A Great American Beer Night at Rackhouse Pub

This past week, the Great American Beer Festival was held here in Denver. Luckily, attending one of the festival's tasting sessions isn't required to get into the GABF spirit and drink some amazing beers. Many bars and restaurants step up their already impressive game throughout the week and host tap takeovers or feature a lot of incredible beers that are usually hard to find under one roof. Such was the case for Rackhouse Pub this week.

On any given day, Rackhouse features 30 great, rotating beers on tap, most of them from Colorado craft breweries. This week, they held a "Battle of the Barley," an unofficial contest between Colorado and California breweries to determine which state produces the best beer. Customers enjoyed an amazing selection of 30 top-notch beers from each state, doubling what Rackhouse normally pours. It was as impressive and broad a list as I've ever seen in one bar!

The tap list was dominated by sour ales, stronger Belgians, Imperial Stouts, and Double IPAs. With it being a Thursday evening and having to work the next day, I was forced to tread lightly and choose my beers wisely. Kris and I shared several beers, which included a New Belgium La Folie sour brown ale, Julian Brewing Cherry Bomb cider, Prost Brewing Oktoberfest, and Crooked Stave Vieille Artisanal Saison. I also enjoyed a Bear Republic Brewing Racer 15 Imperial IPA. All were excellent, but I'd say my favorites of the night were La Folie and Racer 15. Both are world-class examples of their style - La Folie with its lovely balanced sourness yet high drinkability,  and the Racer 15 with its distinctive west coast hoppiness big on citrus and grapefruit flavors.

So which state produces better beer? With this range of quality and selection, it doesn't really matter. I'm just lucky to live in area where great beer can be found within minutes of travelling in any direction, all year round.