in two years and it is incredible. C.B. & Potts (a brewpub chain) chose to brew my Wampum Baltic Porter at a commercial scale for entry into the ProAm competition. Before they announced this, another professional brewer came up to me and told me that they also wanted to brew my Western Slope Peach Saison at their brewery for the competition. Unfortunately, only one ProAm entry is allowed per amateur brewer! The two brewers flipped a coin for the entry and CB&P won. Learning about that from the other brewer was very rewarding. There were 600 beers in the competition, so I feel really good about how mine fared. 

To find out more about the Great American Beer Festival and the ProAm competition, check out this website: http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/ . With 50,000 people and 700 breweries...it's a big deal.

I'll keep everyone posted on the brew date and how the beer turns out. A date has not been decided for the brew day yet, but hopefully it will be in the next couple of months. Once again, this is an exciting opportunity and this year I'm hoping to medal with the big boys on a national stage!

American Craft Beer Week

It's coming!

May 13th-19th

Go out there and support your local craft brewers. I feel this is much like Valentine's Day...you don't love someone more on that day than any other day, but it is a good reminder of what you have. You may already support your local craft brewers on a regular basis, but next week is an opportunity for you to truly appreciate what they have to offer and maybe introduce someone else to their delicious beers. Be on the lookout for events in you neck of the woods. 

http://www.craftbeer.com/news-and-events/calendar?event_type=530

ConGRADulations!

Micah is graduating! My good friend is graduating from his MBA program at CU. It's been a busy couple of years for him and there is reason to celebrate! We brewed a couple of beers for his graduation party that is coming up soon. He wanted easy-drinking beers for his guests. We decided on a blonde ale and a pale ale. The blonde ale is called Micah's Blonde Ale (MBA)...clever. We haven't decided on a name for the pale ale, though Micah is suggesting Pale Buns Pale Ale, thoughts? I've been calling it Picker's Pale...like hop picker.

Both beers came in around 6% ABV.  MBA is a very light colored ale, almost straw colored, with a hint of pilsner maltiness and a nice floral and spicy hop flavor. It's a good summertime beer. Micah also wanted a hoppier ale with hops that give the beer a citrus and dank flavor, so we brewed the pale ale. We chose mostly Centennial hops, with some Columbus in the hopback.  Both beers taste really good right now and I can't wait to tap them at the party. Congrats again, Micah! A job well done.

Olivia is helping with the hop additions!

Micah was on foam-over duty...he did good, real good

I think he was talking trash to the foam

Colorado Craft Beer Week

Don't forget! Colorado Craft Beer Week is coming up. Check out the website for a list of events in your area. Try and make a point to visit some of the new breweries in your town and support your local Colorado craft breweries. Have fun!

http://www.cobeerweek.com/