Avery Takes Strong Beers to the Next Level

There are big beers, and there are HUGE beers. Uncle Jacob's Stout from Avery Brewing Company in Boulder is an absolutely huge beer that packs loads of strength, character and flavor. This bourbon barrel imperial stout is a special release beer that's part of Avery's Annual Barrel Series. It's named for Jacob Spears, an ancestor of the Averys, who is said to be the first distiller to call his whiskey "bourbon."

Adam Avery started Avery Brewing Company in 1993, and has built the brewery into one of Colorado's very best. Avery's bold and innovative approach to brewing has produced many wonderful stronger beers that cover a variety of styles. Depending on their names and stories, these beers fall into the categories of The Dictator Series, The Holy Trinity of Ales, The Demons of Ale, and the Annual Barrel Series. Avery's standard line-up of more sessionable beers and other seasonal releases are outstanding as well.

A friend gave me a bottle of Uncle Jacob's Stout toward the end of 2013, and I cracked it open this week. The beer pours a deep black color with a thin head. The aroma exudes chocolate, bourbon and black licorice. The taste is decadent and complex, with sweet flavors like chocolate, bourbon and vanilla coming forth in force. The beer, which checks in at 16.53% ABV, by the way, was aged for six months in bourbon barrels. This aging process is apparent in every aspect of the beer, but the bourbon charactor doesn't overwhelm it. Despite a slight bit of alcohol burn, this stout is incredibly smooth for its strength. It's a sipper that's perfect for enjoying over the course of an hour or two on a cold winter night.

Fresh, Flavorful Food & A Beer to Match It

A meal that packs a lot of complex flavor needs a beer that can either match some of those flavors, or contrast with them. With a recent meal, I paired a beer that was able to do both. The dinner was shrimp quesadillas with avocado salad (a recipe found in Sunset magazine) and the beer was a delicious black IPA by Shmaltz Brewing Company. The beer, named Death of a Contract Brewer Black IPA, was part of a shipment from a beer club membership, an excellent gift highlighted in my previous post.

Shmaltz was started in California in 1996, and recently moved to New York. The owners were contract brewers for many years and finally opened their own brewhouse in 2013. Their line of He'Brew beers playfully celebrates their Jewish heritage, and Death of a Contract Brewer includes a story that is in line with their familiar shtick. This 7% ABV beer is brewed with 7 different malts and 7 different hops, and was made to commemorate Shmaltz's move into their own facility. I chose the beer for this meal because I wanted something with a dark enough malt base to stand up to the spiciness and smokiness of the shrimp mix, and strong enough hop character to cut through the richness of the cheese and avocado.

The shrimp were marinated in a mixture of garlic, cumin, paprika, pepper, and cayenne, and then cooked with corn and green onions. This mixture was then loaded onto flour tortillas with shredded cheddar and jack cheeses, and the quesadillas were then grilled on a panini press. Meanwhile, we made a salad of sliced avocado, tomatoes, onion, cilantro and lime juice to accompany the quesadillas. As you can imagine, the meal had so much bold and fresh flavor. The shrimp carried a little bit of heat, which the dark, roasted malts in the beer cooled down momentarily. Then the aggressive hop flavors picked up on the spiciness again and provided a clean, crisp finish with a lingering bitterness. It was a wonderful, flavorful meal savored with each bite and sip.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Imagine coming home from a long day of work to see a package at your front door. You get giddy after you crack the box open and discover a variety of craft beers. A few months later, it happens again! Such is the enjoyment of someone who received a beer club membership as a gift. As a two-time recipient myself, I can attest to how great a gift this can be for anyone who loves craft beer and wants to explore more breweries.

There are a lot of different beer club memberships out there, so I'm not endorsing one in particular. There are clubs for a full range of budgets, and ones that deliver beer monthly, quarterly, or on a different interval. There are clubs that focus on a variety of beer styles and breweries, or are more narrow in their scope. For my membership gifts, I've received a mixed 12-pack every three months featuring two different beers from two different American craft breweries. I'm only one shipment into my second membership, but altogether I've received beer from breweries large and small, well-known and obscure, but all worth trying and discovering what they contribute to the craft beer community.

While receiving beer as a gift is obviously awesome, there are some great reasons why this can be an ideal gift to receive, or give to a craft beer lover in your life. It's a great way to discover beer from breweries that probably don't distribute locally, or that you may not necessarily seek out. It also exposes the recipient to beer styles they may not be familiar with or drink often, helping them learn more about what makes that style unique or special. Most importantly, it's a great gift to share with friends, or with the person who was thoughtful enough to give it. The same goes for a wine club membership if someone in your life really enjoys wine. It's hard to argue with such a gift that keeps on giving.

Savor the Flavors of Christmas from Upslope Brewing Company

Christmas season is behind us, but Christmastime seasonal beers can still be enjoyed throughout the winter months. Rich, malty, and spicy flavors are a perfect backdrop to cold, snowy weather. Upslope Brewing Company in Boulder delivers a Belgian style take on a winter warmer with its Christmas Ale, available only during winter. It's a delicious Belgian style dubbel ale with holiday spices added.

Upslope was started in 2008 by founders who are passionate about the active Colorado lifestyle and brewing high quality craft beer for like-minded beer lovers. Those values are reflected in the brewery's decision to can all their beer, a packaging method that makes the beer easier to transport and is better for the environment. Their standard line-up of beers includes a craft lager, pale ale, IPA and brown ale. Christmas Ale, which was first released as the brewery's Christmas seasonal beer in 2009, is one of five seasonal or limited release beers. It comes in 4-packs of 16 ounce cans, and can be found on tap if you look hard enough. An aspect about Upslope's branding I really admire is their straight-forward and simple approach to their product. On the side of the cans, they include a simple list of ingredients, specs for the packaging, and then let the product inside speak for itself.

