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/

House Bill 1178 Killed!

State Representative Kevin Priola (R) killed his bill to expand full-strength beer sales in Colorado to grocery and convenience store in multiple locations. The bill would have allowed grocery and convenience stores to sell full-strength beer made by a brewer that produces 6 million barrels or fewer each year, mirroring the commonly accepted definition of a craft brewery. It also would have allowed companies to get as many as five full liquor licenses. At this point, a liquor store owner is only allowed one license in the state of Colorado. Therefore, one person cannot open multiple liquor stores in the state.

Full-strength Beer Bill Goes Flat in the Legislature

Rep. Kevin Priola
Ignorant, in my opinion

While this might seem like a great bill at first, it really could have been detrimental to our Colorado craft brewers. Why wouldn't we want the convenience of picking up our favorite craft brewed six-pack at the grocery/convenience store when we are already there getting our food?

Well, here's the thing. Do you think the big box (Kroger, Safeway, etc.) grocery stores or convenience stores would have carried that favorite craft-brewed six pack of yours? Most of the shelf space in the stores would have  been reserved for the big beer guys and the smaller guys would most likely get squeezed out. How many hoops do you think the craft brewers would have to jump through to get their beer on these shelves, as opposed to just walking into the local liquor store and talking turkey with the local owner? It would have been a cascading effect from there. The local, privately-owned liquor stores would begin to go out of business because their craft beer sales would decrease and therefore the only other outlet for the small craft brewers would have been the grocery and convenience stores, where they may or may not have been able to display their beer. If the small craft brewers cannot sell their beer, they too would soon be forced to shutter. I know this sounds like an extreme result, but it is more possible and realistic than you might think. Therefore, it all goes on down the line and affects more segments of the industry than you think. Now, is all this worth the five minutes you might save picking up beer on aisle 15 as opposed to walking next door to the independent, locally-owned liquor store?

I took some of this from a previous post that I had made in the past because this issue has come up every year for the past 5 years in the legislature, so it is an ongoing topic. Maybe this directive will finally be squashed for good!

Here in Colorado, we have a very special craft brewing segment and we need to preserve that as best we can. We are becoming one of  the craft beer leaders in the country and it is important to our economy and our beer drinkers' freedom to maintain this trend. Hell, Boulder just opened its 19th brewery...19...in a town of less than 100,000 people! That's amazing and speaks to the local, artisan culture that we are creating as brewers and beer drinkers alike.

It also amazes me that Rep. Priola is so ignorant and blind to the damage this bill would have caused to Colorado's local economy. The fact that he would rather support large big box companies that base none of their headquarters in the state as opposed to supporting local small businesses is dumbfounding. How can someone like this stay in office? Hopefully, everyone recognizes his ignorance at the next election.

Oh, the humanity!

This past weekend I brewed the Belgian Trippel and the Rye Pale Ale. The brew day went well...just loooong. I ended up going from 5am-6pm. Most of the time (of course) is cleaning. I had to disassemble 6 kegs and clean them all. In cleaning those kegs, I also dumped 10 gallons of beer down the road! The Country Livin' Stout and the Oaked Pops Ale traveled to far off places in the storm drain. The neighborhood smelled great for a little while! Always sad to dump beer, but it had to be done....nobody was going to drink this stuff, nobody. 

A couple of weeks ago, I also made some new chalkboard tap handles. Friends were confused about the labeling of the tap handles on the chalkboard front, so I tried to make it even more clear. I can now write the name of the beer right on the handle. I like them and the stain job came out great. Here are some recent pictures of the keezer, also including the taster trays that I made from oak barrel staves. This is where the magic happens! 

Where did it go????

Time or Beer? In this case, the beer is disappearing! Some from drinking...some from unfavorable results. I bottled up the rest of Jacked O' Lantern and Pebonkas Stout (will wax and label these). The Oaked Pops Ale tasted atrocious after 9 months in the barrel and the Country Livin' Stout was a maple bomb (not good)...both dumped. All that remains is one lonely keg of Western Slope Saison waiting for seven of his friends.

Planning on brewing a Rye Pale Ale which will be the second version of Ryse of the Phoenix from this past summer. I'm thinking some fruity/citrus hops would be good. How about a Amarillo/Citra/Cascade combo?  I also upped the Rye grain from 29% to 33% of the grist. I'm hoping the spiciness of the Rye and the fruitiness involved in the Amarillo and Citra will be real nice.

The second beer of the brew day will be a Belgian Trippel, which I have never attempted. It will be slightly different than a traditional Trippel in that it will have more than Pilsner malt and sugar as fermentables. I have added some caravienne and biscuit malt to the grist, as well as flaked oats for a creamy mouthfeel to the beer. I am also going to attempt to not add sugar and mash at a low temperature instead. It will be lower in alcohol as well, at around 7%. I will use Sterling and Styrian Goldings for hops. When I go out for a beer now, I have been leaning towards Trippels, so why not just brew my own!

I have a few other projects going on that I'll fill you in on next time!

GABF and Partigyle

Sorry about being MIA! Since I have loaded up the taps with beer, there hasn't been much room for new brews and brew news (clever, eh?). We took another trip up to Odell Brewing in Fort Collins to again taste Muddy Huddy on tap with a large group of friends. I can't say enough of how great Odell has been throughout the whole ProAm process and the multiple visits to the brewery! Here is a picture of the baby, the inspiration, the stout...Huddy:

He had a good time on our last trip up there. It was only fitting that he get a photo! I'm sure he will enjoy it years down the road.

The GABF was in October and it was a great time. We went down early for the awards ceremony, which was HUGE. It was great to see entire theater fit for 5,000 people almost full. Muddy Huddy didn't earn any medals, but it was cool to see all of the other breweries and the beers that earned them top spots! I stopped by the ProAm booth while at the GABF to taste Muddy Huddy once again! It was fun to taste the beers from the hundreds of breweries there.

Well, that was GABF in a nutshell.

Next up, I'm brewing an imperial version of Muddy Huddy next weekend....called King Huddy. I hope it will be around 11-12% ABV.  It will be part of a partigyle brew, with the second beer being a breakfast stout...literally. Flavors of smoky bacon, maple, coffee, and biscuits will come through on this one. It will be interesting.

For those of you that don't know what a partigyle mash/brew is, it is a mash that results in 2 or more beers. The first beer that is produced is from a higher gravity wort that is taken from the "first runnings" of the mash. Basically, taking the wort that is produced in the mash and draining it into the brew kettle with minimal rinsing  (sparging) of the grain. This results in a high gravity wort. The second beer is from the "second runnings" of the mash. Therefore, there is less sugar in the mash after the first runnings and sparging is often necessary. This results in a lower gravity wort in the brew kettle. Therefore, the first beer can be a higher alcohol brew and the second can be a lower alcohol or even a session beer. This also allows you to create two very different beers from the same mash. Things such as hops added and yeast used can be changed between the two beers from the same mash! I will also be adding additional specialty grains to the mash before collecting the second runnings to give the beer a different flavor (smoke and coffee). It could go very well...or very badly. Nonetheless, the process will be exciting and it will be fun to experiment with this facet of brewing. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.