Christmas Ale is a great example of a lightly spiced Belgian style dubbel. It pours a deep ruby red, slightly translucent color with a thin head. The aroma exudes a faint spiciness, Abbey ale yeast, and dark fruit. The flavors that follow are complex - dark fruits like raisins, plums and cherries, a sweetness from the darker malts, mild spices, and yeast esters. It's a well-crafted, balanced beer that's a bit on the stronger side at 8.2% ABV, just right for the season. With all the winter seasonal beers out there to try, this one is different than most. Don't let it vanish from the shelves before you've had this taste of Christmas!

Drinking Local in the South Denver Suburbs

The Denver beer scene keeps expanding outward in every direction, with great beer being brewed in many of the city's surrounding communities. I recently visited one of the newest breweries in the southern part of the metro area, Grist Brewing Company in Highlands Ranch. What I found was a sizable, inviting taproom that served a wide variety of high quality beer.

In brewing, the term "grist" means the milled grains that are steeped with warm water to produce the base of the beer. All beer recipes start with a grist of whatever types of grains used to produce that particular style. Grist Brewing, which opened in October of 2013, showcases beers that have German, English, Belgian, and American origins, and which are mostly true to their style. The facility features 6,700 square feet of brewing and taproom space, which provide plenty of room to serve a lot of customers and carry out brewing operations. The large, horseshoe-shaped bar is in the middle of the taproom, with tables surrounding it. The decor is simple and somewhat industrial, but it works for the space. Food trucks are on-site on certain nights to satisfy customers' hunger. During this visit, East Coast Joe's was serving up delicious seafood-based comfort food.

Wanting to get a taste of everything on tap, I shared with my wife, Kris, a flight of samples of all nine beers Grist currently serves. The more sessionable beers include a Kolsch, a hefeweizen, an English brown ale, and an American nitro stout. Three beers are in the 7% ABV range - an English IPA, an American IPA, and a hoppy stout. A Belgian strong ale and Russian Imperial Stout round out the menu, providing some serious kick at close to 10% ABV or higher. Everything was very good, but the beers that stood out to me most were the American IPA, hoppy stout, and Belgian strong ale, the latter of which I ordered a glass after the sampler glasses were gone. Named 3rd Ring Belgian Strong, it's a delicious and complex beer that's surprisingly delicate for clocking in at 9.6% ABV. It's a medium-bodied golden ale with pear and apple notes, and very well-balanced Belgian flavors and aroma.

It's great to experience local beer in a place like Highlands Ranch, long often thought to be just a bedroom community of Denver. Many craft beer lovers live in the Denver suburbs, so the need for more local beer exists in all parts of the metro area. I applaud brewers like those at Grist who have seized the opportunity to satisfy that need, adding more depth and diversity to Colorado's booming craft beer scene.

Holiday Season Beer Experiences

It was a whirlwind holiday season, with a road trip to Salt Lake City for Christmas with my wife's side of the family and an unforgettable trip to Los Angeles to see my Michigan State Spartans play in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. Of course, there was a lot of great beer enjoyed throughout the holiday season. On trips, I love to try local and regional beers and make selections that are hard to find back home. Here are some of the highlights of beer experiences I had during the holidays.

One of my favorite styles is the double IPA, so I picked up a couple different ones from two Salt Lake City breweries. My brother-in-law Geoff recommended Elephino double IPA from Red Rock Brewery, and I also selected Hop Rising double IPA from Squatters Brewery. Both breweries are located in downtown Salt Lake City, and were part of the city's brewpub resurgence of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Elephino is an very enjoyable beer, with a lot of big citrus and piney hop qualities. It has all the elements you'd expect from this style. Hop Rising is also a great beer, with a stronger malt backbone than most double IPAs. The beer is brewed with three different malts and three different hop varieties, resulting in a huge beer with the usual grapefruit, citrus, and pine notes from the hops and a sweetness from the malt presence.

Back in Denver in between trips, I paid a visit to Rackhouse Pub for dinner and beers with my wife Kris. We discovered one of the most delicious beers around town right now, the Epically Strange Cherry Imperial Stout. This beer is a blend between Strange Brewing's Cherry Kriek and Epic Brewing's Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout. It's a very dark, strong beer with huge cherry flavors and dark roasted malts with a hint of coffee and chocolate. I highly suggest trying this beer if you see it around Denver this winter. Another tasty, intriguing beer I had was the Breckenridge Brewery Whiskey Barrel Aged Holidale, an American Strong Ale aged in whiskey barrels. If you like whiskey and beer, it's definitely one to try. There's a huge whiskey presence right up front, giving way to complex flavors like caramel, chocolate and dark fruits.

Out in the Los Angeles area, I enjoyed some different west coast IPAs primarily. Bear Republic Racer 5, Lagunitas IPA, Green Flash IPA and Lagunitas SUCKS double IPA were delicious. My brother Jon, Kris and I had some beers on New Year's Eve at the Blue Palms Brewhouse in Hollywood, not too far from where we stayed. It's a great beer bar that has 24 rotating taps, friendly service and a welcoming vibe. A unique local beer Kris enjoyed was Naughty Sauce Nitro from Noble Ale Works in Anaheim. It's a golden milk stout brewed with oats and lactose sugar, and coffee instead of roasted grain. It pours a golden, hazy color, has a very creamy mouthfeel from the nitrogen and lactose, and has a nice coffee flavor that's not too overpowering. Overall, the evening was a great way to close out 2013 and look forward to the new year, which couldn't have started any better with MSU winning the Rose Bowl.